ANC takes stock of the state of local government in KZN

Sir
The African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal held its Provincial Summit this weekend to take stock on the performance of local Municipalities.
We are encouraged that all municipalities in the province have adopted the Operation Back to Basics as developed by the National Government. The implementation of Operation Back to Basics should not only be the task of local government, but all spheres of government, including provincial departments. The summit examined in detail the administrative capacity of each and every municipality. It examined the financial status, viability and the programme of service delivery rendered by each municipality.
We are satisfied by the state of municipalities in the province. Contrary to the daily trumpets of the opposition, our municipalities are generally functional, effective, have sound financial management and are delivering to the people. Several municipalities got clean audits in the last year’s financial year. The work done by the government in changing the lives of the people of our province speaks for itself.
While we are impressed by the state of many of our municipalities, we will never sit on our laurels but we shall continue working for improvement of all others and ensure that all municipalities get clean audits which are based on services provided to the people.
The key focus will be on uMkhanyakude, Jozini, Hlabisa, iNdaka and uMzinyathi which still have some elements of difficulties which must be improved.
The summit further received presentations of key required services in various parts of the province.
* Competence Levels: there are requisite skills which are only obtained by those employed in municipalities. Provision of basic Services: the capacity of the local municipalities to provide services get undermined by a lack of economic activities and revenue generation. The ANC will continue investigating possible revenue generation per each municipality and bolster those activities identified.
We call on all municipalities to fight corruption and mismanagement and reach a point where these elements are not associated with government.
We also call on all municipalities to sustain and keep close contact with the people and listen to them and respond to their requests effectively at all times. No government facility must continue to have long queues of people. This includes provincial government facilities such as hospitals, police stations and others. In this regard we call for efficiency and effectiveness among all government employees. All municipalities should have centres where people can lodge complaints and such complaints should be addressed with immediate effect.
We will work on building effective links between all government spheres. Given its close proximity to the people, Local Government takes strain and gets blamed even for services of provincial and national government. The ANC-led government, both Provincial and Local Government, should ensure complementary approach and ensure that they work in support of each other.
We will increase the role of MPs and MPLs in servicing constituencies. These include MPs and MPLs working with councillors in sub-regional and zonal stakeholder’s forums. The summit discussed the state of economy and key intervention the provincial government is doing per district. Local economic development will be of great importance in the fight against poverty and unemployment. We accept the responsibility of being an incumbency and encouraged by the support invested by the people since our 1994 democratic breakthrough.
Issued by ANC Provincial Secretary
Sihle Zikalala