The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Richard Baloyi, today announced that a new Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA) to support service delivery and enhance capacity amongst municipalities is to be established under the Ministry in terms of Chapter 6 of the Public Service Act in December 2011.
Minister Baloyi said this when he opened a two-day consultative conference on accelerating delivery of infrastructure and capacity enhancement for municipalities which is attended by MEC’s, Mayors, Municipal Managers, private sector and civil organisations.
The Consultative Conference is aimed at obtaining further input from all stakeholders within the local government sector and the industry which will shape the work of the new Agency.
The Minister urged the over 500 delegates to move away from talks to chart a way forward to the practical delivery of services to communities.
"I will spend more time on delivery and practical side of things, not just talk about talks which happens in conferences. Turn around must be measurable and time bound. We should avoid movement without impact. We should ensure acceleration of service delivery,” said Minister Baloyi.
Through MISA, the department will be able to accelerate service delivery through five programmes, namely:
- Municipal infrastructure assessment and diagnosis of the challenges with a view to find solutions that are viable and sustainable;
- Provision of municipal infrastructure capacity support;
- Municipal infrastructure implementation support;
- Sector capacity development including internship for unemployed graduates within municipalities;
- Effective monitoring and evaluation.
Minister Baloyi told delegates that MISA will seek to coordinate all initiatives and support provided by government through a range of interventions which include Project Consolidate, Siyenza Manje and various initiatives.
The new Agency will amongst others:
- fast-track service delivery in municipalities including 21 rural districts identified during the recent Cabinet Lekgotla, and
- prioritise the accelerated training of municipal technical officials as well as in-school and out-of-school youth to ensure capacity and sustainability of infrastructure.
Minister Baloyi also said that he would launch a campaign working with universities, professionals and the private sector to build capacity amongst municipalities in order to accelerate delivery.
Enquiries:
Lokile Molefe (Ms)
Senior Manager: Media Liaison
Cell: 072 296 4336
