August 28, 2003
By Thomas Thale
KENNY FIHLA, a member of the Mayoral Committee responsible for finance, strategy and economic development, has resigned from the council to take up the position of CEO at Business Against Crime. He will leave the city at the end of August.
Fihla has been a key figure in council, steering the city through the transformation process from the late 1990s. As chairperson of the Transformation Lekgotla, he played a key role in the restructuring of city management and in the process of corporatising city entities.
With Fihla at the helm, the city has recovered from the financial woes it faced in the late 1990s to record a healthy surplus for three successive years.
Fihla has also been instrumental in efforts to overhaul the city's billing system, to improve revenue collection and in developing a new strategy to regulate informal traders.
He also played a major role in developing the city's Operation Clean Audit, an ambitious city project to obtain an unqualified audit report by the 2004/5 financial year.
Fihla's involvement in council affairs dates back to 1995 when he served as the Deputy Chairperson of the Executive Committee.
Amos Masondo, Executive Mayor of the City, expressed his sadness at the departure of Councillor Fihla. "His sterling performance has lead to an improved credit rating for the city," Masondo said. Fihla's predecessor will be appointed in due course, Masondo said.
