the Vuna Awards
19 November 2007
Local authorities in Gauteng have been urged to collect rates and taxes owed
to them in order to function as viable entities.
Speaking at the Gauteng Vuna Awards to award municipal excellence on Friday,
16 November 2007, Post Office Chief Executive Officer, Totsie Memela-Khambule,
who is on the fore-front of turning the struggling postal institution into a
viable business entity, said for municipalities to deliver services they should
collect the debt owed to them and take care of its employees.
The City of Johannesburg, West Rand District and Lesedi local municipalities
were the overall winners in the best metro, district and local municipalities
categories respectively.
Each winner was presented with certificate, trophy and a R750 000 cheque to
applaud the good word done in making Gauteng a better place to live.
Memela-Khambule said given the fact that the Post Office management has
managed to turn the institution around, municipalities can do the same.
"We municipalities have to think differently. Most businesses go down
because they do not make business sense and do not take care of its people. It
does not make sense to reinvent the wheel, we must be innovative.
It would be great for municipalities to be innovative and focus on people as
the market place is competitive. It is important to make the organisation work.
Work is our life and without workers we cannot be innovative. Work is not what
you do between 8am and 5pm, but our day-to-day life," said Memela-Khambule.
She said the fact that the Post Office was up to recently not functional and
in shambles because they could not collect their debt.
"Most businesses, private and public, go down not because they do not make
sense. Most of us fail because we do not take care of our people and our
processes are just not good for business. But only if you are making business
sense, you are collecting revenue, you are improving your processes, employing
and improving the right people," she said.
"What had gone wrong at the Post Office was that we could not collect debt.
The golden rule of staying in business is to collect money owed to you. We had
to think differently and our collection rate is 60 days. It would be great for
municipalities to be innovative: focus on the people and make an organisation a
best working place," she added.
Delivering her welcome address, Gauteng Local Government MEC Qedani Dorothy
Mahlangu echoed the sentiments of the Post Office Chief urging municipalities
to use the Vuna Awards successes to recoup the R18 billion debt owed to them by
customers and various entities including government departments and private
sector.
"We must be able to recoup the money owed to us so that we can use it to
better the lives of our people. Local government is about people and we must
make them our priorities by delivering quality services to them at all
times.
Mahlangu further congratulated all the municipalities who took part in the
awards and wished them well in the National Vuna Awards in December.
I hope our municipalities (in Gauteng) will also do us proud in the national
stages because in Gauteng we trend-setters in everything we do and the various
programmes we implement to accelerate service delivery to the people," added
Mahlangu.
The former Minister without Portfolio in the first democratic dispensation
and the chairperson of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) Jay
Naidoo emphasised the role that municipalities should play in ensuring the
fight against hunger and poverty.
He said local authorities can play a critical role in addressing these twin
challenges as they directly work with households on a daily basis.
"We need to begin to think for other people who go to bed every night
without a meal so that we can be able to implement programmes that can also
accommodate them going forward," said Naidoo.
The awards were attended by mayors including Ekurhuleni Mayor and
Salga-Gauteng Chief Executive Officer, Duma Nkosi, City of Tshwane Mayor Dr
Gwen Ramokgopa, West Rand District Mayor, Faith Matshikiza, Lesedi Local
Municipality Mayor Busi Modisakeng, municipal managers, councillors, Cities
Network Chief Executive Officer Mabanga Sithole, Chief JJ Mahlangu and a host
of dignitaries.
The provincial winners will compete nationally on 4 December 2007.
Enquiries:
Themba Sepotokele
Tel: 011 355 5111
Cell: 082 490 9869
Issued by: Department of Local Government, Gauteng Provincial
Government
19 November 2007
