South Africa: Coalition Calls for Action on LG

A coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs) has called for the transformation of municipalities in South Africa.

The CSOs made this call during a joint virtual press briefing on the auditor-general’s 2018/2019 report.

The report highlighted issues such as lack of financial control, excessive irregular expenditure, and the need to train supply chain management officials.

It was gathered that the CSOs plan to engage the presidency on its responsibility for performance monitoring, the Department of Co-operative Governance, other sectors of civil society, and the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).

The coalition is made up of 35 CSOs, including Unemployed People’s Movement of South Africa (UPM), South African National Civic Organisation, and Lawyers for Human Rights, Democracy Development Programme, Afesis-corplan, and Public Service Accountability Monitor (PSAM).

A member of PSAM, Luyanda Shilangu, said, ‘This is not the usual criticism that municipalities believe we usually gave to them.

‘This to us is to say we are available to them, we are willing to work with municipalities, and we are willing to co-create the municipal environment again, to cover the gaps that are there’.

Shilangu highlighted seven measures municipalities should follow in order to turn the tide.

He urged municipalities to end cadre deployment, ensure transparency, and always make information available.

Source: Grocott’s Mail

Photo source: Bradclin Photography

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