BUFFALO City's new acting municipal manager, Lulama Zitha, has set her sights on improving service delivery in the city.

Zitha, who took office on 23 March, was seconded from the Office of Corporative Governance and Traditional Affairs. She has already noted a few areas that need to be improved, including ablution facilities and refuse management in Duncan Village, and grass cutting across the city.

She also wants to look at employee skills and "ensure that we have people who are qualified for the positions", she says.

A local government finance consultant, Zitha has many skills and experience in this sector. She has consulted for the National Treasury in building capacity for the Eastern Cape Provincial Treasury in implementing the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).

Over the years, she has also assisted municipalities in Eastern Cape Province implement the MFMA.

Zitha's credentials include the development of a document for the National Treasury on the role and responsibilities of provincial treasuries in implementing the MFMA. It is used as a guide for provincial treasuries on their roles and responsibilities, as well as those of MECs of finance.

She was a member of the Committee of Inquiry into Private Funding of Public Infrastructure Projects in Gauteng Province and was on the Advisory Panel of the Gauteng MEC of housing.

Zitha is the managing director of Zilule Business Enterprise, a management consulting group with projects ranging from public finance and financial modelling, to capacity building, public administration, governance and development economics.

She obtained a bachelor of science from Saint Peter's College and an MBA from Bond University.

In her service delivery turnaround strategy for Buffalo City, she said the City had R1-billion from the capital budget that had to be spent before the end of the financial year. "We currently have a capital budget in excess of R1-billion and we have only spent 18 percent of that."

The municipality must accelerate the spending of these funds, she added. Zitha expressed her confidence in the ability of council members to act and be part of improving service delivery.