The Greater Kokstad Municipality has fully thrown its weight behind ensuring that the reading capabilities of pre-scholars are honed while they are still young.

The Municipality has done this by being part of promoting the Early Childhood Development Programme, an initiative by the country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa by playing a pivotal role evidenced when the Municipality’s Deputy Mayor Councillor Karen Walker and the Speaker, Cllr Bheki Nozaza led the council to Siyakhula Day Care and Pre-School where they handed over school equipment to better assist the children with their education.

The municipal leadership believes that investing in educating the children is one of the key pillars to becoming "A People-Centred City of Economic Possibilities by 2047”. During the handover, Cllr Nozaza highlighted that “As the government, it is imperative to lend a hand to those who are trying to create jobs and make a change in the lives of people.” He further mentioned that the government appreciates the initiative that the Principal of the Pre-School, Ms Nomonde Moya, has taken in educating the little ones as it will help to keep them off the streets in their youth.

The Deputy Mayor concurred with this statement by saying: “I would like to request the teachers to print the picture of these children and place them on the wall, and make a follow up on the progress made by the children in the next 5-10 years. I believe that they will appreciate it and it will give them motivation to advance themselves and become whatever they ought to be in this lifetime".

The Principal said most of the children in the Pre-School are from the Marikana area which is one of the places in Kokstad that has a high number of disadvantaged families. Ms Moya further relayed a word of gratitude to the Municipality, saying: “We would like to thank the Municipality for responding to the call when we asked for assistance”. She further mentioned that she was very happy to see heaters as it gets very cold in winter and this will help the little ones stay warm and focus on the lessons given rather than being preoccupied with the means to get warm as it affects their concentration. “I pray you will do the same for others,” said Ms Moya in closing.

By Nomzekelo Selani

The Municipality has been squeezed into benefitting from the R123 million annual budget set to boost agriculture in partnership with the newly- launched KZN Centre for Rural Development. This is the fallen King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuZulu's commandment, that rural areas should be developed to a stage (level) that is not compelling community members to relocate to urban areas to seek opportunities but move out at their own will...

By Andile Moshoeshoe

THe Greater Kokstad Municipality Mayor, Councillor, MNL Madikizela has secured a multi-million Rand agricultural investment for SMMEs from the accredited training provider, AgriSETA, set to boost, upskill, and educate about 50 small-medium enterprises in the KwaZulu-Natal Province.

Evident to this, was a confirmation from AgriSETA's Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Innocent Sirovha during an official launch of the project in partnership with the KZN Centre for Rural Development at San Lameer hotel in the South Coast recently.

Traditional leaders, Local Government and the private sector were set to be at the forefront of the project and agreed to work closely to ensure the acceleration of agriculture and rural development in the province to unlock investment opportunities.

This forms part of restoring moral regeneration, promoting the reconstruction of social values in a bid to put moral decay to rest so that people should revert to the good old days when agriculture would be their source of income.

The Mayor, Cllr Madikizela together with some of the stakeholders that were part of the event, are supporting the initiative saying, "as long as it talks to the language of the people, under the prescript of 'PEOPLE SHALL GOVERN', which means people should have land.

Some of the stakeholders were as follows KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Rural Development (CRD), National Lotteries and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

AgriSETA CEO, Dr Innocent Sirovha acknowledged the presence of traditional leaders as well as the Kokstad Mayor, promising that the programme will be officially launched in Kokstad in the next four weeks. He said the portion of the R123 million 2022/2023 financial budget meant to be invested in KwaZulu-Natal will also be invested in Kokstad. Moreover, the programme has already started in uMzumbe, Ray Nkonyeni and Mtubatuba.

Dr Sirovha added that the interesting part is that KwaZulu-Natal is the only province with land in the hands of Amakhosi. Explaining their role, he said AgriSETA is creating and promoting opportunities for social, economic and employment growth through accessible and quality education, training, and developments in agriculture.

He encouraged leaders to contribute immensely to developing their areas and that they should not be leaders through the positions of trust they hold but should be leaders through their hard work meant to better the lives of their communities.

The Chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal Natal House of Traditional and Khoi-San, iNkosi Rubert Shinga gave his full support to the programme.

The Company's manager wants to take pride in what he will be doing for the people of his hometown

To ensure road infrastructure goes parallel with stormwater drainage projects, the Greater Kokstad Municipality has wasted no time and officially handed over a site to the appointed contractor, Shearer Group (PTY) LTD.

This is a local contractor, which the Municipality has conferred the responsibility to complete the works related to stormwater upgrades and constructions. The service provider will commence related work in May until December.

The purpose of constructing and revamping stormwater drains is to prevent water from damaging existing roads during rainy seasons and to avoid damage to infrastructure that is still under construction.

This is in the wake of the Greater Kokstad Municipality Mayor, Councillor MNL Madikizela’s announcement of operation Qhuz’uthuli which translates into a massive road rehabilitation programme intended to and improve the face and esthetics of Kokstad.

Operation Qhuz’ uthuli loosely translates to "raising dust" which symbolizes a busy construction site.

The Greater Kokstad Municipality Deputy Mayor, Cllr Karen Walker, the council speaker, Cllr Bheki Nozaza and Ward 3 Cllr Nokuphila Mda were part of the official handover. 

The contract value is R 6 946 453, 39 million.

The Deputy Mayor urged the contractor not to do the job for the sake of meeting a stipulated time of completion and for financial gains but they should do a quality job.

“Please ensure that you pay the workers on time because in so many instances the infrastructure projects have been disrupted and some have not been completed within reasonable timeframes because of the non-payment of staff,” said Cllr Walker.

Buntu Mapekula, the Director of Shearer Group (PTY) LTD vowed to do the job according to tender specification saying he was born and bred in Kokstad and will ensure he takes pride in what he will be doing for the people of Kokstad.

By Andile Moshoeshoe and Nomzekelo Selani

He told THEM to get used to saying, "I LOVE YOU" because that does not make them weak or any less of a man!

APART from being a Municipal Manager for the Greater Kokstad Municipality, Mr. Sipho Raymond Zwane also plays a pivotal role in advocating for stronger family bonds in the society of Kokstad.

He promotes love among families and champions that families build and develop, hearts of gold, and for fathers/husbands to love their children and wives no matter how their background and situations are. Zwane said that it is important to love their families and learn to sound out how much they love them and look them straight in the eyes when they do so.

Mr. Zwane further told a tear-jerking story that some fathers are lucky to have experienced raising their sons and have an opportunity of engaging with them daily. "But in my case, I was very unfortunate to grow up without having spent any time with my father...I could only look at him for the first time, quietly from his coffin" said Mr. Zwane.

He urged that fathers who have an opportunity to stay with their families should be grateful.

"Use that opportunity as fathers to embrace families with love rather than becoming monsters in your homes," he said.

Mr. Zwane was speaking during a fathers and sons social evening programme organized by the Nomzamo Primary School in Shayamoya. The programme was meant to encourage parents, especially fathers, that they should fully become part of the school projects and attend meetings regularly.

Just before the event started, the fathers entered the venue in style by walking and holding hands with their sons as a sign of showing love.

Mr. Zwane cautioned men to refrain from being absent fathers because in some instances their sons wish their dads had stayed in the shebeens or at their workplaces because they (Kids) do not want them to come back home because of the way they disrupt the home when they are around.

"Our kids should want us to spend the longest time with them but based on our tendencies of becoming monsters at home, they wish we could no longer come back home. Let us not create a space where our sons will adopt celebrity fathers as their role models, they must love us the way we are," said Mr. Zwane.

He said he understood that life is tough these days as some fathers are suffering from depression since they are not working but to give love to your family is effortless and very important.

He said he understood why most fathers find it difficult to tell their wives that they love them: "it is because of our background, we were raised by our parents, and it was not normal back then to show love to your wife in front of children".

He said parents should learn to be role models to their children, to fill the void where their children choose celebrities to be their role models instead of them.  "You must see a queen when you look at your wife and not see punching bags..." said Mr. Zwane.

Fathers that were part of the occasion appreciated having such a fruitful engagement. 

By Andile Moshoeshoe