EMAKHAZENI LOCAL MUNICIPALITY

 Speaker Clr.Thomas Diphepheng Ngwenya

I was born on the 16 December 1968 at De Suikerboschkop farm ward 2 in Belfast, which is currently owned by Councillor JJ Stevens, the ward councillor for Ward 8. My family, including my grandparents, enjoyed residential, grazing and cropping rights until they passed on, when they were buried on the farm. My family’s relationship with successive De Suikerboschkop farm owners makes me an associate of the labour tenants as provided for by the amended Labour Tenant Act 3 of 1996.

I attended Zenzeleni High School at Dindela in Nebo, in Limpopo Province, but due to my political work with the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), I was refused permission to complete my matric there, forcing me to relocate to my home in Belfast.  I matriculated with exemption from Khayalami Secondary School in Siyathuthuka in 1989, after which I studied for a B. Proc at the University of Zululand for two years, but due to financial constraints, I was financially excluded and so could not complete this degree; though I’m currently planning to study towards an LLB degree. I am married and have 4 children.

While I worked for two years as an educator at Khayalami Secondary School, my career has primarily focussed on land and labour rights. I worked for ten years with a civil society organisation called The Rural Action Committee of Mpumalanga Province (TRAC-MP), starting out as a fieldworker and working my way up until I was appointed Director in 2008. During this time I provided paralegal and legal services to vulnerable farm dwellers and labour tenants throughout Mpumalanga on a pro bono basis. I also managed the work of attorneys for the Mpumalanga Land Legal Cluster (MLLC) and the Centre for Community Law Development from the University of Potchefstroom. In addition, I worked as a provincial organiser for one of COSATU’s affiliates, the Food and Allied Workers Union, where I gained extensive experience in labour law, conflict management, grievance procedure and negotiations; representing workers at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) as well as in collective bargaining.

My experience and knowledge of land and labour law are extremely useful in my current position as councillor for Emakhazeni’s ward 2 and Speaker of the Emakhazeni Local Municipality. In addition, the fact that I held both these positions before, from January 2000 to end February 2006, means I have the necessary experience and insight to help realise the ELM’s vision of Emakhazeni being ‘A secure environment with sustainable development to promote service excellence, unity and community participation resulting in a caring society’ and to further the ELM’s motto of ‘Kumnyama Kubomvu Siyanqoba’ meaning ‘when we join hands and work together, we will succeed”.

My work over the next five years will be focused on helping implement the mandate of local government as set out in the 2011 manifesto of the African National Congress, which has identified a number of key priority areas, namely:

• Building local economies to create more employment, decent work, and sustainable livelihoods.
• Improved local public services and broader access to them.
• Building more united, non racial, integrated and safer communities.
• Promoting more active community participation in local government.
• Ensuring more effective, accountable and clean local government that works together with the national and provincial government.