South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday expressed concern over the poor performances of the municipalities in the country which results in poor service delivery.
Ramaphosa said this while addressing the South African Local Government Association’s (SALGA) two-day virtual National Members Assembly.
He expressed concern that municipalities are ill-equipped to fulfill their mandate.
“The latest report from the auditor general points to serious lapses of governance and financial management in our municipalities. For the 2018/2019 financial year, only 20 of the country’s 257 municipalities got clean audits. This is less than 8 percent. Furthermore, these outcomes appear to be worsening each year,” said President Ramaphosa.
He stated that there are weak revenue bases, massive backlogs in basic services, deep inequality and rising demand for services in municipalities.
The government is now implementing the district development model to address weaknesses in service delivery, planning, budgeting and implementation in local government.
“The primary purpose is to narrow the distance between the people and their government. It is about improving the delivery of integrated services, the alignment of resources, facilitating inclusive economic development and establishing long-term strategic planning,” he said.
The two-day meeting is being attended by representatives from the country’s municipalities to deliberate on how to improve governance, accountability and service delivery.