UGU municipality was categorised as needing intervention by the MEC of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Pravin Gordhan at the Presidential Local Government Summit in Midrand, Johannesburg recently.
MEC Gordhan categorised municipalities into four groups- ones doing well, functional, challenged and those that required intervention. While the Hibiscus Coast Municipality was rated one of the top 10 municipalities doing well in KwaZulu-Natal, Ugu was among the bottom eight.
The MEC described the municipalities which needed intervention as dysfunctional and said that significant work was required to get them functioning properly.
He added that among the municipalities which needed intervention there was endemic corruption, no structured community engagement and poor financial management leading to continuous negative audit outcomes.
“It is in these municipalities that we are failing our people dramatically, and where we need to be intervening urgently in order to correct the decay in the system,” he said.
MEC Gordhan also presented the newly launched strategy entitled National Guidelines for Provincial Support, Monitoring and Interventions for Municipalites, popularly known as Back to Basics (B2B).
The summit was attended by Ugu mayor, Ntombifikile Gumede, municipal manager, DD Naidoo and several Ugu officials.
