Nkadimeng represents country on global forum

Polokwane Executive Mayor and President of the South African Local Government Association (Salga), Thembi Nkadimeng was elected Co-President of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) for the 2019 to 2022 term during the institution’s sixth global conference that took place in Durban last week.
In her acceptance speech at the conference on Friday, Nkadimeng said that serving and service has been her life from before she was chosen to become a local government official. “My life of service has been in alignment with every principle and value that you hold important as an organisation not because I stand for UCLG office, but because UCLG’s principles and values are central to who I am as a person and as a leader,” Nkadimeng was quoted to have said.
“Local government in most of our regions has a long way to go before achieving the kind of recognition that will see it make a meaningful difference on a global stage. This cause, like the ongoing battle for decentralisation, or the disruptive force of climate change, or the plight of migrants and the struggles of cities to cohere the displaced, these are local government causes that require resilience. As a leader of a capital city in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, I understand first-hand the challenges facing local government,” Nkadimeng added.
Nkadimeng committed herself to promoting multi-level governance and recognition of the role of local government in promoting development and the involvement of local government in development policy formulation and implementation.
“While championing gender equality in the UCLG, its regions and sister associations, I will walk the long road with other members of the UCLG Presidency as we build new associations across old boundaries in service of a connected local, regional, national and global agenda,” Nkadimeng concluded.
With its head office in Barcelona in Spain, the UCLG is an umbrella international organisation for cities, local and regional governments and municipal associations throughout the world that is concerned with representing and defending the interests of local governments on the world stage and the event saw representatives from the world of local and regional governments come together over five days to define the global agenda of cities and regions for the coming years and to develop inputs for the upcoming international processes.

Story: BARRY VILJOEN
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