Turning around local government to provide effective service delivery will require skilled, responsible and accountable workers, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka said on Monday.

"These must be skilled and competent cadres capable of delivering," he said in remarks prepared for delivery at the SA Local Government Association (Salga) human resources policy conference in Polokwane.

"It must be cadres who are servants of the people and who work selflessly and diligently," he said.

Shiceka said the conference was organised by Salga's national executive committee to improve the management of human resources in local government.

Salga is the sole employer body representing all municipalities in the country.

He said that making local government administration more professional had become critical to ensure a stable and functioning system.

Local government was closer to the people, acting as the face of government, he said.

"We need to engage with the matter head on. Those who will be going to the national general council of the ruling party should ensure that this matter is discussed and resolved with a sense of the urgency that it deserves," he said.

The drive for skilled workers by Shiceka was part of a turnaround strategy adopted by the Cabinet at the end of December as a blueprint for effective service delivery in local and national government.

He said that 95 percent of the 238 municipalities in the country had already developed their own local turnaround strategies to put the new system into place.

"Hard work and commitment [to the strategy] is beginning to bear fruit... corrupt culprits are being apprehended in areas such as Madibeng in the North West.

"Clean water is being improved in Balfour, Mpumalanga... clean financial management is bearing fruit in some municipalities in the Eastern Cape," he said.

"We need to keep our feet on the pedestal and not relent."

Shiceka said the government hoped to amend the Municipal Systems Act and the Municipal Structures Act to support the system changes.

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