IMATU COMMENTS ON SONA

Following the delivery of last night’s State of the Nation Address (SONA), the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (IMATU) is committed to making local government work.

“IMATU members, like all South Africans, are concerned by escalating living costs, economic challenges, infrastructure needs, access to education and the necessity to improve water and electricity supply. We welcome the President’s commitment to continue with the building of water and electricity infrastructure while simultaneously pledging to reduce excessive and wasteful expenditure,” stated IMATU General Secretary, Johan Koen.

IMATU further welcomes the President’s commitment to increase interventions to assist struggling municipalities. IMATU believes that regular site visits to municipalities, better oversight of supply chain management processes and the implementation of forensic report recommendations will greatly assist in the combating of corruption and improvement of service delivery.

IMATU is committed to realising social transformation through a sustainable local government and supports the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Back to Basics 10 Point Plan, which aims to promote good governance and effective administration in local government. We will ourselves be discussing many of these important issues, including service delivery, water and electricity infrastructure at our upcoming National Congress in March this year,” said Koen.

IMATU was also pleased that the President stressed the need to “spend public funds wisely and to cut wasteful expenditure, but without compromising on the core business of government and the provision of services to our people”. IMATU agrees that improved maintenance, focused infrastructure development and the diversification of energy sources will enhance service delivery however, the serious problems of skills shortages, wasteful expenditure, poor governance and infrastructure theft will need to be tackled immediately in order to achieve tangible results.

“IMATU will heed our Government’s call to work together. The commitment of our members must however, be met with the same enthusiasm and political will from the top,” he concluded.