North West MEC for Local Government calls for more efforts on service delivery

23 Feb 2011

North West MEC for Local Government and Traditional Affairs, Paul Sebego has called upon all departmental officials to beef up efforts in delivering services to the poor, following a strategic plan retreat held from 21 to 23 February 2011 at Kedar Country Lodge in Rustenburg. 

The department has revised its operational strategy to put more emphasis on redressing impediments to service delivery within the domain of local government as well as harmonising communities and institutions of traditional leadership. 

"In fighting among communities residing in mineral rich areas, tensions within traditional authorities as a result of succession planning and community protests are a concern for us. We need to ensure that there is stability and harmony between communities and houses of traditional leadership. 

The bottom line is that we need to see all communities benefiting from municipal services such as basic clean water, electricity, sanitation, refuse removal, as well as accessing economic opportunities presented to them,” says MEC Sebego.

“We want to create a province that is prosperous, healthy, clean, with a strong sense of community in which people are proud to live, work, visit and do business, to grow in a sustainable way,” he explained.

Traditional leaders, Municipal Managers, representatives of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and the Institute of Democracy in South Africa IDASA were part of the proceedings. 

The new departmental plan focuses on the following:

• Department`s response to local government priorities set out in the President`s State of the Nation Address, and State of the Province
• The 2011 government programme of action
• The redefinition of departmental strategic objectives for the next three years (up to 2014)
• The review of the 2011/12 annual performance plan and the alignment of all key resources such as the budget, human resources and physical assets to support the identified priorities
• The reviewed fraud prevention, as well as risk management plans
• The adjustment of the departmental structure to formally address the recent reconfiguration of the department with a view to accommodating the Traditional Affairs component
• A plan to address the anomaly of inadequate budget allocation to the department as a percentage of the overall provincial budget, bearing in mind that the Department is the least funded of all the 9 provincial department of Local Government in the Country.
• To give prominence to the national policy imperatives relating to the planning commission as well as the monitoring and evaluation.
• Empowerment departmental Traditional Affairs unit as well as support to the Provincial House of Traditional Leaders in respect of resources, systems and structures.

Contact:
Mr Josias Maraba (Spokesperson)
Cell: 083 675 9629

Issued by: North West Local Government and Traditional Affairs
23 Feb 2011