Bloemfontein - The transformation of
municipalities will not happen without an effort by labour unions,
Mangaung mayor Thabo Manyoni said on Tuesday.
"As a predominant union for
municipal workers in local government politics, Samwu has a
meaningful role to play in our endeavour (to) create a responsive,
accountable, effective and efficient local government system,"
Manyoni told the national congress of the SA Municipal Workers Union.
Manyoni is also the national chairman
of the SA Local Government Association (Salga).
He said workers as members of the
tripartite alliance should be aware of the priority to "transform
the state into a stronger, more cohesive, developmental state".
Manyoni urged delegates to reflect on
the implications of the ever-changing environment of both the future
of the alliance and the fundamental strategic objectives the country
was pursuing.
"This will enable us to remain
steadfast in our constitutional mandate of delivering basic services
to our citizenry."
The congress heard it was important to
create a peaceable environment between the alliance and the
government of the day.
Manyoni said a lack of political
stability within municipalities could, to some degree, be blamed on
the confrontational relationship between municipal administrations
and organised labour.
He said workers and government should
invoke the Freedom Charter pledge of "strive together" in
any future conflict situation.
"Even at municipal level we have
to strive for good progress and co-operation in all the proceedings
of Local Labour Forums."
Manyoni said the recent report of the
Auditor-General, mainly characterised by the adverse audit opinion,
implying non-compliance of municipalities, was a matter of great
concern.
Local government’s leaders and unions
should root out corruption in the municipal system.
The need for municipal administrations
to become professional could no longer be ignored, Manyoni said.
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