By Nangamso Mabindla
25 November 2004

THE AMATHOLE District Municipality (ADM) and Makana Municipality (Grahamstown) walked away with the coveted provincial Vuna Awards at a glittering function at the East London City Hall on Wednesday, November 24.

The awards are an initiative of the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG), in partnership with the National Productivity Institute, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the South African Local Government Association.

They aim to identify the best performing municipalities, to encourage excellent service delivery and to assist under-performing municipalities and empower them to do better in the future.

This year's awards were divided into two categories: district and local municipalities. The ADM beat Cacadu when it was voted the best district municipality in the province, while Makana beat last year's winners, Buffalo City, to be named best local municipality in the province.

The winners walked away with R750 000 and a floating trophy, with the runners-up receiving a cheque for R250 000.

Speaking about the importance of the Vunas, Local Government MEC, Gugile Nkwinti, said it was important for municipalities to take service delivery seriously. "You are the government that is closest to the people. You should be conscious of the fact that municipalities need to build their communities," he said.

According to Nkwinti, if municipalities took the lead in developing and caring for communities, the government would be able to achieve its goal of a better life for all the country's people.

He also encouraged more municipalities to improve on their finances and service delivery so that they could qualify to be considered for the awards in future. Out of the 45 municipalities in the province, only 31 were considered this year.

Turning his attention to the winners and runners-up, Nkwinti said he looked forward to the national Vuna Awards in Johannesburg on December 9. "I would also like to commend Buffalo City for being magnanimous in defeat, especially in their own backyard," he added.

Deputy Director General of the DPLG, Patrick Flusk, also encouraged municipalities to lift their standards of service delivery. "If we can all work on improving, our people will benefit and you will all qualify to be called worthy winners of the Vuna," said Flusk.