DELIVERING SOLUTIONS AND
DRIVING INNOVATION As the South African Local Government Association celebrates its 25th anniversary, its leaders are looking to evolve the organisation further over the next five years, writes Rodney Weidemann
Xolile George
SO WHAT NEXT?
SALGA oversees 257 municipalities across all 9 South African provinces.
T
he South African Local Government Association (SALGA) has come a long way in the 25 years since it was created to serve as a guiding hand in assisting local municipalities to overcome the pre-democracy, apartheid-created structures that divided the people. In its initial phase, SALGA’s main focus was on playing a handholding role for local government, assessing it and helping it find its feet. As South Africa’s local government arena has matured, so SALGA has had to evolve to keep pace with this evolution. SALGA CEO Xolile George notes that the
organisation has had many successes over the years. “These range from ensuring there must be policy and legislation underpinning the local government structures, to its representation on the Presidential Co-ordinating Council, and its role in broader continental local government structures,” he explains. “Nonetheless, local government must evolve once again as the results of the recent local government elections have demonstrated that SA citizens are no longer happy with the status quo – they demand a better approach to local governance.”
“The results this week highlight the areas where we should be paying attention. For one thing, the notably low turnout of voters is a clear indication that voters have lost confidence in this sphere of government.” – Lance Joel
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VOICE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
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SALGA’s chief operating officer Lance Joel points out that it would be foolish to ignore the outcomes of the elections and the message sent by the people. “The results this week highlight the areas where we should be paying attention. For one thing, the notably low turnout of voters is a clear indication that voters have lost confidence in this sphere of government,” he says. “SALGA will certainly be reflecting on these elections and will engage closely with municipalities to mitigate against a similar occurrence in the next elections.” Joel adds that a key imperative for SALGA will be to ensure support for the coalition governments that will be formed in many municipalities. There were close to 30 such municipalities formed after the 2016 elections, and it appears that number will more than double in 2021. “SALGA cannot be ignorant to this reality, and we will certainly have to prioritise our support to these coalition governments. The majority of the previous such municipalities proved to be unstable, and instability can negatively affect service delivery. “As part of SALGA’s support in this area, we have developed a Coalition Framework, based on the experiences of 2016 and what unfolded thereafter. This framework is designed in conjunction with the Dullah Omar Institute at the University of the Western Cape and is meant to achieve two goals.”
ISSUE 37
2021/12/09 11:06 AM
