Despite violent protests in some municipalities over a lack of service delivery recently, the governance and administration cluster stated that a qualitative analysis of the past five years of local government indicates that there has been steady progress in broadening access to basic services.
Lindiwe Msengana-Ndlela, the director-general at the provincial and local government department, said a communication strategy will soon be launched in the hope of making people address their needs through a specific channel to avoid violent protests. She says this is especially designed for municipal councils and the community.
In the State of the Nation address on Friday, President Thabo Mbeki acknowledged the problem surrounding Project Consolidate, saying it has not been as successful as it could be in accelerating service delivery in local government. The project, a programme that was adopted at the July 2005 cabinet lekgotla, is aimed at finding new, practical and impact-oriented modes of engaging for both national and provincial government.
President Mbeki also said that service delivery was hampered by unqualified managers in the municipalities.
Addressing the issue in Parliament, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, the public service and administration minister, did not specify exactly what measure would be taken in making sure that municipal managers are qualified. Fraser-Moleketi said instead of focusing only on 163 municipalities, Project Consolidate, will include all municipalities to ensure that those lagging behind will be capacitated. SABC
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