By Nangamso Mabindla
9 September 2005

BUILDING on relationships with its neighbours, Buffalo City Municipality signed a memorandum of understanding with King Sabatha Dalindyebo Municipality (KSD) at the East London City Hall on Thursday, 8 September.

The memorandum, signed by Mayor Sindisile Maclean and KSD Mayor Delaray Mkhatshwa, aims to promote and strengthen intergovernmental relations between the two local authorities.

Another of its objectives is to promote co-operative governance between the city and the KSD municipality (Mthatha).

Maclean said he was excited about the prospect of working closely with the KSD local municipality.

"In fact, everybody in our city should be excited that we now have an opportunity to learn from each other. We will learn how to deal with challenges facing us as municipalities."

It was important that Buffalo City had strong relationships with local municipalities before initiating relations with overseas cities. "Our intention is to make this relationship strong and sustainable.

"We have different challenges but we will be able to share ideas on how to deal with them. Partnerships are important if we are going to deliver services to our people," Maclean added.

Mkhatshwa, who was accompanied by his council speaker and municipal manager, among others, said that after taking over the municipality in 2004 they had found it difficult to deal with certain challenges prevalent at that time.

"We decided to come knocking on the door of Buffalo City and asked [it] to assist us on matters pertaining to good governance," Mkhatshwa said, adding that his council wanted to take advantage of having Buffalo City on its doorstep.

In 2003 Buffalo City was voted the best city in the country, when it won the coveted Vuna Award handed out to municipalities excelling in the promotion of good governance and service delivery. It also won the provincial Clean City Award handed out to the cleanest municipality in the province.

"Having a city that has won numerous awards in our province means that there is something we are doing right. Buffalo City won these awards because of good governance and we want to learn from that," Mkhatshwa added.

However, this was a mutual relationship where both municipalities would gain from their different experiences. "I am sure this will be a fruitful relationship and we are grateful to Buffalo City for assisting us in our hour of need."

The memorandum would come to an end in 2006, but Mkhatshwa said they were confident it would develop into a long-term relationship.