‘We are all public servants,’ says new municipal manager

Writer De Waal Steyn

We 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.

“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.”

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

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