14 months later, NDZ warms to the idea of learning from well-managed DA municipalities

6 July 2022

On 20 April 2021, the DA called on the Ministers of Finance and Cooperative Governance to convene a mini summit where the City of Cape Town would share municipal governance best practices with other struggling metros across the country.

Exactly a year and two months since making that call, the DA is elated that Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has come out in support of such an initiative.

Speaking in Durban yesterday, Dlamini-Zuma proposed a skills exchange between the worst and best-performing municipalities.

Although she stopped short of crediting the DA of running the best municipalities in SA, she didn't need to. The Auditor General, StatsSA and municipal performance tracking indices have consistently credited the DA of running clean governments in municipalities where it is in control.

All the Minister needs to do now is to set the date and time for this best practice sharing session. The DA is a party that wants a better life for all South Africans and our governments will be more than happy to share knowledge of what works.

Dlamini-Zuma's decision to initiate a skills transfer to underperfoming municipalities, most of which are ANC-run, could not have come at a worse time. The Auditor General made the startling finding that most ANC municipalities are on the verge of collapse. Prudent financial management is an area that DA municipalities have excelled in and the Minister should help other municipalities tap into that experience.

While the DA welcomes the Minister's decision for skills transfer with struggling municipalities, we are not holding our breath. This could have just been idle talk with no intention to follow through. The ball is in the Minister's court to take action and give imploding ANC municipalities a fighting chance.

Issued by Cilliers Brink, DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, 6 July 2022