an opportunity for collective reflection on Project Consolidate
7 June 2007
Mayors, Municipal Managers, partners of government and local government
practitioners met at the Cape Sun hotel in Cape Town in a conference to
evaluate progress of government support programmes to Municipalities. The
conference took place a day after the Minister for Provincial and Local
Government Sydney Mufamadi delivered his budget speech at Parliament.
The Department of Provincial and Local Government (the dplg) organised the
conference to create an opportunity to reflect on the experiences of Project
Consolidate since the project was launched in 2004. One hundred and thirty-nine
(139) municipalities from all nine provinces received support from Project
Consolidate. The Minister for Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mufamadi
called on mayors to reflect on the implementation of Project Consolidate.
"We must use this conference as a platform for collective reflection on how
far we have gone since Project Consolidate was launched," said the Minister.
"Looking back, the situation has improved and continues to improve, but we
cannot say we have succeeded, we must continue to increase the threshold of
success" added Minister Mufamadi.
During the conference, delegates watched a video of success stories from
municipalities and partners of government such as Ilima Trust, an initiative of
Old Mutual, Siyenza Manje by the Development Bank of Southern Africa and
others. The intention was to demonstrate how working together has made a
difference in various municipalities. One of the objectives of the conference
was to reinforce the inter-governmental commitment to collective responsibility
and accountability for the achievement of service delivery and economic
growth.
The Director-General of the dplg Ms Lindiwe Msengana-Ndlela unveiled the
department's strategic plan and Performance Excellence Programme for 2007 to
2012. She highlighted key areas of strategic emphasis for government in support
of municipalities; among them are public participation, monitoring reporting
and evaluation, knowledge management, service delivery and development targets
as well as policy refinement.
The conference was attended by about 500 delegates; among them were mayors,
MEC's for local government, municipal managers, local government practitioners
and partners of government.
For more information please contact:
Luzuko Koti
Departmental Spokesperson
Cell: 083 391 0073
Issued by: Department of Provincial and Local Government (the dplg)
7 June 2007
Source: Department of Provincial and Local Government (http://www.dplg.gov.za)
