TheBACK TO BASICS

CAMPAIGN

“SERVING OUR COMMUNITIES BETTER”

NORTH-WEST PROVINCIAL LAUNCH17 DECEMBER 2014

2

The Context for the Back to Basics Conceptand Approach

SONA: ‘Together we move South Africa forward’

‘..Government would like people’s experience of local governmentto be a pleasant one...

Government has evaluated all municipalities, including theirfinancial management…

Government has formulated a plan of action to revitalise localgovernment...’(HE President Jacob Zuma, SONA, June 17, 2014)

3

The Context for the Back to Basics Conceptand Approach

Budget Vote 3:Cooperative Governance

and Traditional Affairs

National Assembly

17 July 2014

Minister Pravin Gordhan

‘Local government is the crucible in which thecomplex processes of development, governance,transformation of life and living conditions is takingplace daily.

In this way, the area under the jurisdiction of eachof the 278 municipalities is where educational,health, recreational, economic, housing and otherrelated activities take place daily.

This is the space in which our children grow toadulthood, where our talents are shaped, ourinstitutions operate and our wellbeing determined’.

4

• Developmental local government remains the visionaryfoundation for the continuing reconstruction anddevelopment of our country. The Local Government WhitePaper developed a vision of local government as a keycomponent of the developmental state.

• In pursuit of that vision, basic services, social services, andcivil and political rights, including participatory governance,have been progressively extended to more citizens than everbefore.

• It is recognized however, that despite our deliveryachievements, much still needs to be done to improve theperformance of local government.

The context for the Back to Basics Concept and Approach….

5

• The National Development Plan (NDP) has also made itclear that meeting our transformation agenda for localgovernment now requires a much higher and morefocused intergovernmental commitment towards thecreation of more functional municipalities and a capablemachinery at a local level.

• The Back to Basics Programme is to be implemented byall of government, as a Presidential priority, with theadded imperative of the need to remain focused anddriven towards the approaching local governmentelections in 2016.

The context for the Back to Basics Concept and Approach….

The Back to Basics Approach….

COGTA initiated B2Bs by:• Conducting a desk top assessment of

municipalities in all nine provinces;• By verifying the findings with provinces;• By presenting this state of LG to MinMec; and• By developing 3 categories of municipal

performance to initiate focused action.

6

• The assessment was conducted using thefollowing functional factors:– Political stability– Governance– Service delivery– Financial Management– Institutional management– Community satisfaction

7

The Back to Basics Approach….

Over a thirdare doing well

A third have thepotential to do well

Just under athird are notdoing well

COGTA’s recent assessment of theperformance of municipalities showed:

8

Number of municipalities per category per ProvinceProvince Doing Well Potential to do

wellNot doingwell

Total

EasternCape

18 13 14 45

Free State 8 7 9 24

Gauteng 10 2 0 12

KZN 35 18 8 61Limpopo 6 8 16 30Mpumalanga 7 7 7 21

NorthernCape

11 6 15 32

North West 4 4 15 23

WesternCape

20 8 2 30

Total 119 73 86 2789

MUNICIPALITIES THAT ARE DOING WELL– Strong political and administrative leadership– Characterised by political stability– Councils meeting as legislated– Functional council and oversight structures– Regular report back to communities– Low vacancy rates– Collection rates above 80% on average– Spending on capital budgets above 80%– Continuity in the administration– Consistent spending of capital budgets– Consistent unqualified audit outcomes– Responsive to service delivery needs– Evidence of good administrative and financial management– Performance driven by Integrated Development Plans, Budgets Compliance

and Innovation.

10

MUNICIPALITIES THAT HAVE A POTENTIAL TO DO WELL– Fair amount of financial and records management– Some level of political and administrative stability– Reasonable feedback through community meetings– Reasonable access to basic services– Councils sitting fairly regularly– Reasonable adherence to the IDP and Budgets, compliance and little

innovation– Most of administrative positions filled by incompetent staff– Some critical positions not filled– Poor expenditure of capital budgets– Poor records keeping– Low collection rates (less than 50%)– Mainly qualified audit outcomes– Significant mismatch between Plans and Budgets.

11

MUNICIPALITIES THAT ARE NOT DOING WELL

– Challenges of political-administrative interface– High political in-fighting and instability– Non-compliance with rules and regulations– High vacancy rates– High levels of incompetency among staff– Extremely low levels of capital budget spending– Inappropriate spending of budgets– Overall disregard for financial and supply chain management

regulations– Compromised service delivery– High level of community dissatisfaction resulting in protests– Absence of Plans.

12

2

1 Get all municipalities out of the dysfunctionalstate

No one below the middle path

OUR PRIORITIES

33 Support and incentivise municipalities on the toppath to remain there

Targeted and brisk response to corruption and fraud

Support municipalities on the middlepath to progress to the top path

And stay there

13

WHAT DOES “GETTING THE BASICS RIGHT” MEAN?1

Puttingpeople first:let’s listen

andcommunicate

Adequateand

community-orientedservice

provision

Goodgovernance

andtransparent

administration

Robustinstitutionswith skilled

and capablestaff

Soundfinancial

management& accounting

1 2 3 4 5

14

• Regular ward report backs by councillors

• Clear engagement platforms with civil society

• Transparent, responsive and accountable

• Regular feedback on petitions and complaints

SUBSTANTIVE COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

15

No servicefailures

where there are, restore them urgently!

No servicefailures

where there are, restore them urgently!

16

A RESPONSIVE ADMINISTRATION

Competentand capablepeople and

performancemanagement

Competentand capablepeople and

performancemanagement

FunctionaldelegationsFunctionaldelegations

Regularinteractions

betweenmanagement

andorganised

labour

Regularinteractions

betweenmanagement

andorganised

labour

Sharedscarce skillsservices at

district level.

Sharedscarce skillsservices at

district level.

Realisticorganograms

aligned tomunicipal

developmentstrategy

Realisticorganograms

aligned tomunicipal

developmentstrategy

17

GOOD GOVERNANCE

Clear delineationof roles and

responsibilities

Functionalstructures

Oversight in place– without anyinterference

Proper system ofdelegation to

ensure functionaladministration

Transparency,accountability and

communityengagement

18

19

SOUND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Proper recordkeeping and

production of annualfinancial statements.

Proper recordkeeping and

production of annualfinancial statements.

Credit control,internal controls and

increase therevenue base

Credit control,internal controls and

increase therevenue base

Cut wastefulexpenditure

including monitoringovertime

Cut wastefulexpenditure

including monitoringovertime

Functional SupplyChain Management

structures withappropriateoversight

Functional SupplyChain Management

structures withappropriateoversight

20

SOUND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

• Serious consequences for corruption, fraud andmaladministration.

• Action will be taken in this regard, includingasset forfeiture and civil claims.

• Greater transparency and scrutiny for supplychain management.

• Private sector and civil society must assist.

Continue topromote a

harmoniousrelationship

betweentraditional

leadership andlocal

government.

Continue topromote a

harmoniousrelationship

betweentraditional

leadership andlocal

government.

Participate inIDP’s andcommunityconsultationprocesses –

including landuse schemes.

Participate inIDP’s andcommunityconsultationprocesses –

including landuse schemes.

Facilitate accessto land for

developmentpurposes.

Facilitate accessto land for

developmentpurposes.

TRADITIONAL LEADERS

21

SERVICE DELIVERYINTERMINISTERIAL COMMITTEE (IMC)

President JG Zuma has established the inter-ministerial task team on service delivery. This is led

by Minister Pravin Gordhan

The purpose of the Task Teamis to fast-track service delivery in areas where there are

bottlenecks, quickly respond to areas where there are servicedelivery problems and ensure that general service delivery is

improved.

22

2. The LG Summit

23

• A Presidential Local Government Summit was convened on 18September 2014 at the Gallagher Estate in Midrand, Johannesburg.

• The purpose of the Summit was to introduce government andstakeholders to the ‘Back to Basics’ approach for LocalGovernment.

• The theme of the Summit was: “Back to Basics – Serving ourcommunities better”.

• The impetus for the Summit was the need identified to improve thefunctioning of municipalities to better serve communities by gettingthe basics right.

• All delegates endorsed, the Statement of Intent with its eightprimary commitments, the first of which is to commit to theimplementation of the Back to Basics Programme.

24

2. The LG SummitDelegates at the Summit included:

National Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Premiers of theprovinces, the Chairperson of the National Council ofProvinces, the Deputy Speaker of the NationalAssembly, Members of the Executive Councils (MECs)for Local Government, the Deputy Chairperson of theNCOP, Chairpersons of Parliamentary Committees,the Chairpersons of the National House of TraditionalLeaders and of the South African Local GovernmentAssociation (SALGA) respectively, Mayors, membersof Traditional Councils, Municipal Managers, ChiefFinancial Officers and Technical Directors.Stakeholders included the business sector, organisedlabour, many professional and research bodies, thedonor community and the media.

25

Outcomes of the LG SummitThe Statement of Intent: endorsed by all delegates as follows(extracts)

INSPIRED by the leadership and guidance provided by the President of theRepublic of South Africa, recommit ourselves to advance the objects ofdevelopmental local government.WE COMMIT TO:• Implement the Back to Basics programme.• Create conditions for decent living by consistently delivering municipal

services to the right quality and standard. This includes planning anddelivery of infrastructure and amenities, maintenance and upkeep

• Ensure quarterly performance monitoring and reporting on the work ofmunicipalities as directed by the Back to Basics approach; and

• Improve the political management of municipalities and be responsive tothe needs and aspirations of local communities.

IMPLEMENTINGBack to Basics

OUR OBJECTIVE: Building Capable Local Government

Ensure healthy political / admininterface

Infrastructure audits,maintenance plans &

expenditure

Ensure capable andcompetent staff

Build institutional systemsand processes

Capacity building forcouncillors

Develop andimplement Audit and

Post Audit Actionplans.

Effective credit control anddebt collection policies

A Differentiated Approach: Actions

Doing WellDoing Well

At Risk DysfunctionalDysfunctional

• Light touch monitoring• Minimise additional

regulatory burden• Delegate additional

functions• Support to enable

networking best practiceexposure

• Free to make owncompliant appointments

• Unallocated block grantsand participation in CitySupport / Rural SupportProgrammes

• Medium intensity monitoring

• Oversee effectiveperformance of functions

• Close supervision of servicedelivery with targetedinterventions

• Capacity building based ondiagnosis of gap

• Oversee all appointments, andCOGTA participate in processof Section 57 Appointments.

• Conditional grant with regularmonitoring and reporting

• Intensive monitoring with highdegree of oversight

• Intervene in terms of Sections55, 139 and 155 (7) of theConstitution

• Intervene to guaranteeminimum standards, wherenecessary functions removed /suspended and performed bythird parties

• Build basic administrativecapacity.

• COGTA assumes therecruitment function, includingappointing administrators andS57 Managers.

• Where necessary channelfunding for services via thirdparty agencies.

Performance monitoring & intervention

Dataintegration

RealtimeDashboard

Analysis

Intervention

Impactmonitoring

An integrated data system which is usable and provides usefulinforamation

?

Investigations and Interventions

Coordinate law enforcementover fraud and corruption

Act against incompetent seniormanagement

Act against improper SCM

Aim for no disclaimers

!

!

!

!

Implementation Levers

COMPLIANCE MONITORING AND REPORTING• Misconduct database and regular reporting on disciplinary cases• Competency Database and regular reporting on appointments

COMMAND CENTRE & PERFORMANCE INFORMATION SYSTEM• Call centre, hotspots monitoring, Rapid Response Team, Provincial Task Teams• Performance indicators and reporting (Monthly and Quarterly)• Programme management system and support

INTER-MINISTRIAL TASK TEAM ON BASIC SERVICES• Tackle service delivery failures by focusing on priority districts• Ensure alignment of infrastructure development plans and operations with

national, provincial and municipal IDPs;

THANK YOU! Enkosi!

32