Ten municipalities across the Western Cape have received an online upgrade in the hope of enabling communities to receive greater and better access to services. The Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell, launched the upgrades in Cape Town on 18 February.
“This project was kicked off by the Department in 2014 and aims to standardise municipal websites across the province. The aim of my department with this programme is simply to provide similar basic online platforms to our municipalities,” Bredell said.
The new websites are standardised on a single platform that enables them to evolve in line with the Western Cape’s e-government strategy. This strategy seeks to enhance service delivery through the use of technology.
“The websites are mobile friendly which will enable citizens in the most rural areas of the province to interact with their municipality utilising their mobile phones. This will help to reduce the cost to get access to municipal services for many of our people.”
In addition to the development of the websites, the Department has ensured that each of the municipalities have been capacitated to manage these websites through providing various training initiatives to the officials responsible for maintaining each of the respective municipalities websites.
The ten municipalities to benefit first from the programme are:
• Central Karoo District Municipality
• Beaufort West Municipality
• Prince Albert Municipality
• Laingsburg Municipality
• Matzikama Municipality
• Cederberg Municipality
• Kannaland Municipality
• Theewaterskloof Municipality
• George Municipality
• Swellendam Municipality
The newly developed websites include as some of its key features:
• An alert tab which will inform citizens of urgent information which the municipality wishes to communicate
• General Information about the municipal area and services
• Information municipalities are required by law to publish
• Information relating to tourism and economic opportunities in the municipality
• Information about the mayor, councilors and administrative leadership
“These websites therefore forms part of our strategy to enhance transparent and accessible government in the Western Cape,” Bredell said.
