The Mpumalanga Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs held a three day Local Government Indaba in Nelspruit which dealt with issues that have to do with the effective functioning of municipalities. The indaba was attended by national, provincial and local government, the institution of traditional leaders, organised labour, state owned enterprises, civic organisations and non-governmental organisations.
Amongst other issues, the indaba looked at the role of local government in a developmental state, state of local government in the province, financial viability and management, service delivery provision and infrastructure, municipal transformation and institutional capacity, local economic development, integrated development planning, deepening local participatory democracy and the implementation of good governance and combating corruption.
On these matters the indaba resolved the following:
- That municipalities are still a vital cog in the developmental state machinery
- That all departments, state owned enterprises and government employees to pay all their outstanding municipal accounts immediately and that the each municipality will craft and implement a programme of debt management and revenue enhancement
- To strengthen the project management units in all municipalities and provide technical support through the district rapid response units and provincial rapid response support unit to facilitate, coordinate, monitor, evaluate and streamline all support initiatives aimed at local government
- To provide adequate support in finalisation of Integrated Infrastructure Plans aligned to provincial infrastructure master plans, asset register and asset management plan
- To fill all critical funded vacant positions with suitable and appropriate qualified individuals within three months from today
- To speed up the implementation of the local economic development Strategies in line with the Mpumalanga Provincial GrowthPath
- That in 2011 all municipalities Integrated Development Plans must be credible, improved involvement of sector departments and deployment of officials at the appropriate levels and ensure targeted support
- To immediately re-launch all ward committees and other local forum, ably supported by capacitatedand resourced CDW’s, Traditional Councils and Ward Committees and
- Reaffirmed zero tolerance to any form of corruption and those involved irrespective of their positions and status, will be brought to book through a due process.
At the close of the Indaba MEC Madala Masuku re-signed the service delivery agreement of Outcome 9: A Responsive Accountable, Effective and Efficient Local Government System, with all the new Executive Mayors, as their commitment to the delivery agreements signed by their predecessors in October 2010. This reflects the commitment of the new Executive Mayors to working together with government to undertake activities effectively and on time to produce the mutually agreed upon outputs which will in turn contribute to achieving the outcome.
Enquiries:
Simphiwe Kunene
Cell: 082 413 3931
