Days of councillors who are clueless about budget allocation and policy work within their municipalities are numbers. They will soon be allowed to have no excuse for failing in their duties.
“Local government has been a punching bag for far too long. We can’t deny that we have a challenge of capacity at local government level.
“The question then comes: What do we do about it? asked Xolani Sotashe. He is SA Local Government Association’s (Salga) working group chairperson for human settlement and urban agenda.
Salga at capacity in municipalities’ leaderships
Sotashe was addressing delegates across various KwaZulu-Natal municipalities. He was doing this during Salga’s Provincial Members Assembly (PMA). He said speakers of municipalities have a responsibility of policy development. This policy speaks to issues of capacity building in municipalities.
“We must begin to lead that conversation within our municipalities. Councillors are dealing with huge budgets. And if they are not capacitated, we will continue to deal with these huge problems.
“Not because councillors are not doing the job, but because they are not capacitated,” he said.
The Provincial Assembly commenced on Wednesday, concluding on Friday. It is held in Drakensberg. It sees mayors, municipal CFOs, MECs and senior public servants gather under one roof. The gathering aims to deliberate the state of the 54 municipalities in KZN.
Sotashe told Sunday World that they were working on accredited programmes to assist councillors. This they were doing together with the provincial department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs.
Coalitions
KZN Salga chairperson Xolani Dube spoke on the issue of coalitions. He said the PMA comes at a time where political coalitions in the province are still in their infancy.
“The democratic process is still maturing. Yet the need for municipalities to speak with one voice remains undeniable. The PMA is a chance to engage in policy in matters without limitations of party politics,” said Dube.
The gathering also happens when there are less than two years before the 2026 local government elections.
KZN in the spotlight
KwaZulu-Natal is among the provinces that will be in the spotlight. This with the IFP having gained electoral strength and now on a comeback trail.
The ANC is also looking to bounce back after suffering one of its severe electoral defeats since the dawn of democracy.
Currently, KwaZulu-Natal, led by the IFP, is governed through a coalition of the ANC, DA, IFP and NFP.
