Polokwane Municipality

Polokwane Municipality is the heart of Limpopo, the Local Council of Capricorn District Municipality. Polokwane Municipality accounts for 3% of the total surface area of Limpopo; however, over 10% of the population of Limpopo resides within its boundaries. The Municipality serves as the hub of Limpopo and has the highest population density in the Capricorn District. In terms of its physical composition Polokwane Municipality is 23% urbanised and 71% rural. The largest sector of the community within the municipality resides in rural tribal villages, followed by urban settlements. The Council joined the COE process in 2012 May. Before the Council joined the COE process there was no clear agenda as to how the4 gender mainstreaming would take place in the council, the programmes also lacked a sense of ownership and understanding of g3ender issues in the council. Capacity training and understanding why gender issue were key within the institution was also a major issue. The COE process assisted the Council to understand that gender mainstreaming was not only an issue that was meant to be confined to the Special Focus Unit, but also needed the overall involvement of the programmes and institution. The Council has also managed to formulate a draft gender policy which will be adopted by the Council, before the COE process in the council there was no clear indication of a gender policy being developed and implemented. The council has done relatively well in terms of the COE process and have finished all of the COE stages including the stage 6 Commitment Pledge Ceremony. The guidance and assistance offered to the Council by Capricorn District Municipality was also very vital to the Council. We have made progress with the COE process but we still have room for improvement, the council has displayed enormous commitment to the COE process also the manner in which they have approached the COE process has demonstrated their commitment. The Council now is able to advocate for the COE process and the Principals understand it and have adopted it. However the challenges have been resolved to a certain extent the gender champion who was lobbying for the COE process was capacitated in terms of gender mainstreaming through the COE workshop conducted by Gender Links. A fair number of staff from the different units were also invited to attend the workshop; the key issue was also making the principals understand the importance of gender mainstreaming and the COE process. The Executive Mayor also ensured that the issue of gender was also addressed in council meetings and IDP consultative meetings and also ensuring that staff attendance is encouraged across the various events which were hosted to raise issues of Gender Based Violence and also gender awareness. The Council has also started to ensure that gender mainstreaming does not only occur through awareness events but also to ensure that there is enough capacity building and also assessing the training opportunities offered to women and men. There has been visible change within the Council since the implementation

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