The state of municipalities and their ability to deliver services will come under scrutiny during the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) Local Government Week programme to be held in Cape Town next week.
The NCOP will hold the Local Government Week from 16 to 19 September to deliberate on service delivery and the performance of the local sphere of government. Local Government Week is an annual feature on the NCOP’s programme, and the theme for this year is “Restoring the dignity of our people through spatial planning, provision of human settlement and water and sanitation”.
The programme provides a platform for debate on matters affecting local government in relation to the national sphere of government, and to propose solutions, including amendments to laws that negatively impact service delivery and those that inadvertently result in over-regulation. It also seeks to engender the principles of cooperative governance and inter-governmental relations in dealing with matters affecting the local sphere of government.
Participants will include delegates to the NCOP, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA), ministers, MECs, municipal councillors as well as Chapter 9 institutions and academics.
One of the NCOP’s objectives is to promote cooperative governance and intergovernmental relations and ensure that the three spheres of government work together when they perform their constitutional functions. Local Government Week is one of the initiatives to achieve this objective and ensure effective service delivery in the local sphere of government.
On the first day of the programme, the Chairperson of NCOP, Ms Refilwe Mtshweni-Tsipane, will deliver the opening address, where she will set the scene and outline the week’s objectives. She will be followed by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mr Velenkosini Hlabis, who is expected to lead a discussion on the theme “Delivering integrated services to the people through co-operative governance and support to the local sphere of government”.
The Minister of Water and Sanitation, Ms Pemmy Majodina, will deliver a presentation on the topic “Assistance to the local sphere of government in the provision of water and sanitation to communities”, while her Human Settlements colleague, Ms Thembi Simelane, will address the session on human settlements and spatial planning.
The President of SALGA, Councillor Bheke Stofile, will focus on section 139 and 154 interventions in local government, and the collection of debt owed to municipalities.
In previous Local Government Week engagements, the effectiveness of placing struggling municipalities under administration, through Section 139 of the Constitution, came under serious scrutiny, with delegates arguing that there was no evidence that this process yielded positive results.
This year’s Local Government Week also sees the introduction of a new feature, site visits, in which participants will split into various delegations to conduct site visits to various projects in townships around Cape Town.
Sakhile Mokoena
12 September 2025
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