This book gives an account on the third sphere of government which is local government. It focuses on aspects of this sphere of government that relate to performance in governance, service delivery and financial management. To analyse these, it is important also to understand the origin and mandate of this sphere of government as well as the environment within which it has to execute its mandate. Local government is established in terms of Chapter Seven of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, henceforth referred to as the Constitution. It is a sphere of government with separate functions and authority derived from the Constitution itself. With authority, however, comes responsibility. Local government is held accountable for the obligations entrusted in it in terms of its constitutional functions. The objective of this book is first to link the mandate of this sphere of government to its governance structure and system as well as its resultant performance.
The mandate, which will be elaborated in detail later, is derived from Section 152 of the Constitution of the South Africa and it will be necessary to see how this mandate is executed. Also, necessary to appreciate, is how the various stakeholders understand this mandate including the Provincial and National spheres of government, which are required to monitor and provide support necessary to local government. In terms of section 151 of the Constitution, the local sphere of government consists of municipalities (currently 257) which must be established for the whole of the territory of the Republic. In other words, what is referred to as the third sphere of government or local government, consists of municipalities.
It is municipalities which are granted specific powers and functions for them to govern in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
As a public service, municipal services have stakeholders in the private sector, individual citizens, organized and unorganized interest and pressure groups. They include the business community, traditional leaders, residents in both rural and urban areas, among others. It is the same stakeholders that are often called upon to participate and make inputs in development programmes. These stakeholders, also have perceptions and opinions about local government. The performance of municipalities should not be looked at in isolation from that of the other spheres of government.
The work of one sphere is meant to be complementary to that of the others. The Constitution of the country itself provides for the Provincial and National government to monitor and provide support to local government. The two spheres of government have the authority to intervene in local government should any of the municipalities fail to fulfil its obligations. Measuring the performance of municipalities therefore must not be done in isolation. However, over a period of two decades a trend is emerging whereby the performance of municipalities is not improving. Instead, it is pointing towards a deterioration given the audit outcomes and community dissatisfaction levels. A general deterioration in the audit outcome of municipalities, and failure of the first responders such as the municipal council to act effectively in remedy of this performance, has begun to draw the interest of various stakeholders in and around municipalities.
Reports from authorities such as the Auditor General, point to some weaknesses inside municipalities. These weaknesses continue unaddressed. External interventions do not seem to be effective either. The objective of this book, however, is not to unfairly expose shortcomings as a witch hunt, but to highlight weaknesses detected in the structure, the systems, the operations, and performance to come with the necessary interventions in order to address such shortcomings. Of course, these interventions may not be absolute but may call for further research to solve the problems at hand. This is as a result of the complex local government landscape. Thus, the book will shed some light on various aspects of local government. First it discusses the evolution of local government within its legal and developmental context. There are several pieces of legislation that govern the existence and operations of municipalities. These include, the Constitution, the Municipal Structures Act (Act 117 of 1998), the Municipal Systems Act (Act 32 of 2000), Local Government, Property Rates Act (Act 6 of 2004), the Municipal Finance Management Act (Act 56 of 2003) and Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act (Act 16 of 2013).
Secondly, there is a discussion on the requirement for municipalities to provide services in an equitable and sustainable manner. To be able to provide services, Section 227 of the Constitution stipulates that municipalities are entitled to their equitable share of revenue raised nationally and Section 229 gives municipalities the authority to impose rates on property as well as surcharges on services rendered.
Thirdly, it is also a requirement that municipalities should have a system of performance management to be able to reflect and measure its performance. This system should enable as far as possible, authorities that are required to support and monitor municipalities. Local government should have a workable tool to measure the performance of municipalities. The business community, communities and other investors also use performance outcomes of municipalities to make decisions. Lastly, the book also discusses decision-making as an important process within local government and a municipality in particular. Decision-making is one of the important exercises in leadership. Just how any matter is processed or analysed to arrive at a decision is of crucial importance. It is not only the decision that matters but how one arrives at such a decision.
To this end, the book calls on authorities to take bold steps in order to change the coalface of local government for the better. A paradigm shift from status quo to professional local government and excellence in quality service delivery and development is critical. It must be started by state and non-state actors brave enough and determined to put the vision of local government transformation and developmental local government back on the rails. The years 2000 to 2020 were perhaps, a trial, a final trial to go beyond with an impetus to transform and professionalize local government. COVID-19 pandemic has conspicuously exposed local government challenges and therefore for alternative interventions that are aggressive to turn the local government landscape around should be explored.
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In 2005, Sam Bambo was appointed a Municipal Manager in Bela-Bela Local Municipality in Limpopo Province where he served for seven years before serving in the same capacity in Modimolle Local Municipality from 2014 until 2017.
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