The South African Local Government Association - LEADINGEDGE
In this edition of Titans: Building Nations we speak with Xolile George, Chief Executive Officer of the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and a Continental Winner in the Public Enterprises sector of the Titans: Building Nations programme 2015. He shares his views on the challenges local government faces, draws attention to the progress made in this sphere and reaffirms his passion for seeing local government help transform South Africa.
Local government is in many respects a unique environment – after almost a decade at the helm of SALGA – what have you come to recognise as the key ingredients for successful local government? Local government is the most important sphere of government. It is at this level where citizens experience the impact of policies that national government has put in place in order to improve the lives of ordinary people. South Africans often look to local government to realise the aspirations that have been enshrined in our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Issues such as the restoration of dignity, access to adequate housing and shelter, the provision of education and many other rights are often realised in the local government sphere. To achieve this you need a strong, caring, responsive and agile system of local governance to ensure citizen experiences are indeed positive.
Xolile George, Chief Executive Officer of the South African Local Government Association
Lessons in
Many challenges that exist in the local government sphere are often ascribed to a lack of ongoing leadership capacity development at municipalities. What is your view on this? It is always important, as South Africans, to appreciate where we come from. While we are 22 years into the democratic life of South Africa, local government as we know it today, has been in existence in this form for a mere 15 years. Each municipality has played a role in ensuring South Africans enjoy access to basic services in order to promote the restoration of human dignity. The right to have access to water, sanitation, solid waste disposal, streetlights and other basic services of this nature, are highly aspirational in our emerging democracy and municipalities have worked hard to realise these aspirations.
Leadership by Valdi Pereira
2016
TITANS
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