Clean sweep for Western Cape at national municipal awards
Saldanha Bay municipality won big at the Municipal Performance Awards
Image: FILE
It was a clean sweep for the Western Cape at a national municipal awards ceremony, with four municipalities in the province taking top honours.
At the National Good Governance Awards in Johannesburg on Thursday, the West Coast District Municipality was crowned the best-run municipality, boasting 14 consecutive clean audits and flawless capital project spending.
The Breede Valley municipality has been impressed with a clean audit for 2023/24, marking 10 consecutive years of spotless audits and fully funded budgets.
The Cape Winelands district municipality secured 11 consecutive clean audits and strong budget management.
The awards were held at Gallagher Estate as part of the annual Local Government Indaba.
It brings together municipalities, government officials, and industry experts to recognise excellence in local governance and service delivery.
The Western Cape’s dominance continued at the Municipal Performance Awards, hosted by the SA Property Owners Association, Ratings Afrika and the Banking Association of SA.
It also took place on Thursday.
Swartland and Saldanha Bay shared first place nationally, followed by Swellendam in second and Hessequa in third.
The City of Cape Town was ranked best metro.
Local government, environmental affairs and development planning MEC Anton Bredell congratulated the winning municipalities.
“Financial management is the foundation from which all other aspects of local government are built," he said.
"A clean audit does not mean there is no poverty, inequality, crime or unemployment.
"But it means the municipality used the money entrusted to it for the intended purpose and within the relevant law.
"Without this, you cannot begin to address the other challenges all municipalities in SA have to face.”
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