National government is rolling out the District Development Model to address poor governance, corruption, working in silos and a lack of skills in the local government sphere
This was revealed on Wednesday in Johannesburg during day one of a conference organised by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL Rights Commission).
The conference was held under the theme, “Local Government, Accountability, Service Delivery, and Human Rights.”
The hosting is in line with the SAHRC’s and CRL Rights Commission’s mandate to promote, protect and monitor the observance of human and community rights in South Africa.
In addition, the conference aimed to come up with solutions intended to address and tackle the deteriorating state of service delivery within the local sphere of government.
Speaking at the conference, Pinky Kekana, the deputy minister in the presidency, said the critical sphere of government was still crippled by challenges.
“We are aware that some municipalities still face challenges with service delivery to our people not being delivered. We have taken decisive steps to deal with these challenges and continue to work with communities to find solutions, in order for communities to meet their full potential.
“We need to deal with the challenges and frustrations often experienced by individuals and communities. These challenges often arise when municipalities often face blockages, poor governance, corruption, poor financial planning, working in silos, or do not have the adequate skills to help our municipalities to deliver on their mandate.
“Our government is now implementing the district development model, the DDM. It represents our relentless effort to improve service delivery to the poorest of the poor and all other vulnerable groups in our society.
“Through these DDMs we are fast-tracking service delivery, doing away with a fragmented approach to development,” Kekana said while speaking on monitoring issues over municipalities.
Kekana lamented that the number of indigent people in local municipalities is growing, thus putting a strain on the local government sphere.
Dr Patience Mbava, the chairperson of the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC), told the conference that it was laudable that the Public Audit Act has been amended to give the office of the Auditor-General some powers.
Although she noted that some of these new powers in the act leave out the MECs for cooperative governance and traditional affairs - critical partners in providing oversight to municipalities.
Mbava said acting early by monitoring bodies and others could have prevented some of the acts of corruption and inefficiencies in the local government sphere.