The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) development fund and a brand new initiative called Siyenza Manje, which provides hands-on technical expertise to municipalities in a range of disciplines, are designed to overturn the reality of reduced capacity among municipalities, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Monday.
Speaking at a DBSA stakeholder meeting, Manuel said he had no doubt that these two initiatives, which were significant investments, will bear fruit.
He added that the development fund had received transfers of R479-million since 2002, and in the year to March 31 had increased its disbursements of capacity building grants to R120-million — up from R74-million and R41-million in the two preceding years.
”The measure of their success will not only be in stronger municipalities, but also in a strengthened partnership between these and the DBSA. It is an investment that must bear fruit,” Manual said.
He added that the government, through its development finance institutions, has a responsibility to ensure that democracy tangibly improved the quality of life of the poorest South Africans.
But improved local government service or infrastructure cannot be delivered without the necessary development of human capital.
Manuel said there was also a need for counter-intuitive thinking about the lending book to ensure that the traditional appraisals of risk were inverted to ensure that resources could be channelled to areas of greatest need.
”This matter has become decidedly less difficult — just a few years ago, commercial banks saw the poor as a hassle not worth providing banking services for.
”Now we have seen that in a mere 18 months there are over 3,3-million Mzansi account holders. Suddenly, the pyramid has been inverted and there are so many new possibilities. The DBSA will have to tackle this matter in relation to municipalities and must realise the potential of its so-called ‘Market 3’,” he said. — I-Net Bridge