THE Greater Kokstad Municipality has maintained its  top  spot  as  the  good performing  Municipality  in the entire province of KwaZulu-Natal after having been rated at number one once more and in in position nine countrywide.

The recent Government Performance   Index       2021     (GPI) research    conducted    by    Good Governance  Africa (GGA),  a  Non-Profit  Organisation (NPO)  focused on   researching, advocating,   and improving governance across Africa, is a ranking instrument that provides all interested stakeholders with an index of Municipal- level governance performance which was because of a research conducted by GGA.

However,  the  Municipality  has always been rated number one by two  independent agencies,  Good Governance Africa (GGA), and Afrika Ratings Agency. Despite    that,    the    National Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs rated the Municipality as the best performing in the province. The   GGA   evaluation   process zoomed in into the performance of about 205 local municipalities across the country and separately accessed metropolitan      Municipalities. Areas of focus were Administration, Service delivery and planning and monitoring.

The top ten leading Municipalities in South Africa are listed as follows: Cape Agulhas, Bergrivier, Saldanha Bay, Midvaal, Prince Albert, Swellendam, Overstrand, Bitou, Greater Kokstad and Lesedi. The Greater Kokstad Municipality Mayor, Bheki Mtolo said this is all about  respecting  the  public  funds and abiding by the budget practices in ensuring long term planning. He however said the news were welcomed surprise given the fact that the Municipality is continuing to experience inadequate equitable share owed to the hard economic times.   This   also   affects revenue collection as most businesses are still recovering from the effects of Covid-19 impact where most could hardly pay their Municipal rates as they were expected at the same time to pay for their overheads. He said the top  spot was  also
attributed to the commitment of the Municipal  officials  and  Councillors who come to work knowing they have the honour to serve the communities, not themselves.

The Municipal Manager for the Greater Kokstad Municipality, Sipho Zwane added that central and critical to the functionality of any Municipality is good governance, sound financial management,   effective   oversight, discipline, and motivated personnel. The collaboration and cooperation of  Councilors,  management,  staff, and organized labour at the Greater Kokstad   Municipality   provides   a conducive  environment  to  achieve the  service  delivery  objectives  of the Municipality as enshrined in the Integrated Development Plan”, said Zwane.

The   decisive   and   insightful leadership of His Worship the Mayor, Councilor BM Mtolo is highly appreciated as it gets the best from those in the administration, Zwane added. “The results of the rating agencies serve as  a  motivation  for us to do more,” said Zwane. The   report   is available on www.gga.org