KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube has urged municipalities to create more jobs through the country’s infrastructure roll-out programme.

“As government prepares to spend trillions of rands in what is considered the biggest infrastructure roll out on the African continent, municipalities must work enthusiastically to take advantage of the opportunities to boost local economies that will in turn lead to job creation,” she said.

“Our municipalities must seize the fresh opportunities in the context of South Africa’s second economic phase of transformation by creating an enabling environment for stable economic growth at local level which must now come with new jobs.”

The MEC was speaking at the annual meeting of the Institute for Local Government Management, attended by municipal managers, ward councillors and local economic development experts, in Durban.

Dube-Ncube argued that it is imperative for local government to address the infrastructure needs of communities while creating job opportunities. The province has a total infrastructure budget of R46.3 billion for the next three years.

“In our province, we have the Provincial Growth and Development Plan which is our blueprint for creating a province that will be the gateway to Africa and that will be globally competitive. The immediate task before our municipalities today is to consolidate their role as engines of economic growth, development, sustainable service delivery and job creation,” she stressed.

Dube-Ncube said local government needs to organise itself in a better way in order to ensure that it will take advantage of the economic opportunities that will arise as a result of the investments on key infrastructure projects.

She challenged local government practitioners to be “agents of change” and to address the ills of corruption, fraud and service delivery protests that often tarnish the good image of municipalities.

 

(SAnews.gov.za)