Municipalities taken through recruitment processes to fast track appointments of senior managers
The current municipal councils must create a legacy that they can be remembered for long after the local government term has ended.
These were the words of the Head of Department of Local Government and Human Settlements in Bokone Bophirima, Ephraim Motoko at a session yesterday, to train councillors and managers on the regulation on the appointment, conditions of employment and disciplinary regulations of employment of senior managers.
“We need to turn around the situation at our municipalities by appointing people with the relevant expertise and qualifications in line with the relevant pieces of legislation. We can only re-brand local government when we have a good administration that is able to respond to the needs of our communities’’, he said.
Motoko said municipalities cannot fully executive their functions due to the high vacancy rate of key positions. He called on councillors to appointment people with the necessary expertise in order to turn around the situation in local government in the province.
The training programme which started yesterday and will run until today, 06 December, follows a commitment by the department and its sister department of Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs during a visit by Minister Desmond van Rooyen, to assist municipalities to with recruitment and selection processes to fill up vacant positions of senior managers.
Lack of administrative capacity due to high vacancy levels especially in senior management, has previously been cited as a character in dysfunctional municipalities. In the province, as at end of September 2017, out of a total of 142 senior management positions, only 58 were filled.
Enquiries
Ben Bole (Departmental Spokesperson)
Cell: 082 386 9508
E-mail: msbole@nwpg.gov.za
