Leadership in Local Government: Building globally competitive cities

The course was sponsored by National Treasury as part of the Cities Support Programme and developed in partnership with the University of Cape Town, the South African Local Government Association and the World Bank Institute was held in Stellenbosch from 2-9 March 2012.

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A powerful group of presenters, local and international, challenged the participants to move beyond the status quo and develop 'game changing' reforms and catalytic projects.

One of the highlights was the presentation by Erique Penalosa, ex mayor of Bogota, Colombia, who explained how they transformed their own city against all odds.

The course brought together the top leadership of the eight South African metros for an intense engagement on the challenges facing the country's biggest cities.

This high level leadership and management development course was designed to provide an opportunity for senior political and management teams in the metropolitan municipalities to reflect on the challenges facing them and to develop a workable programme to achieve rapid improvements in city performance.

Our cities are critical engines of economic growth and development. They are now home to the majority of South Africans and are a beacon to many across the continent. We have much work to do in building our cities, from repairing the damage of apartheid to addressing current challenges of supporting growth and attacking poverty. More than anything, our cities require dynamic and visionary leadership that is able to meet these challenges.