The department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, under the leadership of MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube, today, 23 December 2013, convened a Strategic Planning Session, in Durban, aimed at enhancing the department’s ability to deliver on its mandate of Service Delivery.
The session was addressed by the MEC Dube-Ncube, and in her address, she called upon the management to be innovative in how they handle challenges that face local government and traditional leadership in the province. 'The local government environment is changing at a rapid pace, and this requires a new kind of thinking and leadership, which views every problem as an opportunity to be creative in order to succeed in our aim of creating a new society,' said Dube-Ncube.
One of the key issues that local government is still grappling with, is the issue of urbanisation, in which we find citizens relocating to urban areas, where there is more job opportunities. This has a negative impact on many urban areas, as immense strain is put on the infrastructure in these areas. This according to Dube-Ncube, clearly indicates that as a department we have our work cut out, as citizens are rightfully expecting us to lead from the front in order to ensure that sufficient infrastructure is built in local government.
The daylong session, will also review the department’s performance over the past five years, and pay careful attention to issues like;
- Capacity building,
- Accountability
- Fighting corruption
- Accessibility of services by communities
- Improvement of municipal finances
- The implementation of the Expended Public Works Programme and Community Works Programme.
