By Amukelani Chauke
Cape Town – President Jacob Zuma says government’s Back-to-Basics strategy has, since its introduction, become an integral part of local governance.
Municipalities that have been supported through the Back-to-Basics Strategy were responding positively and showing signs of recovery.
The President said this as he opened the debate on his annual address to the National Council of Provinces on Thursday, under the theme: “Working together to build on the advances of our democracy for a better life for all”.
Giving an update on the progress of the Back-to-Basics programme since the launch in September last year, the President said the strategy has since been institutionalised and now forms part of the agenda in many government meetings, including in the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission – which he chairs.
“The Inter-Ministerial Task Team on Basic Services was established and it is functioning well. Provincial Back to Basics task teams were established and are conducting hands-on monitoring.
“The teams have developed municipal support plans, and these have been formally adopted by municipalities. Support and intervention packages were prepared and implemented for identified “hot-spot” municipalities.
“The programme is indeed becoming an integral part of local government governance and renewal,” he said.
Important lessons have been learned during the first phases of the Back-to-Basics strategy, he said, adding that this will assist in the implementation of the renewal programme.
Some of the lessons learned include, among others:
- That political instability and weaknesses in governance are two of the primary causes of poor service delivery at municipal level;
- Direct hands-on support yields improved performance;
- Citizen engagements are generally weak in those municipalities that are categorized as dysfunctional and at risk. He said this was a positive lesson picked up from various Section 154 support packages and the section 139 interventions.
Municipalities with weaknesses in governance and corporate management functions such as financial management, human resource management and supply chain management also tend to experience difficulties in service delivery.
Also evident is that municipalities generally have weak technical capacity in planning, project management, design and procurement of infrastructure, the President said.
“Some urgent delivery areas need attention such as the removal of bottlenecks in the provision of housing, water and sanitation. Corruption and fraud also remain a matter of concern in some municipalities.
“These lessons are instructive in the implementation of remedial programmes to assist struggling municipalities,” he said.
Back-to-Basics interventions producing results
The President said interventions that have been implemented through the Back-to-Basics programme was starting to bear fruits.
“Also important to note is that those who are provided with support through the Back to Basics programme have responded positively and corrective action is visible,” he said.
Several successes have been recorded during the period that government continued to support various municipalities.
The Eastern Cape provincial department responsible for local government assisted the Ikwezi municipality through funding to the amount of over R1 million to improve their service delivery outcomes.
The department also helped the Inkwanca municipality pay its Eskom debt to the amount of R2 million and service delivery creditors to the amount of R5 million.
The Makana municipality was also supported to pay their Eskom debt to the amount of R18 million, and service delivery related creditors to the amount of R7 million.
“Water supply problems have also been attended to in the municipalities following the upgrading of infrastructure,” the President said.
In the same province, the Elundini municipality was unable to provide piped water to households in 107 villages due to a shortage of funding as well as a lack of technical capacity, leading to water supply backlogs spanning many years.
The President said funding was secured from the Municipal Infrastructure Grant and also development support from the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The project entailed the provision of new water infrastructure and ten years of operations and maintenance support, he said.
“At least 2000 temporary and more than 100 permanent jobs will be created during the implementation phase,” he said.
In the original categorisation of KwaZulu-Natal municipalities last year, eight municipalities were categorised as “requiring Intervention”.
“Only Mtubatuba municipality has remained in the category of requiring intervention. Umvoti and Amajuba have progressed to what is defined as the ‘challenged category’. Abaqulusi, Ugu, Umzinyathi, Mpofana and Endumeni moved to the ‘functional category’.” – SAnews.gov.za
