Good Afternoon Speaker, Deputy-Mayor, Councillors, Municipal Manager, Directors, Staff of TWK and Community members present.
A very warm welcome back in 2024 to you all.
Allow me please the pleasure of wishing you all a Happy New Year. May 2024 be all what you hope for it to be as it unfolds.
May I, once again, convey our heartfelt condolences to everyone that has lost a loved one, in 2023. One of which was our Mayor Kallie Papier. Lets not forget them, as their legacy’s will continue to be beacon’s of hope standing tall in our history.
TWK and its people will remember all they have done, as we continue to forge ahead with our own legacy’s that we are building day by day.
This year, 2024, will prove to be a very interesting year. Not only for TWK, but for this Province, and the Country as a whole.
2024, is a year full of promise for a better life for our people, but you bet, it will bring heartaches as well.
I know, for a fact, that our current Coalition in TWK, will do very well, if we survive this year. This current bi-election, that we are in, is a contestation that is being fought, as a fierce battle. It will leave scars on our party’s that might proof to be difficult to overcome as a Coalition. A situation that will be intensified as the National and Provincial election will unfold, and deliver its results at the end.
One thing I know, for a fact, Patriotic Alliance will win some seats. However big the number would be insignificant, because we are at zero. Any number would be a good number for us.
I also know, for a fact the 2024 National and Provincial Election will deliver Casualties as well. Some party’s numbers will go down. Some party”s will lose seats, seats of who’s inhabitants, might end up in their party’s council seats, where ever they have seats in councils.
As one of the National leaders of my party, the Patriotic Alliance, I am quite certain that I will end up going to parliament during this year.
So my time on this council is running out, I am pretty sure that it is good news to some of you. Especially some of our coalition partners will see this as good news.
We, as a council, will surely undergo some changes. We most propably will see new faces coming in. We will face challenges that might end up breaking us apart, and its probably the nature of the beast called politics, that as the wheel keep on turning and things progress, battles intensify but in the end, things will end up as God wants it to be. He is ultimately the ruler of Heaven and Earth, therefore, rest assured, whatever happens, it will end up being Gods will.
We as TWK, will not be immune to these political battles unfolding as it is. We can only hope and pray that the scars that it will leave, is of such that our people, the poorest of them, dont have to bear the brunt of our aspirations as we sit here.
We inherited an administration that at times have proven to be challenging as well, and will propably remain challenging, but, under all of these circumstances we remained in control. We could and have delivered services to our people. I am however certain that we could have done a better job. We must do better going forward. We cannot be happy with compliance only, and are not bothered with going the extra mile for our people. As your Mayor, for however long it will be, I do not know, but I will not hold back to ensure that we do better in service delivery. I know we can do better, and that I will work hard for.
Me, Mary Liebenberg, have always been known as a fierce politician that do not compromise when it comes to my people and especially when it comes to women and women’s rights. I will remain as fierce as ever, I will remain the Lioness that will fight back, that will fight hard, but what I must admit, is that my time thus far in TWK as your Mayor, has open my eyes to quite a number of things. I have learned here that amongst all the difficulties that one faces day by day, there are some of you that one can depend upon. Some that have shown to actually be of great support even though they are not in your camp as it were. Please hear me, I see you, and I appreciate you. Those of you, who think for one minute, that your ambitions, and your guts to try and take me and my party on, let me remind you, Ons Baiza nie. You will get the fight of your life. If its a war you want, it is a WAR you will get. Prepare yourself for a battle of your life. One you will loose. That is not a threat, its a promise. Because, we as the PA, we fight for the future of our children, and on that, we do not compromise.
I pray that we as political leaders, all of us survive this year. Let me thus, not bother you any further with political rhetoric and prophetic words of what the future will bring.
Lets rather be realistic and get on with our daily task in providing leadership to our people and get them the best services that we as a municpality can offer.
To the people of TWK I wish to promise that we will continue to put God first in everything we do. We will continue to do the best we can in bringing the services to you that you deserve.
I, Mary Liebenberg, your Mayor will continue to stand with you as Cement Vas as ever, to ensure that TWK will remain the beacon of light in a dark tunnel of today.
May we as a team grow closer and work harder together for as long as we can.
The Patriotic Alliance will always stand on the side of our people. I will always stand by our people.
Allow me to wish all a Prosperous 2024.
May God be with us threw this year.
I Thank you
Salute
Mary Liebenberg
Executive Mayor of Theewaterskloof