Local should be lekker: ANC Lekgotla focuses on local government

This being an election year, the ANC's plans for improving local government topped the agenda at the party's national lekgotla in Boksburg this weekend.

ANC National Spokesperson, Mahlengi Bhengu speaking to 702 and CapeTalk's Mandy Wiener, said they've established quarter-on-quarter performance systems, that include how accountability mechanisms are going to work.

"We need to know how often and whether councillors are holding meetings with communities to provide reports and feedback. And to take and collect new complaints and input from members of a particular ward," said Bhengu.

She explained that the ANC has also taken strong measures to ensure that the candidate selection guidelines for the upcoming local government election have been upgraded to a very high degree.

"The committee that is led by Kgalema Motlanthe, one of our veterans, has already revised those guidelines. They've been adopted by the NEC. So, the way we select councillors is going to be quite different in terms of how we've done it before. Both in terms of the skill set that they have to possess as well as in terms of competence, educational qualifications."

Bhengu said they will also be looking for people with experience and no criminal record.

"Any form of criminality whether it's gender based violence or femicide or whether it is any form of crime committed by an individual."

What about removing and replacing the poor performing officials?

"We have removed a mayor that was found to be in conflict with the law in the North West. We removed a few councillors already."

She said it's going to be accelerated in the first quarter of the financial year.

"I can really confirm all of those actions are contained in the ANC's local government plan. South Africans are going to see more and more of that kind of decisive discipline."

To listen to Bhengu's full discussion with 702 and CapeTalk's Mandy Wiener, click the link below: