A culture of honest, ethical, and transparent leadership required to improve service delivery in local government
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Date: 2025-07-07 13:03:05

A culture of honest, ethical, and transparent leadership required to improve service delivery in local government

04 July 2025


ETHEKWINI NEWSFLASH
For immediate release


A culture of honest, ethical, and transparent leadership required to improve service delivery in local government  

EThekwini Municipality hosted the 2nd Southern African Institute of Government Auditors (SAIGA) Summit in Umgababa, south of Durban, where the auditing fraternity discussed ways to improve governance, service delivery and building capacity in municipalities.  
In his address, eThekwini Municipality Mayor, Councillor Cyril Xaba, welcomed the extension of the deadline for submissions in the Review of the Local Government White Paper.  With the new deadline set for 31 July, Xaba encouraged all citizens to contribute to the White Paper so that it can reflect their aspirations and dreams of the local government they want. 

The review seeks to establish an ideal local government by fostering greater accountability, transparency, and community engagement. 

“To improve accountability and transparency, we have increased the alignment between the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), budget and the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP). This is critical in ensuring that the budget we allocate for service delivery aligns with the performance indicators and targets the municipality has set for itself.  This is the only way officials can account for the resources we have allocated to them on behalf of the electorate,” Xaba said. 

Xaba added that the municipality remained committed to regain and restore the trust ordinary citizens have in government by strengthening internal processes to improve performance, accountability and implement consequence management.  

“We are concerned that whistleblower and auditors continue to be under siege from criminal syndicates who are plundering public resources. We continue to work with relevant law enforcement agencies to protect people who are committed to insulate our public institutions from maladministration,” added Xaba 

Meanwhile, Minister of Cooperate Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Velenkosi Hlabisa, called on institutions such as SAIGA to come on board and help improve operational efficiency in the municipalities. 


“The only way we can ensure municipalities are able to fulfil their constitutional mandate of providing essential services to the public is by having competent officials and councillors.” 


“Moreover, we know that corruption and mismanagement are at the core of failing municipalities. Therefore, we need to have systems in place that alerts us before it is too late so that we prevent corruption before it takes place,” said Hlabisa.