Mashazi exits Ekurhuleni with call to overhaul municipal funding and scrap cadre deployment

By Thebe Mabanga

The funding model for municipalities requires a radical overhaul, alongside a call for professionalisation within the local government sector, according to  Dr. Imogen Mashazi, the outgoing City Manager of Ekurhuleni set to retire at the end of July after a distinguished career spanning more than three decades.

Mashazi also advocates for the elimination of cadre deployment and the signing performance contract at all levels of employment, including general workers and cleaners, not just municipal senior managers, Heads of Departments (HODs) and executives.

“The funding model of local government needs to be relooked, we are seeing municipalities collapse and more will follow” she said in an interview with Inside Metros.

Mashazi points to the fuel levy as one area ripe for reform, noting that while it is collected at fuel stations within municipalities, the revenue goes directly to the national government.

She argues that a portion should be