SALGA in partnership with the City of Tshwane hosted the 10th National Municipal Managers Forum (NMMF) at Centurion, Pretoria

Posted: 09 June 2016

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The Forum was graced by Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Honourable Des Van Rooyen, Pali Lehohla the Statistician-General for Statistics South Africa, Municipal Managers, and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA).

SALGA fully appreciates the collaboration and partnership with the City of Tshwane which brought about the 10th NMMF.

The Forum also provided a platform for municipalities to facilitate peer learning through the sharing of innovation & good practice. This is an important function to the Forum as it encourages municipalities to innovate and continuously seek new ways to find permanent and sustainable solutions on the challenges facing the sector. Lessons will be shared from municipalities that had poor audit outcomes and through the support of SALGA, COGTA and other partners have now achieved significant improvements as pronounced by the Auditor General.

SALGA is encouraged that municipalities are upping their game in the space of technology and innovation to build strong and resilient economies driven by technology. One way of doing this is by making broadband accessible and helping local government to excel in service delivery through social innovation, finding innovative solutions to social problems.

Convened under the banner “Managing the Transition”, the NMMF reflected on the journey of local government for the past 15 years and seek to unpack key interventions required to strengthen local government.

The Forum dedicated a session for the municipal audit outcomes and highlight the key improvements necessary for the next term of local government. The Auditor General released the Municipal Audit Results for 2014/15 on 01 July 2016.

SALGA appreciates the efforts of the Municipal Managers in working towards a smooth transition after the local government elections.

SALGA’S governance support to manage the transition ahead of the local government elections include;

• Working with CoGTA, we are preparing a Councillor training programme and updating the Councillor Induction Manual to focus attention on the Back to Basics programme.
• Appointment and terms of reference for Municipal Elections Officers and other election officers
• Continued meetings of the Executive Committee/Mayoral Committee/Council during the election period and the extent of delegation of powers to heads of administration during the transition
• Funding of political activities related to the 2016 local government election by municipalities
• Guidelines for a report on strategic issues to bring to the attention of the newly elected political office bearers
• Role of the municipal manager before, during and after the elections
• Standing rules of order for the meeting of the council and its committees.
  

Municipal Managers have proved to be a dynamic and valuable role-player in the local government sphere. Many of our achievements over the 3rd generation of Local Government have been achieved by working together and we owe it to the dedication of Municipal Managers.

Let us continue in that spirit to foster our relationship.