Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Committee Urges South African Local Government Association (SALGA) to Play Stronger Role in Strengthening Accountability in Municipalities

The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) today urged the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) to play a stronger role in strengthening accountability and consequences for proven wrongdoing, especially in how municipal councillors conduct themselves.

The committee received a briefing from SALGA on its annual report for the 2024/25 financial year on Tuesday. Members noted SALGA’s performance, as well as the 98% performance success rate in the relevant financial year but questioned the real impact of this in municipalities. Some members expressed concern over persistent governance challenges, capacity constraints and inadequate service delivery in many municipalities. This, members believe, undermines the effectiveness and stability of local government.

The Chairperson of the committee, Dr Zweli Mkhize, reflected on recent oversight visits to the Free State, North West and Gauteng, where the committee observed many challenges of service delivery and weak oversight. He called for collaboration on how SALGA can better support municipalities to deliver quality services to communities.

The committee highlighted the potential influence SALGA can have on audit outcomes and investigations into irregularities. One of the concerns raised was that there is a gap between SALGA’s training and advisory work and ultimately enforcing the code of conduct for councillors. While members acknowledged the value of SALGA’s training, guidance and support to municipalities, they lamented the lack of mechanisms to sanction councillors and municipal leaders who violate the code. They stressed that without meaningful enforcement by SALGA, efforts to effect accountability and consequences, as well as anti-corruption efforts in municipalities, may have a limited impact.

The leadership of SALGA noted the committee’s concern and explained that legislation currently restricts SALGA’s ability to impose sanctions directly on councillors or municipal managers. They told members that municipalities are legally recognised as independent entities under the Constitution, and that SALGA’s role as an organised local government association is confined to advocacy, capacity-building and support. This means enforcement is primarily the domain of the relevant political parties and municipal councils.

The Chairperson, however, urged SALGA to do more and find ways, through legislative amendments or its own internal processes, to build a culture of ethical behaviour among councillors and senior municipal officials. The leadership of SALGA is committed to raising this matter as part of the review of the White Paper on Local Government currently underway, to clarify its role and authority in matters concerning the conduct of councillors.

Members stressed the collective responsibility of all local government stakeholders to work towards building a capable, effective and efficient local government sphere that meets the needs of communities.