By Nangamso Mabindla
7 November 2006

ALL 5 000 municipal staff members must work together to deliver services to customers.

This is the word from newly installed Buffalo City municipal manager Gaster Sharpley, who took office on Wednesday, 1 November. He addressed staff about their role in the City's efforts to return the area to its glory days as one of the best municipalities in the country.

"I know it's going to take a while to get back to our former glory days of winning the coveted provincial and national Vuna Awards and a clean bill of health from the Auditor-General," he said. "However, I am determined that with the staff's help we will be back to that national pride that the city achieved."

Sharpley took up his new position after serving as the chief executive of the Buffalo City Development Agency. Prior to that he was a businessman and a councillor in Mthatha. He is no stranger to development and some of the areas he said he would like to focus on included improving customer care, instilling organisational values and bringing in investment into the city.

"We are in an environment that must cater for a diverse customer base [where customers] have different needs and expectations, with the majority needing the most, yet having a low revenue base," he said. "If we understand this and accept these challenges we will be able to address them but if we consider them too big we will fail."

For the City successfully to attend to the needs of communities, especially the poor, officials needed to work closely with councillors as they were the voices of the community in the City council.

Looking at his immediate goals, Sharpley said to staff that he aimed to create an organisational culture that allowed the municipality to focus on the job and an appreciation and acceptance of the environment that staff worked in through the effective use of resources.

"Another goal would be sensitivity to the community and their needs, because they are our customers. Another area is the increasing of our revenue base in order to address the shortfalls we are experiencing."

To show his commitment to the needs and concerns of residents Sharpley, on his first day in office, joined the two-week long mayoral imbizo. Its objective is to provide a platform for residents to take part in developmental local government and to participate in the City Development Strategy, a 20-year vision aimed at boosting the Buffalo City economy.

Executive Mayor Zintle Peter said that attending the imbizo showed that Sharpley was committed to ensuring service delivery to the city's residents.

"He told me that he needed to be part of these imbizos so that he could also introduce himself to the people of Buffalo City."