Clean up act with new tools, Ace tells councils

To strengthen municipalities and local development, the ANC says it has plans for cleaning up local governments.

The national executive committee (NEC) endorsed the District Development Model (DDM) that aims to improve cooperative governance, joint planning, budgeting, implementation and monitoring across municipalities.

Addressing the media on the outcomes of the NEC’s special meeting yesterday, secretary-general Ace Magashule said the DDM will help struggling municipalities and have accountability and consequences management where required.

“The ANC has started to review its performance and that of its public representatives in all municipalities so that we can strengthen the accountability of deployees in local government,” Magashule said.

The NEC decided the involvement of ANC members and leaders in tenders contributes to competition for resources, which has an impact on local government and ANC structures and creates instability in communities, leading to poor performance with basic services.

“The ANC troika must not be involved in supply chain management and tenders. We commit to clean and ethical governance at local levels and to take firm action against members involved in corruption, fraud, nepotism and waste expenditure,” Magashule said.

They are also embarking on a mass campaign to encourage society to pay for services rendered, including outstanding electricity and water bills.

Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni said all citizens must learn to take responsibility of paying for services rendered to improve the economic state of SA.