East London, Eastern Cape – October 2025
MetPacSA, South Africa’s leading Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) for post-consumer metal packaging, strengthened its partnership with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) Eastern Cape during a series of high-level engagements held in October 2025. The collaboration underscores MetPacSA’s growing role in driving environmental stewardship, circular economy implementation, and good governance practices across South Africa’s municipalities.
The engagements formed part of SALGA Eastern Cape’s ongoing programme to support municipalities in building capacity, advancing sustainable service delivery, and embedding ethical leadership in local governance structures.
Strategic Discussions at MTN Eastern Cape Cocktail Evening
The first engagement took place on Monday, 6 October 2025, when MTN Eastern Cape, main sponsor of this event, hosted an exclusive Cocktail Evening at the Wild Coast Sun, attended by municipal leaders, provincial representatives, and private-sector stakeholders. During this networking event, Dr Kishan Singh, Chief Executive Officer of MetPacSA, met with Dr Nondlazi of SALGA Eastern Cape to explore avenues for collaboration aimed at strengthening circularity initiatives within the province.
Discussions centred on opportunities for joint sustainability projects, municipal waste management improvements, and business process re-engineering to enhance operational efficiency within local government systems. Dr Singh also highlighted the potential for Lean Six Sigma training programmes to build local government capacity in process optimisation, cost reduction, and continuous improvement, vital components in achieving long-term environmental and economic sustainability.
Honouring Oliver Reginald Tambo at SALGA Eastern Cape Grand Dinner
On Tuesday, 7 October 2025, SALGA Eastern Cape hosted its Grand Dinner in memory of Oliver Reginald Tambo, the distinguished ANC leader and statesman who dedicated his life to justice and equality. The event brought together over 300 delegates, including senior municipal officials, councillors, provincial and national representatives, and members of the private sector.
At this prestigious occasion, Mr Sonwabo Gqegqe, Provincial Director of Operations at SALGA Eastern Cape, invited Dr Singh to deliver a keynote address as one of the event’s official sponsors. In his speech, Dr Singh reflected on MetPacSA’s journey since its formation in 2017 as a collaborative initiative by the South African metal packaging value chain. Representing steel and aluminium packaging converters, fillers, brand owners, importers, and recyclers, MetPacSA was established to promote both the environmental and economic sustainability of metal packaging while fostering a unified industry voice.
When the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Regulations came into force in 2021, MetPacSA transitioned seamlessly from a voluntary industry body to a fully compliant national PRO. Today, it operates as the official EPR compliance organisation for metal packaging in South Africa, working with government, municipalities, and recyclers to ensure that packaging waste is responsibly managed, recovered, and reintroduced into the economy.
Advancing Circularity and Collaboration
In his address, Dr Singh reaffirmed MetPacSA’s commitment to a cleaner, greener Eastern Cape and announced plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SALGA Eastern Cape. The MOU will formalise future cooperation in areas such as recycling education, infrastructure development, waste-stream optimisation, and municipal capacity building.
“These engagements represent a significant step forward in our mission to enhance the circularity of metal packaging and support municipalities in delivering sustainable environmental solutions,” said Dr Singh. “We are committed to working hand-in-hand with SALGA Eastern Cape to create cleaner, more resilient communities throughout the province.”
Dr Singh also commended the success of South Africa’s EPR legislation, noting that the country has made considerable progress due to strong collaboration among government, industry, retailers, and consumers. “This partnership-based model demonstrates what is possible when all stakeholders take shared responsibility for a sustainable future,” he added.
Embedding Sustainability within Ethical Governance
The engagements coincided with SALGA Eastern Cape’s three-day workshop themed “Reimagining Ethical Leadership, Inclusive Governance and Citizen Empowerment in South African Local Government.” The workshop convened leaders from across government, academia, and civil society to examine how ethical leadership, accountability, and active citizen participation can advance the transformation agenda of South Africa’s Constitution.
Discussions explored the intersection of governance, ethics, and service delivery, including gender representation, community engagement, and the critical role of citizen partnership in shaping people-centred and people-driven development. The workshop also highlighted innovative approaches to digital engagement, such as online participation platforms in Johannesburg, and emphasised the need for radical collaboration to build resilient, smart municipalities capable of meeting the challenges of a rapidly changing socio-economic landscape.
Shared Vision for a Sustainable Future
Together, MetPacSA and SALGA Eastern Cape reaffirmed their shared vision of aligning environmental sustainability with ethical and inclusive governance. Through collaboration, capacity building, and the promotion of circular economy principles, both organisations aim to strengthen the foundation for a capable, transparent, and accountable local government system, one that delivers measurable benefits to communities and contributes meaningfully to South Africa’s broader developmental goals.
Prepared by Dr. Kishan Singh.
