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News in Brief

Local Government must improve lives
– President Ramaphosa

President of South Africa – Cyril Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa says although government “In such an ideal municipality not only are residents
has made significant strides in improving the living able to lead lives of quality and dignity, they are
conditions of South Africans, more needs to be done magnets for investment. In short, an ideal municipality
to ensure a better quality of life for all. is a place that people want to live in, that people want
to work in and people want to bring their business
The President was addressing a sitting of the and investment and people want to visit,” he said.
National Council of Provinces (NCOP) during the
Taking Parliament to the People (TPTTP) programme The President highlighted that one of the steps
held in KwaZulu-Natal’s Ugu District Municipality in Government is taking to fight “inefficiency,
November 2022. maladministration, lack of financial controls and poor
governance” at local municipality level, is the new
“We have expanded basic services like water …
we’ve also expanded electricity distribution and built Local Government Municipal Systems Amendment
homes. We have provided access to free primary Act.
healthcare, quality basic education and free tertiary
education. Since 1994, the progressive and pro-poor Making changes
policies of successive democratic administrations “Amongst other things, [the Act] disallows municipal
have lifted millions of people out of extreme poverty officials from also holding political office, defines
and improved their lives. competency criteria for the appointment of municipal
managers and strengthens the performance
“And yet we know that we can no longer rely on evaluation process.
these past glories as we witness severe challenges
at local government, which is where service delivery “This should be viewed alongside the process that we
happens,” he said. are embarking upon of professionalising the public
sector, which was adopted by Cabinet last month.
Building ideal municipalities This makes specific proposals to ensure merit-
The President reflected that much time has been based recruitment and promotion and more effective
spent on “diagnosing the problem” with poorly run consequence management for all public servants.
municipalities and that the time has come to focus on
an ideal municipality and “build such municipalities”.
“An ideal municipality should have a vibrant economy. “This is going to have a big
It should have places where tourists want to visit. It
must be inter-connected in many ways digitally and impact on how government
it must have people who are well trained and it must
offer the best living conditions for our people. Such works at all levels,” he said.
municipalities … should provide good access to
health, education as well as recreational facilities.
SAnews.gov.za

SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 15 • No. 2 of 2022/2023 7