Help for struggling municipalities

There is hope and help at hand for struggling municipalities.

Government will continue putting measures in place to help municipalities that are performing poorly.

This is according to Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Minister Des van Rooyen.

Speaking to Vuk’uzenzele, Minister Van Rooyen emphasised that municipalities remain the coal face of service delivery and are crucial in narrating the story of 15 years of democratic local government. This milestone is being celebrated this year.

The performance of municipalities varies but those that perform poorly tend to attract attention, he pointed out. However, the Minister added that the Auditor-General’s (AG) report on local government audit outcomes for the 2014/15 financial year confirmed that a lot of good work is being done in municipalities.

“There are good performing municipalities in all the three categories. We think learning from each other, some of these municipalities’ experiences can be used to enhance performance in our dysfunctional municipalities.”

The AG’s report also indicated that there are municipalities that need help. CoGTA, working together with National Treasury, has developed post-audit action plans to help struggling municipalities rectify their mistakes.

“We still think we have a long way to go, especially in rural municipalities. For me it is more because of [the] economic base in those municipalities and as a result such municipalities are unable to retain experienced individuals to deal with their problems,” said the Minister.