The National Steering Committee which was established to drive the Local Government Turnaround Strategy (LGTAS), especially in 108 priority municipalities across the country, held a workshop in Mpumalanga recently to assess the implementation of the strategy and identify areas they could support the provincial counterparts in.

The two-day workshop made commitments to support provinces who are at a forefront of implementing the LGTAS in their municipalities. This is one of CoGTA's efforts to advance achievement of the LGTAS objectives by coordinating all support structures to make the strategy succeed.

The event was attended by main drivers of the LGTAS implementation which included officials from: Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency; national and provincial departments responsible for cooperative governance and traditional affairs; and other national sector departments.

The implementation of the LGTAS has entered a new era with all stakeholders undertaking to interact often to reinforce their interventions and timelines for turning around the 108 priority municipalities.

Furthermore, the workshop reached the following key resolutions which would improve and accelerate the implementation of the strategy:

Sector departments must attend Integrated Development Plan (IDP) sessions to align their plans with municipalities.

There should be a funding for LGTAS catalytic projects.

CoGTA should improve the coordination and integration of municipalities' buy-in or support of the LGTAS.

A framework for monitoring IDPs must be developed.