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Achievements in Local government
According to Zegeye and Maxted (2003:67) Massive strides have been made transforming local government since 1994 and more recently since 2000. The ANC-led government has primarily driven this change and shaped the building a developmental local government system. The achievements in local government have been of a policy and legislative nature, but more importantly have been reflected in material advancement in people’s lives as highlighted below:
The Constitutional and legislative framework of local government in South Africa is recognised internationally as progressive in providing for local governance, democracy and development.
283 fully democratic municipalities have been established across the entire landscape of the country. All municipal elections to date have been free and fair and have gained substantive integrity across all sectors of the population. Our system of local government has been complemented by a local public participation system of ward committees. In March 2009 a total of 37 900 ward committees were established. A key challenge however has been the functionality of these committees.
Massive strides have also been made by municipalities in extending service delivery to our people. This is the most important measure of assessing our contribution of creating a better life for all. By the end of the First Decade of Freedom in 2004 the ANC government achieved the following:
Approximately 1,9 million housing subsidies were provided and 1,6 million houses built for the poor of the country
More than 70% of households were electrified
9 million additional people were provided with access to clean water
63% of households had access to sanitation
National fiscal policy and local government
The national fiscal stance for 2011/12 to 2013/14 targets a combination of revenue and expenditure that will enable government to pay for existing programmes, while reinforcing the sustainability of the public finances. The main features include higher GDP growth and reduced inflation, increased tax revenue and a reduction of debt stock as a percentage of GDP over the long term. The national budget policy framework is informed by the requirements of the new growth path, in which six key sectors and activities have been identified for unlocking employment potential. These are:
infrastructure, through the expansion of transport, energy, water,
communications and housing
agriculture and the agro-processing sector
mining and mineral beneficiation
the green economy and associated manufacturing and services
manufacturing sectors identified in the industrial policy action plan
tourism and selected services sectors.
National fiscal policy continues to recognise that municipal expenditure makes a significant contribution towards alleviating poverty and economic development: municipalities contribute to providing a social wage through providing free basic services to poor households; and municipal infrastructure investment contributes to total fixed capital formation by the public sector and the provision of associated services is critical for economic activity and household welfare. National government’s fiscal policy has four implications for local government. First, government has again sought to insulate local government from the ongoing impact of the economic downturn. The increases in government spending favour local government and result in additional resources being made available to municipalities. Due to the tight fiscal circumstances, the pace of increase is slower than in the past ( Zegeye and Maxted 2003:67)
Challenges faced by municipalities
Local Government in South Africa is responsible for delivering basic services to communities, investing in and maintaining physical and social infrastructure, and promoting economic growth and poverty alleviation. Local government also has considerable financial powers, including the right to raise income through property taxes and user charges for services. Local authorities raise most of their operating budgets from their own income. However the level of municipal debt and illegal connections suggest poor capacity, and that many citizens do not understand their obligations. Yet, according to the Demarcation Board’s assessment of municipal capacity, local authorities tend to be better at performing their income generating functions versus the performance of their service delivery and developmental functions. The service delivery and developmental functions are largely linked to the capital budgets (National Treasury. 2012. Local government Budget and Expenditure Review).
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. Report on State of Local government in South Africa (2009) highlights a number of critical challenges facing municipalities. These challenges include:
Political challenges affecting municipalities: In the 2013 the local government elections the ANC received a strong mandate to drive the transformation and service delivery agenda of municipalities in pursuit of a national democratic society. A number of political factors which are internal to the ANC and the alliance continue to negatively affect the performance of municipalities
Deployment Processes within the ANC: This has affected the performance of municipalities in three ways: First, the most mature and seasoned cadres of the movement have been deployed to national and provincial government. Secondly, good and experienced cadres, including women cadres were ignored through misaligned policy. Finally, continuity in municipal political leadership across election mandate periods has been inadequate.
Councillor Accountability and Implementation of the Code of Conduct: Formal mechanisms exist in the ANC and in municipalities to manage the Code of Conduct of Councillors as outlined in the 2013 Manifesto, but it is not implemented. Very few are sanctioned for non-compliance and therefore the code becomes useless or “non-existent” through disuse.
Political-Administrative Interface: This is characterized by tensions and a blatant transgression of recognized roles and responsibilities. There are instances where administrative municipal officials are also office bearers resulting in tensions in the day to day execution of duties while interfacing with councilors in municipalities. This is undermining council institutional intergrity which leads to lack of professionalism
Intra-Party and Intra-Alliance Dynamics: Tensions and factionalism in the ANC and alliance and opposition parties play themselves out, thus affecting the smooth running of municipalities.
Service Delivery Related Protests: Local community protests have become a worrying trend. A multiplicity of factors have informed these protests, some of which directly relate to the ANC and the alliance (such as contests for the 2011 municipal elections) and service delivery issues pertaining not only to local government but also to other spheres of government. Trends show that the number of local protests have increased from 10 in 2004 to 105 in 2009 (2009 saw a particular high spike). By June 2010, 83 protests had been recorded across the country. These protests generally speak to a breakdown in local democracy in municipalities. Some communities have established 280 Ratepayers associations, they are paying municipal rates and taxes into Trust accounts.
Against this background, it is clear that local government stands to inherit growing responsibility for service delivery, primarily because South Africa has inherited a public sector marked by fragmented and gross inequalities at all levels of state activity. It is, acknowledged that local government is also marked by deficiencies in terms of its capacity and structure to meet those demands of service delivery. A number of interrelated factors that have contributed to the current state of local government in South Africa (Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs. Report on State of Local government in South Africa. 2009).
CHAPTER 1: BACKGROUND AND HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
1.3 BACKGROUND TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEADING TO SKILLS READINESS
CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1 INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 BACKGROUND TO PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION THEORIES
3.3 The Basic Theory of Human Capital
3.4 STATE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN SOUTH AFRICA
3.5 The role of a developmental state in the South African context
3.6 Overview of skills policy interventions
CHAPTER 4: BACKGROUND TO THE CASE STUDY AND PROFILE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 DISCUSSION
CHAPTER 5: ANALYSING THE STATE OF SKILLS IN MUNICIPALITIES
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 Crisis in the credibility of local government
5.3 Getting governance wrong
5.4 Capacity Challenges at Local Government Level
5.5 Vacancies and Capacity
5.6 Budgeting for Capacity
5.7 The linkage between expenditure and performance
5.8 Funding capacity through grants
5.9 Remuneration and capacity
5.10 Outside influences
5.11 Capacity roles and responsibilities
5.12 The Outcomes-based Approach
5.13 Causes of underperformance
5.14 Economies of scale issues
5.15 Overview of municipal personnel profile
5.16 Addressing municipal finance problems
5.17 Trends in local government employment
5.18 Growth in local government employment
5.19 Slow growth in municipal employment
5.20 Building municipal capacity
5.21 Municipal spending on training
5.22 Vacancies in municipalities
5.23 Vacancy rates among senior managers
5.24 Sector employment trends
5.25 Vacancies in key sectors
5.26 Municipal remuneration
5.27 Salaries and allowances of senior managers
5.28 Personnel costs as a percentage of operating expenditure
5.29 Average cost per employee
5.30 Skills profile of the uMgengni municipality
5.31 Economic Diversification
5.32 Job Creation
5.33 Skills Development
5.34 Performance management
5.35 Legislative framework
5.36 The reasons for poor performance
5.37 Signing of performance agreements
5.38 Demographic trends
5.39 Profile of the demand for critical skills in local government
5.40 Employment equity considerations
5.41 Turnover problems
5.42 Skills requirements by functional area: Good Governance
5.43 Councillor experience and education levels
5.44 Skills and training required
5.45 Key performance area: Municipal financial viability and management
5.46 Key performance areas: Basic service delivery and infrastructure
5.47 Municipal planning
5.48 The supply of skills
5.49 New labour market entrants
5.50 Amount of training
5.51 Supply of training
5.52 Higher Education
5.53 Further Education and Training
5.54 Constraints on training access and effectiveness
5.55 Insufficient training funds
5.56 Key areas relating to quality assurance and accreditation
5.57 Workplace skills planning
5.58 The management of workplace training
5.59 Time-off-work for training
5.60 External training delivery constraints
5.61 Summary
CHAPTER 6: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 KEY FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.3 CONCLUSION
7 REFERENCES
