he City Council of Mbabane, which is responsible for the management
of the capital, is a public service orientated institution. It delivers services to all
residents in the city, including businesses, government ministries and departments, and
private individuals. As such, it is important that service delivery is driven by the
people served and that customer services in all relations, both internally and externally,
is entrenched into the value system.
All policy decisions are made by a council comprising twelve people
elected by the citizens of Mbabane and four appointed by the Minister of Housing and Urban
Development. The mayor is elected by the councillors by secret ballot. Their term of
office is normally three years.
A management team, lead by the City Manager/Chief Executive Officer,
carries out the day to day implementation of set policies and advises council. The City
Council has a staff complement of 329 people working in seven departments: Chief
Executive’s Office, Finance, City Secretary, Planning and Community Development,
Human Resources, Environmental Health Services and Public Works.
The council reports to the citizens on the policies, programmes and
projects drawn up for each year or term of office. This is done through community and
constituency meetings, the press and other channels. The Mayor makes public statements and
responds to questions and policy requests by the public while the City Manager advises on
administration and implementation issues.
Mission Statement:
The City council of Mbabane is to provide quality services and good governance for all
citizens and ensure an attractive, low crime and clean city.
Five Year Vision:
The City of Mbabane will be the preferred destination in Africa
The City Council of Mbabane has formulated a strategic plan to
guide its operations up to 2002. The document articulates the city’s vision, the City
Council’s mission and maps out the plan of action and key milestones and target dates
for delivering the identified strategic directions. This is a product of extensive
consultation with all stakeholders and direct interaction between representatives of the
different stakeholders: residents, businesses, City Council employees and government. Four
strategic directions have been identified in an effort to meet the mission statement:
To broaden sources of revenue in order to increase total revenue
without overburdening any source;
To ensure the timely passage of the 1995 Urban Government Bill;
To reduce crime by at least 20% from 1998 levels by 2002;
To institute quality customer service in all relations, both internally
and externally.
The implementation of the action plans will be integrated into current
City Council structures. procedures and budgets.
The Council will appoint a committee to coordinate a comprehensive
lobbying campaign for the required new legislation on the Urban Government Bill, municipal
police and courts, and the cost sharing formula (CSF). This committee also liaises with
other municipalities in its lobbying efforts.
All other aspects of the action plan will be coordinated through the
departments that would normally be responsible for the various activities and they will
become the priority of the departments concerned, always being reported on first.
Performance appraisals will be based on progress of the action plans.
In another development, a Structure Plan, which was approved in February 1998, is in
place to guide the development of Mbabane up to 2008. This highlights the city’s
strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) and identifies that the main
development potential is in the tourism and commercial sectors. This is emphasised in both
the mission and vision statements.
