The South African Local Government Association (Salga) has appointed Sithole Mbanga CEO, effective July 1.

Mbanga takes over from Xolile George who was appointed as Secretary to Parliament in June 2022.

Mbanga brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise in many areas, including operations and strategic planning, and has extensive executive-level experience in public sector governance, Salga says.

He most recently served as the South African Cities Network CEO, which is a network of South African cities and partners that encourages the exchange of information, experience and best practice on urban development and city management.

Further, Mbanga has held various managerial positions in the public and private sectors, including the Local Government Support and Learning Network and the National Business Initiative.

“Mr Mbanga joins Salga at a pivotal moment in our organisation's evolution, as reflected in our 2022 to 2027 strategic plan, which is prefaced against global, continental, national and local imperatives. We are confident that he will lead and provide the much-needed strategic direction the organization needs and move the organization to greater heights,” says Salga president Bheke Stofile.

“He brings considerable experience to his new position, and his transformative and collaborative leadership style is consistent with Salga's dedication to providing effective and efficient service to our member municipalities.”

Salga looks forward to building on its accomplishments under Mbanga’s direction, including ten consecutive clean audits from the Auditor-General of South Africa, an expansion of the organisation’s influence on continental and international decision-making forums, and providing Salga member municipalities with services that enable them to carry out their developmental mandates, he said.

“In particular, Salga looks up to Mr Mbanga’s leadership to use the solid organisational performance, especially in respect of audit outcomes, as a basis for facilitating improvement in municipal audit outcomes and strengthening local government to be better posed to accelerate service delivery,” Stofile says.