Minister Richard Baloyi has called for a more heightened fight against corruption in municipalities, starting with the ones perceived corrupt.

The minister says that for the first time CoGTA will collaborate with communities to identify ten municipalities that are perceived to be corrupt in each province and make an example of them to discourage the scourge. The Ministry of CoGTA is already capacitating its Anti-corruption Inspectorate, which was established to focus on local government corruption, for the task.

In his address at the recent New Age Breakfast meeting, minister said: "The department's Anti-corruption Inspectorate will work closely with law enforcement agencies to boost its capacity so if people suspect corruption they must report it to the government anti-corruption hotline for our attention."

Corruption in public service is regarded as one of the biggest threat to efficient delivery of services by government and is often mentioned as one of the causes of service delivery protests.

Minister Baloyi says that the CoGTA inspectorate will deal with allegations of corruption comprehensively and make sure that the corrupters are also made to account for their actions.

Issued by: Department of Cooperative Governance