President Cyril Ramaphosa says the model adopted to tackle service delivery challenges in eThekwini Municipality could be replicated in other municipalities.
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President Cyril Ramaphosa says the strategy adopted to tackle the service delivery challenges plaguing the eThekwini Municipality should be used in the other municipalities facing similar issues.
In his weekly newsletter, following his visit to the municipality last week, the president detailed his view on service delivery improvements in the municipality in the past two years since the establishment of Presidential eThekwini Working Group following complaints from the business community and the public about the state of the municipality.
“The progress being made by the eThekwini Metro towards stabilisation demonstrates how effective leadership, coordinated action and strong societal partnerships can support struggling municipalities to regain their footing.
“We established the working group in 2024 in response to concerns from business and residents about the city’s decline. At the time, the metro was beset by service delivery failures, deteriorating infrastructure and sliding business and investor confidence.
“Two years later, the interventions undertaken to tackle poor service delivery and failing infrastructure are driving an effective sustained recovery in the metro,” he added.
He said while there was not a complete turnaround and the metro still faces significant challenges, “the experience of eThekwini offers a viable model for coordination and partnership that can be replicated in other metros and municipalities to enable them to recover”.
Highlighting what has been achieved to date, he said the Durban Business Confidence Index is at its highest level since it was established. In the manufacturing sector, confidence has risen by nearly 16% quarter-on-quarter, a significant development for a city with a major port and a strong industrial base.
He said that drawing on lessons learned from the eThekwini Working Group, last year the Presidential Johannesburg Working Group was established, which is focused on governance, service delivery, infrastructure, urban renewal and safety.
The president said while working groups can contribute to stabilising municipalities, sustained progress depends on strengthening institutional capacity across the entire local government system.
He said municipalities must be able to deliver on their constitutional mandates without the need for national intervention.
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