24 November 2006
Moses Kotane Local Municipality has again emerged as the overall winner of
this year's North West Provincial Vuna Awards. The municipality was voted the
best in two key performance areas of service delivery and local economic
development as well as the overall category for local municipalities. The
municipality was the overall winner in the last Vuna Awards in 2004. The event
was held in Potchefstroom last night at an event attended by MEC for
Developmental Local Government and Housing, Phenye Vilakazi, mayors from
various municipalities and about 200 guests.
Delivering the keynote address on behalf of Premier Edna Molewa, Vilakazi
said all municipalities in the province have registered some improvements in
service delivery. "Some of our municipalities have not only been working hard,
but have even excelled themselves in this critical responsibility of delivering
quality services to their communities so that increasingly a better quality of
life for our people becomes a lived experience," said Vilakazi adding that
municipalities in the province were beginning to be recognised as the front
desk of service delivery to all communities.
"As such the municipalities present us with a credible benchmark of the
strides we continue to make in the improvement of the quality of life of people
as well as the stark challenges that municipalities continue to face and must
overcome in the pursuit of this better life," he said.
Meanwhile Vilakazi warned that he was not impressed by the participation of
municipalities in this year's Vuna Awards, adding that come next year
municipalities' participation in the awards will be made compulsory in the
province.
The Vuna Awards, which were first introduced in 2003, are an incentive given
to municipalities in recognition of their sterling performance in providing
services to their communities. These awards are a partnership between the South
African Local Government Association (SALGA), Development Bank of South Africa
(DBSA), Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) and the National
Productivity Institute (NPI) and they seek to inculcate a culture of service
delivery by recognising and rewarding municipalities' efforts to render
services.
Other winners are:
Category C: district municipalities
* Good governance: Bophirima District Municipality
* Service delivery: Bophirima District Municipality
* Financial viability: Bophirima District Municipality
* Local economic development (LED): Bojanala Platinum District
Municipality
* Institutional transformation/organisational development: Bophirima District
Municipality
Category B: local municipalities
* Service delivery: Moses Kotane Local Municipality
* LED: Moses Kotane Local Municipality
* Good governance: Rustenburg Local Municipality
* Financial viability: Rustenburg Local Municipality
* Institutional transformation/organisational development: Madibeng Local
Municipality
Overall winners (local municipalities):
* Moses Kotane (winner)
* Rustenburg (runner up)
Overall winners (district municipalities):
* Bophirima District Municipality (winner)
* Bojanala Platinum District Municipality (runner up)
Moses Kotane Local Municipality and Bophirima District Municipality will
represent the North West Province in the national competition to be held on 12
December.
Contact:
Mandla Mathebula
Spokesperson
Cell: 083 282 6133
Issued by: Department of Developmental Local Government and Housing, North
West Provincial Government
24 November 2006
