Certificate ceremony of Western Cape Municipal Officials

The Municipal Minimum Competence (MMC) programme is intended for municipal Accounting Officers, Chief Financial Officers, Senior Managers, Other Financial Officials; Heads of Supply Chain Management and Supply Chain Management Officials.

Municipal officials of the Western Cape have attended courses since 2009. The programme presented by the School of Public Leadership of Stellenbosch University was initiated in August 2010 after obtaining accreditation as service provider from the Local Government Seta. The 20 projects, of which we celebrate the completion today, had 860 attendees from the Western and Northern Cape. This means that, apart from the money invested in the realisation of the programme, 373 000 people-hours have been invested just to attend the classes, not counting the hours of preparation for and completion of assessments.

This is a substantive investment, taking into consideration that these participants did not get any reduction in their normal workload during that time, so it was an investment by them. We must acknowledge the magnitude of the sacrifices made by all of you sitting here today.

Not only did you do this to satisfy the requirements of the law, but from the feedback that we received, it is evident that you did this mostly in a spirit of keenness to use the opportunity to really enhance and sharpen your competencies.

This process has resulted in a renewed energy between municipalities, to look at ways in which the shared experience will enhance the ability as a sector to generate and use data for management decisions, which will ultimately make a substantive contribution to improved service delivery and financial sustainability.

The initiative has also enhanced the relations between spheres of government. Increasing the competency level of municipal management is a step ahead of the same ideal for provincial and national departments. Nevertheless, the Provincial Treasury and Provincial Department of Local Government group is also busy with the MMC programme. As Mr TV Pillay, the National Treasury person responsible for MFMA implementation is here today, I also dare to say that the programme has enhanced sharing of understanding amongst all three spheres of government for the huge task of South African municipalities. - I must admit that initially we may have had some reservations about the viability of the MMC initiative in the time-frames put forward.

This programme undoubtedly makes a contribution towards modernisation and accreditation initiatives in this province. We hope that the learning that took place is not going to stop here, but that it is just the beginning of a learning career running parallel with local government careers. Thank you and congratulations to the participants here today.

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Media Enquiries: 

Peter Pullen

Spokesperson for Minister Anton Bredell

Tel: 021 483 2820

Fax: 021 483 6081

Cell: 082 574 3773

E-mail: peter.pullen@westerncape.gov.za