Edited by Bev Mortimer – A vicious cycle is being created by the fact that electricity and water networks, roads etc are not being maintained at local municipalities.
“Investment is falling behind because as the infrastructure deteriorates, revenue declines and the ability to reinvest in those assets declines as well. We’ve got to break that cycle. “
This is according to Presidency Director of Strategy and Delivery, Saul Musker, speaking at the launch of the second phase of Operation Vulindlela II (OV2) at the Union earlier this month. “The ‘heart of the problem’ is a lack of investment in infrastructure and maintenance which impacts service delivery, “ he said.
Operation Vulindlela is a joint initiative of the Presidency and National Treasury to accelerate the implementation of structural reforms and support economic recovery.
At the launch of Operation Vulindlela II at the Union Buildings earlier this month, SA President Ramaphosa stressed that many of the country’s municipalities are not delivering basic services to households and businesses.
“Operation Vulindlela has set out a clear agenda for local government reform, which starts with improving the delivery of water and electricity services through professional utilities, President Ramaphosa said . “Utilities should have the right technical skills, strong regulation and oversight, and full control of their billing and revenue functions to allow them to invest in infrastructure and maintenance.”
Another key step is strengthening local government administration the President said adding: “We will work to ensure that capable, qualified people are appointed to senior positions in municipalities, such as municipal managers and CFOs.“
This will be done by extending the mandate of the Public Service Commission to local government and action against municipalities that fail to comply with minimum competency standards. The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has initiated the process to update the White Paper on Local Government, which includes a review of the institutional structure of local government.
Finally, the National Treasury will review the local government fiscal framework, including the design of conditional grants, to ensure that the revenue of municipalities matches their responsibilities.
Musker also said: “It’s widely understood that the deteriorating performance of local government is a major constraint on growth, and you can solve; say the energy supply problem. But if you still have interruptions, because of ailing distribution networks or failures in service delivery that affects businesses, it holds back investment.
“That decline in local government performance is the result of both particular factors in each municipality, as well as structural causes that have their roots in the system. The local government system itself and the reforms that we proposed in OV2 really aim to address those structural challenges,” Musker explained.
According to the OV Phase II document, the “deteriorating performance of local government has emerged as a significant constraint on investment and growth.”
Enhancing local government performance is among the three key reforms introduced by the second phase of OV (the other two being tackling the legacy of spatial inequality and accelerating digital transformation).
The document notes that an “increasing number of municipalities is affected by weak or unstable governance, poor revenue collection and funding shortfalls, and an inability to deliver basic services or process regulatory approvals.”
– Source SANews
