The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) is calling on human resource practitioners to help attract skilled professionals and technical experts to municipalities.
SALGA chief executive officer Sithole Mbanga said the country needed its best talent in local government, where services have a direct impact on communities.
He said municipalities were where policies translated into everyday services, including water, sanitation, roads, electricity, human settlements and local economic development. Mbanga added that business expansion, investment and infrastructure projects ultimately depended on municipalities.
He highlighted the financial pressures facing local government, saying municipalities were expected to deliver a significant share of public services despite having limited budgets.
“It’s important to understand that one of the things is that any average municipality is expected to deliver 42% of the total public services that the South African government is providing, but with only 9% of budget availability,” Mbanga said.
He stressed the importance of attracting and retaining skilled professionals to improve municipal capacity and service delivery.
VOC News
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