Cape Agulhas Municipality Rated Best Municipality in South Africa

CAM was recently rated as the best local municipality in the country by Good Governance Africa (GGA) on the Governance Performance Index (GPI). The prime purpose of the GPI is to reflect the importance of good governance at the local municipal level and GGA has designed it as a tool to influence national-level policy that can improve local governance.

According to Good Governance Africa, “the GPI is a ranking instrument that provides all interested stakeholders with an index of municipal-level governance performance. Governance is ultimately about the efficient and productive allocation of resources. Its presence, or lack thereof, is most keenly felt at the local level. Transparency and accountability are the key building blocks of good governance. Their mandate is to improve government effectiveness and to strengthen citizens to hold their governments to account. The purpose of building a ranking index, in the shape of our enhanced GPI, is to equip citizens to this end.

The GPI reflects which municipalities are excelling and which require improvement. It is, simultaneously, a tool that aids investment decision-making, as it provides a snapshot of the attractiveness of each local municipality.”

There is a rank of 205 local municipalities and 8 metropolitan municipalities, and it is important to mention that local municipalities are ranked separately from the metros. Local municipalities were ranked based on data gathered for 18 indicators under three governance categories namely Administration, Service Delivery and Planning and Monitoring. The most recent available data (2019 – 2021) was gathered from Statistics South Africa, The Auditor General of South Africa (Audit Outcomes, and the Covid-19 Audit Report) and The National Treasury.

The top performing municipalities are all from the Western Cape with Cape Agulhas Municipality at number one followed by Bergrivier Municipality and Saldanha Municipality. “Well done to all our officials and management. Thank you to the residents of Cape Agulhas for your support. We are faced with many challenges in local government but let's keep Cape Agulhas on top” says Executive Mayor Paul Swart.

Article by Gurswin Prins - CAM Communication

Source: Good Governance Africa - Good Governance Performance Index - South Africa 2021