Polokwane Municipality

POLOKWANE MUNICIPALITY

John Mpe Re-elected as New Mayor of Polokwane

Executive Mayor Cllr. Mose Mpe John Mpe

John Mpe, Chairperson of the ANC Peter Mokaba Region in Limpopo, has been re-elected unopposed as the Executive Mayor of Polokwane Municipality. The inauguration ceremony took place at the Ngoake Ramatlhodi Indoor Sports Complex in Seshego, outside of Polokwane. Mpe replaced Thembi Nkadimeng as Mayor of Polokwane, three weeks after Nkadimeng resigned to be redeployed as the Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet reshuffle.

During his time as Capricorn District Municipality Mayor, John Mpe, achieved three consecutive unqualified audits and two clean audit opinions by the Auditor General. Mpe vouches, that under his leadership as District Mayor of Polokwane, he will work on the City’s poor audit outcome and avoid its fruitless and wasteful expenditure. He hopes to make Polokwane, which is the biggest, richest and the most influential municipality in the province, “the first Metro of the Limpopo Province.” Mpe has nine years of past banking experience, where he focused on credit assessment, product marketing and credit control; and has worked in local governments and gained experience focusing on supply chain management, operations management, and monitoring and evaluating projects. He has a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration, a Bachelors Degree in Management and Leadership, and a Certificate in Program Management Development and Finance.

With Mpe’s solid background in finance, he has belief that he will bring stability and growth, making use of the municipality’s accountants as far as they could, not using outsource functionality with prior planning and using the grants that is received to its maximum.

During his acceptance speech at his inauguration, it was said that he wants to establish respect and emphasize the importance of keeping partnership between the municipal workers, communities, the traditional healers and the many businesses alike. Mpe spent his first few days engaging with stakeholders in the municipality on what kind of challenges they might face and what they can overcome, and focus on what he has mandated to do. Mpe knows full well, that his time at the local municipality is challenging compared to the time he has spent at the district municipality, and is aware of the responsibilities that may come with a large city. Under his leadership, nepotism is a big no-no, working for the municipality depends on skills and the development of skills.