MERELY days after the appointment of former mayor Parks Tau as the chairperson of the South African Local Government Association (Salga), the incumbent mayor Clr Herman Mashaba said the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) will no longer provide funding to it.
Mashaba said the efficacy of Salga has been questioned for some time. The association was established to empower local government councillors, and to act as their spokesperson in the national arena.
“Out of its very nature, that means that Salga must represent all local government councillors in a manner consistent with democracy. Over the years, it has, in my view, strayed from its mandate. It has become bloated and top-heavy. It has spent too much money on nice-to-haves and on projects of dubious utility.
“There is much that suggests that it has become an instrument for the deployment of cadres of the majority party in our country. This was starkly illustrated by the recent Gauteng provincial executive of Salga. Given these developments, and following discussions with our voting partners in council, the CoJ will provide no further funding to it.
“Specifically, the CoJ will not fund or contribute to the Salga national congress, to be held later in the year in Johannesburg. To do so when many of our residents are living in conditions of poverty and inequality would plainly be wrong, and we cannot justify providing such funding to Salga. Everything we do must be done in the best interests of our residents,” explained Mashaba.
CHRONICLE is trying to get comment from Salga.
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