The implementation of the local government turnaround strategy provides a long-term and sustainable citizen-centred intervention, which is aimed at turning the tide on service delivery protests by dealing with the backlogs and complaints from citizens, which government agrees are valid in the main.
Parallel to the implementation of the local government turnaround strategy, the department is at the same time boosting the capacity for rapid response to communities that have embarked or are about to embark on protest action, using the existing staff we have.
We are in addition gathering intelligence on all the pressure points in the country so that provinces can start processing issues that have been raised, in a way that seeks to find solutions with the communities.
Most of the issues on which communities have resorted to protesting about, have been repeatedly raised with leadership at mostly the local and to an extent, provincial spheres of government. Memoranda have been submitted, letters have been written and meetings have been held, but government has not been responsive. The LGTAS seeks to change this state of affairs on a long term and sustainable basis.
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs’ plan is to develop enough capacity in the provinces to achieve a two days turn around response mechanism to community grievances by December 2010. The local government strategy on a longer term basis, with the RRT and this kind of two days turnaround mechanism by December is our three pronged intervention to dealing with both the entrenched distress in local government, and the immediate pressure points in communities.
Our communities should not be resorting to protest action when they have elected representatives that they can bring their grievances to, and also working with them to find solutions that are sustainable and take us closer to the achievement of the objectives of a developmental state.
The local government turnaround strategy we are talking about here today was approved by Cabinet in December 2009, following an intensive consultative process that started in March 2009. Currently, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, with provinces and municipalities, is currently being rolled out to provinces in the following phases:
Phase one
20 January and 9 February 2010: Provincial support teams undertook visits to municipalities to identify two of the most vulnerable municipalities per province which required urgent assistance from government.
Phase two
10 February to 30 April 2010: The full roll-out of municipal turnaround strategies for priority or targeted municipalities as well as the completion of municipal turnaround strategies for all 283 municipalities in the country. The consolidation of the municipal turnaround strategies priorities with the integrated development plans and budgets of municipalities is critical in this phase.
Phase three
1 April to 30 June 2010: Focus on provincially coordinated integrated development plan analysis sessions to examine draft integrated development plans and municipal turnaround strategies within them. During this phase the integrated development plans and the budgets and service delivery budget implementation plans will be adopted by municipal councils.
Phase four
1 July to 31 March 2011: MECs will comment on the commitments made to the integrated development plans. Implementation of the integrated development plans will go hand in hand with hands-on rapid response support processes, leveraging of stakeholder support, and reporting and monitoring.
One of the distinguishing features of the local government turnaround strategy is that it is a citizen centred and government, as opposed to consultant, driven intervention. During August and September then, all municipalities are scheduled to mobilise each and every ward within their jurisdiction to engage them about ward plans.
On the issue of rate payers who have taken the route of withdrawing the payment for rates and services as their own form of protest against poor service delivery, government will continue to engage them at the local level, but we are also planning a national engagement platform with them.
Our common interests is; making local government work for us and turn South Africa into a better country to live in, that is our common starting point with every citizen that is driven to resort to protest action for better, efficient and effective service delivery rendered by a responsive and accountable local government.
For local government turnaround strategy notes visit: http://www.cogta.gov.za//index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=606&Itemid=1
Contact:
Vuyelwa Qinga Vika
Tel: 012 334 0993 or 5
Cell: 082 877 3898
E-mail: VuyelwaQ@cogta.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
4 March 2010
Source: Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
(http://www.cogta.gov.za/)
