Minister Bredell’s network forum held to share insight on service delivery

Minister Anton Bredell, the Provincial Minister for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, hosted the bi-annual Minister and Mayors (MINMAY) Forum at Goudini Spa in Rawsonville today. Minister Bredell was joined by the Premier, Mr Alan Winde, Minister of Social Development MEC Sharna Fernandez and Head of the Department of Local Government, Mr Graham Paulse in meeting the Western Cape Executive Mayors and Municipal Managers in a collaborative effort to assist in coordination, planning and information sharing across and within the three spheres of government.

The MINMAY provides a platform for the Minister to engage the municipal mayors, municipal managers and senior government officials on matters that affects municipalities, facilitate discussions around service delivery, challenges facing the municipalities  and explore innovative ways to address challenges impacting on local government.

Key issues discussed included vandalism of Eskom and municipal infrastructure, 16 days of activism against GBV and Femicide, and Fire Season Preparedness. Mr Colin Deiner, the Head of Disaster Management Centre informed the meeting that the Department of Local Government will allocate R16 million towards firefighting. Since 2011, R100 million was spent on Fire Fighting Vehicle and equipment.  He mentioned the particular success of the smoke detector installation project throughout the identified high-risk areas. 

A number of other operational issues were discussed such as the introduction of the funding model for district municipalities, the impact of unfunded mandates of municipalities. Minister Bredell closed the engagement thanking all the Executive Mayors for their hard work during the past year and emphasized the importance for working together across all spheres of government to ensure residents get the best services possible.