Cogta supports municipalities under distress, including Ugu
The MEC said it was the most comprehensive assessment of the state of local government.
In the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) budget policy speech 2021/2022, MEC Sipho Hlomuka recalled the findings of the State of Local Government Report 2019 which focused on the state of governance, financial management and service delivery in 54 municipalities, among them Ugu District Municipality.
The MEC said it was the most comprehensive assessment of the state of local government.
Twenty one municipalities, including Ugu were identified as distressed in 2019 and were to be supported in order to return to stability. Of the 21 municipalities supported during 2020/2021, some 12 returned to stability while eight others remained in distress during 2020/2021 including Ugu District.
Overall Cogta supported 14 municipalities that had been identified as being under distress in 2020/2021.
These municipalities were supported with targeted interventions championed by local government specialists allocated per district.
Targeted municipal improvement plans were developed for each of them to bring them back to stability. Service delivery war rooms were established in three municipalities including Ugu, and others with persistent challenges that cannot be addressed by hands-on support and capacity provisions, such as deployment of experts.
The MEC said it was pleasing to report that the department’s support to these municipalities had yielded positive results in that marked improvement had been achieved in the following municipalities – eThekwini metro, uMgungundlovu district, uMshwathi, Umzimkhulu and Jozini.
He said they had worked themselves out of the distressed category through improvements in many indicators that had led them to regression. Close monitoring continues in the remaining municipalities, including Ugu as well as in municipalities under intervention.
“Our monitoring of municipal performance adheres to the strictest standards – it is comprehensive, continuous and thorough. We conduct regular municipal visits, we provide hands-on support when and where necessary and we hold weekly nerve centre meetings as well as monthly meetings of the department’s various business units with the municipalities’ management teams,” said MEC Hlomuka.
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