The eThekwini Municipality has been voted the best performing metro in the country. This has been attributed to the city's excellent record of service, financial viability and its ability to successfully drive government programmes.
The eThekwini Municipality scooped the first prize at the national Vuna awards in Johannesburg on Thursday, after it gained automatic qualification to compete with five other metro municipalities.
The Nelson Mandela Municipality in the Eastern Cape was voted first runner-up. Ingwe Municipality in Creighton was named second runner-up in the local municipality category. The announcement was made by Minister of Provincial and Local Government Sydney Mafumadi.
Experts predicted that the latest development would boost Durban's public and investor confidence, and put the city in good stead to continue hosting major national and international conferences.
The first prize of R2-million was accepted by Provincial Minister of Local Government Mike Mabuyakhulu, Durban Mayor Obed Mlaba and City Manager Mike Sutcliffe.
Durban has been hailed for its ability to pioneer projects that were later introduced to other metros, including free basic water, urine diversion toilets and an Internet-based electricity metering system.
Mabuyakhulu congratulated the winning KwaZulu-Natal municipalities, describing the news as a morale booster for the province.
"The success that has been achieved by our municipalities is clear testimony that the challenges we encounter at municipal level are not insurmountable," he said.
Speaking to The Mercury in Johannesburg on Thursday night, Mlaba said the award confirmed that the city had a well-developed infrastructure and a good service-delivery record.
Mlaba said Durban was still facing major challenges like wealth re-distribution and resuscitating African businesses in the city centre.
"We have not done very well in creating African entrepreneurs and in advancing the objectives of black economic empowerment," he said.
"We had vibrant businesses in the city that were moved to townships that are economically deprived and that should be addressed urgently." The announcement was also well received by the Durban business community.
The President of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Cyril Gwala, said it would encourage investors to put their money in Durban to be used for job creation and growing the economy.
Glen Robbins, a senior researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said Durban had always been ahead of its counterparts because of its healthy financial position, which had allowed it to respond to its development challenges.