Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa opened the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) National Conference by addressing local government leaders about the opportunity and responsibility it has to transform communities.

“You are our leaders in the sphere of government closest to the people and closest to their challenges, their dreams, their hopes, their aspirations, societal well-being, and their futures,” Ramaphosa said.

Building a sustainable local government: Vision 2017-2022

SALGA said the conference was a major opportunity to put forward new ideas and a clear plan for closing the gap between South Africa’s current realities. It said that local governments could achieve sustainability by:

• Locating local government at the centre of a rapidly changing world
• As implementers and shapers of the future, look at how to reinvent themselves to adapt and be responsive to fast-changing environment
• Looking at how to pioneer development and transformation models that are more sustainable and just

Positioning local government at the centre of cooperative governance systems was also an important point highlighted at the conference. It was suggested that one of the ways this could be achieved was by “constructively disrupting the status quo which is putting serious pressure and limitations on local government’s ability to execute the developmental mandate”.

The conference also mentioned the professionalising of SALGA’s role as an advocate for local government which could be done through inspiring thought leadership and supporting local government to respond to complex and rapid changes of the 21st century.

SALGA said it was confident that “the collective wisdom of the conference will be drawn from all corners of the world, will inspire new thinking and help us to build a formidable and dynamic local government sector”.