Steve Tshwete Municipality in Middelburg 3rd Best in SA

South Africa’s best-managed municipalities are in Gauteng and the Western Cape, according to a study. Most of the best-performing local municipalities, eight out of 10 local municipalities, were in the Western Cape. The top two were Overstrand and Stellenbosch, both in the Western Cape.

Steve Tshwete in Middelburg, Mpumalanga came third, followed by Saldanha Bay, also in the Western Cape.

Western Cape and Gauteng municipalities remain typically the best managed and most competitive in a year ridden with protests, Municipal IQ said in a statement when releasing its municipal productivity and compliance and governance indexes.

The municipal productivity index combines financial and other data to assess individuals’ ability to engage with local economies. The compliance and governance index focuses on how well municipalities are meeting basic planning, reporting, financial management, and capacity requirements.

The City of Cape Town had the top score on the municipal productivity index, followed by Tshwane, and Johannesburg.

Tshwane rose to second place with robust spending contributing to its higher ranking in 2014.

Municipal IQ managing director Kevin Allan said municipalities in underdeveloped areas, such as former homelands, were struggling.

Although there had been an improvement in compliance and capacity levels in struggling municipalities, these were not at the required standard.

According to its website, Municipal IQ is a web-based data and intelligence service that monitors and assesses South Africa’s 278 municipalities.