By Nangamso Mabindla

Buffalo City beat 216 other municipalities when it was voted the best municipality in South Africa at a function at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, near Johannesburg, on Friday night.

The city won the R3-million first prize and become the inaugural winner of the national Vuna Award. Buffalo City was representing the Eastern Cape, where the city beat municipalities such as the Nelson Mandela Metro and the Amatola District Municipality to the provincial award.

Buffalo City Executive Mayor Sindisile Maclean, speaking at a function to switch-on Christmas lights at the East London beachfront on Saturday, said the municipality owed its success to the people of Buffalo City.

"Service delivery is important to us because it brings us closer to our people. We owe our success to the people of Buffalo City and believe that our celebrations should include you," the mayor said to the delight of the thousands of local residents who had braved the rain to watch the festive lights be turned on.

"This success couldn't have come at a more convenient time as we celebrate Christmas and prepare for the South African Games next year," Councillor Maclean said.

Party

Buffalo City was planning to celebrate its success by holding a bash in one of the city's stadiums. "We will party till we drop," the mayor said.

Buffalo City was recognised for its performance in categories such as sound financial viability, quality service delivery, economic development focused on job creation, good governance and transformation.

City Manager Mxolisi Tsika was delighted Buffalo City's efforts had been recognised. "When it comes to local government achievements, there's nothing bigger than the national Vuna Awards. We beat the Joburg Metro, Tshwane, Cape Town and Durban - with a limited budget at that," said Mr Tsika.

Mr Tsika was convinced Buffalo City's would now be in line for metro status. "If winning the national Vuna Award with a dedicated staff and a small budget doesn't guarantee us metro status, then I do not know what will," Tsika said, adding that winning the Vuna Award proved the municipality had the necessary credentials.

The Vuna Awards, an initiative of the Department of Provincial and Local Government, the National Productivity Institute, the South African Local Government Association and the Development Bank of Southern Africa, are aimed at promoting innovative municipal service delivery, identifying and supporting poorly performing municipalities, and improving the image of local government.

Welfare

Buffalo City has a welfare package for about 40 000 poor households that includes R110 subsidy for rates and services, R23,26 for free basic water, R19,11 for free basic electricity and R14,89 to offset the burden of service-charge increases for pensioners and the disabled.

Professor Stan Sangwane, head of the adjudicating committee, said the council had proven "strong, focused delivery, strong and effective municipality, extensive consultation and strong private-sector participation".

Winning the inaugural Vuna Award was just the beginning, said Buffalo City Communications Manager Darby Gounden. "We must not become complacent because from now until the next Vuna Awards we will be under a magnifying glass because people have noticed our dedication. We're here to serve our communities, we should never forget that."

The city needed to work hard to defend its title, she added, because the other municipalities would work even harder to be the best. Buffalo City looked forward to the challenge, Gounden said. "Roll on 2004."

Strides

Ekhuruleni Metro in Gauteng came in at second place, winning R2-million, while the Northern Cape's Khara Hais municipal council took home R1-million for excellent delivery to its 70 000 population.

Mayors, councillors and bigwigs from local government, including Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi, his deputy Ntombazana Botha, attended the glitzy event in Midrand.

Mr Mufamadi acknowledged the strides made by the local sphere since its transformation from an uneven apartheid system to a democratic administration, saying the winners demonstrated that the system worked. He urged struggling municipalities to learn from the victors' winning formula to jack up their performances.

"Using this as material for introspection will help municipalities to benchmark their performance against best practices that definitely exist within our local government sphere," he said.

The awards coincided with the third anniversary of the three-year-old local government sphere, which was officially set up during municipal elections on 5 November 2000.

In his video message to the gathering, President Thabo Mbeki, who was at the Commonwealth Summit in Nigeria, commended the winners for being the "agents of change".

Additional reporting by Matome Sebelebele, BuaNews