Deputy Minister Nel
Deputy Minister Bapela
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
Thank you for joining us here today as we prepare to host the 3rd Presidential Local Government Summit.
The 2016 Local Government Elections marked the start of a new term of administration for local government, we believe this to be the most important Presidential Local Government Summit, both in terms of its outcomes and impact.
The local government improvement programme is a Constitutional and Legislative imperative for National and Provincial Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) departments. These programmes are based on an understanding that if the basics are performed well, higher levels of performance in municipalities will be realised.
The Back to Basics programme (B2B) was launched at the 2nd Presidential Local Government Summit in September 2014. It emphasised the need for municipalities to deliver basic services.
The second phase of B2B is meant to take local government to a higher developmental trajectory in pursuit of national priorities and realisation of the National Development Plan (NDP) goals.
To this end, the summit is convened under the theme of “Transforming Municipal Spaces for Radical Social and Economic Development”.
The objectives of the Summit are to continue supporting the Back-to-Basics programme in our municipalities as a building block for what the NDP defines as developmental local governance.
The Summit also intends to agree on ways to further strengthen the system of local government in the second phase of the B2B programme, in the following areas:
- Addressing spatial injustice and spatial dislocation which continue to impact on the lives of our people;
- Building resilient communities to avoid and reduce the impact of climate change and disasters; and
- To forge government-wide agreements on approaches and concrete actions to advance radical social and economic transformation at a local level, over the current five-year term.
The Summit will review progress towards strengthening our system of Local Government based on reflections of the successes and challenges of the Back to Basics approach, and concomitantly function as the formal launch of the B2B programme’s second phase.
The B2B programme has become well-known and accepted both within and outside of government. This has led to numerous partnerships between municipalities and the private sector in an effort to work together to provide basic services.
Some of these businesses include Old Mutual, Sanlam and FNB. We are receiving more offers to contribute and partner with the Department of Cooperative Governance in the B2B implementation process.
We take this a sign of confidence in our efforts to transform the local government sphere.
The summit will take place over two days, the 6th and the 7th of April. The first day starts with a plenary session where the President will address delegates from municipalities, provinces and national sector departments. Minister for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Jeff Radebe will also address the summit, as will I, in my role as Minister of Cooperative Governance and Development.
The first day will also see interactive panel discussions on the following topics:
- Panel 1: Intergovernmental and stakeholder roles and responsibilities towards radical social and economic transformation at local level.
- Panel 2: Intergovernmental and Stakeholder cooperation and collaboration to ensure resilient municipalities thorough focused Disaster Risk Reduction strategies.
- Panel 3: Transforming the economy of space: intergovernmental commitments towards radical socio-economic transformation.
The summit will be attended by important leaders from all the three spheres of government and other sectors.
B2B Trends
The Back to Basics programme has only completed one full financial year of implementation. As part of implementation of B2B we have intervened and supported a number of municipalities.
With S139 interventions municipalities that had problems in terms of functionality were taken over politically and administratively, with aim of improving services. We also introduced S154 interventions or support packages to municipalities such as the Nelson Mandela Bay, Buffalo City, Thabazimbi, Oudtshoorn and Mogalakwena and others.
These support packages assisted municipalities that had problems, with a breakdown in services. We worked with them as a department and managed to turn them around. This led to stability and an improvement in the delivery of services.
Other success stories include Warden, Phumelela Municipality, in the Free State. Prior to the B2B programme the main road had deteriorated significantly and was basically stripped bare of its tarring.
This had both an economic and health impact as people stopped coming into the town to fill petrol and visit shops, etc.; while the dust affected residents’ health. The B2B team co-opted the assistance of the MECs for Finance, Roads and Transport and Cogta. This led to the road being retarred and resurfaced.
One of the governance improvements can be found in the Ugu District Municipality. Prior to the B2B progamme in 2014, it was categorised as requiring intervention and under financial constraints. It received a disclaimer from the Auditor-General. Through interventions and support from Treasury and Cogta it is now a functional municipality with an unqualified audit opinion
We have also worked with the private sector to support specific areas. Also in the Warden area, the Nestle factory had challenges with receiving a regular supply of electricity and water. Through the B2B team we were able to bring in the municipality and mobilise resources and ensure these challenges were addressed. The town’s major employer was thus secured.
We continue to work with various other private sector companies.
Mercedes Benz in Buffalo City has contributed in terms of building institutional capability at the municipality.
Old Mutual is supporting 20 municipalities in human resources and financial management systems development.
Santam has trained municipalities to improve their disaster management capability
Anglo American has assisted municipalities such as Thabazimbi in installing meters to improve debt collection.
We thank these and other companies that have contributed to the success of the B2B programme.
Over the past two years we’ve noticed the following trends in the B2B programme, according to the five B2B pillars of improving public participation, delivering basic services, good governance, sound financial management and building institutional capability.
With regard to improving public participation, we have found that over 92% of reporting municipalities had a complaints management system in place at the end of the 2015/16 financial year.
Stats SA’s 2016 Community Survey highlighted the improvement in the delivery of basic services. Access to piped water within the dwelling stood at 44,4 percent, within the yard to 30 percent, while a further 15,5 percent of households had access outside of the yard.
60, 6 percent of households had access to flush toilets that are connected to a sewerage system. Of the 60,6 percent, 45,6 percent of households had access to toilets within the house, while a further 49,5 percent of toilets are located within the yard.
Good governance comprises of the mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences.
Regular council meetings and well-functioning audit and Municipal Public Accounts Committees (MPACs) are features of good governance. We are glad to report that more municipalities are realising the importance of MPACs in oversight and are ensuring that multi-party MPACs are formed. Audit committee meetings have also increased in regularity.
Sound financial management practices are essential for the long-term sustainability of municipalities. Municipal financial management involves managing a range of interrelated components, i.e. planning and budgeting, revenue, cash and expenditure management, procurement, asset management, reporting and oversight.
The Western Cape had the highest proportion of unqualified audits, at 97%, followed by KwaZulu-Natal, with 87% and Gauteng with 83%.
Building institutional capability is another tenet of the B2B programme. Whether or not the two key positions of municipal manager and chief financial officer are filled or vacant, impacts on a municipality’s administrative capabilities.
Cogta is working towards ensuring that these two strategic positions are filled with appropriately qualified people. The implementation and monitoring of Integrated Development Plans or IDPs is another instrument that has been found to strengthen institutional capability.
As national government we will work with municipalities and provincial government to provide support. This is an evolving process and requires constant intervention. Those that require support we will continue to provide and those that are doing well, we will encourage.
Lessons learnt
Some of the lessons learnt in the first phase of the B2B programme were that political instability and weaknesses in governance are two of the primary causes of poor service delivery at municipal level. A lack of citizen engagement was also found to be a common factor in those municipalities that were performing poorly.
In the next phase a focus on the Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF) and its implementation is essential. Planning and a focus on Local Economic Development (LED) to stimulate local economies and improve planning capability at municipal level will also form an important component of the second phase of the B2B programme.
Current challenges
The 21st century is an urban century that has brought with it its own set of challenges. Dysfunctional settlement patterns remain a feature across South Africa. Towns and cities are confronted with unprecedented levels of urbanisation.
Rural areas face an uncertain future with their declining viability. Providing housing and basic services and reactivating communities in such an environment is also a challenge. Coupled with this are the weak spatial planning and governance capabilities at local government level.
Challenges in terms of the B2B pillars include the need for more constructive forms of engagement. In terms of delivering basic services the challenge of increasing the provision of electricity across the country, including in informal settlements, which face the continual risk of fires.
Linked to this is the impact of renewable energy provision on the coffers of municipality. Electricity provision remains a staple revenue item across most municipalities.
The inability of municipalities to collect monies owed to them is also a bone of contention. The debt owed to municipalities was R117 billion as at December 2016. An attendant factor is the unviability of a number of municipalities, as identified by the Financial and Fiscal Commission.
Another key issue we are handling is the continued support provided to municipalities to honour their debts to creditors, such as Eskom and Water boards.
Transforming Municipal Spaces
The Presidential Local Government Summit convenes under the theme of ‘Transforming Municipal Spaces for Radical Social and Economic Development.’ This calls upon municipalities to act purposefully in a number of areas.
Spatial planning is essential to realising socio-economic transformation. Municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) must be used more strategically to focus attention on critical priorities in the NDP that relate to the mandate of local government. The IDP must take cognisance of the targeted infrastructure investments required for sustainable service delivery and economic growth.
The Integrated Urban Development Framework will feature prominently in the content discussion of the Summit. The IUDF is a response to our urbanisation trends and the directive by the NDP to develop an urban development policy that will cater for increasing urbanisation and shifting demographics by ensuring proper planning and the necessary, targeted infrastructure investments to support this growth.
The IUDF seeks to build a shared understanding across government and society about how best to manage urbanisation in order to create more inclusive cities and towns. Critically, it introduces the need for more centrally planned endeavours, as well as a revised regulatory framework, in order to avoid the frustrations of the outcomes of fragmented planning; that is, primarily, the wasting of valuable resources through uncoordinated, sometimes uninformed, scattered investment in our cities, towns and villages, which are also frequently not planned with the communities and stakeholders such developments impact upon.
Public Employment Programmes such as the Community Work Programme (CWP) are an important stopgap in the face of extreme poverty. The CWP not only provides regular work and a regular wage, but also promotes community development and upliftment. This is a valuable social safety net in developing the fabric of municipalities.
In light of the increasing climatic changes that have become characteristic of this century, the area of disaster risk planning and reduction has taken on added importance, especially in the municipal space.
The ability of local government to prepare for and react appropriately to a wide range of natural and man-made risks is vital to managing this space effectively. The development of disaster plans that focus on reducing the vulnerability of citizens, especially the poor and the disadvantaged is an important element of this.
Conclusion
This outlines some of the challenges and interventions facing the local government sector that will be discussed at the 3rd Presidential Local Government Summit.
Local government has been a primary site for the delivery of services in South Africa since 1994.
We have made tremendous progress in delivering water, electricity, sanitation and refuse removal at a local level.
However, it is not enough.
We need to move away from out-dated models of top down service delivery to a culture of Batho Pele and serving communities.
We need to position our municipalities to offer a better quality of life to all our citizens.
We also need to ensure that municipalities are primed as centres of Local Economic Development.
We hope you join us as we set the agenda for the next five years of local government administration and development.
I thank you.
