The meeting of the Minister for the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Lechesa Tsenoli, and all MECs for local government got underway this morning in Attridgeville Townships where the team visited community projects in the area. Ahead of the historical meeting, Minister Tsenoli said he was looking forward to a robust discussion with the MECs where various pertinent local government issues would be tabled for discussion and resolution.
Minister said high on the agenda would be the initiatives that provinces would be implementing to ensure that municipal audit outcomes improve significantly. In this regard Minister Tsenoli said: “the Department of Cooperative Governance has identified 107 municipalities where over 70 skilled professionals and 25 companies have been deployed to address matters that lead to inability for municipalities to spend their budgets”.
One of the innovative ways that the Department of Cooperative Governance will explore to help local government improve their audit opinions is the use of information communication technology (ICT) and fast-track access to broadband as it is central to the functioning of municipalities. Minister said it was significant that high-level meetings take place among the people so that local government leadership at all levels is able to see progress made in reversing the apartheid spatial planning.
The cabinet has recently approved the discussion document for the integrated urban development framework which will pave the way for a national framework. The minister was impressed by the mixed housing development programme, he visited in Pretoria, which seeks to integrate low and middle class households closer to economic hubs.
He said over the years urban municipalities have experienced a spike in urbanisation where people migrate from rural areas to cities and put pressure on municipal services. The national framework will standardise municipal planning for urban municipalities to respond to urbanisation demands better.
