Leadership development for developmental local government : challenges and prospects

Local government is at the core of service delivery as it is the sphere of government \nclosest to the people. The local sphere of government is tasked with the obligation of \nproviding basic services to citizens in a sustainable manner. Within the context of a \ndevelopmental state, developmental local government calls for new knowledge, skills \nand competencies from those in leadership positions in municipalities to promote \nservice delivery. Developmental local government requires political leadership \nwhich creates opportunities to account to the community over and above regular \nelections. In this regard therefore the role of councillors as political leaders in local \ngovernment is of signifi cance as councillors are elected to provide political direction \nand leadership in municipalities. \nThis article focuses on the development of leadership capacity in local government \nin South Africa. With an emphasis on the knowledge, skills and competencies that \ncouncillors as the providers of political direction and leadership require. The article \nasserts the continuous development and improvement of leadership capacity in local \ngovernment in order to enable councillors to meet local governance challenges in \nthe 21st century and to promote the objectives of a developmental local government.