Mayor Xolani Ngwezi has turned uMhlathuze Local Municipality's finances around.
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The uMhlathuze Local Municipality last week received an award for getting another clean audit for the 2024/2025 financial year, at the Service Excellence Awards in Durban.
Mayor, Xolani Ngwezi said the award marked the accomplishment of his mission of getting clean audits throughout his term and that for the municipality to deliver services to people, its finances must be managed efficiently.
“I take pride in my accomplishments during my term. Getting the clean audits was my top priority when I took over in 2021. I am glad that I will leave a financially stable municipality for those that will take over after elections. When I took over the municipality, it had a deficit of R150 million but now we have surplus, which we will leave when our term ends, said Ngwezi.
He said that getting clean audits consecutively led to an increase in business confidence which saw close to R1 billion investment. Some of the major investments include the construction of an Eskom gas to power plant and the expansion and relocation of the airport.
These and other projects are expected to create more job opportunities for the locals according to the mayor.
willem.phungula@inl.co.za