New Executive Mayor loves people and Matjhabeng

The love for people and Matjhabeng is what the new Executive Mayor has in abundance. He is also an avid reader of leadership books; obsessed with perfection and is a good listener who pays attention to detail. He also has a phobia for failure hence it has no room in his vocabulary.

Newly elected Executive Mayor Thanduxolo David Khalipha (58) is a family man, married with two Children and has been a Thabong resident for nearly forty years. Thanduxolo means the lover of peace and he also possesses the strong qualities of his namesake David in the Bible. David is a strong but unassuming shepherd who became God’s choice to replace Saul as king of Israel.

Throughout his political career he attributes his leadership style to that of King Moshoeshe and Che Guevara. Both leaders he says had abundance of love for their people and led by example. “King Moshoeshoe was groomed well and his mentor and advisor Prophet and Chief Mohlomi taught him that among other things he had to love his people and know them. He was alluding to the importance of appreciating that all individuals are different and necessarily need to be treated as such.

As far as Mohlomi was concerned, this appreciation was fundamental in establishing true justice and a strong united nation”, said Khalipha adding that in his democratic leadership, King Moshoeshoe used a consultative approach in decision making. He formed his government with a number of elected people and senior councillors were regularly called to advise him at Khotla. “Following this general meeting (Khotla), there would be a public gathering called Pitso to discuss matters of Governance with the citizens. Moshoeshoe allowed the people to criticise him and advise him. In this way citizens felt part of the decisions that were made”, he said.

Executive Mayor Khalipha is also a fan of Ernesto “Che” Guevara, a Cuban-Argentinian Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist, whose quote resonates well with him: “What is the most important quality for a revolutionary to possess? Love. Let me tell you something at the risk of sounding ridiculous. A true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love. Love of humanity, of justice, and truth. It is impossible to conceive of an authentic revolutionary without this quality.”

He believes that his love for the people and the municipality is what motivated him to want to lead Matjhabeng to greater heights and the same love will carry him through difficult times.

With reverberating messages of support across the region and province pouring for him, key to his strategy is to accumulate lots of investments to the municipality thus creating job opportunities to be allocated to all the citizens irrespective of colour or religion feeding to his vision to make Matjhabeng (where nations meet) great again.

To spare the municipality from the financial ruin, Executive Mayor mooted a financial security plan to whisk the expenditure in a fortress called ring-fence with virtually impenetrable frontiers. Following the safely marooning of the public purse, priority projects to address sewage spillage, refuse collection backlogs and illegal dumping sites, fixing streetlights, patching potholes and servicing Sedibeng Water and Eskom’s accounts are receiving uninterrupted attention.

Executive Mayor Khalipha is hailed as a shrewd leader with remarkable political leadership skills and possess a diplomatic ace which enables him to have good relations with many individuals and stakeholders in the municipality.

He acknowledges that there is crucial role that must be played by the minority groups during his term of office as their variety of skills, among others are needed to transform the new Matjhabeng Local Municipality. As a result, he has criss-crossed the municipality’s wards meeting all the stakeholders to contribute their expertise and ideas.

A workhorse who leads by example, Executive Mayor Khalipha who is also the Local Election Task team head, is responsible for helping the ANC retain 28 seats in the Matjhabeng Council, a feat inconceivable owing to multitude of challenges the ruling party faced in the last term of office ranging from poor service delivery, water and electricity shortage.

Affectionately known by his clan name Mpevu, his political history began in the late 80s following the unbanning of the African National Congress and the release of former President Nelson Mandela. He was instrumental in the reformation of the ANC structures in Thabong and the Northern Free State region respectively.

 

LEADERSHIP ROLES

FREELOGA: PEC Member in 1996; SALGA Free State: Deputy Chairperson (2004–2006); SALGA Free State: PEC Member (2011–2019); SALGA National Working Group on Water & Sanitation: Chairperson of the Working Group (2006– 2011); ANC REC – former Goldfields Region: Head of Organising (1993–2000); ANC FS PEC. ANC Alfred Nzo Branch (Matjhabeng): Chairperson (2008–2018); PEC Member: (2000–2004); ANC REC– Lejweleputswa Region: Regional Chairperson (2004–2007); ANC FS PEC: Head of Organising: 2017 to date. Thabong Civic Organisation: Organiser (1991–1994). ANC Youth League (Thabong Branch); Organiser (1991–1993).

 

AWARDS

• Sol Plaatjie Award for 2010: Conferred to Alfred Nzo Branch on January 8th 2011.
• Department of Home Affairs, ID Campaign: Best forming District in 2010 (Lejweleputswa).

“I have big plans for this municipality hence I took the challenge of taking it out of the worst- run municipalities in the country to one of the best-run. It’s possible as we are going to depoliticise and professionalise the institution. We are going to achieve this as a collective. God bless Matjhabeng and its people”, he concluded.