Pretoria – The people of KwaZulu-Natal are just a few days away from finding out which mayor or municipality will be named the champion of creative and innovative service delivery.
This comes as voting and judging in the KZN Municipal Excellence Awards come to a close.
The annual awards give members of the public an opportunity to give feedback to their local elected representatives by voting for the best municipality or performing mayor.
MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, said the awards also provide a platform to reward municipalities, which are excelling in the delivery of services.
They also create incentives for municipalities that go beyond the call of duty in their endeavours to deliver social services to our people.
MEC Dube-Ncube said they are encouraged by the overwhelming participation of rate payers in various municipalities, who are phoning in and sending SMSes.
She said this provides useful feedback that each municipality can use to assess its performance.
“These prestigious awards are yet another mechanism designed to improve the quality of life for all citizens and to encourage service excellence in municipalities. In many instances, we make the mistake of defining municipal performance only through service protests.
“While it is true that protests are key indicators of service delivery unhappiness, we must not turn a blind eye on progress and achievements that municipalities are making every day to improve the quality of life of citizens.
“The reality is that all of our citizens and industry functions on a daily basis because of municipalities. The challenges still being experienced should not obscure us from this reality,” said MEC Dube-Ncube.
The KZN Municipal Excellence Awards attract entries from across the 61 municipalities, who in addition to the public voting process, are judged in terms of five key performance areas.
The key performance areas include service delivery and infrastructure development, local economic development, municipal financial viability, municipal transformation and institution development, and good governance.
To vote members of the public must dial *120*459#.
The winners will be announced on 10 October 2014 at a ceremony to be held at the International Convention Centre. – SAnews.gov.za
