President Cyril Ramaphosa says no effort must be spared in rooting out corruption in local government so as to restore confidence in public institutions.
“If local government is to succeed, it needs effective leadership. It needs mayors and councillors that inspire confidence, that are respected in communities and that have a clear vision.
“Local government needs leaders within the council and within the administration who are not corrupt, who do not dispense patronage and who will not tolerate the theft or wastage of public resources.
“Those who are corrupt must be removed from their positions and must face the full might of the law,” said the President on Tuesday at the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) National Members Assembly held in Durban.
President Ramaphosa on State capture
After outlining the gains made by the democratic State to improve the lives of ordinary South Africans, the President drove home the importance of good systems that are meant to ensure the effective functioning of local government.
“As a country, we have embarked on a path of growth, renewal and rebuilding. We have made important progress over the last few months, but there is much further to go and much more work to do.
“We need to restore the credibility of our public institutions. We need to root out corruption and end State capture. We need to restore our economy to growth, attract far greater levels of investment and create jobs on a massive scale,” President Ramaphosa said
Accelerated land reform
He commended mechanisms such as the Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF), which is aimed at placing the country on a sustainable development trajectory. The IUDF is a response to SA’s urbanisation trends to cater for the increasing numbers by ensuring proper planning and necessary infrastructure to support this growth.
“Through better data collection and management – and the deployment of big data analysis – government at all levels should be better able to design, plan and manage development. As we respond to the challenges of cities and towns, we need to invest resources and effort into revitalising rural areas and developing rural economies.
“Rural areas need to be places where young people see opportunities, where they can acquire and use skills, and where they can find jobs. This is among the reasons we have embarked on a process of accelerated land reform to unlock the agricultural potential of our land and thereby unleash the potential of our people.”
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thesouthafrican
