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• Japan, Korea and Central Asia offering support for Rural
Development in 12 municipalities across three provinces, namely
Mpumalanga, North West and Free State.
International Relations (IR) Strategy
At the SALGA National Executive Committee on 25 March 2011, the
revised International Relations Strategy 2011-2015 was finalised and
tabled for approval. The strategy is a guideline developed with input
from all provinces for the enhancement of the co-ordination and
adherence to international relations policies that are in alignment with
the national interests and the priorities of SALGA members.
Strengthened international partnerships
Through its projects, SALGA continues to support United Cities of Local
Governments of Africa (UCLGA) and is now housing the organisation
in its National Office. Member municipalities are exposed to
peer-learning initiatives and information exchange on good practices
with international partners such as the India Brazil South Africa (IBSA)
Local Government Platform, Commonwealth Local Government Forum
(CLGF), United Cities of Local Governments (UCLG), Associations
of Local Governments and Authorities of Kenya (ALGAK), Ministry
of Local Governments in Ghana, who hosted a study tour of local
government practitioners, and Botswana Association of Local
Authorities (BALA), who shared a draft Memorandum of Cooperation
(MOC) and International Relations work profiles.
Supporting tourism development programme in municipalities
The South African Local Economic Development Network is currently
hosted by SALGA in partnership with German Technical (GIZ).
An e-network base has been established with the aim of providing
information, strategies, skills and best practices on local economic
development within the sphere of local government. One of the
functions of the LED Network is to establish a tourism portal focusing on
the development of tourism opportunities within the local government
sphere. Local government places high priority on encouraging and
supporting local economic development within the tourism sector as
this contributes to the social, cultural, economic and environmental
development of a particular area by:
• The economic benefits from visitor-spending creating employment
and facilities, retail outlets and services that the local population
could not sustain on its own.
• Revitalising small municipalities and creating a sense of local
identity and pride.
• Providing support for more vibrant and active businesses and
local communities.
• Attracting events that provide residents and visitors alike with
opportunities to celebrate and experience the uniqueness of a
particular community.
• Promoting a brand to provide an experience that will attract new
investment and new residents, both locally and globally.
The LED Network is available to all municipalities as a single repository
of best/leading practice information on tourism management and
development and contains policy and strategy information, as well as
practical case studies, to inform local government tourism development
in partnership with the private sector. It also assists municipalities with
information on the development of tourism sector plans for Integrated
Development Plans (IDPs) and in identifying roles to strengthen local
tourism development.
A Portfolio Committee Meeting on tourism focusing on
inter-governmental relations and tourism was attended by SALGA
Western Cape and a presentation was made by the Department
of Tourism outlining its activities in improving co-ordination and
cooperation between the different spheres of government. The
presentation strongly expressed the view that tourism cannot be
done alone by one sphere of government and that any support
package needs to be integrated between all spheres if it is to be
effective. Although this was the focus of the overarching mandate,
the presentation also stated that “local government does not
have legislative and/or regulatory powers pertaining to tourism”, a
statement which SALGA finds in apparent contradiction to Schedule
4b of the Constitution which lists “Local Tourism” as a competency of
local government.
The presentation acknowledged various roles for local government in
tourism, most notably in terms of providing signage and information
centres and, although the role of local government in contributing
to policy development was also acknowledged, it was limited to
consultation through SALGA’s participation in MinMEC and direct
consultations with national and provincial Departments of Tourism.
Local government is therefore seen to be a barrier to the development of
the tourism sector due to restrictive by-laws and punitive rates policies
that provide a disincentive for investment in tourism enterprises. In
terms of the development of tourism product, local government’s role
is seen to be the provision of basic services, public infrastructure,
the licensing of businesses, signage and tourism development
plans. The national and provincial spheres are understood to have
a higher level role with a focus on enterprise support, planning
and budgeting. The national and provincial spheres are also
responsible for providing a quality assurance framework, which is
then policed by local government through its maintenance, health and
public safety functions.
Additionally, SALGA Western Cape attended the National Tourism
Summit hosted by the Department of Tourism between 28 February
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