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Government and communication

Programmes

Local Government Strategic Agenda (2006 - 2011)

In 2006, the Department of Provincial and Local Government co-ordinated the implementation of the five-year Local Government Strategic Agenda.

The agenda aims to ensure that the three spheres of government focus on a systematic and co-ordinated local-development programme that can be monitored periodically.

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Integrated development plans (IDPs)

In terms of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2000) [PDF], all municipalities are required to prepare IDPs. Integrated development planning is a process by which municipalities prepare five-year strategic plans that are reviewed annually in consultation with communities and stakeholders.

The aim is to achieve service-delivery and development goals in municipal areas in an effective and sustainable way. National and provincial-sector departments, development agencies, private-sector bodies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and communities all have a key role to play in the preparation and implementation of municipal IDPs.

The Department of Provincial and Local Government advises role-players on how to co-ordinate and improve development planning, and provides platforms for knowledge-sharing. It has developed a supporting intergovernmental planning framework, which provides greater clarity as to the type and role of appropriate planning at each government level. The IDP Nerve Centre was established to provide an information co-ordination service to strengthen intergovernmental planning.

A national engagement process of all IDPs was conducted in 2007. An IDP format guide was distributed to all municipalities.

The department initiated a national assessment process, looking at the IDPs of all municipalities. This intergovernmental effort resulted in the increased adoption rate of IDPs. The adoption rate in the 2006/07 financial year was 98%. These IDP engagement processes are contributing to intersphere co-ordination and integration.

By mid-2007, in addition to the 17 national intergovernmental structures which had been established since 1994, all the provincial governments had established their own premier’s co-ordinating intergovernmental forums.

These were constituted in terms of Section 16 of the Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Framework Act, 2005 (Act 13 of 2005) [PDF].

All 46 district municipalities had established their district intergovernmental forums in terms of Section 24 of the IGR Framework Act, 2005. The process is an integral part of an institutionalised mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the governmentwide five-year Local Government Strategic Agenda. Provinces have made progress towards establishing provincial monitoring and evaluation (M&E) units in the offices of the premiers and the provincial departments of local government.

By mid-2007, work had been completed in eight of the 13 pilot areas for the application of the National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP) principles, and draft reports were being finalised. A draft communication plan for the NSDP had been prepared. Planning for extending the NSDP application to 10 districts/metros had been initiated.

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Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG)

A process of reallocating MIG funds between municipalities (as provided for in the Division of Revenue Act, 2006 [Act 2 of 2006] [PDF]), has been adopted with the primary intention of using available funds in the most efficient manner to eradicate backlogs in municipalities that have demonstrated capacity to spend. At the same time, various measures to strengthen the ability of poorspending municipalities to better spend their MIG funds are being instituted.

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Local Economic Development (LED)

An LED framework was launched in August 2006, along with a practical toolkit supporting its implementation. By March 2007, 37 districts and all metros had adopted LED plans and assessments of the integration of LED plans and provincial growth and development strategies (PGDS). The state of preparedness to implement LED had also been completed.

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Project Consolidate

In 2004, Project Consolidate, a hands-on support and engagement programme focusing on targeted municipalities, was launched. This project was informed by a growing concern that although some municipalities were able to discharge their responsibilities, some required additional technical and institutional support.

Project Consolidate resulted in mobilising and deploying technical support, service-delivery facilitators, engineers and project managers to the identified municipalities. This initiative introduced a new culture and method of working by national departments, provinces, the private sector and NGOs to provide direct and sustained support to municipalities.

One area of concern is municipal financial viability and management. By mid-2007, 12 municipalities had been identified as pilot sites for efforts directed at improving municipal billing systems.

Since this intervention, revenue collection in these municipalities had increased by an average of 21,4%. This total increase in revenue amounted to R1,6 billion over a period of 12 months. The increased revenue allowed the municipalities to provide new services. It also improved the ability of municipalities to predict revenue flows.

By 30 November 2006, 42 Project Consolidate municipalities were being supported through this initiative. The aim was to reach 70 municipalities with 90 deployees by the end of June 2007. A total of 291 infrastructure projects, valued at R1,5 billion, were receiving implementation support.

The infrastructure projects focus on among other things, water, sanitation and roads. By mid-2007, 51 retired engineers, 45 graduates and 99 students had been deployed at 75 municipalities. A total of 130 municipal employees had received hands-on training. Development and infrastructure implementation support was being given to R2,2 billion worth of projects.

Attention is also being given to improving internal controls, developing Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003-compliant asset registers, and developing tools and procedures to facilitate the compilation of annual financial statements. Following this intervention, all the backlogs of annual financial statements up to the 2004/05 financial year have been eliminated. Significant skills transfer has taken place, benefiting the lower-level finance staff in municipalities. Practical tools and guides to enable sustainability have been developed and provided to participating municipalities.

Source: South Africa Yearbook 2007/08
Editor: D Burger. Government Communication and Information System

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Last modified: 10 April 2008 13:35:41.

 

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