Parliament, Thursday, 23 April 2026 – The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs today questioned whether the South African Local Government Association’s (SALGA) support and interventions in municipalities are producing visible improvements. SALGA briefed the committee on its Annual Performance Plan (APP) for the 2026/2027 financial year.
Presenting the plan to the committee, SALGA said it is both a delivery plan and an election-year transition plan. The focus will be on ensuring governance continuity, strengthening municipal support, promoting and maintaining labour stability, induction and training of new councillors (after the local government elections), innovation and building internal sustainability.
The committee heard that SALGA’s support role also includes negotiations, technical support and policy advocacy. The APP outlines the persistent challenges in local government, including weak leadership, poor financial management and deteriorating infrastructure. Members heard that SALGA would prioritise this, including influencing intergovernmental processes, supporting municipalities with governance, audit, revenue, infrastructure, climate and service delivery interventions. It will also focus on building leadership capabilities and expanding digital and partnership-based solutions.
The committee welcomed the plans and support that SALGA intends to provide to municipalities but asked how these translate into meaningful improvement of municipal dysfunctionality. Members noted that despite SALGA’s efforts, many municipalities continue to struggle with weak governance, poor financial management, labour instability, service delivery failures and poor audit outcomes.
The Chairperson of the committee, Dr Zweli Mkhize, said while provinces, the national Department of COGTA and National Treasury all have responsibilities, the committee wants to see clearer evidence of SALGA’s own contribution in turning municipalities around. “As SALGA, you need to keep reflecting on your own performance as a structure in relation to the performance of your members, because somewhere along the line, we need to be able to move the needle to a point where we reduce the levels of dysfunctionality,” said the Chairperson. He noted that there appears to be a disconnect between SALGA’s role and performance plans on the one hand, and the struggles of many municipalities on the other.
Members expressed concern about municipalities that continue to receive disclaimer audit outcomes. “We do not want the next Auditor-General’s report to show that a number of municipalities that were previously identified have still not changed and are still receiving disclaimers,” the Chairperson said. He said a firmer, more collaborative approach is needed to address repeat failures.
Some committee members also requested clarity on the practical effect of SALGA’s support programmes. Among other things, they wanted to know which of the worst-performing municipalities are receiving SALGA support to improve their financial sustainability, audit support, revenue enhancement and infrastructure-related interventions and what measurable improvements have resulted. Members were not satisfied with support being described in broad terms alone and called for clearer evidence of outcomes, not only activities.
The committee noted that if municipalities remain trapped in debt and labour disputes and administrative weaknesses persist, then claims of intervention must be tested against actual conditions on the ground. In this regard, Members questioned the continued payment of levies by struggling municipalities if the impact of SALGA’s role is not evident to communities through improved service delivery.
The committee also raised concern about SALGA’s focus on support for water, sanitation, waste management and disaster response in the coming year. Members pointed out that these are not new problems but long-running crises in many municipalities. They asked what would be different in SALGA’s approach, given that communities are already living with water shortages, waste failures and recurring disasters. Similar concerns were raised about labour relations, with members highlighting complaints from municipal employees about unfair processes and unresolved disputes and asking what SALGA’s role is when such cases undermine administration and service delivery.
The Chairperson said the committee will continue processing annual performance plans as part of its oversight work and expects SALGA to provide the additional information requested by Members.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS, DR ZWELI MKHIZE.
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:
Name: Alicestine October (Ms)
Cell: 083 665 4345
E-mail: aoctober@parliament.gov.za
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