Minster Zweli Mkhize will on Tuesday welcome 93 graduates to be deployed to 55 low capacity municipalities across the country.

The Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department (Cogta) has indicated that the graduates form part of the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent and will be deployed to municipalities already receiving support from them.

Maluti-A-Phofung, Mafube, Masilonyana, and Letsemeng are some of the troubled local municipalities currently benefiting from the technical support teams consisting of engineers, town planners, and provincial managers that were dispatched to various provinces in August, last year.

The teams are expected to help stabilise these municipalities by helping them improve infrastructure, service delivery and finding means to generate income.

They were sent to several provinces following a damning report by the Auditor-General, stating that 113 municipalities countrywide were dysfunctional while those in the Free State all required urgent intervention.

Addressing the South African Local Government Association’s council of mayors earlier this month, Mkhizwe announced that additional technical support teams are going to be deployed to more municipality during the course of the year.

Meanwhile, the Free State Head of Cogta, Mokete Duma, earlier said the work being conducted by technical teams dispatched to various municipalities across the province is progressing well. He told OFM News that the department will act on the recommendations thus far made by the teams on two municipalities once they have been acknowledged in the respective councils.

OFM News