The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) has welcomed the launch of the seminal Review of the 1998 White Paper on Local Government, hailing it as an important step towards more accountable and efficient local governments, resulting in better service delivery.
Committee Chairperson Dr Zweli Mkhize and several committee members attended the launch event in Johannesburg on Monday. The review was launched under the theme “Every municipality must work – A call to collective action”.
The Chairperson said the review is long overdue, as a lot has changed in local government since the first White Paper, with many municipalities struggling and dysfunctional. He said the vision for local government as an important lever in addressing historical injustices and improving people’s lives has not aligned with the lived realities in communities over the years.
“Now, this review provides an important pause to reinvigorate and chart a new trajectory of growth, development and efficiency for our municipalities,” the Chairperson said.
He invited all stakeholders to make their voices heard in the planned consultations that will follow, as the review is set to address service delivery challenges in municipalities and the funding model for local government, among other things.
“The committee is looking forward to interacting with the review process of the White Paper on Local Government,” said the Chairperson.
The review is expected to be finalised by March of next year.
Africa Fact: Africans pioneered basic arithmetic 25,000 years ago. The Ishango bone is a tool handle with notches carved into it found in the Ishango region of Zaïre (now called Congo) near Lake Edward. The bone tool was originally thought to have been over 8,000 years old, but a more sensitive recent dating has given dates of 25,000 years old. On the tool are 3 rows of notches. Row 1 shows three notches carved next to six, four carved next to eight, ten carved next to two fives and finally a seven. The 3 and 6, 4 and 8, and 10 and 5, represent the process of doubling. Row 2 shows eleven notches carved next to twenty-one notches, and nineteen notches carved next to nine notches. This represents 10 + 1, 20 + 1, 20 – 1 and 10 – 1.
Finally, Row 3 shows eleven notches, thirteen notches, seventeen notches and nineteen notches. 11, 13, 17 and 19 are the prime numbers between 10 and 20.