N E Hangana at the Conference on Local Government Communication
10 May 2006
Chairperson;
Councillors here present;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen
The outcome of the recent Local Government elections which were declared
free and fair, with voter turnout having increased to 48.4 percent from the
previous local elections, indicate a willingness on the part of the citizens of
our country to participate in the affairs of the local sphere. Such a positive
indication gives all of us in government an impetus to accelerate our efforts
towards ensuring more effective service delivery in the new term of local
government, having the full support of the citizens we serve.
An assessment of the media environment leading up to the elections reveals
that the interaction between municipalities and the communities they serve has
sufficient room for enhancement and this gap provides opportunities for
improvement in the second term of local government. Communication has a key
role to play in ensuring that local government as the sphere closest to our
communities is in touch with the needs, concerns and aspirations of our
communities so that government service delivery as a whole can be improved and
elevated.
The first term of local government proved to be one of the most complex
projects of state transformation since 1994. In order to ensure learning from
the experience gained during this term of local government, (we as) the
Department of Provincial and Local Government (dplg) undertook a qualitative
assessment of local government which recognised the progress and challenges of
the past five years but which was mainly forward looking in character. The key
output of the assessment was for its findings to inform the direction for what
needed to be done within local government in the next term (2006-2011).
Assessment of the 1st term indicates that the transition from apartheid
local government (with over 1200 local authorities) to the current system of
non racial, democratic, developmental local government (with 283
municipalities) was managed in a phased manner with distinct phases and related
tasks. On 5 December 2000 the first fully democratic local government elections
took place. This election saw the unfolding of a new trajectory of three
overlapping phases of establishing, consolidating and sustaining the new local
government system â as part of the final leg of local government
transformation.
Some of the key milestones achieved over the period are in the areas of
basic service delivery and Infrastructure Investment. Governmentâs success in
service delivery over the last 10 years was premised on a commitment to
massively increase the stock of public and municipal infrastructure. Through
the Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Programme (CMIP) and the Municipal
Infrastructure Grant alone, government invested over R10.3 billion in basic
municipal infrastructure since 2000.
Also, the delivery of Free Basic Services is improving in most provinces.
For example in the Limpopo Province, all municipalities are providing free
basic water, while 21 out of the 26 municipalities are providing free basic
electricity. In the Eastern Cape free basic water is provided in all 39
municipalities, while 31 are providing free basic electricity.
There is furthermore an increasing and positive recognition of the crucial
role that different local economies play in contributing to the recently
experienced growth in national economy and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which
have been the source of our countryâs optimism during our prevalent âAge of
Hopeâ. For example, the six metros alone contribute 55.4% to the national Gross
Value Add (GVA) of the country. The nine largest cities account for 63% of the
total GDP of the country. The relationship between urbanisation and economic
growth trends can also be viewed as an opportunity that municipalities can
seize. Current data shows that of the 53 district and metropolitan municipal
areas in the country, the economies of 13 of them grew consistently above the
national average of 2,5% per annum over an eight year period (1995-2003).
An assessment of the key challenges over the period on the other hand
however indicates, inter alia, that an alarming number of municipalities are
still grappling with establishment issues; skills deficiencies exist in many
municipalities, especially in rural municipalities; accountability mechanisms
to ensure that managers do what they are employed to do are generally
inadequate; and many performance agreements have not been concluded by senior
municipal managers.
In summary the main findings of the assessment reflect the following:
firstly that the two main problems that underlie the performance of
municipalities are poor capacity and inadequate accountability mechanisms.
Secondly that the next term of Local Government must result in a more
sustainable system, with reliable service delivery and a general improvement in
Governmentâs performance as a whole.
Overview of implementation plan for the five year local government strategic
agenda
Informed by the benchmarks we have set for our municipalities over the next
five years, three overarching strategic priorities for local government will be
implemented in the next five years. These priorities constitute a combination
of:
* mainstreaming our practical hands-on support to all municipalities;
* strengthening and re-positioning our structural and governance arrangements
with regard to how we interact with local government; and
* refining the local government policy environment and giving more attention to
enforcement of the law
Mainstreaming hands-on support to Local Government
Mainstreaming hands-on support to Local Government must mean undertaking
specific tasks and actions by national and provincial government, State-Owned
Enterprises (SOEs) and our key stakeholders in a manner that is reflected in
the core business and organisational processes of these institutions.
Part of the mainstreaming incorporates a vision of what must be achieved
with Local Government and through Local Government by 2011. In this regard we
articulate the following; that South Africa should have a viable system of
Local Government focused on service delivery and development. Local government
sphere must enable government to meet its obligations by 2011 and be on course
towards meeting the 2014 targets. These targets include halving poverty and
unemployment. Also that the facilitation of Local Government engagements with
planning processes (Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and Local Economic
Development (LED), must be undertaken within the context of Governmentâs
obligations.
The most immediate actions that will be undertaken include specific high
level priority actions which have been identified to give effect to
mainstreaming hands-on support to local government.
First of all, key service delivery national and provincial departments must
reflect concrete support actions to municipalities in their Strategic and
Business Plans and streamline their support operations to local government.
Secondly, provincial governments need to prioritise their local government
support by including the key tasks in their Provincial Growth and Development
Strategies (PGDSs) and through the Office of the Premier, utilise the Premiers
Coordinating Forum for coordinating and monitoring support to local
government.
Thirdly, the dplg must continue to nationally coordinate, facilitate, direct
and monitor the priority hands-on support actions of national government to
local government.
The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) in this regard has a
critical role to play in strengthening and supporting the municipal political
leadership.
Furthermore, the support actions to local government must be informed by the
concrete actions identified in the revised IDPs.
Finally, building the technical capacity and capability of municipalities
through the mobilisation and deployment of appropriate technical expertise will
be short to medium-term priority. As we seek to integrate and co-ordinate our
work better, we also propose that we identify broad roles and responsibilities
of national and provincial government departments that must lead the
implementation of the priority actions.
There is therefore a need to focus on very specific priority actions in each
of the five Key Performance Areas of local government transformation:
* Municipal Transformation and Institutional (Capacity) Development;
* Improving Basic Service Delivery and Infrastructure Investment;
* Improve Local Economic Development;
* Improvement of Financial Viability and Financial Management; and
* Strengthening Good Governance, Community Participation and Ward Committee
Systems.
As part of the first KPA focusing on Municipal Transformation and
Institutional (Capacity) Development First, the key entry point to addressing
challenges related to this KPA will be for national and provincial government
to support District and Metropolitan municipalities to prepare IDPs in
preparation for the adoption of the respective budgets by June 2006. Second,
priority will be the simultaneous process of supporting municipalities to
establish the core basic municipal systems as required by law. Third, a more
effective performance management system in local government will be enforced.
This is also linked to the crucial work on the local government competency
framework that must be finalised by July 2006. The finalisation of the local
government competency framework that has been developed will focus on amongst
other things, improving the regulatory environment by issuing regulations on
the appointment, performance and evaluation of Municipal Managers together with
other Senior Managers.
Attention will also be given to support by national government to
municipalities as they fill vacant municipal and senior manager posts.
Within the second KPA of Improving Basic Service Delivery and Infrastructure
Investment national and provincial government together with key SOEs will
provide maximum support in ensuring that key service delivery targets are
achieved in the areas of water, sanitation, electricity and housing. In this
regard the development of a strategy on Municipal Infrastructure Development
and sector master plans becomes key.
The implementation of the national Municipal Infrastructure Investment
Strategy and the sector master plans will be accompanied by hands-on support to
less capacitated municipalities, the re-aligned (previous cross-boundary)
municipalities and the 21 urban and rural nodes.
In the third KPA of Improving Local Economic Development (LED) National and
provincial government will support all district and metropolitan municipalities
to prepare implementable LED Strategies. Simultaneously, provinces will support
these municipalities by prioritising LED interventions in their Provincial
Growth and Development Strategy. The draft LED Framework prepared by the dplg
will be finalised and implemented rigorously in alignment with the Accelerated
and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA). A number of focus areas
have been identified. We also need to emphasise that the support actions of
government must give particular attention to the areas of development potential
identified in the National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP).
The forth KPA focuses on Improvement of Financial Viability and Financial
Management which is central to building sustainable and effective
municipalities in the next five years. National and provincial government,
working together with National Treasury and dplg, will provide financial
management hands-on support to low capacity municipalities and those
municipalities that are consistently receiving negative audit opinions from the
Auditor-General, in particular. Linked to this should also be the provision of
appropriate support to the erstwhile cross-boundary municipalities.
A challenge that is common across government is the need to improve our
capacity to account for public resources and support all programmes that are
designed to improve governance and fight corruption. Continued support to
implement the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), 2003
will be an important element in improving the ability of municipalities to
manage public resources.
The finalisation and stabilisation of the local government fiscal system
will be a priority in the next five years. This must include a particular focus
on ensuring that the Local Government Equitable Share (LGES) and other
municipal grants continue to be focused on benefiting our poorer municipalities
and those with a low fiscal capacity and that we improve efficiencies based on
the revenue raising capacity and potential of municipalities.
Key sector reforms that may impact on the local government fiscal system
must be implemented, such as the Regional Electricity Distributors (REDS). This
refinement could also include the considerations of fiscal powers and
functions, specifically with regard to district and local municipalities.
The key KPA that stands to be partly addressed by the outputs of this
conference is the final and fifth KPA dealing with the strengthening of Good
Governance, Community Participation and Ward Committee Systems. Communication
is an indispensable governance tool in any and all institutions and in the
local sphere together with public participation initiatives forms a key link
between citizens and their elected representatives. It is therefore envisaged
that part of the output of this conference will be a robust and intensive
programme outlining initiatives that will assist to bridge any gaps in the
interaction between municipalities and the communities they serve.
In addition to the above, an intensive national programme to improve
mechanisms for community participation will be undertaken. This programme will
create opportunities for Premiers, Mayors and Ward Councillors to lead public
participation processes that are characterized by direct contact and dialogue
with communities. The objective of this is strengthened social mobilisation in
our provinces and municipalities. At municipal level, specific support will be
provided to the Municipal Speakerâs Offices with the intention of increasing
their capacity to assist and coordinate the work of Ward Councillors and Ward
Committees.
Having outlined the first overarching strategic priority of Mainstreaming
hands-on support to local government, The second strategic Priority relates to
addressing the structure and governance arrangements of the State, which will
be achieved by stabilising and strengthening the inter-governmental system, so
as to benefit local government, principally through implementing the
Inter-governmental Relations (IGR) Framework legislation. In parallel, a review
will be undertaken on the structure and role of provincial governments with
regard to supporting and monitoring municipalities.
The third and final strategic priority highlights the need to refine and
strengthen the Policy, Regulatory and Fiscal Environment for Local Government
and giving greater attention to the Enforcement Measures. There are two legs to
this strategic priority. First, there is a need to give greater attention to
enforcing existing provisions of local government legislation. The second leg
is to prioritise the refinement of the local government policy, regulatory and
fiscal regime based on five years of practice.
Four areas have been identified for such refinement namely:
* Planning for Growth and Development;
* Distribution of Powers and Functions across the State and Asymmetrical
Assignment to Local Government;
* Two-tier System of Local Government; and
* Ward Committees and Community Participation.
How do we then move forward in implementation?
First of all National and Provincial departments are required to reflect
concrete support actions to municipalities in their Strategic and Business
Plans and report to the July Cabinet 2006 Lekgotla. The dplg will develop a
national five years Implementation Plan which incorporates the key actions of
national and provincial government departments at a strategic level. A national
implementation plan will be finalised and adopted before the start of the
municipal financial year.
I conclude with asking you to take note of the following:
First term of democratic local government has been one of the most complex
projects of state transformation since 1994. The tasks of local government
transformation have proven to be more complex and protracted than was initially
anticipated.
Project consolidate has sharpened our understanding of the problems and
challenges in the local government sphere and has led us to the conclusion that
we need to mainstream hands-on support to local government in general over the
next five years. Project consolidate would have ceased to exist as a time-bound
measure directed at particular municipalities.
In answering the question, âWhat should be achieved with and through local
government in the next five yearsâ? The response must be that we must have
viable municipalities and that this sphere would have assisted us in achieving
our service delivery and development targets that we have set over the next
five years. Also, we should be on course with those targets that go beyond
2011.
Our business for today seeks to strengthen communication in the local sphere
which is a key enabler in seeking to improve the quality of engagement between
citizens and their elected public representatives in order to ensure a higher
plan of service delivery and development in the second term of local
government. This is what our people need and deserve and we cannot afford to
disappoint them. If we do not communicate with our people we will be opening
our people up to all sorts of negative influences. I want to believe that the
number of protests we witnessed last year were partly due to the lack of
satisfactory service delivery, but to a large degree, had to do with our people
not knowing what we as government are doing. As government communicators I hope
you will take serious cognisance of this challenge. I wish you a successful
conference.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Provincial and Local Government
10 May 2006
