Prince Albert Local Municipality

From the mouth of Cllr. Magrietha Jaftha….

First and foremost, I would like to thank the Heavenly Father and of course the community of Prince Albert who have once again bestowed their confidence in me by electing me as a ward councillor and subsequently ascending to the number one citizen of Prince Albert. After the Local Government Elections of 1 November 2021, no party won an outright majority to govern. A multi-party government was established and made a commitment that we will make this work for the advancement of our communities.

Access to basic services and the improvement of service delivery remains key, and innovative means to deliver services more effectively, efficiently and economically, are deemed essential. In order to achieve this, the community’s input and recommendations are of utmost importance. As always there are more needs identified within our communities than the municipality and government can provide for. Let me assure everyone that these needs are never forgotten, but that we continually strive through networking and the active seeking of investment partners, to address these needs. The role that government departments, the business sector, investors, interest groups and individuals play in meeting these needs can never be emphasized enough.

The covid-19 pandemic, climate change and the current drought in the Western Cape and country has a negative impact on our municipality. This manifests in several ways, including unemployment and poverty, making it difficult for many residents to pay for municipal services. We are proudly pro-poor and endeavour to accommodate the poorest in our communities without risking the financial sustainability of our municipal area. To support the struggling economy, Council has resolved to undertake in-house capital projects based on labour intensive practices, in order to create temporary jobs during these difficult times.

We also focus on the economic and social development of our community, especially the creation of an enabling environment for economic growth. Good municipal infrastructure, service delivery and clean governance are pre-requisites to attracting investment and development within our municipal area. Our capital development programme reflects our commitment to infrastructure development and service delivery and we place a strong emphasis on good governance, especially financial management, performance management and compliance with laws and regulations.

We are pleased with our audit outcomes of the past five years, where we obtained three (3) clean audits and two unqualified audits (with matters) outcomes, and we need to maintain and improve on these achievements. I am of the opinion that service delivery should not be compromised for clean audits, excellent service delivery should be a result of clean audits.

Prince Albert Municipality is not immune to challenges, vandalism and theft is unfortunately also a growing problem in parts of the municipal area and is costing the Municipality a substantial amount annually. The time has come for a major educational drive to address this problem and to convince communities that vandalism is to their own detriment.

Prince Albert Municipality was one of the lucky beneficiaries of the Regional Socio Economic Programme (RSEP) where the existing Thusong Centre was extended to move the Municipal Buildings closer to the communities as part of Council’s spatial integration initiatives. The first phase of the building is completed. The Finance Department will be the first to move to the new space, followed by the Technical, Corporate and Community Services Departments once the other phases are completed.

The Municipality adopted a Client Service Charter stipulating the agreed service standards and procedures that govern service delivery to the community. I have made a commitment that Prince Albert municipality will adhere to the timeframes that were set in the Client Service Charter and the community must hold this Council and Administration accountable.

Prince Albert’s main economic drivers are tourism and agriculture. The village has many well-preserved Cape Dutch, Karoo and Victorian buildings, thirteen of which are National Monuments. There are several olive farms and other very large export fruit farms in the area, as well as sheep farms, an export mohair trade. Birding, hiking, cycling and stargazing are other pursuits for visitors. The area is well known for its hardy endemic veld plants and botanists from all over the world frequently visit. Visitors can also enjoy excellent dining on fine Karoo lamb and cheese from the local dairy.

Prince Albert is a very peaceful town, especially if you want to escape from the busy life in the city for a quiet get away with the family and re-energise. We can boast with top of the range accommodation for visitors.

I would like to conclude by stating that we will ensure that Prince Albert will hold the status for the Jewel of Karoo.