On 18 July 2024, President Ramaphosa signed the then Climate Change Bill into law. The new Climate Change Act 22 of 2024 marks a significant milestone in South Africa’s journey toward building climate resilience. However, the commencement date has not been proclaimed yet, which means that the Act has not yet come into operation.
Measuring transparency, public participation and oversight in the budget processes of South Africa’s metropolitan municipalities
The Metro Open Budget Survey (Metro OBS) is modelled on the global Open Budget Survey (OBS) initiated by the International Budget Partnership in 2006. The OBS is an independent, comparative assessment of budget accountability: transparency, oversight, and public participation. The global OBS has been conducted six times and evaluates national government budget processes in 115 countries across six continents. The Metro OBS goes a level deeper by applying the OBS methodology to local government, and assesses five of the eight metropolitan municipalities (metros) in South Africa: City of Cape Town, City of Johannesburg, City of Ekurhuleni, eThekwini Municipality, and Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. In 2018, IBP South Africa in partnership with the Dullah Omar Institute piloted the Metro OBS across the same five metros. The questionnaire used in this pilot was developed by adapting the 2017 international Open Budget Survey for the South African local government context. After using the 2018 pilot to test and refine the methodology, we rolled out the project in full from the beginning of 2019.
Service Delivery Protests: Failure to Deliver or Failure to Communicate?
Service delivery protests in the spotlight. At first glance the photo accompanying this article seems more reminiscent of the protests which marked the struggle against the apartheid government than that of a recent service delivery protest.
HIV and AIDS: Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality's Response.
HIV&AIDS is much more than a health problem. It is a developmental challenge that affects local government in various ways. in the last issue, we looked at how municipalities can apply the concept of mainstreaming as a strategic way to address this enormous challenge and Ethekwini Metro shared their experience and lesson learnt.
Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan.
Over the past few years, municipalities have become acquainted with the three key instruments for strategic management. First, the integrated development plan (IDP) sets out the municipality's key priorities and objectives for the medium and long term. Second, the IDP is implemented through the municipal budget, which allocates resources to the priorities of the IDP for the financial year and two years thereafter. Third, the municipality monitors its performance on the priorities objectives of the IDP through its performance management system. So where does the the service delivery and budget implementation plan (SDBIP) fit in? The introduction of another instrument accompanied by procedures and legal requirements can easily make local government practitioners sceptical or obsessed with compliance. This article makes a case foR viewing the SDBIP from a common-sense perspectives rather than a legal-compliance perspective only.
Mainstreaming HIV and AIDS: Misconceptions, Practical Experiences and Lesson Learnt.
The recently launched DPLG Framework for an integrated Local Government Response to HIV and AIDS comments that local government has an "enormous responsibility to respond to the challenge of HIV and AIDS", not only as an employer but also by dealing with the impacts of the epidemic at a community level.
Stimulating Sustainable Development: The National Framework for Local Economic Development in South Africa.
The National Framework for Local Economic Development in South Africa aims to support the development of sustainable local economies through integrated government action. The Framework comprises four main strategies, which the article discusses in details.
Municipality's Share of the National Pie: New Grants, More Money in the Fight Against Poverty.
The Division of Revenue Bill 2007, introduced by the Minister of Finance, Trevor Manual, sets out the allocations local government will receive for the 2007/2008 financial year. The Bill not only determines local government's equitable share of revenue raised by the national government, but it also contains a number of innovations. The most important are the new conditional grants- the Neighbourhood Development Partnership grant and the Water Services Bulk Infrastructure grant.
Decentralised Response to HIV & AIDS.
In recent years, many municipalities have started formulating and implementing their HIV and AIDS response strategies and much progress has been made. However, most are still grasping with the issue and responses are often limited in nature, concentrating on some aspects of a comprehensive AIDS response but not yet to the extent of a well-coordinated and integrated HIV and AIDS strategy.
Municipalities and Clean Development Mechanism Projects.
Landfill sites are excellent opportunities for municipalities to develop Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects, but the window of opportunity for municipalities to do is limited. What are the phases or steps in the development of a CDM project?
HIV & AIDS: Why and How Local Government Must Respond.
The epidemic, its prevention and its consequences require coordinated responses of all institutions and sectors involved in municipal development. While municipalities may need further guidance through national programmes to know how to respond, the municipal management gas to ensure that appropriate measures are being implemented on the ground.
When Everything is Political: A Customer Care Model For Local Government.
A mayor was called to a community meeting. People had been promised houses, but where were they? The mayor had no houses handy and she had not made the promise, but the people were angry. One man got up and threatened to drive out those who had been allocated houses in a neighbouring development. Conflict was in the air. The mayor listened. She had no magic solution to this problem, but she listened and show the people that she understood. She did not solve the problem but she did defuse the crisis.
The State of Our Cities.
The South African Cities Network recently released its 2006 State of the Cities Report. This report is an update of the 2004 report, which looked at how cities were confronting the challenges of the post-apartheid era. The 2006 report focuses on the trends in municipal governance between 2001 and 2006. It also provides an in depth analysis of some of the challenges that municipalities face and outlines policy options available to them in addressing these challenges.
Municipalities and Clean Development Projects.
The emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere is a major factor in climate change. The most recent scientific evidence shows that global warming is happening at an alarming and increasing rate.
The Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan.
Each municipality classified as high capacity in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 is required to compile a service delivery and budget implementation plan. The SDBIP is a management, implementation and monitoring tool that will assist the mayor, municipal manager, councillors, senior managers and the community with realising the municipality's strategic objectives as outlined in the Integrated Development Plan.
Equal Gender Representation? Audit of Local Government
Salga conducted an audit to determine the extent to which woman are represented and participate in local government. It focused on two areas: the elected representatives and the employed officials in municipalities. The purpose of the audit was to determine if women's representation has increased since 2000.
Securing Woman's Participation in Local Government
Local Government is the sphere of government that is regarded as being closest to the people. Municipalities are instrumental in providing basic services to communities. Woman are often the main consumers of these services due to the caregiver role they play and are thus likely to feel the impact of local government the most.
Gender and the Budget.
While budgets have been instrumental in transmitting and reproducing gender biases, they also offer the possibility for transforming existing gender inequalities. It is important to note that a gender budget is not a separate budget for gender activities and issues, rather, it is the normal budget from a gender perspective or analysed through a gender lens.
How gender sensitive is your municipality?
Local government is now expected to play a proactive role in the social, economic, and material development of local communities. This means it is an sphere of government for women and for gender equity, as it has the potential to transform woman's lives by providing services such as water, sanitation, clinics, child care facilities, roads and transport.
The State of Municipal Budgets-Intergovernmental Fiscal Review for 2003.
The Minister of Finance released the 2003 intergovernmental Fiscal Review on 8 April. It provides a wealth of information on municipal budgets for the 2002/03 financial year.
From SALGA: Taking the Bull by its Horns
Key local government leaders from across the country gathered at SALGA's National General Council in November 2002 to consider critical issues currently facing the sector. The resolution that emerged will set the pace of local government transformation for many years and a brief synopsis of some of them follows.
From the Courts: Legality of Land Rates imposed as Flat Rates by Municipalities before December Elections.
Gerber and others v MEC of the Gauteng Province and Eastern Gauteng Services Council (case no, 303/2001)
Linking Communities and Local Government: The Mangaung Experience
Public Participation is a fundamental part of local government's planning in the new dispensation. Aside from Chapter 4 in the Systems Act, no clear guidelines are given on how to link decentralised institutions with citizens.
President's Coordinating Council sets Agenda for Local Government
At a special President's Coordinating Council (PCC) workshop on 14 December 2001, the agenda was set for building a strong and development-oriented local government. The PCC adopted wide-ranging resolutions which chart the way forward in both the short and medium term.
Preparing for Integrated Developmental Planning: How to Compile a Process Plan and District Framework.
This article is an abbreviated version of a comprehensive guide called, Preparing for Integrated Development Planning.
Community Participation and Ward Committees
While ward committees are known to communities, they continue to attract fierce criticism. Many communities are disillusioned and feel that participation in ward committees does very little to express their voice. In many instances, they rather choose public protests or the withholding of rates and taxes as mechanisms to get their needs on the municipal agenda. The Constitutional Court has on several occasions evaluated municipalities’ efforts to facilitate community participation in respect of key decisions. This indicates that the courts are taking community participation seriously.
Consequences of Failing to Adopt a Budget by 30 June.
Political disagreements in a municipal council sometimes lead to stalemates on important matters such as the adoption of a municipal budget. Failure to adopt a budget by 30 June triggers the question: must the provincial government intervene, and, if so, how? This matter was the subject of a recent ruling of the Western Cape High Court. In this case, the High Court for the first time addressed the mandatory provisions of section 139(4) of the Constitution.
The Budget Vote for Local Government.
On 22 April 2010, the Minister for CooperativeGovernance and Traditional Affairs, Sicelo Shiceka, presented Parliament with his department’s budget vote for the 2010/11 financial year. The significance of this particular budget vote is that it is the first for CoGTA since the launch of the Local Government Turnaround Strategy (LGTAS) in December 2009.
Woman and Local Government: Steps Towards Greater Inclusivity.
While some progress has been made towards facilitating women’s involvement in government structures and programme implementation, there is still a long way to go before the goal of gender equality is achieved. Research conducted by Alison Todes, Pearl Sithole and Amanda Williamson investigated the extent to which women’s issues have been incorporated at local government level, and concluded that municipalities tend to lag behind national policy and guidelines in giving priority to the goal of gender equality. This article summarises their findings and suggests future directions.
New Leaders, Persistant Challenges
The outcome of the elections of 22 April is critical for local government. The success of ‘developmental local government’ depends to a large extent on the choices the incoming national and provincial governments make around local government. For example, the review of provincial and local government, started by former Minister Sydney Mufamadi, will be completed under the auspices of the incoming national government. This article presents some perspectives of the Good Governance Learning Network (GGLN) that the incoming governments and the political parties that populate them may want to consider.
From the Provinces: Planning and Development
The provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape have taken the lead in promulgating their planning and development planning legislation which is intended to set the pace and provide the context within which planning should take place in the respective provinces both on provincial and municipal level.
Integrated Development Planning in the Municipal Planning Systems Act
On 20 February 2001, the Acting President issued the proclamation in terms of section 124 of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000, determining its coming into operation. On 1 March 2001 chapters 1 to 4 and 7 to 12 came into operation.
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