About Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (formerly the Department of Provincial and Local Government) is one of the ministries of the South African government. It is responsible for the relationship between the national government and the provincial governments and municipalities, and for overseeing the traditional leadership of South Africa's indigenous communities.
The branches of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs are:
- Corporate Services
- Monitoring and Evaluation
- Governance, Policy & Research
- Urban & Rural Development
- Systems & Capacity Building
- Free Basic Services & Infrastructure
The COGTA Ministry comprises of the Department of Cooperative Governance and the Department of Traditional Affairs. Key elements and Constitutional foundations of CoGTA’s mandate:
- System of Cooperative Government (Chapter 3 of the Constitution)
- Provinces (Chapter 6 of the Constitution)
- Local Government (Chapter 7 of the Constitution)
- Traditional Leaders (Chapter 12 of the Constitution)
Vision
A functional and developmental local government system that delivers on its Constitutional and legislative mandates within a system of cooperative governance
This Vision is in line with the objectives of Chapter 13 of the National Development Plan: ‘Building a capable and developmental State’
Mission
Our mission is to ensure that all municipalities perform their basic responsibilities and functions consistently by:
- Putting people and their concerns first;
- Supporting the delivery of municipal services to the right quality and standard;
- Promoting good governance, transparency and accountability;
- Ensuring sound financial management and accounting; and
- Building institutional resilience and administrative capability.
This mission is directly adopted from the 5 Pillars of the Back to Basics Campaign.
Guided by the spirit of Batho Pele, our values are:
- Commitment to public service.
- Integrity and dedication to fighting corruption.
- A hands-on approach to dealing with local challenges.
- Public participation and people centered approach.
- Professionalism and goal orientation.
- Passion to serve.
- Excellence and accountability.
Adherence to these values will contribute towards the required state of Local Government.
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