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www.thevillagenews.co.za
11 November 2020
‘We are all public servants,’ says new municipal manager Writer De Waal Steyn
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e must focus on the positives that bind us as communities together and build on that. There should not be any silos to create the impression that some are more important than others,” says Dean O’Neill, newly appointed Municipal Manager of the Overstrand. O’Neill has had a packed schedule since he took over the reins from Coenie Groenewald on 2 November. “I have been familiarising myself with the urgent tasks at hand and I have completed a tour of all the municipal areas, where I met and engaged with the employees. I am in the fortunate position of having been involved in the annual evaluation of the Overstrand’s Municipal Manager and senior officials, so I have insight into how the municipality operates and what is expected of me,” he says.
O’Neill was born and raised in the small town of O’Kiep, some 10 kilometres from Springbok in Namaqualand. “After I matriculated I enrolled in a civil engineering course at the Cape Peninsula Technicon and then took up a position as an engineering technician at the Vredendal Municipality.
this entity,” says O’Neill, who will be settling in Sandbaai at the end of the month. He will be joined by his wife of 26 years, Lana. The couple have two children, Nicole, who is busy writing her matric exams, and Sean, who has just completed his university studies.
“It was during my tenure at Vredendal and later at the Matzikama municipalities that the bug to follow a career in public administration bit me. I attained a Master’s degree in Public Administration and am pleased to be one of only a handful of Accredited Municipal Managers in the country.”
“The main goal for me over the short and medium term is to create an environment in which people enjoy working, and also where the public feels welcome and appreciated. We are all public servants and we must offer only our best to the residents of our towns. And this goes for all our towns. The idea should not exist that one town is better than the other because of its size. All our towns and residents are equally important and deserve only the best service possible, delivered in a financially prudent way,” he states.
For the past seven years O’Neill was the Municipal Manager at the Cape Agulhas Municipality. “Taking up this position in the Overstrand is a big step for me and my family. The Overstrand Municipality is regarded as one of the best in the country and I feel honoured to be a part of
O’Neill says he has never developed
an appetite for golf or other ball games and would much rather spend his precious leisure hours with his family, working in the garden or reading a book. He concludes by saying that the role of a municipal manager is to act as a buffer between the council and the administration. “It is of the utmost importance that the municipal manager and the mayor have a good relation-
ship in order for the process to work. At an administrative level, the buck stops with me. Politics has no place in the administration. It is the role of council to create policy and the work of the administration to execute it. There has to be a high level of trust between the administration and the council. If there is trust, the environment will be happy, positive and rewarding – and that is what I want for our municipality.”
We still have to make sacrifices From P1 “In order for us to have the booming festive season that we so desperately need, we have to accept that there are some sacrifices we need to make. We have been bombarded with negative news regarding the Coronavirus for so long that it seems we forget the real and present danger it still poses. None of us want to be labelled a ‘Karen’ but when you find yourself in a situation where you feel uncomfortable or where the rules are openly flouted, speak up, for the sake of us all,” said Frieda. Pres Ramaphosa said even as most social and economic activity has resumed, we must still
observe all the health measures. “This is absolutely necessary if we are to rebuild our economy and put this crisis behind us.” The president will brief the nation this week on the country’s strategy around the coronavirus pandemic. Minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu said last week that the briefing will be based on a cabinet meeting and suggestions provided by the National Coronavirus Command Council. Mthembu said the Cabinet is concerned that South Africans have grown increasingly indifferent in their response to the pandemic and are no longer following lockdown regulations. “Cabinet
is concerned that some people are behaving recklessly and irresponsibly as if Covid-19 no longer exists. Cabinet calls on all people in South Africa to continue adhering to the health protocols of practising social distancing, wearing masks in public, washing our hands with water and soap or an alcohol-based sanitiser, and avoiding large gatherings,” he said.
hotspot areas.
Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said that all provinces remain on high alert for a possible Covid-19 resurgence. He said last week that the country has successfully curbed its ‘plateau’ of Covid-19 cases but warned that there are indications of ‘cluster outbreaks’ and a slight increase in cases in certain
South Africa reported 1 372 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday (8 November), taking the total reported cases to 737 278. Deaths have reached 19 809, a daily increase of 20, while recoveries climbed to 679 688, leaving the country with a balance of 37 781 active cases.
The health minister also warned of exhaustion and fatigue among the country’s frontline health workers. “A possible resurgence could be made worse by the two factors above,” he said. “A delay in obtaining an effective (Covid-19) vaccine also keeps us vulnerable.”
