SALGA welcomes improved service delivery report

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) has welcomed the Non-Financial Census of Municipalities report which points to improved service delivery.

“The SALGA welcomes the Non-Financial Census of Municipalities 2017 as released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) which points to improved service delivery in the year period 2016/17 and increasing numbers of people receiving services from municipalities. There is empirical evidence that municipalities are delivering services and are continuously working to improve the quality of life in the communities they serve,” said SALGA on Tuesday.

This as Stats SA on Monday released the results of the Non-financial census of municipalities (NFCM) 2017.

The NFCM measures selected aspects of service delivery, including water, electricity, solid waste management, sewerage and sanitation, amongst others.

In its reaction on Tuesday, SALGA said the NFCM report comes against the gloomy picture painted in the Auditor General report on municipal audit outcomes 2016/2017.

“This indicates that despite the financial accountability challenges, municipalities are hard at work lending a hand to the people of South Africa and gradually improving the quality of their lives. The AG report assists in identifying faulty lines and highlights that vigorous provision of services by local government might not be sustainable based on the approach undertaken in providing such services.

“Therefore, the AG report affords municipalities an opportunity to identify where they can improve their service offering in terms of leadership, governance, financial health and reporting,” it said.

SALGA reiterated that the AG’s report cannot be read in isolation from the Stats SA report which consecutively point to the ever-increasing number of consumer units receiving services from local government and the General Household Survey which provides the latest statistics on education, health, the labour market, dwellings, access to services and facilities, transport, and the quality of life in South Africa.

The Non-Financial Census report comes against the gloomy picture painted in the Auditor General (AG) report on municipal audit outcomes 2016/2017. 

SALGA said the Stats SA report indicates that despite the financial accountability challenges, municipalities are hard at work lending a hand to the people of South Africa and gradually improving the quality of their lives.

It said the AG report assists in identifying faulty lines and highlights that vigorous provision of services by the local government might not be sustainable based on the approach undertaken in providing such services.

“Therefore, the AG report affords municipalities an opportunity to identify where they can improve their service offering in terms of leadership, governance, financial health and reporting. The improved services mean the municipal expenditure is actually being directed towards the provision of services.”

Stats SA’s report showed that the number of consumer units receiving services from municipalities increased between 2016 and 2017.

It noted that the provision of water increased by 2.1% between 2016 and 2017 nationally and that 2.2 million (62.6%) indigent households benefited from the indigent support system for sewerage and sanitation, while 2.5 million (71.9%) benefited from the indigent support system for solid waste management.

“SALGA calls for municipalities to use the census to identify gaps and monitor progress regarding the implementation of service delivery, such as the rolling of free basic services and poverty alleviation towards building a responsive, accountable, effective and efficient developmental local government system.” - SAnews.gov.za