The Xhariep District Municipality in the Free State has raised concerns over the national government’s allocation of resources, saying it disadvantages smaller and poorer municipalities.
Speaking at a stakeholder engagement on the revised draft White Paper on Local Government, acting Municipal Manager Mbulelo Jafta claims that the municipality’s classification as a poor district with a small population has resulted in limited funding and resources.
He says, “We are advocating now for poor municipalities to be addressed or to be handled in a different manner, through a differentiated approach in terms of funding so that we can be able to realise the challenges that we find ourselves in.”
The revised White Paper on Local Government aims to assess the performance of the local government system since the 1998 policy framework and to outline reforms for the future.
Jafta also calls for improved coordination in planning and budgeting.
“We are also saying let’s increase our implementation in terms of district development model approach, that of which we kill the silo planning, and bring a coherent manner of planning as well as budget.”
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