Introduction
Building institutional resilience in municipalities
Expanding access to basic services
Mitigating disaster risks
Supporting work opportunities
Legislation
Introduction
The Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Ministry consists of the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG) and the Department of Traditional Affairs (DTA).
Department of Cooperative Governance
The Department of Cooperative Governance is mandated to develop and monitor the implementation of national policy and legislation aimed at transforming and strengthening key institutions and mechanisms of governance in national, provincial and local government to fulfil their developmental role; develop, promote and monitor mechanisms, systems and structures to enable integrated service delivery and implementation within government; and promote sustainable development by providing support to and exercising
oversight of provincial and local government.
Chapter 13 of the NDP outlines a vision for building a capable and developmental state through interdepartmental coordination and strengthening local government. This vision is expressed specifically through Priority 4 (spatial integration, human settlements and local government) of government’s 2019-2024 MTSF, with which the work of the DCoG is closely aligned.
Over the medium term, the department will focus on funding free basic services to poor communities and subsidising the operating costs of poor municipalities to build institutional resilience; increasing access to basic municipal services for poor households; mitigating the effect of disasters and building resilience within communities; and creating work opportunities through the Community Work programme.
Building institutional resilience in municipalities
The local government equitable share is an unconditional transfer that supplements the revenue that municipalities raise to perform the functions allocated to them in the Constitution. It pays for the operations and maintenance of free basic services and subsidises the cost of administration for municipalities with the least potential to cover these costs from their own revenue.
To cover an expected increase in the cost of bulk services, an additional R28.9 billion over the MTEF period is allocated to the local government equitable share to municipalities. As a result, expenditure in the Institutional Development programme is expected to increase from R78.6 billion in 2021/22 to R101.8 billion in 2024/25, at an average annual rate of 9%. 99.6% of the programme’s spending goes towards the local government equitable share, which constitutes an estimated 78.9% (R362.3 billion) of the department’s projected expenditure between 2021/22 and 2024/25.
Expanding access to basic services
To ensure low‐income households have access to basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity and solid waste removal, the municipal infrastructure grant and the integrated urban development grant supplement the capital budgets of municipalities.
To ensure these grants are spent efficiently, 52 municipalities per year are expected to implement the district development model, which seeks to leverage integrated and collaborative planning among the three spheres of government to facilitate better service delivery.
Together, these grants account for an estimated R57.9 billion of spending over the period ahead in the Local Government Support and Intervention programme. Expenditure in the programme comprises 16.4% of the department’s total budget, increasing at an average annual rate of 4.9%, from R17.4 billion in 2021/22 to R20.1 billion in 2024/25. These allocations will be transferred to municipalities in full.
Mitigating disaster risks
To reduce the risk and mitigate the impact of disasters, and build resilience within communities, the department plans to implement disaster management plans in 30 priority district municipalities considered most at risk for floods, drought and fire. For this purpose, R2.3 billion is allocated to the National Disaster Management Centre programme over the MTEF period.
Supporting work opportunities
The community work programme is aimed at enhancing income security and social infrastructure in areas where there is high unemployment. The department plans to create 750 000 work opportunities through the programme. Allocations to the Community Work Programme programme are set to increase at an average annual rate of 2.6%, from R4.2 billion in 2021/22 to R4.6 billion in 2024/25.
Legislation
The mandate of the Department of Cooperative Governance is derived from the following legislation:
- Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005 (Act 13 of 2005);
- Municipal Property Rates Act, 2004 (Act 6 of 2004);
- Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act 57 of 2002);
- Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2000); and
- Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act 117 of 1998)
Budget
For the 2021/22 financial year, the CoGTA Ministry was allocated R101.3 billion. Total expenditure is expected to increase at an average annual rate of 8%, from R101.3 billion in 2021/22 to R127.4 billion in
2024/25.
Transfers and subsidies account for 95.5% (R342.5 billion) of the Ministry’s total expenditure. Expenditure on compensation of employees accounts for 0.3% (R1.04 billion) of the Ministry’s total expenditure and is expected to decrease at an average annual rate of 0.9%, from R358.1 million in 2021/22 to R349 million in 2024/25, in line with an expected decrease in the number of personnel from 510 in 2021/22 to 455 in 2024/25 because of natural attrition.
Source: South Africa Yearbook 2021/2022