By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa says the District Development Model (DDM) must be institutionalised to turn around dysfunctional municipalities.
The DDM is a government planning and coordination mechanism that ensures improved integrated planning and service delivery across the three spheres of government. It is also an operating model for the pursuit of the objects of local government.
The DDM has been successfully piloted in one Metro (Ethekwini) and two Districts (OR Tambo and Waterberg), and positive lessons have emerged, aiding the broader rollout of the approach. To this effect, the institutionalisation and implementation of the DDM is on course across the 52 spaces (44 Districts and eight Metros).
Hlabisa noted several key strategic departmental initiatives, including the District Development Model (DDM), which is being implemented across 52 districts and metros after the intergovernmental relations regulations were promulgated in May 2024.
He particularly noted the Eastern Seaboard Development, which is a flagship DDM project aimed at strategic growth through partnerships, with infrastructure investments totalling R58.9-billion over the medium term.
Hlabisa said municipal support and intervention plans would be enforced in distressed municipalities, in collaboration with National Treasury and provincial Cogta departments.
Over the weekend, he warned that municipalities that didn’t improve after national government interventions would be dissolved.
“Right now, there are more than 30 Section 139 interventions in municipalities across eight provinces. Some of these interventions have failed, despite lasting the full term of the municipal council.”
The Cooperative Governance budget is set at R395.7-billion, with 95.9% allocated for transfers to municipalities and affiliated entities. This includes the local government equitable share, disaster relief grants and the municipal infrastructure grant.
The Traditional Affairs budget stands at R1.873-billion, reflecting a R58-million reduction due to mandatory budget cuts by the National Treasury.
“Under the Government of National Unity, our mission is clear: to improve basic service delivery, foster inclusive economic growth, urgently address poverty and combat corruption,” said Hlabisa.
Under the theme “Every Municipality Must Work”, Hlabisa detailed the urgent need to address the dysfunctionality in municipalities. Highlighting that 66 municipalities required urgent attention, he underscored the broader necessity for support across most of the country’s 257 municipalities.
In disaster management, Hlabisa proposed a new system to better respond to growing disaster risks, emphasising risk reduction and integrating disaster management into all levels of government planning.
“Our challenge in disaster management is primarily due to deficiencies in regulatory legislation, which is not designed to adapt to the ever-changing risk environment. The systemic and structural design of our disaster management delivery, as guided by current laws, results in issues with timing and bureaucracy.”
Recognising the integral role of traditional leadership, Hlabisa pledged to address issues raised by traditional leaders, including safety and capacity building. The minister also highlighted ongoing efforts to formalise traditional justice systems through the Traditional Courts Bill and the Customary Initiation Act.
Hlabisa concluded by urging the National Assembly to approve the budget votes, emphasising that the 2026 Local Government Elections were imminent and that the time for action was now.
DA MP Marina Van Zyl argued that while change was needed to improve the state of the local government, the District Development Model was not the answer.
“Despite these lofty goals, its implementation across three pilot sites – namely, OR Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape, the Waterberg District Municipality in Limpopo and the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality in KZN has not achieved any tangible change except an accelerated deterioration in service delivery.”
According to a parliamentary reply by the previous Cogta minister, R103-million was spent on these three DDM pilot sites.
The EFF’s Hlengiwe Mkhaliphi said her party rejected the proposed budgets as Cogta had over the years failed to perform its oversight role.
“We also reject the budgets of a department that has no monitoring tools in place for local municipalities,” said Mkhaliphi.
Rise Mzansi’s Makashule Gana criticised Hlabisa’s calls to dissolve dysfunctional municipalities and rerun elections.
“Your task is to make municipalities functional,” Gana said. “You should not be rushing to put municipalities to go for a rerun or putting them under administration because that’s an admission that you are failing.”