President Cyril Ramaphosa says mayors are a bulwark against corruption in all its forms and have a critical role to play in promoting ethics and integrity in municipalities.
The President said that mayors were elected to serve the South African people and he has the utmost confidence that this is a mandate they understand and fully appreciate.
President Ramaphosa was delivering the keynote address at the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) Council of Mayors Conference at the East London International Convention Centre on Thursday.
The President expressed that there needs to be a concerted and shared effort to address growing levels of public dissatisfaction with service provision.
“As mayors you carry a heavy responsibility. It is up to you to ensure that your respective councils aren’t just functional and fulfil their mandates, but also that they are cohesive.
“You are political heads and have to ensure that your administrations are stable and protected from political interference. This means you have to lead by example and not indulge in the very conduct for which you seek to discipline others,” the President said.
He told the Mayors that they must lead the country’s transition to renewable energy sources, efficient water use and management, effective solid waste management, the construction of climate-proof infrastructure and green transportation.
“We are all familiar with these basic actions and we all agree that we must prioritise them. The question then is, why are we not successful in implementing these actions?
“The reality is that we cannot return to basics so long as local government is seen by many as a terrain of patronage, political squabbles and personal enrichment,” the President said.
The President highlighted that of the many lessons we have learned from the floods and before that from the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to go back to basics stands out.
“For local government, these basics include: Firstly, putting people and their concerns first. Secondly, supporting the delivery of municipal services to the right quality and standard. Thirdly, promoting good governance, transparency and accountability. Fourthly, ensuring sound financial management and accounting and finally, building institutional resilience and administrative capacity,” the President said.
The President emphasised that when local government fails, it isn’t just service delivery that fails.
“It isn’t just that our people’s expectations are not met. The failure of local government has a direct and material impact on economic growth and jobs. We cannot realise a South Africa of common prosperity, where the life of every person is improved, without a strong economy,” he said.
He added that when roads are poorly maintained, people cannot get to work, produce and other goods cannot get to markets.
He said that when important social infrastructure is not maintained, children cannot get to school, people cannot access health care and homes are often without water or electricity.
“As national and provincial governments, we are challenged to look at how we use the constitutional and legislative instruments at our disposal to make local government work better to address these challenges and to work for the people,” he said.
Considering the challenges faced by municipalities, the President said that it was necessary to remind Mayors and Executive Mayors that the White Paper on Local Government provides that developmental local government requires a political leadership to do a number of things, including to provide community-wide leadership and vision, among others.
“By putting forward a vision for the local area, building coalitions of common interest and encouraging the development of a vibrant civil society.
“Secondly – constantly build its capacity to make policy judgements: Local leaders should actively strengthen their ability to make policy judgements through deepening their understanding of the dynamics in the local area, anticipating changes and learning from past practice,” he said.
The President added that accountability and transparency is of utmost importance.
“This requires leadership to create opportunities to account to the community. Increased accountability ensures that actions of the Council reflect aspirations of the community, increases legitimacy of the Council and deepens local democracy,” he said.
