The government’s Project Consolidate is a programme to get underperforming councils up to scratch. Yolandi Groenewald and Tumi Makgetla take a closer look at the initiative and some of the municipalities under its guidance.
For many municipalities in South Africa, the progressive new era heralded by the 1994 election is an illusion. But the government’s Project Consolidate could give these municipalities the lift they need. This is according to Elroy Africa, the Deputy Director General in the Department of Provincial and Local Government. Africa, who is in charge of Project Consolidate, spoke about why this initiative is so important for the government.
“We decided that we need to deal with ourselves in a much more frank manner,” he said. Africa was referring to figures showing that in 122 municipalities, more than 40% of the households did not have access to electricity and that in 155, more than 40% did not have access to clean water. It has been more than a year since the Department of Provincial and Local Government began to roll out Project Consolidate, which was introduced in October 2004 to address severe service backlogs. During this time, national and provincial champions visited projects in municipalities to determine what the communities’ biggest needs were.
The project employs 29 skilled facilitators to help the 136 municipalities in need. Department of Provincial and Local Government spokesperson Luzoko Koti said that facilitators establish systems to build capacity and to deliver services in targeted municipalities. The project also seeks to change people’s mindsets, said Africa. At present, officials view working in the public sector as just another job, he said.
“Project Consolidate is another strategy to ensure that service delivery is realised,” said Tladi Matseke, the South African Local Government Association chairperson in the Free State. Matseke says that, previously, it had to be proved under Section 139 of the Constitution that municipalities could not manage their own affairs before national government could intervene. “With Project Consolidate, we don’t have to wait for that [deterioration]. There is early intervention,” he said.
What is Project Consolidate?
Project Consolidate, a two-year programme aimed at streamlining national, provincial and local government to bolster service delivery, was launched in October 2004. The programme allows for greater national government oversight — instead of provinces taking over the administration of failing municipalities, the national government has deployed specialist teams of administrators to tackle weaknesses.
The government calls it “a hands-on local government support and engagement programme”. It is targeted at 136 municipalities throughout South Africa that need support to enhance service delivery, good governance and to build municipal capacity.
The programme targets basic service delivery and infrastructure, local economic development, municipal transformation and institutional development, municipal financial viability and good governance and community participation. It also addresses service delivery challenges and capacity constraints that are facing individual municipalities.
The government, to point out where each municipality needs help, drew up a detailed assessment of challenges according to each province and the municipalities concerned. As part of Project Consolidate, the president, the deputy president and the Cabinet are pursuing the municipal izimbizo programme, whose objective is to support municipalities in the achievement of these key performance areas and to deepen local government transformation.
It is not only the poor municipalities that are part of Project Consolidate. Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain in the City of Cape Town and KwaMashu in eThekwini all have political champions as part of Project Consolidate, helping them out. For example, Trevor Manuel and Charles Nqakula are both the political champions of Khayelitsha.
Ilembe District Municipality
On the shores of the Tugela river, this small rural municipality is not performing as well as its people would like. The Ilembe district is the smallest of KwaZulu-Natal’s district municipalities and consists of four local municipalities located between Durban and Richards Bay — E’Ndondakusuka, KwaDukuza, Maphumulo and Ndwedwe. Most of these areas are characterised by subsistence farming.
The government claims the harsh terrain makes the delivery of roads, water, sanitation and electricity a challenge. The district municipality and its local municipalities had budgeted for total expenditure of R665-million for 2004/05. Of this, R264-million was for capital expenditure and R381-million for operating expenditure.
Total operating revenue of R406-million was budgeted, resulting in an operating surplus of R25-million. No provision was made for bad debt. Although the district has recorded progress in service delivery, the municipality is still seen as a laggard in this regard. The average access to municipal services in Ilembe district in 2001 was lower than the provincial average.
- Average access to electricity for lighting was 51%, lower than the provincial average of 62%. On water, average access was 54%, which was lower than the provincial average of 74%. Average access to sanitation was 79% while the provincial average was 82%, and the percentage for refuse removal was only 25% while the provincial average was 51%.
- The municipality made 5 000 connections to households that did not have access to potable water supply within 200m of the dwelling and 1 400 new sanitation connections to households that did not have access to a ventilated, improved pit-latrine.
- About 30% of the district population now has access to a waste collection service. Basic water services have been provided to 945 households.
- The total number of households with water below Reconstruction and Development Programme standards within the district is 48 874 households or 36%.
- The total number of households with electricity backlogs is 61 300 or 48%. The local municipalities with the highest electricity backlogs are Maphumulo and Ndwedwe at 78%.
- All local municipalities have adopted indigent policies and are providing free basic electricity, with the exception of Ndwedwe.
- The Department of Housing indicates that, from April 1 1994 to September 30 last year, 26,6% of 63 824 units (about 17 000) have been completed. Furthermore, 29 873 subsidies have been allocated.
- Ilembe District Municipality received a qualified audit report from the auditor general’s office from 2001 to 2003. Only Maphumulo Local Municipality has consistently received unqualified audit reports since 2002. With the exception of KwaDukuza Local Municipality and Ilembe District Municipality, the dependency on grants is high.
- The district has 65 wards and all have established ward committees.
Kungwini Local Municipality
Metsweding district, which is Kungwini’s local municipality, consists of urban and peri-urban localities, but is largely rural. Kungwini was identified for support from Project Consolidate because it experienced difficulties with its finances and service delivery. The municipality will receive support in corporate governance, municipal debt-billing systems, municipal management, local economic development and performance management.
All Metsweding’s municipalities, but particularly Kungwini, are facing challenges in upgrading and maintaining infrastructure. There are also problems in addressing backlogs in water, sanitation and infrastructure.
- In Metsweding, the total number of households with water below Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) standards is 7 546 (14% of households). On sanitation, the total number of households with sanitation below RDP standards in the district is 15 670 (29% of households).
- All the local municipalities have adopted indigent policies. About 20 468 households have been provided with free basic electricity.
- Although there has been some progress in housing delivery, 71% of households in Metsweding live in formal housing, 25% in informal housing and 5% in traditional houses. From April 1 1994 to September 30 last year, 33,84% of 7 558 units have been completed (about 2 550 units). Furthermore, 6 101 subsidies have been allocated.
- Land-reform issues are some of the main challenges for the district. There are 754 land claims being investigated in Wallmansthal and at the Berlin mission in the Nokeng Tsa Taemane Local Municipality.
- Although Metsweding District Municipality received unqualified audit reports for 2001/02 and 2002/03, Kungwini received negative reports.
- There are still high vacancy levels in the district and the municipalities. At the moment, Kungwini Local Municipality is implementing a performance monitoring system.
- There are 18 wards in the district. And community development workers have been deployed. The district has developed a public participation strategy that is used as a guide by the local municipalities.
Amathole District Municipality
Although Amathole has not been the worst-performing municipality, it is struggling with issues of effective community communication and service delivery. Three local municipalities in the district, namely Buffalo City, Mnquma and Mbashe, have been identified as requiring support under Project Consolidate.
- Amathole district accounts for 25,9% of the Eastern Cape’s population. It has 1,7-million people, most of whom are found in the former Transkei and Ciskei areas.
- The economic growth rate of the Amathole district is about 0,4%, below the Eastern Cape average of 1,7% and the 2,5% national average. A high proportion of the people aged between 18 and 65 are economically inactive.
- The biggest infrastructure backlogs for this municipality are the areas of sanitation and refuse removal. About 42% of the households within the district have backlogs. Buffalo City has a sanitation backlog of 15%, while the other seven local municipalities have a backlog of 64%.
- All local municipalities, with the exception of Mnquma and Great Kei, have adopted indigent policies around free basic electricity. Fiftysix percent of the district’s households receive free basic water, while Buffalo City has provided 98% of its households with this service.
- On the housing front, only 26% of those planned has been built. The housing backlog in the district is 72 403 units.
- Though the district municipality has consistently received unqualified audit reports from the auditor general, support is needed for five other local municipalities inside the district to ensure that they submit their financial reports on time. Project Consolidate will assist with reviewing their financial policies, control procedures, accounting processes and overall systems of internal control in order to rectify this.
- Amathole District Municipality has a good culture of debt collection. It collects its revenue within 45 days of debtors being billed. In general, however, financial management capacity in the local municipalities needs to be improved. There have been general improvements in a number of functions performed by the district and its local municipalities from 2002 to 2004. The district municipality has adopted a strategic cluster approach and has developed a local municipal support strategy. It has also formed a very active municipal support unit. But the municipalities have a high vacancy rate. Most are in the areas of chief financial officers, engineers, IT specialists and artisans.
- Unfortunately, community participation has not been up to scratch in the district. Amathole has 165 wards and has established ward committees in all of them, but some of these committees are not functioning and do not hold regular meetings.
Some of the challenges faced by ward committees are transportrelated. Other challenges include interpretation of legislation and by-laws in the vernacular and inadequate administrative support. The municipality had benefited from 33 community development workers — 55% of which were female. The district municipality has a communication strategy in place, which focuses on the community, and Project Consolidate will help to implement this strategy.
Information extracted from Project Consolidate Imbizo previews on municipalities