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SALGA Chairperson nominated for World Mayor Award
Our Chairperson and Mayor of Johannesburg, Councillor Amos Masondo is among 50 finalists staking a claim for the prestigious 2008 World Mayor Awards. Councillor Masondo made it to the final stage after being selected from a list of 820 mayors from across the globe.
These awards were launched by City Mayors in 2004. They are an online platform on urban governance and recognises mayors who espouse the qualities, skills and passion needed in making their cities amazing places to live, work, play and visit. An ability to foster good relations between communities from different cultural, racial and social backgrounds has been highlighted by City Mayors as an important leadership quality.
This year's list of 50 finalists includes 11 mayors from Asia, 10 from North America and 11 from Latin America, 15 from Europe, as well as 3 from Africa. The other African mayors are Councillor Helen Zille and Omar El Bahraoui of Rabat, Morocco.
Our vote is now needed as the SALGA Chairperson and other mayors from Africa compete against the mayors of cities like Paris, Miami, Shanghai and Rome in bringing the coveted award to Africa for the first time.
Kindly cast your votes online along with a comment on your choice. The eventual winner and runner-ups will be chosen based on the number of comments received as well as the persuasiveness and passion of comments posted in support of a mayor. Cast your vote by visiting www.worldmayor.com
Voting closes at the end of June 2008 with the final results announced in September 2008.
Africa needs our vote!
(Photo Courtesy of Enoch Lehung - Joburg.org.za)
SALGA’S INITIAL SUBMISSION ON THE MINISTER FOR PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN A PROCESS TO REVIEW THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT WHITE PAPER AND DEVELOP A WHITE PAPER ON PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT
The Extended Cabinet Lekgotla held in January 2007 mandated the Minister of Provincial and Local Government to initiate a review of the White Paper on Local Government and to develop a White Paper on Provincial Government. Subsequent to this, on the 31st of July 2007, the Minister officially launched the review process and called on the public and various stakeholders to make submissions to the DPLG not later than 31st October 2007.
In response to this call, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) convened a Special Consultative Workshop that was attended by more than two hundred and seven (207) municipalities represented by over eight hundred (800) delegates. Amongst these were Executive Mayors, Mayors, Speakers, Chief Whips as well as some senior officials and managers.
This Consultative Workshop was characterized by frank discussions and robust debates. The following issues were considered:
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Single public service
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Electricity Distribution Industry Restructuring
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Provincialisation of Primary Health Care function
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The Review of the White Paper Process (on the Local Government White Paper and White Paper on Provincial Government)
The outcome of these deliberations is contained in a detailed SALGA initial submission that is to be presented to the Department of Provincial and Local Government today. SALGA’s proposals centres on the following ten (10) broad areas:
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Local Democracy and Accountability
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Roles and Functions of Categories of Municipalities
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Strengthening Partnerships
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Delivering Basic Services
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Environmental Challenges and Developmental Demands
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Municipal Financial Viability
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Municipal Capacity Building
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Development Planning
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Councillor Support
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Knowledge Sharing
The delegates from member municipalities acknowledged the fact that the institutional framework for government in South Africa was established in 1996 when the country adopted its first democratic Constitution. That this was the culmination of a negotiated process to end Apartheid and introduce democracy. They also noted the fact that the national, provincial and local government were established as three (3) elected spheres of government, each with distinctive functional responsibilities. That the Constitution requires that the three (3) spheres of government should function as a single system of co-operative government for the country as a whole.
The delegates also noted that government in all spheres has achieved remarkable success over the past decade and ensured access to basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation, housing, social grants, health care and education on a scale unprecedented in this country. The following is an example of this:
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Universal access to water supply increase from 59% of the total households in 1994 to 86% by April 2007.
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Universal access to sanitation increase from 48% in 1994 to 73% by April 2007.
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In 1994, 30% of houses in South Africa had access to electricity and by 2006/2007 had increased to 73% and
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From 1994 to 2006 a total of 2.2 million houses were delivered at an average of 249 290 units per annum.
The delegates further accepted that the review of Provincial and Local Government may offer us an opportunity identify challenges, afford us space to look at innovative solutions (e.g. reclassification of municipalities as opposed to categorisation) and ensure an improvement in governance (divisions of powers and functions between local and district municipalities), service delivery and development.
The delegates emphasised that the policy review should be characterised by a consultative and inclusive process in every ward and local area. That SALGA should add value and be actively involved in every related provincial initiative.
NATIONAL WATER SERVICES BENCHMARKING INITIATIVE
The National Benchmarking Initiative is a joint initiative of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) and the Water Research Council (WRC).
The goal is to promote improved performance of water services by all water services providers in South Africa.
The initiative undertakes annual benchmarking of key performance indicators for the provision of water services in participating municipalities. This process involves site visits and quality control (of data) to ensure consistency and reliability. Outcomes are presented at an annual benchmarking conference to highlight achievements and best practices and to direct learning efforts to areas where improvements can be achieved.
ROLE OF BENCHMARKING
The South African water sector faces four key challenges in the short and medium term:
- to increase affordable access to water supply and sanitation services;
- to ensure that the services provided are sustainable;
- to develop the necessary capacity to meet the above two challenges; and
- to improve performance so as to meet the above challenges in the most effective and efficient way.
Benchmarking will play an important role in helping the sector to assess to what extent water services providers are meeting these challenges and, in particular, to what extent sector performance is improving over time. More significantly, benchmarking will help to identify best practices from which others can learn as well as areas most needing improvement.
WORKSHOP
The partners Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, Water Research Commission and the South African Local Government Association will be hosting the third annual benchmarking workshop in KZN, Umhlanga on 26 - 28 February 2008. Further details on the conference are obtainable from Mr. William Moraka, at 012 369 8056, 082 308 5519, email: wmoraka@salga.org.za.
Annual Benchmarking Conference 26 - 28 February 2008 at Umhlanga. Kwa-Zulu Natal
Invitation to Conference
Registration Form
Read the October 2007 Edition of the Newsletter
SALGA and GCI Provide Provincial LED Training for Municipal Officials
Beginning on October 18th, SALGA and GlobalCommunity Initiatives (GCI)have provided a two-day training session on sustainable development to municipal officials from cities and rural areas around the country. Trainers from both organisations are traveling to six provinces to talk about how to use effective strategies to lift people out of poverty while at the same time restoring the natural resource base that supports community life.
Gwendolyn Hallsmith of GCI and Dick Ebersohn from the City of Calgary in Alberta, Canada are the two trainers, with David Bambata from SALGA as the lead organiser, with assistance from Sylvia Maluleke. Hallsmith has written two workbooks for community leaders to use - Taking Action from Sustainability: The EarthCAT Guide to Community Development, which is a Guidebook to implementing the Earth Charter on the local level, and Local Action for Sustainable Economic Renewal (LASER), which applies the same principles to local economic development.
The workbooks and the presentations amde at the training sessions are available at no charge from the GCI web sites listed below. The EarthCAT and LASER sites also provide community leaders with management support software they can use to implement sustainable development planning projects.
www.global-community.org/
http://www.earthcat.org/
http://www.global-laser.org/
Subjects covered in the training include:
- Community Development for the 21st century
- Creating Excitement and Momentum for Community Development Planning
- Asset Inventory and Capacity Assessment
- Introduction to Systems Thinking
- Planning and implementation
- Encouraging Entrepreneurs
- The Creative Economy
- Sustainable Economic Development Planning
- Leadership and Facilitation Skills for Multi-Stakeholders Processes, and
- Project Implementation
The reaction to the training has been very enthusiatic. "This really helped me understand my job better," one trainee offered. "I learnt how to focus on building on the strengths of the community, rather than always focusing on the problems." Over two hundred local officials have participated, and their requests for more in-depth follow up training led SALGA and GCI to prepare a video of the training, so people who were unable to attend will be able to see it. For more information about how to get the video contact david Bambata at dbambata@salga.org.za |
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SALGA National Conference
The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) will be hosting its National Conference (NC) at Gallagher Estate, Gauteng from the 22nd to the 26th April 2007
For more details please download the attachment below
Download document
National Conference Programme
LATEST FINANCIALS
SALGA Annual report for the period of 2004|2005. Download document
SALGA Constitution
Download SALGA constitution
Rental Housing
Download Housing Brochure
Download Toolkit for Municipal Social Housing Policy, Second Edition
Download Social Housing Policy
Download Social Housing Bill
Download Newsletters
December 2007 Newsletter
February 2008 Newsletter
Download June 2008 Newsletter
HIGHLIGHTED LINKS
SALGA/Health-Insite AIDs Program
Electoral Commission
Local Government and Water SETA
South African Government Online
Department of Provincial and Local Government
Local Government Bargaining Council
Department of Water and Forestry
National Treasury
The Development Bank of South Africa
Rand Water
Eskom
EDI Holdings
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