delivery
11 December 2006
This year marks the 3rd anniversary of the Municipal Performance Excellence
Awards, better known as the Vuna Awards. Established in 2003, these awards are
an incentive for municipalities to monitor and improve their performance. They
seek to recognise and reward those municipalities which have gone an extra mile
in delivering services to communities and play an active role in local economic
development.
The Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG), in partnership
with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), the National
Productivity Institute (NPI) and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)
initiated the Vuna Awards to also promote creativity and innovation in
municipal service delivery.
All municipalities are eligible to compete in the three Vuna Awards
categories namely A, B, and C which covers the Metropolitan Municipalities,
local municipalities and Districts municipalities respectively. Participation
is voluntary and at the discretion of the municipal council. A total of 123
municipalities entered this year's competition.
The first leg of the competition took place at the provincial Vuna Awards
ceremonies, which were held throughout the country in November 2006. This
process produced nine winners out of 91 local municipalities and seven winners
out the 27 district municipalities who entered the competition. The winners
each received R750 000. Metropolitan Municipalities are exempted from
participating at a provincial level as they are not evenly spread throughout
the country.
The overall provincial winners together with the Metropolitan Municipalities
will meet on the national leg of the competition to be held on 12 December
2006. Winners in each of the three categories, will receive R2 million to be
used to enhance service delivery in their respective localities.
The criteria for the Vuna Awards are derived from the Municipal Planning and
Performance Management Regulations, issued by DPLG in 2001. These are:
* infrastructure development and service delivery
* local economic development
* municipal transformation and institutional development
* municipal financial viability
* good governance.
The Minister for Provincial and Local Government, Sydney Mufamadi, will
announce the winners on Tuesday, 12 December 2006, at the Sandton Convention
Centre. The event will start at 18h00 for 18h30 and members of the media are
invited to attend.
Enquires:
Zandi Ratshitanga
Tel: (012) 334 0993
Cell: 082 460 2041
Issued by: Department of Provincial and Local Government
11 December 2006
