Riyaz Patel
Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma believes the lack of skills and opportunities at local government level is to blame for corruption and infighting in municipalities.
The minister was part of a panel at a growth forum convened by the Kgalema Motlante Foundation in the Drakensberg Saturday.
She said “room for corruption will lessen” in local government when “processes become more transparent.”
Dlamini Zuma explained the lack of investment in small to medium-size enterprises in municipalities was not only hampering their economic growth, but also leading to malfeasance and instability.
While conceding that corruption is rife at local government level, the minister underlined that it was important to understand why.
She said in areas where people could not move to Johannesburg to look for employment opportunities, municipalities, schools and clinics became a primary source of employment.
“They fight to go to the municipality. Municipalities pay well if you are a councillor or even if you are an official. Small business people there have no other place but to do business with the municipality.
“So when you have a situation like that, it creates problems and it encourages corruption or fighting to death,” said Dlamini-Zuma.
“When you have a situation like that it creates problems and it encourages corruption or infighting [in municipalities], that’s why councillors get killed.”
The one district model, recently piloted by President Cyril Ramaphosa, aims to have one integrated plan per district. It will also allocate different roles for the government, communities and civil society.
“Because everybody knows what is supposed to be done, everybody knows what budget is supposed to be there. If we see the budget of the bridge disappearing but the bridge not appearing, we will know,” said Dlamini-Zuma.
“When somebody is not implementing, there will be peer review,” she added.
She said the failures of local government were an indictment on all spheres of governance.
“When somebody is not implementing, there will be peer review,” she added.
Dlamini Zuma was addressing the second installment of the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation’s Inclusive Growth Forum gathering in Drakensberg, Kwa-Zulu Natal, where the country’s leading thought leaders, business and government officials discussed local government and its economics.
