President Jacob Zuma says great strides have been made in delivering basic services to South African communities since the dawn of democracy‚ however there are still challenges which need to be addressed urgently.

He was delivering a key note address during the third Presidential Local Government Summit held at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand‚ Johannesburg on Thursday.

Zuma steered away from talking about politics‚ focusing on the agenda for the day.

“We have a high number of households without access to piped water. We have bad roads‚ poor quality in some of our [Reconstruction and Development Programme projects]‚ crumbling water infrastructure and poor sewage systems in some areas‚” said Zuma.

“There is also poor interaction between councillors and the community in some municipalities. We are aware of these challenges and affected municipalities should work harder and faster to correct them‚ which is why we come together as we are doing this week‚” he added.

The president urged delegates at the summit to work hand-in-hand to eradicate these challenges‚ through local government and the three spheres of government and through deepening the Back to Basics programme.

The campaign‚ which is in its second phase‚ should continue to build a functional and developmental local government system that delivers on its constitutional and legislative mandate‚ said Zuma.