The conference held in the Xhariep District Municipality has seen various Executive Mayors from different municipalities gathered at the Forever Resort Gariep Dam to discuss challenges faced by municipalities and find means to boost revenue collection, amongst others. 

The STR programme is one of Salga’s flagship programmes aimed at fulfilling the economic potential of underperforming small towns. The conference underway in Xhariep also comes at the backdrop of Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu’s damning local government audit report, which indicated that only 18 out of 257 municipalities countrywide achieved a clean audit, with 12 of these municipalities being in the Western Cape. 

Makwetu, in his report, painted a bleak picture of municipalities whose accountability for financial and performance management continues to deteriorate. It is at this conference where Mayors and other delegates are expected to come up with resolutions on how small towns can be developed as well as how municipalities could improve service delivery to these communities.

OFM News