SALGA SIGNS A BUSINESS ADOPTS A MUNICIPALITY MOU WITH SANTAM

07 Jun 2012

 
The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) together with The Department of Corporate Governance (DCOG) launched a Business-Adopts-A-Municipality (BAAM) initiative and the signing of a memorandum of understanding with leading short-term insurer Santam. The launch took place on 06 June 2012, in Parliament, Cape Town.

This initiative will assist in strengthening the development of capacity in local municipalities and improving service delivery. The programme will be financially supported by SANTAM, with the area of focus being fire-fighting and storm water drainage capacity within municipalities.   This initiative will also focus on enhancing municipal capacity of the identified municipalities with skills in project management, spatial planning, budget and financial management as well as economic development. 

The selected municipalities were perceived as emerging or secondary centres of socio-economic development in the national context, attracting a significant in-migration from other small towns and rural areas.  A thorough consultation process with the identified municipalities confirmed the need for the support.   It is believed that this will consequently turn around service delivery in these areas and will have a significant multiplier effect in terms of the number of citizens that will be impacted by this initiative. 

The five municipalities are:
• Eden District Municipality
• Tulamela Local Municipality
• Ulundi Local Municipality
• Mafikeng Local Municipality
• Mbombela Local Municipality

This corporation is in line with one of SALGA’s key strategic objectives, to harness collective resources towards enhancing