SALGA LIMPOPO DECLARATION 2019

We, the representatives of municipalities across the province, at the service of our communities, came together from 20 to 21 November 2019 in Bela Bela, in Waterberg District, on the occasion of the SALGA Limpopo Provincial Members Assembly:

Celebrating the global spirit and local energy and shared focus with which the 2019 edition of the 6th ULCG World Congress was held in eThekwini from the 11th to the 15th of November 2019; including the humbling elevation of the SALGA President, Councillor Thembi Nkadimeng, into the Co-Presidency of this reputable world body;
Proclaiming our collective will to marshal all our capital towards the National Development Vision; through implementation of the priorities set in the Limpopo Growth and Development Plan and our Municipal IDPs, as integrated into a single district-based One plan;
Accepting however that the lack of sufficient political, governance and administrative skills in local government is the fault line that continues to plaque progress in the sector. A developmental state requires a developed and developable skills set to function accordingly.
Appreciating that resilient municipal institutions, with little workplace conflict coupled with sound labour relations, provide us with a stable and a professionalised environment within which effective service delivery and development could take place at a higher speed;
Believing also that effective councillor support and welfare contributes to a stable political environment that supports effective service delivery;
Noting that the Medium Term Strategic Framework (“MSTF”) prioritises implementation of programmes to create economic and social infrastructure across the country, and in particular in municipal spaces, to enhance their investment attractiveness. Further that the 2019/20 MTREF Statement highlighted various economic and fiscal challenges that the country is facing.
Inspired by our commitment to coordinated municipal support and the unity forged with the Premier of the province and his Members of the Executive Council, and all our stakeholders and partners in the public and private sector;
The Provincial Members Assembly makes a call for local government to strive to realise the following:
Ensure that more energy is directed towards promoting the 2021 local government elections and effective ward delimitation process;
Facilitate sound labour relations in local government;
Ensure effective councillor support and welfare;
Build a capable developmental state through professionalization of the sector and skills development;
Enhance efforts to improve law enforcement and safe driver behaviour in order to reduce road accidents through improved system for administrative adjudication of road traffic offences,
Represent, lobby and advocate on all matters of concern in local government
In relation to our call for more energy to be directed towards promoting the 2021 local government elections and effective ward delimitation process, we undertake to:
Engage actively and proactively with the ward delimitation schedule.
In relation to our call for sound labour relations in local government, we undertake to:
Consolidate progress made in restructuring the Municipal Employees Pension Funds and the effective implementation of the Wage Curve Collective Agreement;
In relation to our call for effective councillor support and welfare, we undertake to:
Work together with the MCPF to, inasmuch as possible, preserve the Fund and intensify implementation of identified reform measures, and to ensure that the Bulk Exit Plan is effectively implemented come the end of the term of Councils in 2021;
In relation to our call for creating a capable developmental state, we undertake to:
Intensify the Strategic Agenda to build a highly skilled and capable local government;
In relation to our call for enhanced efforts to improve law enforcement and safe driver behaviour in order to reduce road accidents through improved system for administrative adjudication of road traffic offences (AARTO), we undertake to:
Support the establishment of a procedure for the effective and expeditious adjudication of infringements
Collaborate with all state agencies to assist alleviate the burden on the courts for infringements
Broadly support the imposition of a demerit points system leading to the suspension and cancellation of driving licences, professional driving permits or operator cards; In the same vein, support the rewarding of law abiding behaviour,
In relation to our call to stimulating rural economies through targeted rural densification we undertake to:
Ensure that our human settlement development model is guided by consideration of technical and social dynamics in each project; and further that it is aligned and informed by identified provincial special economic zones and municipal growth points; and that is underpinned by community acceptance and understanding.
In relation to our call to lobby and advocate on all issues of concern to local government to:
Ensure effective implementation of resolutions adopted at the Local Government Summit held from 31 January to 01 February 2017 and provide the Provincial House of Traditional Leaders with quarterly progress reports;
Accelerate implementation of a structured mechanism for SALGA to participate in the Committees of the Legislature
Consolidate progress by SALGA NEC and PEC on key emerging policy issues in local government;
Support municipalities to implement the One-Plan approach effectively and by the set deadline;
Finalise Accountability and Consequences Management to facilitate consistent implementation of corrective measures against persistent wrongdoing in the sector;
Build additional PMU capacity in the province;
Support financing of more strategic and critical infrastructure roll-out;
Through this declaration, SALGA in partnership with all stakeholder organisations, commit to:
Continue to lobby and advocate assertively on behalf of member municipalities on matters as raised through the 2019 Provincial Members Assembly.
In memory of the spirit of all those who have fallen due the wave of killings of councillors and municipal administrators, as well as the wave of gender-based violence, femicide and assault on foreign nationals, and all members who served the public and have now passed on, so we declare!
Bela Bela, November 2019
Cllr Pule Shayi
Provincial Chairperson.