On Friday 12 May Drakenstein Municipality was named the Western Cape’s best secondary city and runner-up in the Best Municipality category at the 8th Provincial Government’s Service Excellence Awards.
Drakenstein shares this place with Swartland Municipality, while Overstrand Municipality claimed the top spot.
The awards ceremony was held on Friday 12 May at the Century City Convention Centre, Cape Town.
Drakenstein Municipality’s Oosbosch Street Upgrade Project was named one of the five Best Municipal Projects in the province and received special recognition. The R128 m upgrade of Oosbosch Street in Paarl transformed the street into a four-lane divided road to accommodate the area’s existing and future traffic volumes. Illustrating demanding and commendable engineering precision, it includes the first-ever-in-Africa underground housing of traffic signalling equipment to prevent theft and vandalism.
“There has never been a more important time for municipalities to show their mettle and to demonstrate to the public of South Africa that we are serious about quality, reliable and consistent service delivery,” said an overjoyed Alderman Conrad Poole, Executive Mayor of Drakenstein.
“We are honoured and proud to be acknowledged for our efforts and commitment in this way, and are humbled to share the stage with so many other deserving municipalities in the province.”
Dr Johan Leibbrandt, City Manager of Drakenstein Municipality, added: “As the largest B municipality in the Western Cape we have our own unique challenges compared to smaller municipalities. Despite increasing and unforeseen demands on municipalities and service delivery, such as droughts, the Covid-19 pandemic, rapid urbanisation, and high-stage Eskom load shedding, we keep on delivering on our core mandate which is service delivery.
“These curveballs keep us on our toes, and drive us to constantly come up with new and creative solutions in the ever-changing local government space.”
The Western Cape Government hosts the Service Excellence Awards annually to recognise and reward excellence in the public sector, promote a citizen-centred culture and entrench professionalism.
In 2021, Drakenstein ranked 14th out of 205 local municipalities in the research and advocacy non-profit organisation Good Governance Africa’s Governance Performance Index. It was rated the number 3 secondary city in SA and the top one in the Western Cape.
