Gaborone City Council

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Gaborone City Council
Leadership
Mayor
Austin Abraham, BDP
since June 2022
Deputy Mayor
Oduetse Tautona, BDP
since June 2022
City Clerk
Structure
Seats30
Political groups
  •   Botswana Democratic Party (27)
  •   Umbrella for Democratic Change (3)
Committees
  • The Finance and general purposes committee
  • The Public health, Social Welfare and Housing Committee
  • The Self-Help Housing Agency (SHAA) management committee
  • The Town planning committee
  • The Trade licensing committee
  • The Education committee
  • The Motions committee
Elections
First-past-the-post
Last election
23 October 2019
Next election
By October 2024
Motto
Kgetsi ya tsie e kgonwa ke go tshwaraganelwa
Website
Gaborone City Council

The Gaborone City Council is the governing body of the city of Gaborone, Botswana. In terms of generated revenue, it is the wealthiest council in Botswana.[1] It is composed of 30 councillors representing the wards of Gaborone.

Structure[edit]

The Townships Act mandates the structure of local governments in Botswana. Because Botswana is a unitary state, the power of the local councils are delegated from the national level. The Ministry of Local Government, Land and Housing has a major influence in terms of personnel hiring and training, budgeting, and development planning.[2] Haskins Nkaigwa, mayor of Gaborone from 2011, has stressed the importance of more local autonomy. He advocates for a stronger city council with the power to determine budgets and hire and fire clerks and officers.[3]

Administration[edit]

The city clerk runs the Gaborone City Council and is head of the Chief Officers Management Team (COMT). The city clerk has various advisory committees and secretaries to aid with the job; these helping positions include the deputy clerk, the secretariat, the head of the treasury, the Self-Help Housing Agency, and the departments of engineering, health, fire, education, social and community development, building and architecture,[4] and an HIV/AIDS co-ordinator.[5]

The Gaborone City Council is in charge of providing services like sewage management[6] and street lighting[7] to its citizens, but the council depends on parastatals like the Water Utilities Corporation and the Botswana Power Corporation to supply the water and electricity respectively.[7] The GCC is also responsible for running public health clinics where the cost is less than one United States dollar.[8] The city council runs all the public schools in Gaborone, providing free education and free meals to students.[9]

Committees[edit]

The Gaborone City Council has seven committees:

  • The Finance and general purposes committee
  • The Public health, social welfare and housing committee
  • The Self-Help Housing Agency (SHAA) management committee
  • The Town planning committee
  • The Trade licensing committee
  • The Education committee
  • The Motions committee

The mayor and deputy mayor head the finance committee, making it the most important committee.[10] In all the committees, the mayor is also an ex officio member. The committees meet once a month.[11]

Elections[edit]

Elections to elect the city councillors are held around the same time as national elections. The most recent one occurred in 2009. The elections are administered by the Gaborone District Independent Electoral Commission. The mayor of Gaborone is elected yearly by the 35 councillors in a first-past-the-post system. Candidates are limited the councillors themselves. Like the mayor, the members of the committees are elected yearly by the 35 councillors from among the councillors. Since the citizens of Gaborone do not elect the committee members or the mayor directly, they rarely know who the candidates are until after the mayor is selected. This has led to unaccountability on the mayors part towards the electorate.[12]

Budget[edit]

An income tax called the Local Government Tax used to be the main source of income of the city council, but it was abolished.[13] Sixty percent of the city's budget comes from national government grants.[14] City councillors feel that because of recurrent obligations, they have little room to institute new solutions.[15] Every quarter, the GCC prepares financial reports for the national government.[16] The city council has a history of mishandling funds. In the third quarter of the 2011 fiscal year, the GCC withheld 6 million Botswana pula (US$756,000 as of June 2012) from private contractors. The funds were instead used to purchase trash compactors. The council has problems with collecting income as well; instead of receiving the forecasted P447,920 (US$56,500 as of June 2012) from parking fees, it only collected P3,300 (US$415 as of June 2012).[17]

Composition[edit]

Current number of councillors in Gaborone
Affiliation Members
Botswana Democratic Party (BDP)
15
Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD)
11
Botswana Congress Party (BCP)
8
Botswana National Front (BNF)
1
Total
35
Source: Mmegi[18]

2012 Mayoral election result[edit]

The 2012 election for mayor of Gaborone was contested when a councillor on the Gaborone City Council cut his ballot in half to vote twice.[19] When counting the votes on 15 May 2012, Agnes Seragi, the Gaborone City Clerk and presiding officer over the elections, realised that there were 36 ballot papers, one more ballot paper than the total number of councillors. Councillor Moloko accused Councillor Kwapa of cutting his ballot in half and putting two votes into the ballot box. Councillor Taunyane supported the accusation, noting that one of the ballot papers is indeed cut in half. As a result, the count was voided, and a new election followed immediately where Councillor Haskins Nkaigwa became mayor and Councillor Florence Shagwa became deputy mayor.[19]

List of mayors[edit]

Image Mayor Years of office Political party
Derek Jones 1966–1968 Independent
Grace Dambe 1968–1969 Botswana Democratic Party
Wellie Seboni 1969–1974 Botswana Democratic Party
Rosinah Mannathoko (first term) 1974–1976 Botswana Democratic Party
Clement Oliphant 1977 Botswana Democratic Party
Rosinah Mannathoko (second term) 1978 Botswana Democratic Party
Pelotelele Tlhaodi 1979 Botswana Democratic Party
Serara Ketlogetswe 1979–1984 Botswana Democratic Party
Botshabelo Bagwasi 1984 Botswana National Front
Paul Rantao 1984–1994 Botswana National Front
Ginger Ernest 1994 Botswana National Front
Nelson Ramaotwana 1999–2004 Botswana National Front
Harry Mothei 2004–2009 Botswana National Front
Veronica Lesole 2009–2011 Botswana Democratic Party
Haskins Nkaigwa 2011–2019 Botswana Movement for Democracy
Thata Father Maphongo 2019– Botswana Democratic Party
Source: Botswana Guardian[20]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Nengwekhulu 1996, p. 99.
  2. ^ Wunsch 1998, p. 34.
  3. ^ Keoreng 2011.
  4. ^ Lekorwe 1998, p. 79.
  5. ^ Pharoah 2005, pp. 50, 51.
  6. ^ Simon & Khupe 1996.
  7. ^ a b Maundeni 2004, p. 21.
  8. ^ Mosha 2010, p. 24.
  9. ^ Mosha 2010, p. 25.
  10. ^ Lekorwe 1998, p. 77–78.
  11. ^ Wunsch 1998, p. 37.
  12. ^ Maundeni 2004, p. 31–32.
  13. ^ Wunsch 1998, p. 33.
  14. ^ Mosha 2010, p. 19.
  15. ^ Wunsch 1998, p. 35.
  16. ^ Mosha 2010, p. 29.
  17. ^ Letsididi 2012.
  18. ^ Keoreng 2012a.
  19. ^ a b c d Keoreng 2012b.
  20. ^ Ramadubu 2011.

References[edit]

  • Keoreng, Ephraim (5 October 2011). "New Gaborone Mayor seeks power to hire and fire". Mmegi Online. Gaborone. Dikgang Publishing Company. Archived from the original on 4 November 2011. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  • Keoreng, Ephraim (14 May 2012a). "GCC to retain Mayor, deputy". Mmegi Online. Gaborone. Dikgang Publishing Company. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  • Keoreng, Ephraim (16 May 2012b). "Fraud allegations in GCC elections". Mmegi Online. Gaborone. Dikgang Publishing Company. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  • Lekorwe, Mogopodi (1998). "The politics of urban governance and management in Gaborone" (PDF). Pula: Botswana Journal of African Studies. 12. Gaborone: 69–84. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  • Letsididi, Bashi (19 March 2012). "Gaborone City Council finances in a mess". Sunday Standard. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  • Maundeni, Zibani (June 2004). "Mapping Local Democracy in Gaborone City" (PDF). Gaborone: Botswana Association of Local Authorities. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  • Mosha, Alosyus (2010). Challenges of Municipal Finance in Africa: With Special Reference to Gaborone City, Botswana. The Human Settlements Finance Systems. Nairobi: United Nations Human Settlements Programme 2009. ISBN 9789211321982. Retrieved 20 June 2012.
  • Nengwekhulu, Ranwedzi (1 April 1996). "Chapter Five: The Structure and Membership of the Council" (PDF). An evaluation of the nature and role of local government in post colonial Botswana (PhD thesis). Pretoria: University of Pretoria School of Public Management and Administration. pp. 98–124. etd-09222008-160653. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  • Pharoah, Robyn (2005). "Chapter 4 - Case study 1: Local councils in Botswana". Not Business as Usual: Public Sector Responses to HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa (PDF). Institute for Security Studies. pp. 33–56. ISBN 978-1919913810. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 June 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  • Ramadubu, Dikarabo (10 July 2011). "New Mayor; old problems". Botswana Guardian. Gaborone. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  • Simon, John; Khupe, Ntebogang (1996). "Water Supply, Sewerage and Waste Management for Gaborone, Botswana". Ambio: A Journal of the Human Environment. 25 (2). Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences: 134–137. JSTOR 4314439.
  • Wunsch, James S. (1998). "Decentralization, Local Governance and the Democratic Transition in Southern Africa: A Comparative Analysis" (PDF). African Studies Quarterly. 2 (1). Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Center for African Studies: 19–45. ISSN 2152-2448. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 December 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

External links[edit]

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