MOSSEL BAY NEWS- A legend in Mossel Bay, the manager of the Thusong Centre in Adriaans Avenue, has resigned after 10 years of dedicated service.

Dr Nomboniso Nomzimasi Jika, or better known as Nomzi, started her career as a substitute teacher at Sisonke Secondary School in Kariega (Uitenhage). She worked there from 1998 to 1999.

After her teaching stint, she joined the police and served as a police sergeant until 2013. 

During this time, she also served as a communications officer for the KwaNonqaba Police.
She was then recruited by the Mossel Bay Municipality to manage the Thusong Service Programme under Local Government.

During her tenure, she received the Thusong Best Manager award in South Africa in 2019.
In the same awards ceremony, she was first runner-up for Thusong partnerships and first runner-up for Thusong outreaches. She also received the 100% Thusong Performance Award for five consecutive years. Jika is known for her passionate work in the community.

"The centre is unique as it hosts several entrepreneurs, making it a six-block model that caters to economic development projects.

"The centre established a sewing project to address unemployment," she said.
According to Jika, her major challenges were load-shedding, followed by break-ins. Her most significant achievement was successfully busing in rural clients for ten years to the Thusong Centre with the assistance of established partnerships. 

These are the clients who cannot access services due to financial constraints. The outreach efforts of the Thusong Centre managed to serve more than 10 000 clients in each outreach.

"The most satisfying part of my job is when clients leave with a smile, testifying of the excellent service they received, and being able to resolve international Home Affairs enquiries as a team."

"My final message to the community is that I loved serving it, cared for it and ensured, where possible, that problems were resolved.

"We worked as a team to better everyone's lives, and though we couldn't always find a solution, we continuously strove for better service excellence. To all of you, as I always say #ndiyanithanda, I will continue loving you. 

Please respect and support my successor and take ownership of the Thusong Centre," Jika concluded.

Jika told Mossel Bay Advertiser that she cannot sit still and will continue working to uplift the community. 

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