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By Thobile Mhlongo, Senior Manager in the local government at SALGA

Digital transformation in the public service is heralding a new era of capacity building and robust local government through e-learning programmes that target elected councillors and newly appointed officials.

The lack of skills in the public sector is a point frequently made in the media. At the municipal level, we need leadership development, more administrative and financial skills, governance expertise, as well as more technical skills in the engineering fields.

According to the South African Local Government Association’s (SALGA) analysis of local government workforce skills at council level in the 2016 municipal elections, only 33% of the 9,306 elected councillors had a post-matriculation qualification. These individuals are key players at municipalities who are responsible for income and expenditure and are expected to have insight and understanding of legislation and policy. 

Low levels of tertiary education go some way towards explaining the poor performance of South African municipalities, not only when it comes to service delivery but also in complying with financial governance and administrative processes.

But we are starting to see a shift. When COVID-19 hit South Africa in early 2020, it led to a nationwide shutdown of offices and non-essential workplaces, brought new ways of working, and prompted a global digital revolution. In South Africa’s public service, it sped up the use of technological platforms and interfaces that manage manual processes and help administrative systems run more smoothly.

Now, more than two years later, we are seeing some of the benefits of this digital transformation, especially in the municipal training sector, a vitally important arm of local government that deals specifically with upskilling public servants. All newly elected councillors, mayors, municipal managers, and other officials must undergo an induction programme, which, before COVID-19, took place at physical locations, requiring travel, inconvenience, and lengthy time commitments from participants.

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With the new online learning platforms, these training programmes have become more streamlined, more accessible, and less complicated to run or integrate into a councillor’s and an official’s busy schedule. Conducted from a central hub known as the Leadership Village, various training programmes were launched at the end of 2021. Currently, the hub has 8 464 users enrolled on the system, with 15 training programmes for municipal councillors and officials that range from leadership development to the vital Integrated Councillor Induction Programme (ICIP).

Many of the educational programmes are free to participants, with SALGA partnering with various implementation partners, including SETAs (Services Sector Education and Training Authorities) and universities around the country.

There is evidence that more knowledge and training improve outcomes in municipalities. For instance, there is Okhahlamba Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. This municipality was once placed under financial administration but received a clean audit for the 2016–2021 terms. 

According to Suraya Asmal, senior communications officer at the municipality, several procedural processes were put in place with regular meetings to hold individuals accountable. She adds, “We also have a culture where we encourage our staff to pursue their educational qualifications, and we are proud that 99 percent of our management staff hold tertiary qualifications.”

 The Auditor-General, Tsakani Maluleke, has herself called for more skills development at municipalities, noting that the majority of consultants are used for management services, tax services, and the preparation or review of financial statements. She lamented that many municipalities seemed unable to do basic accounting, like compiling VAT returns.

Signing up public servants for existing training and further education programmes should be imperative at municipalities, especially as many of them are free of charge for participants and often funded and cost-shared at partnering institutions. I can attest to the benefits of a targeted academic qualification. In my recent Doctorate in Business Administration thesis, I looked at digital transformation in the local government, exploring the potential for online learning to better equip municipal leaders—insights that I was able to apply immediately to my everyday work.

 There are good news stories from the local government sector, and they need to be heard. I’ve met many passionate and hard-working people who have given up more lucrative jobs in the private sector because they want to make a difference. The public’s frustration with local government performance is valid, but the potential to improve the skills shortages at the municipal level is guaranteed to improve service delivery, and we need to focus our efforts here. With e-learning programmes tailored to fit into the busy life of the ward councillor or municipal mayor, getting a qualification has never been easier—or more important.

Thobile Mhlongo is a senior manager in the local government at SALGA, an association overseeing 257 municipalities in the country – including metropolitan, district, and local municipalities. She recently completed a Doctorate in Business Administration at Milpark Education, her thesis focusing on digital transformation in the local government sector.

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