Nomalungelo Gina Urges Municipal Innovation in SA

Deputy Minister Gina urges SA municipalities to use innovation for better services as MIRA 2025 awards winners and launches a new R3m funding programme.

2025-07-01

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Serge Kabongo

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Serge Kabongo

Municipalities across South Africa have been urged to adopt new technologies to improve service delivery and build stronger local governments.

Deputy Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation Nomalungelo Gina gave this message during the 2nd Municipal Innovation Recognition Awards (MIRA) held in Durban yesterday.

She said innovation is not optional anymore, especially for rural municipalities facing serious development challenges.

“Innovation allows us to leapfrog to better outcomes,” she said. “New technologies disrupt the status quo, reduce costs, and streamline processes, ultimately empowering citizens and restoring public trust in local government.”

Celebrating Innovative Municipalities

The MIRA awards recognise municipalities that use innovative solutions to improve services like water provision, waste management, and citizen engagement.

Key winners included:

City of Cape Town won the Trailblazing Innovation Award for its Digital Wayleave Management System, which makes getting development approvals faster and easier online.
City of Tshwane, Emalahleni, eThekwini, and Waterberg District Municipality – received Special Recognition Awards for reaching Innovation Maturity Level 4, showing their innovation processes are well-managed and consistent.
Vhembe, Waterberg, Modimolle-Mookgopong, and uMgungundlovu – honoured for applying innovation in specific departments, showing promising and repeatable efforts.

New Municipal Innovation Fund Launched

A major highlight of the event was the launch of the Municipal Innovation Fund (MIF). This fund will provide up to R3 million per project for municipalities to develop and implement technologies that have a real community impact.

The fund will focus on municipalities with:

Level 4 or higher on the Municipal Innovation Maturity Index (MIMI)
Sound governance and clean audits

Projects funded must show clear results and have proper financial and progress reporting.

What Leaders Said

The ceremony included speeches from:

Deputy Minister Nomalungelo Gina
SALGA President Councillor Bheke Stofile
eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba
Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Namane Dickson Masemola

Ms Gina encouraged all municipalities to make innovation part of their daily work culture, saying:

This recognition should inspire others to embark on their innovation journeys. In the future, we want to see all municipalities reaching the required innovation threshold, and I believe we are getting closer to that reality.”