Minister to put a turnaround strategy on the table {writer: Piet Coetzer}

South African municipalities score an average of 59.77% for service delivery across five key indicators, with some huge disparities varying between 96.4% at the top end of the scale and 18.6% at the bottom end.

These findings were made in a recently published report by the leading black empowerment rating agency, Empowerdex.

The agency’s research measured all 231 local municipalities, 46 district municipalities and six metropolitan authorities against three indices: a status index based on the current proportion of households which has access to a particular service; an improvement index measuring the percentage change of households with access to a particular service; and an overall score out of 100, with each service equally weighted at a maximum of 20 points.

Various reports, research and experts place different emphasis on different factors causing municipal underperformance with, and protest actions over service delivery. All read together, it is clear that the problems of local government on this front are complex and varied.

A report recently made known by Minister of Co-operative Government and Traditional Affairs Sicelo Shiceka claims that municipalities countrywide are coming apart due to the practice of deploying officials on party political basis. The report was compiled by his department after visits to all nine provinces between April and August this year.

Instead of appointing officials on the basis of skills levels, preference is given to people with the ‘right’ political affiliation.

“Technical competency is forfeited for the sake of politically acceptable appointments,” the minister said at the time of the report’s release at a local government indaba held in Boksburg.

It was found that there is scant separation between political representatives and the officials responsible for the day-to-day management of municipal functions. It also leads to a high turnover of staff at times of political leadership changes, the minister said.

Shiceka added that a comprehensive turnaround strategy will be submitted to Cabinet before the end of this year. “Service delivery protests must be completely eliminated by 2014,” he said.

The Co-operative Governance department will also be submitting a Green Paper on a more “co-operative” format of governing, Shiceka said. This would be aimed at boosting co-ordination and co-operation between the three spheres of government.

While socio-economic processes such as rapid urbanisation and recessionary conditions play a strong role, historical backlogs and a lack of skills in critical areas also contribute to the plight of local authorities.

At the time of the release of the Empowerdex report, Suhail Mohamed, a project developer at the agency, said the study was aimed at highlighting the plight of the people at the bottom of the ladder – the poorest of the poor.

Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape came out top of the heap with 96.4% provision of formal housing, water, sanitation, electricity and waste removal to its households.

Saldanha Bay scored a close second on 95.9% for actual service delivery.

Berg River and Beaufort West in the Western Cape were third and fourth, respectively.

Witzenberg was one of the worst performing local municipalities in service delivery improvement.

Nkandla Local Municipality, the birthplace of President Jacob Zuma, only provides basic services to 32% of its population, although its improvement index scores higher than the national average.

The worst performing local municipality was Msinga in KwaZulu-Natal, with only 18.6% of its households receiving
basic services.

Among the six metropolitan areas, Cape Town came out tops on 89.9%, with Joburg hot on its heels. Tshwane scored the lowest among the metropoles for delivery and improvement.

Eight of the lowest ranking local municipalities were in the Eastern Cape and KZN. The top scorers were in the Northern Cape.

At provincial level, the Western Cape also topped the log in service delivery, with Limpopo on 46% bringing up the rear.

The index was compiled from data supplied by Statistics South Africa. It measures improvements in service delivery over a period of time, comparing the results of the 2007 Community Survey with Census 2001.

“In a year when South Africa has been dogged by service delivery protests, it has become critical to assess the current levels of delivery experienced by the population.

An understanding of the weaknesses in local and provincial structures comes with many benefits,” states the report.

“(The report) provides insight into whether these protests reflect genuine community concerns or manipulation of information by community and political leaders for any particular reasons.

“It highlights actual shortcomings in delivery, which can then be addressed properly.

“It also provides a benchmark from which to assess the future performance of a new administration that has placed an emphasis on the need to strengthen public institutions and reinforce a culture of service delivery,” it states.

Mohamed also highlighted the fact that municipalities which had been part of the former homelands, continued to under-perform and did not improve service delivery. Other poor performers were mostly those with no formal towns and a lack of proper roads.

This state of affairs may be contributing to some of the problems experienced in the metropolitan and other larger urban areas.

In a recent presentation to the parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Co-operative Government, the South African Local Government Association said the process of quickened urbanisation is the underlying cause of the recent spate of service delivery protest actions.

Large-scale migration to urban areas aggravates the problem of squatter settlements and increases pressure on urban infrastructure. The labour market is also in no position to absorb the influx from rural areas.

Violent protests are taking place in areas that are experiencing the greatest growth in population.

Kevin Allan, managing director of the municipal intelligence service, Municipal IQ, said that its research indicates a statistical link between service delivery protests and urbanisation.

At an Infrastructure Dialogue, principal technical adviser for the National Treasury’s technical assistance unit, Jeremy Timm said that all municipal functions face serious capacity constraints. “We currently have two engineers for every 100 000 people – we need at least five,” adding that “the civil engineering capacity in local government is too low to deliver, operate and maintain local government infrastructure in a sustainable manner.

“There is a need for alternative service-delivery models, but these will be difficult to implement because of the capacity constraints, and there is increasing pressure for improved delivery in precisely those areas where there are weak municipalities,” he said.

In a recent interview with Business Times, Auditor-General Terence Nombembe said that many government departments are working with inadequate financial information because many chief financial officers are not doing their jobs.

Too many government accountants were reporting to meet their minimum annual requirements rather than ensuring a steady flow of information to underpin accurate and efficient management.

“We may be missing an opportunity to confirm that the money that is utilised for service delivery is utilised wisely, and that service delivery is taking place as planned,” he said.

In another article, Rob Haswell, manager of the Pietermaritzburg/Umzimdusi Municipality and an ex-councillor and mayor, wrote that many of South Africa’s problems – particularly poverty and unemployment – stem from an under-resourced and under-performing local government system.

“Compounding the scarcity of political and management expertise (at local government level), let alone engineering, accounting and other professional skills required to successfully manage a multifaceted municipality, is the myth that municipalities can be self-sufficient,” he wrote.

Among others, Haswell argues for fundamental changes to the tax system in the country to help capacitate local governments.

The Shiceka audit reportedly states that the lack of effective management of complaints and a coherent system to measure service delivery were “some of the political reasons underlying protest action”.

The report also points out that during the last thee years, provincial governments have taken over the running of no less than 30 municipalities due to poor governance, financial mismanagement and failure to deliver services.

While the report notes improvements in the employment of chief financial officers in municipalities across all provinces, it also reveals that many are not qualified. A skills audit found that many employees did not have matric.