Description
Consolidating Developmental Local Government Through The Local Government Turnaround
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Consolidating Developmental Local
Government through the Local
Government Turnaround Strategy: The
Case Study of Makhuduthamaga Local
Municipality
Tshepo Albia Monakedi
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of
the Witwatersrand in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in
Development Planning.
Johannesburg, May 2012
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DECLARATION
I declare that this is my own unaided work and that, it has never been submitted before in this or
any other university for examination.
Signed..............................on this.............day of.........................2012
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DEDICATION
For my Parents
REP - MO
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This dissertation could not have been completed without the help and support of the following
people:
My Supervisor (Amanda Williamson), Thank you for patience, support and guidance
My Parents (Rep-Mo), your support is priceless
My Siblings (Neo, Bonolo, Mothekgi, Phetho), Love you always
To Tshepiso NM, love you still’
To all my friends especially Phasha the commander of the troops, Thanks
Last but not least, I would like to thank the Officials of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality for their
participation in the study.
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ABSTRACT
In 2009 the State of Local Government Report (SLGR) found that municipalities across were
struggling to deliver the developmental objective of the White Paper on Local Government. The goal
to build Developmental Local Government (DLG) has not been achieved despite the numerous
interventions that have been introduced over the years to support local government. Following the
diagnosis by the SGLR the Local Government Turnaround Strategy (LGTAS) was introduced as an
intervention to support and complement municipal programmes. In this report, the case study of
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (MLM) was used to investigate the impact of the LGTAS on the
aspirations to deliver on the objectives of DLG. MLM is situated in the Sekhukhune Region (southern
region) of Limpopo Province and is one of the poorest municipalities in South Africa. Thus, the study
investigated the impact of the LGTAS in a ‘distressed’ municipality that does not have the capacity to
execute its developmental mandate.
One of the main factors that is often cited to explain South Africa’s inability to deliver DLG is that
municipalities tend to focus more on institutional building and thus sideline the issue of community
participation. In this regard, the influence of the New Public Management is pointed out. Although
the South African Constitution provides for a decentralised developmental planning system that is
‘bottom- up’ in approach, evidence suggest that community participation in municipal programmes
has been minimal. Instead of a ‘bottom-up’ approach, the development planning system is
characterised by a ‘top- down’ approach wherein municipal programmes are formulated by national
and provincial government. The lack of citizen participation is acknowledged by the LGTAS. In fact,
the LGTAS attempts to create a platform where both community participation and institutional
building can occur simultaneously.
The study reveals that the impact of the LGTAS in the case of MLM has not been significant in
improving community participation and service delivery which is a key indicator of a municipality
that is able to deliver on its developmental mandate. The minimal impact of the LGTAS in MLM has
been due to a number of factors which include the ‘top-down’ process followed to formulate
Municipal Turnaround Strategy. To improve community participation, the report suggests that MLM
should seek new ideas that have the potential to accentuate the existing measures. In this regard
the ideas of presented by Gaventa (2002) are pivotal. Importantly, the report also outlines
institutional building as a prerequisite for a good function municipality.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Abbreviations....................................................................................................................... vii
List of Tables.................................................................................................................................... ix
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................... x
List of Maps ..................................................................................................................................... xi
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................1
1.1. Background to the Study...........................................................................................................2
1.2. Developmental Local Government.............................................................................................2
1.3. The Genealogy of ‘Good Governance’ and the Emergence of New Public Management................3
1.4. Good Governance in South Africa and the Rise of Institutional Reform........................................5
1.5. Developmental Local Government and the Local Government Turnaround Strategy ....................6
1.6. Problem Statement ..................................................................................................................7
1.7. Research Question...................................................................................................................9
1.8. Methodology .........................................................................................................................10
1.9. Ethical Issues..........................................................................................................................12
1.10. Rationale..............................................................................................................................12
1.11. Chapter Outline....................................................................................................................13
Chapter 2: Literature Review and Conceptual Framework.............................................................16
2.1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................17
2.2 ‘Good’ Governance: A Historical Perspective.............................................................................17
2.2.1. From Democracy to Neo-Liberalism: Shifts in ‘Good Governance’...........................................20
2.3. New Public Management and Public Administration in South Africa..........................................24
2.3.1 South Africa’s Reconstruction and the Third Way Approach....................................................25
2.4. Public Administration in the Post-Apartheid Era.......................................................................26
2.4.1. Towards Developmental Local Government..........................................................................26
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2.4.2. Developmental Local Government: The Experience thus Far ..................................................28
2.5. Conclusion.............................................................................................................................31
Chapter 3: Analysis of the Local Government Turnaround Strategy ..............................................34
3.1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................35
3.2 Background to the LGTAS.........................................................................................................35
3.3 Overview of the LGTAS ............................................................................................................37
3.4 Analysis of the LGTAS ..............................................................................................................44
3.5 Conclusion..............................................................................................................................47
Chapter 4: Overview of the Case Study Area: Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ....................49
4.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................50
4.2 Physical location......................................................................................................................50
4.3 Historical Background..............................................................................................................52
4.4 Demographic Profile................................................................................................................52
4. 5 Basic Services.........................................................................................................................55
4.5.1. Water .................................................................................................................................55
4.5.2. Sanitation............................................................................................................................56
4.5.3. Electricity............................................................................................................................57
4.5.4. Housing...............................................................................................................................57
4.6 The IDP Institutional Organization............................................................................................58
4.7. Conclusion.............................................................................................................................59
Chapter 5: Findings and Analysis ....................................................................................................60
5.1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................61
5.2 The Research Findings .............................................................................................................61
5.2.1 The Emergence of the LGTAS.................................................................................................63
5.2.2 The Process of Formulating the Makhuduthamaga Turnaround Strategy .................................64
5.2.3 Meeting Basic Needs of Communities....................................................................................65
5.2.4 Strengthen Partnerships Between Local Government, Communities and Civil Society...............67
5.2.5 Summary of the Findings.......................................................................................................68
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5.3. Analysis of Findings ................................................................................................................69
5.4 Conclusion..............................................................................................................................73
Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations ...............................................................................75
6.1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................76
6.2 Conclusion..............................................................................................................................76
6.3. Recommendations..................................................................................................................79
7. REFERENCE LIST............................................................................................................................83
8. APPENDIX ....................................................................................................................................88
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ANC - African National Congress
ASGI-SA - Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa
COGTA - Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs
DFA - Development Facilitation Act
DLG - Developmental Local Government
DLGH - Department of Local Government and Housing
GEAR - Growth, Employment and Redistribution Strategy
IDP - Integrated Development Plan
IGR - Intergovernmental Relations
KPIs - Key Performance Indicators
LDOs - Land Development Objectives
LGTAS - Local Government Turnaround Strategy
MLM - Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality
MSA - Municipal Systems Act
MFMA – Municipal Financial Management Act
MTAS - Municipal Turnaround Strategy
NPM - New Public Management
RDP - Reconstruction and Development Programme
SGLR - State of Local Government Report
TAS - Turnaround Strategy
UN ESCAP - United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Public Administration Paradigms ..........................................................................................32
Table 2: Breakdown of the Race Groups in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ................................52
Table 3: Employment Profile in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality .................................................54
Table 4: Household Income in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ...................................................54
Table 5: Water Backlog in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality .........................................................56
Table 6: Access to Sanitation in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality .................................................56
Table 7: Sources of Energy for Lighting in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ..................................57
Table 8: Access to Housing in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ....................................................57
Table 9: Municipal Turnaround Strategy for Basic Services .................................................................66
Table 10: Municipal Turnaround Strategy for Participation .................................................................68
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: : Characteristics/Elements of Good Governance ..................................................................18
Figure 2: Graphical representation of the governance philosophy under Traditional Bureaucracy .........22
Figure 3: Graphical representation of the governance philosophy under New Public Management .......23
Figure 4: Graphical representation of the National Development Planning System ..............................30
Figure 5: Graph depicting the number of Service Delivery Protests from 2004 - 2009 ...........................37
Figure 6: Institutional Framework for the Local Government Turnaround Strategy ..............................44
Figure 7: Graphical representation of the Age Distribution of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality .....53
Figure 8: Graphical representation of Household Access to Water In Makhuduthaga Local
Municipality ....................................................................................................................................55
Figure 9: Organogram representing the IDP Institutional Process of Makhuduthamaga Local
Municipality ....................................................................................................................................58
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LIST OF MAPS
Map 1: Location Map of Sekhukhune District Municipality illustrating the position of
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ................................................................................................11
Map 2: Location Map of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ...........................................................51
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Chapter 1: Introduction
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1. 1. Background to the Study
Burger (2009: 6) argues that the primary reason behind the wave of service delivery protests is
“dissatisfaction with the delivery of basic municipal services such as running water, electricity and
toilets, especially in informal settlements.” To ameliorate these, the Department of Cooperative and
Traditional Affairs (COGTA) launched the Local Government Turnaround Strategy (LGTAS) in
December 2009. The LGTAS represents the most recent initiative introduced by government to
promote the effective functioning of municipalities in its aim to facilitate Development Local
Government (DLG). The analogy used by Schmidt (2008) best captures the struggles of municipalities
to oversee DLG. In From Spheres to Tiers – Conceptions of Local Government in South Africa in the
Period 1994-2006, David Schmidt draws parallels between local government policy in South Africa
and the story of Plaatjes, a prisoner on Robben Island. Plaatjes built numerous boats in an attempt
to reach mainland Cape Town, but unfortunately passed away before realising his dream because
the authorities kept on destroying the boats (Smith, 1997; Schmidt, 2008). For Schmidt (2008: 109)
“the story of Plaatjes serves as a metaphor for how local government policy in South Africa has
functioned over the past decade” because “new boats are continuously being built” to trigger DLG
with little success to show for it. The intention of this research report is to explore whether the most
recent initiative, the LGTAS signals a more successful effort to bring about DLG in South African
municipalities. In other words, is the LGTAS the boat that can finally carry DLG to the mainland?
1.2. Developmental Local Government
Developmental Local Government (DLG) is defined by the White Paper on Local Government as
“local government committed to working with citizens and groups within the community to find
sustainable ways to meet their social, economic and material needs and improve the quality of their
lives” (PACD, 1998: 1). According to Section 40 (1) of the Constitution, “government is constituted as
national, provincial and local spheres of government which are distinctive, interdependent and
interrelated.” The roles of local government are outlined as the following:
? To provide democratic and accountable government for local communities;
? To ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner;
? To promote social and economic development;
? To promote a safe and healthy environment; and
? To encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in matters of
local government (DCD, 1996: S152).
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Hence, local government in South Africa has been earmarked to play a pivotal role in the “overall
developmental ambitions” (Pieterse, 2008: 3) of the developmental state. Therefore, DLG refers to
creating local government systems that will meet the aforementioned objectives of local
government through working together with the community (PACD, 1998). Further, the DLG concept
in South Africa was strongly influenced by the broader context of the international policy focus on
good governance.
1.3. The Genealogy of ‘Good Governance’ and the Emergence of New Public Management
Schalkwijk argues that “effective democratic local government can, in theory, contribute to poverty
alleviation through a chain of causal relationships, starting with increased participation by the urban
poor which should lead to increased representation and thus to empowerment, in turn leading to
the poor having increased access to resources” (Schalkwijk in Gilbert, 2006: 401). The growing
dominance of democracy as the ideal political ideology is promoted by the shift away from earlier
technocratic institutions to new practices of good governance. Cheema and Rondinelli (2007: 6)
define governance as “the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority in the
management of a country’s affairs.” Against this background, good governance can be understood
as the shift from “authoritarian, totalitarian, and dictatorial” forms of governance to a system that
adheres to democratic values through the inclusion of various stakeholders in government’s decision
making (Cheema and Rondinelli, 2007: 2).
Against this backdrop, the concept of governance expanded from the definition that envisaged the
state as the “dominant source of political and legal decision making” to one which opened up
channels for other stakeholders in society (NGOs, civil society, private sector) to have a say in issues
of governance. From this perspective, good governance encompasses a government that is
transparent, representative, and participatory (UN-Habitat in Devas, 2004) hence the push towards
decentralisation. Decentralisation was a way of bringing government closer to the people not only to
ensure participation, democracy and representative but also to position government so that it is
more responsive to the needs of the people.
Heller (2008) argues that there are two components to good governance. On the one hand,
“technocrats” promote efficiency, believing that too much participation can overwhelm institutions.
On the other hand, “associationalists” emphasise the need for increased participation, arguing that
“an over-emphasis on institution building crowds out civil society” (Heller, 2008: 153). This
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distinction between the technocrats and associationalists is embedded in the different
interpretations of good governance. For technocrats, good governance involves building government
institutions that are able to meet the needs of the people, whilst the interpretation by the
associationalists entails a more inclusive and consultative way of delivering government services.
The two-fold interpretation of good governance is rooted in the early 1980s, when there was a shift
from the political decentralisation in the good governance agenda. According to Beard et al. (2008:
3), the 1980s saw a shift in the good governance agenda from the “logic of political devolution and
democratisation to neo-liberal economic policies.” This was fuelled by the rise of neo-liberalism and
closely associated with the New Public Management (NPM) of the 1980s. The first wave of NPM
swept through countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States
of America (Rondinelli, 2007). Under NPM, governments were encouraged to adopt a handful of free
market policy principles, including the following:
? Catalytic - governments should steer rather than row and see that services are provided
rather than always delivering them directly;
? Mission-driven rather than rule-bound, setting goals and allowing employees to find the best
ways of meeting objectives;
? Customer-driven in meeting the needs of citizens rather than those of the bureaucracy;
? Enterprising - in earning revenues rather than just spending tax resources;
? Decentralised - working through participation and teamwork among government agencies at
different levels and with groups outside of government; and
? Market-oriented in solving problems through market forces rather than larger government
programmes (Rondinelli, 2007: 5).
According to Harrison (2006: 35) NPM introduced a “corporate culture to public sector
management.” As a result, the idea of strategic planning, which is mainly used in the private sector
(Rondinelli, 2007), has become synonymous with public sector policies. Blackerby (in Myeza, 2009:
25) defines strategic planning as “a continuous and systematic process where people make decisions
about intended future outcomes, how outcomes are to be accomplished, and how success is
measured and evaluated”. According to Harrison (2001) the second wave of NPM of the mid-1990s
differs from that of the 1980s. Unlike the first wave of NPM, the second wave shifts away from the
single-minded focus on economic rationality to a system that conflates the ideals of neo-liberalism
and the progressive stance on “inclusion, participation and poverty alleviation” (Harrison, 2001:
189). Promoted by leaders such as Bill Clinton (USA), Tony Blair (UK), Jean Chretien (Canada) and
Thabo Mbeki (South Africa), this came to be known as the Third Way approach.
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Under the umbrella of Third Way, NPM sought to promote economic modernisation whilst
emphasising the need for government to be inclusionary in nature (Harrison, 2006: 194). While the
Third Way is “broadly acceptable to global capitalism and global development agencies it could also
be regarded as an approach of the left because Third Way scholarship makes references to inclusion,
community building and poverty alleviation” (Harrison, 2006: 194). In the case of South Africa, the
Third Way was adopted as a progressive policy trajectory during the early days of the democratic era
as part of the government/institutional restructuring process following apartheid.
1.4. Good Governance in South Africa and the Rise of Institutional Reform
In the South African context, DLG has been introduced as a particular form of ‘good governance’ in
which decentralisation to the municipal level was intended to bring about more responsive, effective
and democratic local government. Decentralisation was a prerequisite for the adoption of South
Africa’s first macro-economic policy in the post-apartheid era, the Growth, Employment and
Redistribution policy (GEAR). The simultaneous call for DLG and implementation of free market
policies through GEAR was representative of the NPM approach that dominated the policy arena
during the 1990s. Thus, the South African government conceptualised DLG as a mechanism for
growth-orientated and participatory local government. Central to this objective is the need to build
effective government institutions that can respond to the needs of the people in an efficient manner
(Pieterse and van Donk, 2008).
To achieve these objectives, the Municipal Systems Act (MSA) of 2000 required municipalities to
produce Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) as a strategic tool to guide development. In short, the
IDP became the centrepiece for municipalities to attain the aspirations of DLG as envisaged by the
1998 White Paper on Local Government. Harrison (2006: 186) draws a number of similarities
between the IDP and the Community Strategies that were used by the Labour Party in Scotland to
illustrate the influence of international thinking on public administration in the formulation of the
IDP.
The IDP, however, has failed to build a people-centred local government because the emphasis has
been placed mainly on building institutions. Harrison (2006: 190) argues that this represents a
departure from the ideals of a social compact. The idea of social compact is typical of the good
governance agenda that advocates for a people-driven project as seen in places like Porto Alegre,
Brazil and Kerala, India (Heller, 2001). Contrary to the latter cases, Heller argues that the African
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National Congress (ANC) drifted toward technocratic governance that embraces a neo-liberal
economic orthodoxy (Heller, 2001: 159). The latter statement correlates with Pieterse and van
Donk’s (2008) critique of the top-down participatory approach of the IDP process. In short, the cases
of Porto Alegre and Kerala demonstrate the implementation of a centre-left good governance
agenda that calls for a democratic participatory process in government’s operations, and, in the case
of South Africa, the centre-right ideology has mainly focused on institution building.
According to Harrison (2008), the institutional reforms that have been introduced by government
over the years to complement municipalities in delivering DLG are exemplary of neo-liberal elements
of the NPM. Moreover, the sole focus on institutional capacity has negated the dynamic local politics
and power struggles that play a fundamental role attaining DLG or lack thereof (Pieterse and van
Donk, 2008: 66). As a result, the prescribed solutions have turned out to be blanket solutions with a
“top-down direction for bottom-up implementation” (Long and Franklin, 2004, in Harrison, 2006:
190). Thus, the South African experience of good governance in the post-1994 era has been partial
and far removed from the social impact that ought to be realised by the Third Way approach.
1.5. Developmental Local Government and the Local Government Turnaround Strategy
Despite nine years of implementing the IDP, the State of Local Government Report (SLGR) of 2009,
prepared by COGTA, revealed that most municipalities are a long way from reaching the objectives
of DLG. This is the case although numerous initiatives have been introduced over the years to
support local government. These initiatives include, “Local Government Support Programme,
Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme and Urban Renewal Programme, specialised
training by professional institutes, Project Consolidate including Siyenza Manje, and Five-Year Local
Government Strategic Agenda” (COGTA, 2009b: 4). According to COGTA (2009a: 11), the inability of
municipalities to deliver on the objectives of DLG has resulted in the “escalating loss of confidence in
governance” by communities.
The SLGR recognises that local government is in distress and a long way from attaining the
aspirations of DLG. Importantly, the SLGR points out that the failure to provide DLG is caused in
equal measure by internal problems and a low level of community trust in municipalities (COGTA,
2009a). Thus, on the one hand, the internal organisational setbacks impede municipalities in
attaining the ambitions of DLG. On the other hand, the lack of consultation between municipalities
and their communities and lack of adequate municipal services has resulted in service delivery
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protests across the country. As a result, COGTA launched the Local Government Turnaround Strategy
following the findings of the SLGR. It is premised on the idea that government needs to do “things
differently” (COGTA, 2009b: 5) in order to “restore the confidence of people in municipalities as the
primary delivery machine of the developmental state at a local level,” as well as “rebuilding and
improving the basic requirements for a functional, responsive, effective, efficient local government”
(COGTA, 2009b: 19).
The LGTAS plans to address the shortcomings of DLG through five strategic objectives, which are:
? Ensure that municipalities meet the basic services needs of communities;
? Build clean, effective, efficient, responsive and accountable local government;
? Improve performance and professionalism in municipalities;
? Improve national and provincial policy, oversight and support; and
? Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities and civil society (COGTA,
2009a: 19).
The LGTAS aims to achieve these through the following six interventions:
? National Government (including state enterprises) will organise itself better in relation to
local government;
? Provinces will improve their support and oversight responsibilities over local government;
? Municipalities will reflect on their own performance and identify their own tailor-made
turnaround strategies;
? All three spheres of government will improve Inter-Governmental Relations (IGR) in practice;
? Political parties will promote and enhance the institutional integrity of municipalities; and
? A good citizenship campaign will be designed and launched, at the core of which is Ubuntu.
All citizens, including public officials at all levels, those in the private sector, trade unions,
professional bodies and traditional leaders will be guided in their actions by a common set of
values (COGTA, 2009a: 20-22).
1.6. Problem Statement
Harrison (2006: 188) suggests that the Third Way approach of NPM represented a progressive policy
trajectory insofar as creating a balancing act between the ideals of neo-liberalism and centre left
policiesprimarily to build inclusionary government institutions through decentralisation. However,
literature on South Africa’s local government experience (Harrison, 2008; Heller, 2008; Pieterse and
van Donk, 2008) suggests that this equilibrium has not been attained. It points out that the focus of
the IDP has been to deliver DLG by building institutions of government that can meet the needs of
the people, rather than facilitating people-driven local government/participatory governance
processes. This view is also reflected in the SLGR. According to the SLGR, poor communication and
accountability relationships with communities and municipalities remain at the forefront of
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government developmental challenges (COGTA, 2009b: 4). This single-minded approach to
development has undermined the relationship between communities and municipalities. The latter
problem has been compounded by the inability of local government to deliver services despite
numerous interventions introduced.
The strategic objectives in the LGTAS do not represent a departure from the initial aspirations of DLG
as inscribed in the 1998 WPLG. However, COGTA has attempted to distinguish the LGTAS from
earlier municipal reform initiatives, such as Project Consolidate and the Local Government Support
Programme. Unlike the past reforms, the LGTAS urges municipalities to “reflect on their strengths
and weaknesses and to take responsibility for identifying and managing appropriate interventions”
(COGTA, 2009b: 11). COGTA has committed itself to move away from the earlier “one size fits all”
approach to one that focuses on localised issues within each municipality (COGTA, 2009c: 1).
In this regard, the LGTAS appears significant as it aims to do things differently in order to address the
problems facing local government. This is because the policy initiative recognises that government is
“everyone’s business” (COGTA, 2009b: 5). It states that government programmes across the country
will be driven by the idea of “social compact,” namely, the convergence of the state and broader
society (COGTA, 2009b: 24). Although the LGTAS aims to improve the performance of municipalities
through citizenry engagement, the six interventions it proposes seem to reinforce the earlier
institutional approach. This raises doubts as to whether there is a commitment on the part of
government to deepen democracy through local government policy. However, given its ambitious
intentions, it is suggested that the LGTAS may signal a shift towards more inclusive democratic DLG,
and associationalist good governance. Thus, the research is instituted to investigate whether the
LGTAS signals a shift to a more inclusive, democratic form of DLG.
According to COGTA (2009b: 4), the LGTAS “applies largely to those undermining local government
including those municipalities who have evidence of performance failures, or difficult social and
economic circumstances to manage.” It is envisaged that the LGTAS will “turn around municipalities
from struggling with failure to ones that are confident in their abilities to execute their service
delivery mandates” through working with communities (COGTA, 2009b: 4). This assertion will be
tested through the case of a distressed municipality, with reference to Objective One (ensure that
municipalities meet the basic services needs of communities) and Objective Six (strengthen
partnerships between local government, communities and civil society) of the LGTAS. The case of
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Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality is chosen to inform the research study because the LGTAS aims
to “turn around municipalities from struggling with failure to ones that are confident in their abilities
to execute their service delivery mandates” (COGTA, 2009b: 4). In 2001, “only 11 per cent of
households in the municipality had piped water on site, while just 2 per cent had flush toilets and 16
per cent had no toilets at all” (Makgetla, 2007: 146). Similarly, COGTA (2009) states that households
without access to water, sanitation, electricity and refuse removal in the municipality stands at
31.1%, 84. 7%, 61% and 98.5% respectively.
1.7. Research Question and Sub-Questions
Has the LGTAS enhanced citizen participation and service delivery in the case of Makhuduthamaga
Local Municipality?
Sub-questions:
? In what way does the LGTAS, as national policy, signal a shift to a more inclusionary and
responsive form of DLG?
? In what way does the Makhuduthamaga TAS seek to improve citizen participation and
service delivery?
? What change, if any, has there been regarding citizen participation and service delivery since
the inception of the Makhuduthamaga TAS?
? In what way can the TAS be improved to ensure increased citizen participation and adequate
service delivery?
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1.8. Research Method
The nature of the research is qualitative in approach and it will be based on a case study. One of the
advantages of using a case study is that this method allows in-depth research (Sarantakos, 2005).
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality has been selected as a case study because, as indicated above,
it represents one of those municipalities “struggling with failure”, and one which the SLGR classified
as being very vulnerable. This kind of municipalities is the primary focus of the LGTAS, and thus an
investigation of its developmental impact on MLM would not only reveal the extent to which it has
turned around fortunes in this and similar municipal areas but also the way in which it has
consolidated the promise of DLG. This municipality has been selected not only because of its
vulnerability, but also because of the researcher’s familiarity with it. Having been born and bred in
the area, the researcher has firsthand knowledge of how the area has evolved over time. As a former
resident of the municipality and the established communication network thereof, the researcher is
at an advantage to gain access to many of the interviewees.
MLM is located in the southern region of Limpopo Province and falls under the Sekhukhune District
Municipality. Refer to Map 1: Location Map and indicate that MLM is shaded in yellow.
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Map 1: Location Map of Sekhukhune District Municipality illustrating the position of
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (yellow)
Source: www.ledet.gov.za
The case study will be conducted through interviews with various stakeholders of the municipality,
and through an analysis of the key documents. The interviewees were selected because they were
directly involved in the formulation and implementation of the MLM Turnaround Strategy. The
interviewees were:
? Municipal Manager, who was responsible for preparing the MLM Turnaround Strategy. This
interview provided an understanding of the LGTAS on the part of the municipality, and the
process of preparing the Municipal Turnaround Strategy.
? Senior Manager in the Technical Services Department, and two Project Managers for
infrastructural projects that have been implemented since the inception of the MLM
Turnaround Strategy. These interviews explored the ramifications of the Turnaround
Strategy for service provision.
searchcom
Source: Googlemaps
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? Community Liaison Officer and two Ward Councillors, which provided an understanding
about the extent of citizen participation in the municipal affairs since the adoption of the
MLM Turnaround Strategy.
An analysis of both the national LGTAS and the MLM Turnaround Strategy was also conducted. The
aim of this analysis was to critically extrapolate the envisaged change brought about the LGTAS.
1.9. Ethical Issues
The researcher is aware of the ethical considerations that have to be adhered to regarding the
university rules and regulations. Central to the data collection process are interviews with
stakeholders. As part of the procedure, the interviewees were notified that the research was solely
for academic purposes, and thus, the data has not been used for anything else but academic work. In
this regard, the researcher provided the relevant documentation from the university to all potential
interviewees stating that the data is purely collected for the use of academic research. Further, the
researcher informed the interviewees that the interview was to be conducted anonymously and,
therefore, their names will not be published without their consent. This will ensure the
confidentiality of the data collected.
1.10. Rationale
The starting point of this research is premised on the metaphor drawing parallels between the South
African local government system and the story of Plaatjes. As stated before, new boats are
continuously built to deliver on the aspirations of DLG, with little success. Service delivery and
community participation in government’s decision making are two of the central determinants of
DLG (PACD, 1998). Service delivery and community participation in most municipalities has been
below the satisfactory level, hence the shortcomings of municipalities in delivering DLG. On the one
hand, service delivery has been hampered by challenges such as lack of capacity, corruption,
nepotism and weak IGR, and on the other hand, the emphasis on delivering DLG though technocratic
institutionalism has overlooked the more inclusive democratic outcomes of DLG.
It was with this in mind that the research was conceptualised. The literature on the South African
local government experience suggests that there was a deviation from the Third Way approach of
NPM to a system whereby DLG was mainly thought of in terms of institution building. Therefore, the
research seeks to uncover whether the LGTAS represents a continuation of technocratic
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institutionalism or if it signals a shift towards more inclusive democratic DLG. Academically, there is
little work, if any, that has interrogated the implementation of the LGTAS. Thus, the research
represents an original piece of work that makes a contribution to developing a critical understanding
of this policy intervention developed to support local government.
1.11. Chapter Outline
This report consists of six chapters, the structure and content of which is outlined below.
Chapter One - Introduction
The primary aim of Chapter One is to introduce the research study thus highlighting key aspects of
the study such as the rationale underpinning the focus on DLG. The chapter is structured into eleven
sub-headings. First, the background to the study report introduces the LGTAS as the most recent
intervention to ensure that municipalities deliver on the objectives of DLG. Secondly, the concept of
DLG is defined. The third section argues that DLG South Africa has been influenced by the good
governance agenda as well as the emphasis on NPM. Building from the third section, the fourth
argues that the focus on NPM has created a situation wherein good governance in South Africa has
largely focused on the institutional reform. The fifth section briefly highlights that the LGTAS should
be understood as a mechanism to consolidate the DLG programme. Following the fifth section is the
problem statement, research question and research method respectively. The last three sections
cover the ethical considerations, the rationale as well as the chapter outline. To conclude, it must be
noted that the introductory chapter has established that the objectives of DLG are yet to be realised
and thus the LGTAS aims to correct this.
Chapter Two - Literature Review and Conceptual Framework
The aim of this chapter is two-fold: first, to provide a critical understanding of the good governance
discourse; and second, to review literature on DLG. Chapter Two is divided into five sections. The
first section outlines the aim as well as the structure of the chapter. The second section provides a
historical perspective of good governance. The third looks at the influence of NPM in South Africa.
Following the third, the fourth section outlines South Africa’s path to DLG and how this has been
shaped by NPM. The last section summarises the key points emanating from the chapter, which
include the shortfalls of DLG in South Africa.
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Chapter Three - Analysing the LGTAS
The aim of Chapter Three is to understand the LGTAS in light of the conceptual framework. The
analysis is divided into five sections. The first section is the introduction of the LGTAS. In the second
section, the background to the LGTAS is discussed. Importantly, these include the rationale
underpinning government’s decision to formulate the policy intervention (LGTAS). The third section
composes an overview of the content of the LGTAS. Building from the third, the fourth section
analyses the content of the LGTAS in light of the conceptual framework. Lastly, the fifth section
concludes the chapter by highlighting that the LGTAS is a balancing act to DLG. The LGTAS
emphasises that DLG should be realised through greater community participation and efficient
institutions.
Chapter Four - Overview of the Case Study Area: Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality
The chief aim of Chapter Four is to introduce the case study area. This chapter is divided into seven
sections. First is the introduction of the chapter. This is then followed by sections dealing with the
physical location, the historical background, demographic profile as well as the state of basic service
delivery in the municipality. The latter argues that the municipality is struggling to deliver basic
services. Before concluding, section six outlines the IDP institutional organisation of the municipality.
One of the key points emanating from the chapter is that MLM is located in one of the most
impoverished regions in South Africa.
Chapter Five - The Case Study of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality
The aim of Chapter Five is to analyse the findings from the interviews and the analysis of the MLM
Turnaround Strategy. This chapter is divided into four sections. The first section is the introduction of
the chapter. This is then followed by an outline of the research findings based on the field work.
These findings are then analysed in section three, and the fourth section is the conclusion. Although
some of the interviewees interviewed acknowledge that the LGTAS is a progressive intervention they
are reluctant to use it as a governing policy tool for the municipality.
Chapter 6 - Conclusions and Recommendations
The aim of Chapter Six is to conclude the research study as well provide some recommendations for
MLM. The chapter is divided into three sections, that is, introduction, conclusion and
recommendations. For MLM to realise participation in DLG, it is pivotal for the municipality to
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explore other measures that have been formulated to maximise community participation in
development.
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Chapter 2: Literature Review and
Conceptual Framework
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2.1. Introduction
The aim of this chapter is two-fold: first, to provide a critical understanding of the good governance
discourse; and second, to review literature on DLG. Understanding of good governance is
fundamental to exploring DLG, as DLG is informed by the principles of good governance. In this light,
the chapter will provide a conceptual lens for understanding and analysing the research findings. The
aim of the literature review is to reflect on South Africa’s DLG experience and thereby contextualise
the LGTAS initiative. The chapter is divided into four sections. The first section deals primarily with
the notion of good governance and the different interpretations thereof. The second section reviews
the influence of NPM on South Africa’s post-apartheid public administration. The third section
outlines South Africa’s DLG experience. Lastly, the fourth section summarises the central arguments
emanating from the chapter.
2.2 Good Governance: A Historical Perspective
The UN ESCAP defines governance as the “process of decision-making and the process by which
decisions are implemented (or not implemented)” (UN ESCAP, 2012: 1). Although governance is a
relatively new term in the policy arena, the literature on the subject is widespread. The literature
ranges from international relations, policy analysis, public administration, comparative politics and
urban planning to political theory (Hajer and Wagenaar, 2003). This multiplicity is also confirmed by
the UN ESCAP (2012), which explains that governance can be used in several contexts including
“corporate governance, international governance, national governance and local governance” (UN
ESCAP, 2012: 1). Wagenaar and Hager (2003), Rakodi (2003), Cheema (2007), Rondenelli (2007) and
Beard et al. (2008) agree that in the past (the pre-1980s), government and governance were
inseparable. In public administration governance, the state was the main stakeholder (Burger, 2006).
Much has changed since then.
Today, the term governance refers to a ‘quasi’ system wherein “the exercise of political, economic
and administrative authority to manage a nation’s affairs” (Abdellatif, 2003: 4; Cheema and
Rondinelli, 2007: 6-7) involves a number of societal actors. Governance is not limited to the state but
includes a variety of non-state actors, such as the private sector, Non-Governmental Organisations
(NGOs) and broader civil society. This definition represents a shift from “government to governance”
(Hajer and Wagenaar, 2001: 1; Meehan, 2003: 5), in which “governance refers to the development
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of governing styles in which boundaries between and within public and private sectors have become
blurred” (Stoker in Ewalt, 2001: 8).
Governance is a decision-making process, but the meaning and norms of the process have evolved
over years. The good governance agenda is a component of this evolution (Ewalt, 2001). Good
governance is understood to be a process that undertakes the necessary measures to ensure the
participation of all societal stakeholders. It promotes the rule of law (Ewalt, 2001; Rondenelli and
Cheema, 2003) in order to improve governance and eradicate issues such as corruption, nepotism
and maladministration. Ewalt (2001) notes that good governance may also cover issues like
democracy, human rights, and economic policy. Lately, its scope has been widened by the global
drive on sustainability. The UN ESCAP defines good governance as a “participatory, consensus
oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive”
process that adheres to the “rule of law” (UN ESCAP, 2012). The characteristics of good governance
are depicted in the figure below.
Figure 1: Characteristics of Good Governance
There are various factors to explain the upsurge of the good governance paradigm. Some authors
(Beard et al., 2007) find the earliest push towards good governance in the 1970s arising from the
post-World War II period that was characterised by contestations and uncertainty. More recently,
however, previously disadvantaged groups, such as the disenfranchised youth, ethnic minorities,
women, and the poor challenged the meaning and interpretation of governance (Beard et al., 2008:
3). At this point, government and the state were generally perceived to be interchangeable, and
Source: UN ESCAP, 2012: 3
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assumed the status of the “dominant source of political and legal decision making” (Cheema and
Rondinelli, 2007: 1). The disadvantaged groups sought to change this hegemony of governance. In
this respect, their demands were for decentralisation of the state (Beard et al., 2008: 4).
Decentralisation was perceived to be a prerequisite for democratic society that is based on
principles of participation and inclusion. The mandate was to demand a greater representation in
the decision-making process.
According to Devas (2004) and Rondinelli (2007), technology and globalisation were some of the
stimuli for this advocacy movement, and served to erode nation-state borders. This was significant
because there was a realisation that people’s lives are not only shaped by the state but also a variety
of institutions that exist at both the local and international levels. Rondinelli and Cheema (2007: 1)
comment that this “changed perceptions of governance and of the appropriate functions of the
state.” Rondinelli (2007: 4) adds that “lack of capacity to respond quickly and effectively to strategic
issues and for failing to leverage off opportunities in emerging markets offered by, among others,
new technologies,” justified the call to review the governance status quo. Against this backdrop, the
concept of governance expanded from the definition that envisaged the state as the primary
institutional decision maker to one which included other stakeholders (NGOs, civil society, private
sector) in the decision-making process. From this perspective, governance entails “complex
mechanisms, processes, relationships and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate
their interests, exercise their rights and obligations and mediate their differences” (Rondinelli, 2007:
8). By this definition, the state is one of many actors. The change in the definition of governance can
be summarised as follows:
As international economic interaction grew and as societies became more complex and
interconnected, government came to be seen as only one, albeit a critically important,
governance institution. The fact that people’s lives were also shaped by decisions made by
individual entrepreneurs, family enterprises, and private firms; by multinational
corporations and international financial institutions; and by a variety of civil society
organizations operating both within and outside of national territories, became more
apparent (Cheema and Rondinelli, 2007: 1).
Thus, decentralisation enables good governance. It can be understood as a means to achieving good
governance. By definition, decentralisation is the process of rolling back the role of central
government by devolving some responsibilities to lower structures of government such as the
regional and municipal level (Bryld, 2000; Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007). This tier of government is
best suited to deliver good governance because it is closer to the people. Bryld (2000) and Cheema
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and Rondinelli (1997) draw a distinction between three forms of decentralisation: deconcentration,
delegation and devolution. Deconcentration refers to the transfer of workload from central
government to local administrators. Delegation is the transfer of responsibility from the state to
semi-autonomous agencies or government parastatals that operate independently from the state
(Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007; Bryld, 2000). Devolution entails the transfer of legislative power to
the lower structures of government (Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007; Bryld, 2000). The emphasis on
good governance and decentralisation in the 1990s was instigated to pave the way for a political
system of governance that was inclusionary in nature.
As the level of government that is closer to the people, local government is the ideal platform where
broad civil society can engage with the state more effectively. In this vein, political decentralisation
is emphasised. Other forms of decentralisation include: administrative decentralisation of authority
and legislative powers; fiscal decentralisation of the means and mechanisms for fiscal co-operation
in sharing public revenues among all levels of government; and economic decentralization, which
involves market liberalization, deregulation, privatization of state enterprises, and public-private
partnership (Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007: 7). Some of these forms (fiscal and economic) were
emphasised under the influence of NPM, whereas during the 1970s and more recently, good
governance has been often understood in terms of political decentralisation and democracy.
Kauzaya (2010: 8) argues that decentralisation is “used as an instrument of people empowerment, a
platform for sustainable democratisation, a structure for the mobilization of resources for economic
development, a veritable instrument of reconciliation, social integration and well-being in post-
conflict environments, and a vehicle for the promotion of a culture of political, economic, civic, and
managerial/administrative good governance.”
2.2.1. From Democracy to Neo-Liberalism: Shifts in Good Governance
Beard et al. (2008) argue that there was a shift in the interpretation of good governance from one
that was embedded in a democratic ethos to one that dovetailed with the predominant neo-liberal
economic focus. It changed from the early version whereby the basic principles were based on the
notion of democracy, inclusion and participation to one in the 1980s, which was underlined by
fundamentals of neo-liberalism, witnessed particularly through the introduction of NPM. For many,
the NPM interpretation of good governance ‘hijacked’ the earlier version (Beard et al., 2008;
Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007). Thus, Beard et al. (2008) argue that decentralised planning processes
changed from following a “political logic of democratic, inclusive and redistributive planning as
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articulated by equity planning and radical planning practice,” to a system whereby decentralised
planning is intertwined with an “economic logic of efficiency, cost recovery and entrepreneurship”
(2008: 3).
The shift to neo-liberalism was influenced by a number of factors ranging from what was perceived
to be an inefficient traditional bureaucratic system to globalisation and the realisation that people’s
lives were not only affected by decisions taken by the state but also large corporations and
international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank (Rondinelli and
Cheema, 2007). These factors include:
? Economic and fiscal pressures on governments experienced in most developed countries in the
1970s and early 1980s, and more dramatically in developing countries in Africa and Asia and,
more recently, in the Asian Tiger economies;
? Public attitudes and increasing criticisms of the ineffectiveness and inefficiencies of delivering
public services through bureaucratic organisational arrangements and the need to search for
alternatives;
? The resurgence of new right politics in the late 1970s and 1980s (i.e. Reaganomics and
Thatcherism) that were pro-market and pro-private sector;
? The proliferation of management ideas generated, packaged and marketed by international
management consultants, who often act as advisors on reforms to governments around the
world;
? In the case of most developing and transitional countries, an additional factor driving NPM-type
reforms has been donor advocacy and lending conditions of international financial institutions,
notably the IMF and the World Bank, with the adoption of a more pro-market and pro-private
sector stance in structural adjustment programmes;
? The spread of global markets, especially those related to financial integration and liberalisation
and the resultant competition are forcing the public sector in most countries to reshape itself to
keep pace with the emerging global economy and modern information technology; and
? The growth and use of new information technology has also provided impetus for some of the
changes. Some aspects of the NPM reforms, such as performance management, executive
agencies and management decentralisation of public services, have been facilitated by the
development of information technology that allows for indirect monitoring and control of
performance (Larbi, 2003: 1-2).
Neo-liberalism sought to roll back the role of the state, resulting in a shift in public governance
philosophy (Burger, 2006: 5). NPM was introduced as a response to the crisis facing Keynesian
welfare states of developed economies (United Kingdom, Canada and Australia) (Larbi 1999: 1), and
it emerged in the 1980s as the recognised instrument of public administration modernisation
(Tamekou, 2008: 217). Further, the change of the political context in the 1980s with the ascendancy
of New Right ideas served as a stimulus for the widespread adoption of NPM. From this point, NPM
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began to shape the governance of Anglo-Saxon countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and
Canada (Burger, 2006; Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007; Bourgon, 2007; Moloney, 2009).
Figure 2: Graphical Representation of the Governance Philosophy under Traditional Bureaucracy
Source: Burger, 2006: 6
The primary aim of the NPMs was to “kill or cut down the size of the huge bureaucratic monster”
that has been created by the traditional Weberian bureaucracy (Burger, 2006: 6). Figure 2 above
illustrates the homogeneity of the state in the traditional bureaucracy model. In this model, the key
objective of governance was for the government to manage inputs and deliver services in the
context of the welfare state (Stoker, 2011: 18). The public sector was kept sharply distinct from the
private sector (Jan, 2010: 2). As can be seen, the role of society played virtually no role in the
decision making because the order of the day was a “top-down instructions and command-and-
control mechanisms” (Jan, 2010: 2). According to Hajer and Wagenaar (2003), the vocabulary of
governance was rigid and inflexible. In the context of the 1950s and 1960s, “the industrial society
was a slow-paced society, characterised by its mass markets, where people had similar needs, strong
geographical communities, with a logic of hierarchical authority and functional specialization” (Jan,
2010: 4).
In contrast to the industrial society, the post-industrial is globalised and knowledge based, in which
information flows fast, global enterprises increase market competition and often the traditional
bureaucracy is too rigid to respond to this new market (Jan, 2010). To rescue the situation, the
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potency of free market policies in the ‘new’ era was highlighted by the Anglo-Saxon countries
(Burger, 2006; Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007; Bourgon, 2007; Moloney, 2009). Free market policies
were popularised as a way to good governance and therefore, “this logic of state decentralisation, by
which restructuring of the state would facilitate neo-liberal economic policies, overshadowed the
earlier core logic of decentralisation that sought political devolution and democratisation” (Beard et
al., 2008: 3).
The NPM of the early 1980s reflects “a pre-occupation with slowing down or reversing government
growth and very particularly with privatizing previously publicly provided services” (Manning, 2001:
298). In so doing, NPM resulted in the corporatisation of the public sector (Polidano, 1999; Harrison,
2006). Countries that conformed to the principles of NPM were deemed exemplary of good
governance by powerful development agencies, such as the World Bank, the IMF and the United
Nations (Harrison, 2003: 188). For example, the Bretton Woods institutions required African
countries and other Third World countries to adopt Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) as a
prerequisite for receiving aid (Olukoshi, 2000; Ayee, 2008), and in so doing, the SAPs introduced
NPM principles to the Less Developed Countries (Bardill, 2001). For Burger (2006), the governance
philosophy under NPM paradigm is represented by the Figure 3 below.
Figure 3: Graphical Representation of the Governance Philosophy under the New Public
Management
Source: Burger, 2006, 6
Contrary to the traditional bureaucracy model, NPM encourages a public administration that does
not supply standardised services to society. Instead, society is treated as individual consumers who
are required to pay for services. The aim is to nurture a culture of entrepreneurialism in a society
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that is based on the notion of ‘survival of the fittest.’ In this respect, decentralisation is emphasised
as a critical tool to limit the role of the state as opposed to calls for democracy and inclusion. The
principles of the NPM are outlined as follows:
? Catalytic - governments should steer rather than row, and see that services are provided
rather than always delivering them directly;
? Community-empowering - governments should encourage local groups to solve their own
problems rather than dictating bureaucratic solutions;
? Competitive rather than monopolistic: by deregulating and privatizing those activities that
could be carried out by the private sector or non-governmental organisations more
efficiently or effectively than public agencies;
? Mission-driven rather than rule-bound - setting goals and allowing employees to find the
best ways of meeting objectives;
? Results-oriented - funding effective outcomes rather than inputs;
? Customer-driven - meeting the needs of citizens rather than those of the bureaucracy;
? Enterprising - earning revenues rather than just spending tax resources;
? Anticipatory - investing in the prevention of problems rather than spending to solve
problems after they occur;
? Decentralised - working through participation and teamwork among government agencies at
different levels and with groups outside of government; and
? Market-oriented - solving problems through market forces rather than larger government
programmes (Rondinelli, 2007: 5).
Thus, “generally, NPM reforms stressed such aspects as control, financial transparency,
decentralisation of management authority, and the creation of quasi-market mechanisms and
performance indicators” (Blomgren and Sahlin, 2007: 157). The “common element was an attempt
to bring corporate culture – concerned with business-like efficiency and outcomes – into public
agencies” (Harrison, 2006: 188). However, neo-liberal NPM of the 1980s did not negate the
imperative of participation as a means to good governance: the difference is that this imperative
was not overly emphasised like the “economic logic of efficiency” (Beard et al., 2008, 4).
2.3. New Public Management and Public Administration in South Africa
According to Cameron (2009), Harrison (2006) and Bardill (2001), the influences of NPM philosophy
in South Africa’s public administration sector can be seen in the period following the demise of
apartheid. Unlike other parts of the developing world, however, the introduction of NPM discourse
in South Africa’s post-apartheid public administration was not influenced by the adoption of SAPs.
South Africa and Namibia were not party to any treaty with the Bretton Wood institutions (Ayee,
2008). Therefore, although the South African public administration service escaped the explicitly
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rightist agenda in the 1980s because of its isolation from the international community (Cameron,
2009), this was not to be the case during the second wave of the NPM (Harrison, 2006: 188). In
South Africa NPM was adopted as a result of the second wave of NPM that dominated both the
policy and political scene during the 1990s under the rubric of Third Way politics (Harrison, 2006:
188). Third Way politics is characterised by a philosophy on governance that is based on centre-left
ideology (Harrison, 2006). Third Way upholds the imperatives of neo-liberalism–conservative fiscal
and monetary policies, the welfare-to-work approach, and a commitment to privatisation and at the
same time commits to progressive ideals such as building community, inclusion, participation,
poverty alleviation and integration (Harrison, 2006: 189).
2.3.1 South Africa’s Reconstruction and the Third Way Approach
In the mid-1990s, one of the biggest challenges facing the African National Congress (ANC) led
government was to reform the public administration system (Harrison, 2006; Cameron, 2009). As a
progressive movement, the ANC sought models of governance from numerous settings, including
Asia and the former Soviet Union. However, the demise of state socialism and financial crisis that
engulfed the Asian continent during the 1990s, made senior ANC leaders sceptical about the
potential adoption of these models (Harrison, 2006: 188). Eventually, the Third Way approach was
seen as a viable policy trajectory for South Africa’s reconstruction process. Its centre-left approach
was appealing for a country that sought to be economically competitive whilst redressing the
injustices of the past. Given South Africa’s history and the ANC’s ambitious policy goals, it became a
national imperative to accommodate leftist goals with neo-liberal policies. It is in this vein that the
South African government adopted the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) macro-
economic policy. It has been considered controversial by many commentators because it appeared
to contradict some of the principles outlined in the ANC’s 1994 policy manifesto, the Reconstruction
and Development Programme (RDP).
On the one hand, the socialist-leaning RDP advocated for growth through redistribution, and on the
other, the neo-liberal-inspired GEAR policy emphasised the need for redistribution through growth.
What was important is that the Third Way model afforded the ANC-led government a pragmatic
opportunity to alleviate poverty as well as democratising government through decentralisation. It is
from this perspective that one can understand the influence of NPM on South Africa’s public
administration reform agenda in the post-1994 era.
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2.4. Public Administration in the Post-Apartheid Era
With the transfer of power in the mid-1990s, the ANC-led government was faced with the difficult
task of changing a public sector that was previously authoritarian, repressive, and oligarchic in
nature to one that was democratic, developmental and committed to goals of human rights
(Cameron and Tapscott, 2000: 81). The political, ideological and racial interference in the South
African public service during apartheid had resulted in a public service with seemingly
insurmountable challenges (Miller, 2005: 8). In response, the new government introduced numerous
reforms designed to re-orientate the administration system towards the achievement of its
envisaged objectives of democracy, development and human rights. The cornerstone of the post-
apartheid public administration is embedded in the Constitution of 1996, which paved way for the
establishment of three spheres of government (local, provincial, national) that are distinctive,
interdependent and interrelated (RSA, 1996). The use of the word ‘spheres’ as opposed to ‘tiers’
illustrates that decentralisation in South Africa has occurred through devolution.
2.4.1. Towards Developmental Local Government
In addition to the influence of the Third Way and NPM, local government administration reform in
South Africa was influenced by a number of local factors. Of primary importance was an urgent need
to democratise local government (Lemon, 2002) and implement the imperatives of the RDP.
According to Nyalunga (2006); van Donk and Pieterse (2006) the period leading to 1994 was
characterised by a number of demonstrations as people, especially in the townships, protested
against the apartheid system of local government. Central to the outcry was the demand to create a
single tax base, the establishment of non-racial and democratic local government (van Donk and
Pieterse, 2006) and the demand for the delivery of better basic services. Along with objective to
democratise the state and society (ANC, 1994: 4), the demands gave rise to several policies and
pieces of legislation designed to reform and re-orientate local government. The basis of South
Africa’s decentralised planning system is the Interim Constitution of 1993 and the Local Government
Transition Act of 1993. Both pieces of legislation defined local authorities as autonomous tiers of
government (Chipkin, 2002: 64).
The envisaged developmental nature of local government can be traced back to the early 1990s.
According to Chipkin (2002), Lemon (2002) and Schmidt (2008), local government was seen as the
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hands and feet of the RDP. In this regard, the Local Government Negotiating Forum (LGNF) was set
up to negotiate the role and structure of local government. It consisted of national government,
organised associations of local government, political parties, trade unions and the South African
National Civic Organisation (van Donk and Pieterse, 2006: 112). The LGNF framed a three-phase
(pre-interim phase, 1993-1995, the interim phase, 1995-2000, and the final phase) transitional
process for local government (Chipkin, 2002; Schmidt, 2008; Nyalunga, 2006). The imperative of the
first phase was to establish pre-interim councils that incorporated sections of the community
previously excluded from local government (non-statutory bodies) into existing council structures
(statutory bodies) (Chipkin, 2002: 111).
During the Interim Phase in 1995, government amended the Local Government Transition Act. The
Local Government Transition Act Second Amendment Act 61 of 1995 began to outline the
developmental nature of local government. Section 10 of this legislation required Metropolitan
Councils to produce IDPs. Camay and Gordon (2004: 286) comment that IDPs link development,
delivery and democracy. Harrison (2006: 196) states that IDPs were an attempt by national
government to ensure that local authorities performed their functions diligently, in way that was
developmental and fiscally responsible. The influence of the NPM is evident. The latter because
Harrison (2006: 202) points out that IDPs were introduced as instruments for joined-up government,
participatory governance and of modernised, efficient administration. Further, Harrison (2008: 325)
sees performance management and goal-directed budgeting in the IDP as instruments of NPM. The
developmental nature of local government was consolidated in 1998 when government released the
White Paper on Local Government (WPLG). For the first time, IDPs became mandatory tools for all
local government structures. The WPLG defines DLG as a local government committed to working
with citizens and groups within the community to find sustainable ways to meet their social,
economic and material needs and improve the quality of their lives and, therefore, urged
government to continuously engage with citizens, business and community groups (DCD, 1998: 37-
38).
DLG rests on four pillars: social development and economic growth; integrating and coordinating;
democratising development; leading and learning (DCD, 1998: 38). These pillars are complementary
and thus have to co-exist. Importantly, the pillars represent the challenges of post-apartheid South
Africa. From the report of the Presidency (2003), Towards Ten Years of Freedom: Progress in the
First Decade, Challenges of the Second, Pieterse and van Donk (2008) conclude that during the first
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decade of democracy, the predominant focus of extending basic services and opportunities to those
excluded by the apartheid regime took precedence over other imperatives. The report concluded
that this approach to DLG was not sustainable and stated the need to grow the economy as a
prerequisite for labour absorption (Pieterse and van Donk, 2008).
Developmentally, this led to a precarious balancing act between economic growth and the efficiency
of service delivery for the enhancement of poor people’s livelihood (Pieterse and van Donk, 2008:
57). For Harrison et al. (2008: 70), this signaled a shift from the orthodox neo-liberalism of GEAR to
the notion of a developmental state. In 2006, ASGI-SA was adopted to reflect the developmental
state idea (Harrison et al., 2008: 70). This is the development context within which DLG rests and
correlates positively with the NPM as practiced under the Third Way approach.
2.4.2. Developmental Local Government: The Experience thus Far
According to Heller (2008: 153), “there are two desiderata of DLG: efficiency and participation”. Both
desiderata are pivotal to development. In the context of South Africa, both efficiency and
participation are central to the reconstruction process. On the one hand, service delivery has to be
fast tracked if municipalities are to eradicate poverty and service backlogs. On the other hand,
participation has to be encouraged and nourished to realise ‘people’-driven development. Thus, the
two desiderata should be prioritised. Heller states that (2008: 153) technocrats, as advocates for
efficiency believe that too much participation can overwhelm new and fragile institutions. Equally,
associationalists, as advocates of participation believe that an over-emphasis on institution building
crowds civil society (Heller, 2008). These contrasting positions capture the “fault line” of South
Africa’s DLG programme (Heller, 2008: 154). As it has happened, DLG in South Africa has tended to
be driven by efficiency, hence the formalisation of participation through a series of legislation
(Heller, 2008). This has culminated into various power struggles and tensions between top-down
directives and bottom-up implementation (Pieterse and van Donk, 2008: 62). Comparatively
speaking, this differs from the case of Kerala (India) and Porto Alegre (Brazil) where participation is
not guided by legislation but emerges as a genuine process from grassroots level (Heller, 2008). The
expectation was for South Africa’s DLG to follow the same pattern as that of Kerala and Porto Alegre
because the apartheid legislation had disabled the majority of people from participating in
governance issues. However this was not to be the case; “a once strong social-movement sector has
been incorporated and/or marginalized by the ANC’s political hegemony, with the result that
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organized participation has atrophied and given way to a bureaucratic and commandist logic of local
government reform” (Heller, 2001: 134). Thus, the institutionalisation of participation for Heller
(2008: 159) is part of the political logic to consolidate power. The move to institutionalise
participation is a product of NPM and the political calculation to consolidate power by the ruling
ANC party. Thus, over the years the South African government has enacted legislation to formally
institutionalise participation. This means that participation as envisaged for DLG is procedural. The
RDP White Paper (1994) began to show the influence of NPM in ANC policy (Harrison et al., 2008:
48). Similarly, traces of NPM were also evident in the 1995 White Paper on the Transformation of
Public Service.
The Development Facilitation Act (DFA) of 1995 is one of the first pieces of legislation. The DFA
called for all local authorities to embark on a participatory process of establishing Land Development
Objectives (LDOs), which must be overtly committed to redressing apartheid injustices (Parnell, van
Donk and Pieterse, 2002: 81). It also creates two centres of power. For example, in the case of the
LDOs, the DFA calls for a people-driven process. This means that officials involved in the formulation
of LDOs are accountable to communities. But, the DFA also states that local authorities are
accountable to Provincial Development Tribunals. In this instance, the maximisation of participation
is unlikely because local authorities will be driven by the need to meet key deliverables as prescribed
by the Development Tribunals. Institutionalising the participatory process, however, also tends to
limit the creativity of civil society (Heller, 2008).
Like the LDOs, IDPs are instruments for DLG. Although IDPs were presented as a bottom-up
approach to development, this was not to be the case. According to Harrison et al. (2008), IDPs were
devised by national government to direct local government towards national objectives. This is
different from a perspective that sees IDPs as a locally negotiated product that is based on dynamics
and priorities of a certain locality. IDPs are expressions of governmental investment and activities in
a given locality, and the DPLG has referred to them as Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) impact
zones (Pieterse and van Donk, 2008: 62). Under the IGR thinking, strategic priorities of municipal
IDPs are informed by the plans from national and provincial government.
Harrison (2008) argues that the IDP has a narrow focus of efficiency as it is mainly concerned with
introducing a corporate culture to the public sector management (Harrison, 2008: 352). This is
because good governance as expressed in Third Way politics is contradictory. The Third Way
administrative model is based on three key elements: joined-up government, performance
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management and participatory governance (Harrison, 2006: 189). Joined-up governance entails:
inter-governmental planning; performance management emphasises the imperative to set up
monitoring process that will ensure rational budgeting and outcome based performance evaluation;
and participatory governance seeks to establish a culture of collaborative governance as prerequisite
to promote a more participatory of citizenship (Harrison, 2006: 191-2).
Figure 4: Graphical Representation of the National Development Planning System
Source: Pieterse et al., 2008: 6
Harrison (2006) states that there are contradictions between the idea of collaborative governance
and the performance management culture, which places officials under enormous pressure to attain
targets within specified timeframes. This is because the complexity associated with community
participation makes it difficult for officials to pin down timeframes. Pieterse and van Donk (2008)
also note that there is tension between the technical and political accountability. In this regard,
officials tend to give impetus to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) instead of participation.
Performance under NPM is driven by “indicators and targets expressed in contracts” (Schmidt, 2008:
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117). The South African NPM experience is one wherein the goal for efficiency has seriously
hampered participation. The international case studies of Kerala and Porto Alegre show that this
does not have to be the case. Lessons from both case studies nullify the belief that participation and
efficiency cannot co-exist as desiderates of DLG.
Heller (2008: 168) argues that it is possible to create institutions that nurture meaningful forms of
citizen engagement. In turn, this leads to a nuanced DLG. For example, in Kerala and Porto Alegre,
increased citizenry participation contributed positively to the DLG agenda. In this vein, Heller (2008)
argues that participation has led to the creation of new forms of institutions (thus, contributing to
the institutional building) and has also led to socially cohesive communities. Therefore, there is an
urgent need to improve the desideratum of participation in order to consolidate DLG. The 2009
State of Local Government Report has also highlighted that of participation is missing in South
Africa’s DLG system.
2.5. Conclusion
South Africa’s public administration had to change from one that was repressive, technocratic and
discriminatory to one that is inclusive, democratic and participatory over a short period. Buoyed by
the euphoria of democracy in the early 1990s, the post-apartheid government sought to
decentralise government and envisage a developmental role for municipalities in South Africa’s
restructuring process. Against this backdrop, the Third Way approach offered an alternative viable
governance philosophy for South Africa’s relatively new democracy, because it drew together
efficiency concerns from the 1980s NPM with “progressive ideals of building community, inclusion,
participation, poverty alleviation, and integration” (Harrison, 2006: 189). From the onset, DLG was
part of a programme to address the injustices of the past whilst maintaining neo-liberal imperative
to encourage international investment as a prerequisite for economic growth, represented by GEAR.
However, seventeen years after laying the basic foundations for DLG, its aims have not been
realised. There is general agreement that municipalities are a long way from achieving the objectives
of DLG as set out in the 1998 WPLG. Instead of leading to a balance between the two desiderata of
efficiency and participation, decentralisation under Third Way politics in South Africa has prioritised
the technocratic and institutionalist imperatives of NPM over that of democracy, inclusion and
participation. Participation is seen by the ruling party as a complementary process to national plans
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that are formulated by central government (Heller, 2008). Little space exists for communities to
influence the development agenda. The South African case is one whereby the over-
institutionalisation of the participatory process has empowered the bureaucracy and politicians at
the expense of civil society (Heller, 2008: 162). It can be described as a technocratic form of DLG. It is
different from the case of Kerala and Porto Alegre where a participatory form of DLG occurred.
Schmidt (2008) captures the different approaches to public administration that characterise the
post- apartheid era in South Africa.
Table 1: Public Administration Paradigms
Traditional public
administration
NPM Network governance
Context Stable Competitive Continuous change
Population Homogenous Atomised Diverse
Needs/problem Straight forward,
defined by
professionals
Wants, expressed through
market
Complex, volatile,
prone to risk
Strategy State-/producer-
centred
Customer- centered Shaped by civil society
Governance through
actors
Hierarchies, public
servants
Markets, clients &
contractors
Networks/partnerships,
civil leadership
Key concepts Public goods Public choice Public value
Improvement Initial big step
change, but less
continuous
improvement
capability
Improvements in process
and systems
Transformational and
continuous
improvement
Role of policy
makers
Commanders Announcers/commissioners Leaders and
interpreters
Role of public
managers
‘Clerks & martyrs’ Efficiency/market
maximises
‘Explorers’
Role of population Clients Customers Co-producers
Source: Schmidt, 2008: 112
The problem with DLG as it has occurred in South Africa is the limitation of citizen participation. To
make matters worse, government has been unable to adequately reverse the tide of apartheid
insofar as alleviating poverty and providing basic services. For Some (Heller, 2008; Pieterse and van
Donk, 2008) suggest that the top-down approach to development is to blame for the lack of
progress. From this perspective, the argument is that the ‘one size fits all’ approach has failed
because different localities have different challenges and require different solutions. Nevertheless,
the limited space for citizen participation is evident through service delivery protests illustrating the
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frustrations experienced on the ground. To fix these weaknesses, government has introduced the
LGTAS. In the LGTAS it is assumed that better participation will lead to better development and
hence improved service delivery. The cases of Kerala and Porto Alegre have shown that a people-
centred development yields positive results.
The LGTAS is premised on the notion that Local Government is Everyone’s Business (COGTA, 2009b,
3). It sought to correct the criticism leveled against South Africa’s DLG experience, that is, the
tendency of municipalities to focus more on the efficiency imperative of the NPM. As argued earlier
this narrow focus has resulted in the neglect of the participatory imperative and has proved to be
detrimental to the overall DLG project. Does the LGTAS present an opportunity for government to
consolidate the missing pieces of the DLG puzzle?
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Chapter 3: Analysis of the Local
Government Turnaround Strategy
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3.1. Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to provide an analysis of the LGTAS. This will is important in order to
understand what the LGTAS requires from municipalities. The chapter is divided into four parts. The
first section deals with the factors that have led to the formulation the LGTAS. The second section is
the overview of the content of the LGTAS. Thirdly, the LGTAS is analysed in light of the literature
review and the conceptual framework outlined in Chapter Two. Finally, the chapter concludes by
highlighting the key points from the analysis.
3.2 Background to the LGTAS
What is the state of local government in 2009 and what must be done to restore the
confidence of our people in this sphere of government by 2011 and beyond? (COGTA,
2009b: 5).
The previous chapter concluded with a question: Does the LGTAS present an opportunity for
government to consolidate the intentions of DLG? This question underlined the rationale
underpinning the LGTAS initiative. In 2009, national government acknowledged the challenges facing
municipalities in the State of Local Government Report (SLGR). These include:
? Huge service delivery and backlog challenges, e.g. housing, water and sanitation;
? Poor communication and accountability relationships with communities;
? Problems with the political administrative interface;
? Corruption and fraud;
? Poor financial management, e.g. negative audit opinions;
? Number of (violent) service delivery protests;
? Weak civil society formations;
? Intra- and inter-political party issues negatively affecting governance and delivery; and
? Insufficient municipal capacity due to lack of scarce skills (COGTA, 2009a: 4).
As a result, communities have lost confidence in the ability of municipalities to deliver the objects of
local government as set out in the Constitution. The service delivery protests that engulfed the
country in 2009 are cited as empirical evidence for the vote of no confidence in municipalities.
Moreover, government concedes that the protests illustrate the frustration on the ground
emanating from the lack of communication between municipalities and communities. The SLGR goes
as far as suggesting that there is a growing social distance between government and communities
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(COGTA, 2009a: 6). The situation is aggravated by the fact that most municipalities are struggling to
deliver on basic services. There is no one reason to determine why municipalities are struggling to
discharge their mandate.
“Dysfunctional”, “in distress” and “inefficient” are some of the words used to describe municipalities
in South Africa in the SLGR. Over the years, national government has formulated several
programmes and policies to counter the challenges that face local government. COGTA observes
that since the establishment of the local sphere, a number of measures to support and strengthen
local government have been undertaken, including, the Local Government Support Programme,
ISRDP, URP, specialized training by professional institutes and Project Consolidate (COGTA, 2009b:
4). However, these remedies have not proved to be the panacea of local government, especially with
regard to delivering on the objectives of DLG. Although there are isolated success stories in some
municipalities, the overall picture remains bleak, and has set the context for the spate of service
delivery protests over the past few years.
Pieterse et al. (2008) acknowledge that there is evidence to suggest that some of these service
delivery protests are politically motivated. However, the vast majority of them indicate that many
communities are frustrated with local government’s inability to deliver on the objectives of DLG,
chiefly the provision of basic services. The reasons for this are complex in that there are both
internal and external forces undermining local government. Internal factors refer to challenges that
are a direct result of municipalities, such as corruption, lack of skills, limited resources and weak
political leadership. External forces have to do with challenges that are beyond the scope of
municipalities, such as policy formulation and the impact of intergovernmental planning.
According to COGTA (2009a), there were an unprecedented 52 major service delivery protests in
2009. This is worrying given that in 2004 there were only 10 service delivery protests (COGTA,
2009a. In other words, the number of protests has quadrupled in five years.
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Figure 5: Graph depicting the number of service delivery protests from 2004 to 2009
Source: COGTA, 2009a: 77
The trend is made more worrying because by 2009, there were a number of government
programmes that had already been implemented to remedy the challenges and provide support to
local government. The LGTAS does not emerge as a substitute to these interventions but as a
mechanism of support for existing measures. Despite the aforementioned challenges, there are also
political factors that underpinned the introduction of the LGTAS. The removal of Mbeki as the
president of the ANC during the 2007 National Conference in Polokwane is pivotal in this regard, and
his subsequent resignation in May 2008 as South African President. In the political realm the
replacement of Thabo Mbeki with Jacob Zuma signaled a new era because the latter is perceived to
be more of a consultative leader. Also, the 2011 local government election were central to the
preparation of the LGTAS. Against the backdrop of popular frustration and discontent in local
government, the ANC needed a strategy to calm the situation before the polls.
3.3 Overview of the LGTAS
The first section of the policy deals with the role of local government in South Africa’s
developmental aspirations. This section can be seen as a justification for trying to make local
government function, despite its lackluster performance thus far. Central to these justifications is
the role of local government in achieving the goals of the RDP. One of the imperatives of the LGNF
was the need to democratise society following 48 years of apartheid government centralisation. The
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goal to democratise society became a policy imperative of the ANC and is one of the main aims of
the RDP. By the same token, the RDP also emphasises the need for an inclusive economy. Local
government is seen as the necessary sphere to achieve both goals.
More recently, local government is seen as a pivotal player in South Africa’s ambitions to become a
developmental state. The developmental state ideology stems from lessons learnt from the success
of the Asian Tigers (Harrison, 2006). The developmental state idea was feasible because this offered
the State an opportunity to have a direct impact on development. This is important in the context of
South Africa wherein the spatial inequalities of the past are still evident. The ANC-led government
sees it necessary for government to play an active role in development to ensure that development
is evenly spread. This is different from a neo-liberal approach whereby the market dictates
development. In South Africa’s reconstruction programme, local government is the primary
expression of a developmental state.
The importance of local government is emphasised in the first paragraph of the LGTAS document.
The LGTAS states that “the aims of democratising our society and growing our economy inclusively
can only be realized through a “responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government
system that is part of a developmental state” (COGTA, 2009b: 3). The assertion regarding the pivotal
role of local government paves way for the introduction of the LGTAS as an intervention to counter
the forces undermining the developmental role of local government. The root causes of these forces
include:
? Systemic factors, i.e. linked to model of local government;
? Policy and legislative factors;
? Political factors;
? Weaknesses in the accountability systems;
? Capacity and skills constraints;
? Weak intergovernmental support and oversight; and
? Issues associated with the inter-governmental fiscal system (COGTA, 2009a: 3).
These factors were outlined in the SLGR, which was compiled following a nation-wide assessment
programme of the 283 municipalities undertaken by COGTA. The LGTAS articulates the underlying
rationale for the municipal assessment: “The purpose of the provincial assessments was to ascertain
the key problem statement in different thematic areas and to establish the root causes for poor
performance, distress or dysfunctionality in municipalities” (COGTA, 2009b: 3). Given the
fundamental role of local government in South Africa’s development that was established in the
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LGTAS opening remarks, the conclusion of this first section outlines its aim, which is to “turn around
municipalities from struggling with failure to ones that are confident in their abilities to execute their
service delivery mandates” (COGTA, 2009b: 4).
Section Two of the document uses legislation to describe how a municipality ought to perform, as
required by the various pieces of legislation governing local government. The focal point is the 1998
WPLG, and once again the definition of DLG is reiterated as “local government committed to
working with citizens and groups within the community to find sustainable ways to meet their social,
economic and material needs and improve the quality of their lives” (COGTA, 2009b: 4). According to
the LGTAS, the ideal municipality should deliver the objects of local government as set out in the
Constitution, and should result in the following outcomes:
? The provision of household infrastructure and services;
? The creation of livable, integrated and inclusive cities, towns and rural areas;
? Local economic development; and
? Community empowerment and distribution (COGTA, 2009a: 13).
These outcomes, the LGTAS argues “should create a healthy local environment in which vulnerable
groups are supported and protected. It should also mitigate the growing social distance between
government and communities” (COGTA, 2009b: 4). The LGTAS acknowledges that a number of
interventions have been introduced to achieve the ideal municipality as envisaged by the WPLG.
These interventions include Siyenza Manje, and Project Consolidate. Although the SLGR states that
these interventions have made some improvement in the ability of local government to execute
their Constitutional mandate, the picture is far from the ideal. An indicator of this picture is the
service delivery protests that have been proliferating at an alarming rate since 2004. To achieve the
ideal municipality, the LGTAS proposes the following:
? “Local Government is everyone’s business” (COGTA, 2009b: 5). The Strategy extends beyond
government and must be owned across society. Municipalities can be made to work better
for everyone by everyone. One of the main findings of the SLGR is that there is a growing
distance between communities and municipalities. This distance, the SLGR argues, has
resulted in the number of violent service delivery protests. The general perception is that
municipalities do not engage with communities to listen to their needs, hence the
frustrations. The goal to make local government everybody’s business should be understood
as a response to this shortfall. Thus, to achieve the ideal, participation is pivotal.
? “The structure of local government system remains. Notwithstanding certain changes that
may have to be effected, the overall architecture of the system of local government is still
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sound” (COGTA, 2009b: 4). Some commentators (Pieterse et. al., 2008; Harrison, 2006) have
critiqued the structure of the IGR system. The LGTAS argues that the structure needs to be
restructured to ensure that municipalities deliver on the aspirations of the WPLG.
? “The local government system is still new and is evolving. The new system of local
government was always intended to be phased in over time and the current problems must
be seen as part of an effort to learn and correct as we continue with implementation”
(COGTA, 2009b: 4). This point accentuates the call for the current structure to remain intact.
The LGTAS stresses that success will not be achieved overnight and that the shortfalls that
have been experienced thus far should be understood as part of the learning experience. In
other words, the local government system has not failed in principle, because it is an
ongoing process that is faced with numerous challenges, but further efforts will be needed
to ensure its success. The LGTAS has been formulated to counter challenges and ensure that
municipalities deliver on their Constitutional mandate.
Section Three of the document is designed to illustrate the spatial inequalities of the South African
landscape. The section shows that municipalities face different challenges and thus require a
differentiated approach. This is part of COGTA’s call to shift away from the earlier ‘one size fits all’
approach. In previous years, municipalities have been critiqued for adopting and applying local
government interventions that do not address their needs and challenges. In this light, the LGTAS is
seen as a progressive intervention. To qualify the need for a differentiated approach, the LGTAS
provides a Vulnerability Index which is indicative of a municipality’s vulnerability:
? Class 1: Very high vulnerability;
? Class 2: High vulnerability;
? Class 3: Medium vulnerability; and
? Class 4: Low vulnerability (COGTA, 2009b: 23)
The Vulnerability Index does not only take into account the spatial, social, municipal capacity and
economic indicators, but also it considers the audit opinions by National Treasury regarding
municipal capacity to implement the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). The latter is a
good indication of financial and management capacity. The LGTAS argues that this classification
system “will guide the kinds and levels of support and interventions developed for the LGTAS”
(COGTA, 2009b: 24). Further, “it will also lay the basis for determining the appropriate
responsibilities, powers and functions that different municipalities ought to ideally provide to their
communities and guide how greater state involvement must take place to ensure that all
communities receive quality services, irrespective of which municipality they live in” (COGTA, 2009b:
24). Moreover, “this approach to understanding municipal difference is intended to assist
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municipalities to reflect on their respective strengths and weaknesses and to take responsibility for
identifying and managing appropriate interventions” (COGTA, 2009b: 25).
As outlined above, the LGTAS is premised on three key assumptions, that is, local government is
everybody’s business, the structure of local government remains, and local government is still new
and evolving. The last two assumptions inform the LGTAS despite calls from some quarters to review
the local government structure. In Section Four of the LGTAS, government can be seen to justify
their position on the matter by highlighting some success stories. For example, the cases of
Thabazimbi Local Municipality and the Overstrand Local Municipality are respectively lauded for
their performance in Local Economic Development (LED) and financial viability. It is argued that the
success stories should be a model of development for other municipalities.
The challenges faced by local government are covered in Section Five of the LGTAS. Some of the root
causes of municipal failure have been determined as being due to:
? Inappropriate national and provincial government policies, practices and onerous
requirements;
? Political parties that are undermining the integrity and functioning of municipal councils
through intra- and inter-party conflicts and inappropriate interference in councils and
administration; and
? Those municipalities that are not geared for delivering basic services and are not responsive
and accountable enough to residents, including a failure to involve communities in their own
development (COGTA, 2009b, 18-19).
According to the LGTAS, these have fuelled public perception and concern within government that
the entire Local Government system is in distress due to the following factors:
? Local government is failing the poor;
? Local government is not working properly;
? Local government is unaccountable to the citizens;
? Local government is marred by excessive levels of corruption, fraud, maladministration; and
? Municipalities are centres of factional conflicts, political infighting and patronage (COGTA,
2009b: 18).
The LGTAS identifies that municipalities are affected by both internal and external problems. Whilst
internal factors refer to issues affecting the municipalities directly, such as administrative capacity,
external factors refer to factors that affect municipalities indirectly, such as national policy. The
LGTAS states that external factors require a solution that is beyond the scope of local government.
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The internal problems are categorised into seven thematic areas, service delivery, spatial conditions,
governance, financial management, LED and labour relations, and these problems are the focus of
the policy’s recommendations.
Having identified the root causes of the problems undermining local government, Section Six of the
LGTAS outlines the plans and interventions that government seeks to introduce. To provide overall
direction, five strategic objectives have been formulated:
? Ensure that municipalities meet the basic service needs of communities;
? Build clean, effective, efficient, responsive and accountable local government;
? Improve performance and professionalism in municipalities;
? Improve national and provincial policy, oversight and support; and
? Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities and civil society (COGTA,
2009b: 19).
These objectives have been identified to “rebuild and improve the basic requirements for a
functional, responsive, effective, efficient and accountable developmental local government”
(COGTA, 2009b: 19).
Objectives One and Five are the main focus of this research. Whilst Objective Five represents the
means for DLG, Objective One represents some of the ends that should result from DLG. Focusing on
these two objectives is informed by the analyses that suggest that participation is absent from South
Africa’s quest for DLG, which has not only impacted negatively on service delivery, but also has led
to a social distance between communities and government, and the proliferation of service delivery
protests. The perceived lack of participation is not the only reason for local government’s inability to
deliver DLG. To fully comprehend this inability the institutional shortfalls that the LGTAS seeks to
correct through the other three objectives should be acknowledged. These three objectives can be
categorized as part of the imperative of efficiency in DLG, which has dominated the history of DLG in
South Africa. The research question of this study is focused on the impact of the LGTAS on the
imperatives of participation, hence the focus on Objectives One and Five.
An improved inter-governmental planning system is encouraged, hence the envisaged role for all the
three spheres of government. The LGTAS calls for the creation of “a single window and entry point
for the coordination of local government support and monitoring in the Department of Cooperative
Governance and Traditional Affairs” (COGTA, 2009b: 20). Nevertheless, whilst national government
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continues to play a leading role in the formulation of policies, the provincial structures are
encouraged to support local government where possible. Other interventions include the launch of a
good citizenship campaign that is based on the principles of ‘Ubuntu’. The latter is to ensure that all
of society is guided by a common set of values. For the realisation of the five strategic objectives, the
LGTAS plans to mobilise all of society to become involved.
Section Seven covers the implementation plan of the LGTAS. The implementation of the LGTAS is
premised upon the methodology that there must be a differentiated and targeted support system
for local government. This is the case because Section Two of the LGTAS has established that
different municipalities face different challenges. As noted earlier, this is largely because of the
spatial inequalities. Some municipalities are more capable of discharging their Constitutional
mandate than others. Thus, for the implementation the LGTAS states that “measures will be taken to
ensure that in those parts of the country, especially rural areas, where severe poverty and
underdevelopment sits side by side with weak municipal capacity, there is a dedicated focus to
augment municipal capacity with delivery through capable institutions at either provincial or
national level” (COGTA, 2009b: 25). Because the implementation is envisaged through a two-phased
period (pre-2011 which is the short term and post-2011, the long-term), the support system is
focused on the “institutional measures to facilitate improved delivery of infrastructure and services
(related to the short-term goals) and structural, policy, legislative and capacity building measures
over the longer-term” (COGTA, 2009b: 22).
The following factors need to be addressed in the implementation of the LGTAS:
? The impact of uniform regulatory framework - shifting from the one size fits all approach;
? Municipalities focus on compliance - municipalities should start to focus on the issues
affecting their localities rather than to merely observe protocol;
? Untargeted and ineffective support - the role and relationship between the three spheres of
government should be scrutinized and improved upon; and
? The combination of internal factors with external impacts - poor municipal performance can
be due to factors that are outside the local government scope, such as policy formulation
and global economic instability (COGTA, 2009b: 24).
Section Eight is the intervention framework. This section builds from Section Five in that it sets out
the priorities that should be met to address the root causes undermining the local government. The
intervention framework identifies the responsibilities of the various spheres of government as well
as the timeframe (short- or long-term). For example, one of the interventions to enhance service
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delivery is better planning and oversight over local service delivery. In this regard the role of national
government is to identify legislation and practice that constrains service delivery while that of
province and local is to strengthen regional planning and strengthen collective municipal plans
respectively. The pre-2011 goal was to identify constraints to service delivery and the long-term
vision is to improve planning and service provision. The LGTAS document concludes by setting out
the institutional arrangement for the LGTAS before outlining the key intervention areas (Section
Nine) and a road map for the process moving forward (Section Ten).
Figure 6: Institutional Framework for the LGTAS
Source: COGTA, 2009b: 45
3.4 Analysis of the LGTAS
The conceptual framework highlighted the profound impact of New Public Management (NPM)
practice on South Africa’s public administration system. The WPLG is a good example of the ideals
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represented by NPM under the Third Way approach. The WPLG calls for a system of local
government that is not only institutionally competent in terms of efficiency, but also adheres to
progressive ideals such as “participation, collaborative planning, and democracy” (Harrison, 2006:
188). The WPLG requires that municipalities are to produce an IDP to achieve DLG through efficient
institutions that seek to address the aforementioned progressive ideas. However, conflating
efficiency with participation has proved to be difficult, given South Africa’s ‘top-down’ development
system. Developmental plans are produced at the ‘top’ (national government) and implemented
through a ‘bottom up’ approach. The system is characterised by contradictions and contestations
that make it difficult for local government to simultaneously be efficient and participatory in nature.
Since 2000, DLG has favoured the desiderata of ‘technocrats’, with an emphasis on efficiency in the
public administration. Parnell and Pieterse (2002) argue that this has had a negative impact on local
government’s ability to realise the objectives of DLG as set out in the 1998 WPLG.
For Heller (2008), participation and efficiency are both necessary for DLG to occur. Several scholars
argue that the South African case is one wherein participation has been institutionalised, henceforth
the lack of participation (Heller, 2001, 2008; Pieterse, 2007; Pieterse and van Donk, 2008; Pieterse et
al., 2008). The lack of participation is also confirmed by the SLGR. This has negatively affected the
relationship between communities and local government, and has created a “social distance”
between municipalities and communities (COGTA, 2009b: 24). The LGTAS has been introduced to
curb this situation, and it has been designed to revitalise the participatory component of DLG and to
reinforce the efficiency of local government. Therefore, the LGTAS is an indication that government
has the utmost confidence in the current development system to deliver DLG. The LGTAS does not
seek to overhaul the system but calls for an improvement in the implementation process. There is an
urgent need to improve the relationship between communities and municipalities through
meaningful participatory measures that will ensure good governance practices and lead to better
service delivery.
By the same token, municipalities as institutions of government are encouraged to be efficient in
executing their Constitutional mandate as well as ensuring that they are not affected by practices
that do not adhere to good governance such as corruption, nepotism, and maladministration
(COGTA, 2009b). From the content of the LGTAS, it is clear that government is attempting to create a
common ground wherein both the imperatives of participation and efficiency of DLG can co-exist. In
light of this attempt, the LGTAS has to be applauded. However, we need to investigate the ‘co-
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existence’ further. In Chapter Two it has been established that the success of participatory
governance enjoyed in places like Porto Alegre and Kerala was not evident in the earlier experience
of DLG. Heller (2008: 157) argues that this is the case because in South Africa the efficiency side of
DLG is highly developed, whereas the participatory element remains poorly developed. The LGTAS is
an attempt to change this. The stated intentions of the document seem to suggest a more
responsive, inclusionary DLG.
The key intervention areas illustrate that the LGTAS signals a shift to a responsive, inclusionary local
government. Pieterse and van Donk (2008) argued that the IGR system undermined the
responsiveness of municipalities to communities. Local government is accountable to the national
sphere because this structure sets out the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of municipalities and
municipal officials alike. The LGTAS states that national government (including state enterprises)
needs to organise itself better in relation to local government. In this regard one of the objectives is
to address the ‘one size fits all’ approach to enable municipalities to focus on functions that are
suited to their different sizes and capacities (COGTA, 2009b). Addressing the ‘one size fits all’
approach will also enable municipalities to better respond to the needs of their communities. Here,
the argument is that municipalities have been unable to respond to the needs of their communities
because the municipal Spatial Development Framework, for example, reflects the priorities of
national government through the National Spatial Development perspective (NSDP) and Provincial
Spatial Development Framework (PSDF). The priorities of national and provincial government might
differ from that of the local municipalities. In terms of the LGTAS, national government is to ensure a
more responsive DLG by doing the following:
? Address socio- economic and institutional vulnerability of the relevant municipalities;
? Intergovernmental agreement with a targeted set of municipalities;
? More enabling environment for service delivery;
? Improve spatial prioritisation of budgets and investments, and delivery of national functions
and inter-sectoral alignment in municipalities; and
? Organised participation in IDP processes (COGTA, 2009b: 20).
The role of provincial government is also imperative. According to the LGTAS, provinces will improve
their “support and oversight responsibilities for local government and better communication and
involvement of municipalities and communities in planning and execution of provincial functions”
(COGTA, 2009b: 20). As implementers of the development programme, municipalities are expected
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to “reflect on their own performance and identify their own tailor-made turnaround strategies”
(COGTA, 2009b: 20).
The MTAS should focus on the following:
? Undertake appropriate set of powers and functions and identify and establish relevant
agency arrangements with national and provincial government within current policy
framework;
? Through the municipal Spatial Development Frameworks, each municipality is aware of and
is able to guide the land use activity on every square metre and kilometre in its area of
jurisdiction; and
? Improved public participation and communication including effective complaint
management and feedback systems (COGTA, 2009b: 21).
Notably, institutional building is also outlined as an intervention for a more responsive DLG.
3.5 Conclusion
The emergence of the LGTAS has been influenced by a number of factors. The LGTAS reaffirms
government’s commitment to the developmental state idea. According to Harrison et al. (2006), the
decision to revert to the developmental state idea was spearheaded by the Zuma-led faction of the
ANC who felt that the idea was sidelined during the Mbeki tenure. Unlike during the Mbeki reign
where the governance approach was ‘managerial’, the Zuma-led administration emphasises the
fundamentals of network governance. The LGTAS is a good illustration of network governance: local
government is encouraged to mobilise all societal organs to contribute to the success of
municipalities, thereby forming a complex relationship that contributes to the greater good of the
developmental agenda. It is argued that “the LGTAS serves as a social compact across all sectors of
society to contribute to building responsive, accountable and effective municipalities” (COGTA,
2009b: 22). In this regard, the good citizenship campaign is pivotal. The main aim of the campaign is
to ensure a good citizenship programme centered on involvement in local government affairs by all
of civil society.
The SLGR has played a major influence in the formulation of the LGTAS. In the SLGR it was found that
communities have lost confidence in local government as the primary expression of a developmental
state. The LGTAS argues that the model of local government has not failed entirely but is
characterised by a number of shortcomings. These shortcomings, government argues, has
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undermined the integrity of the whole local government system. Several success stories have been
outlined in the LGTAS to show that the model has not failed entirely. Given the limited success,
however, government uses the LGTAS to respond to those forces undermining the ability of
municipalities to discharge their developmental mandate. Importantly, the LGTAS seeks to address
both the external and internal factors undermining the developmental role of local government.
Externally, the impact of the IGR system is questioned. Internally, municipalities are encouraged set
up structures that will ensure institutional efficiency and community participation. The LGTAS can be
understood as an attempt to balance both the imperatives of efficiency and participation
encapsulated in the notion of DLG. However, greater priority is given to the government’s long-held
orientation towards institutional reform to resolve development challenges.
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Chapter 4: Overview of the Case Study
Area: Makhuduthamaga Local
Municipality
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4.1 Introduction
The SLGR represents the latest undertaking by government to understand the challenges
undermining the ability of municipalities to deliver DLG. The LGTAS labels the SLGR as is the most
consultative exercise that was instituted to understand the dynamics impacting the local
government sphere in the post-apartheid era. The process was led by the Minister of Co-operative
Governance and Traditional Affairs and the respective MECs for each province. Although there is
evidence that some municipalities are performing relatively well in certain aspects of DLG; the
overall picture is one of a local government system that is largely unable to implement its
developmental mandate (COGTA: 2009b). The LGTAS makes it clear that its priority is to re-orientate
municipalities that have been identified as Class 1 (most vulnerable) and Class 2 (second most
vulnerable) by the SLGR. Thus, it is appropriate to examine the impact of the LGTAS in consolidating
DLG in a municipality that has been classified as vulnerable. As a Class 1 municipality,
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (MLM) has been selected as the case study.
The municipality is primary rural and subsistence farming is a livelihood strategy for many in the
municipality. Poverty in the area is rife. The situation is perpetuated by a municipality that is
struggling to deliver basic services to the community. Nevertheless, this chapter will provide a
descriptive overview of the MLM, giving particular attention to details about poverty and
vulnerability, as well as service needs and delivery, and levels of civil society organisation. The first
section of the chapter deals with the physical location of the municipality. Secondly, a historical
background is outlined. This is vital for the reader to understand the factors that have shaped MLM.
In the third section the demographics of the municipality are discussed. The fourth section contains
basic service delivery backlogs in the municipality and the fifth presents the municipal response to
this backlogs. Finally, the sixth section concludes by summarising the key points of the chapter.
4.2 Physical location
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (MLM) is a predominantly rural municipality that is found in
the south-eastern part of Limpopo Province. It lies approximately 189 kilometers south-east of the
provincial capital, Polokwane, and is located at the heart of the Sekhukhune District Municipality. It
is bordered by Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality to the south-east), Tubatse Local Municipality in
the north-east, and Fetakgomo Local Municipality in the north.
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Map 2: Location Map of Makhuduthamaga local Municipality
Mayor: Clr Alfred Matlala
Vision
A development municipality that
provides need satisfying, sustainable
services
Mission
To strive for a people centered
municipality that delivers sustainable
services underpinned by the following
principles:
? Efficiency
? Effectiveness
? Economy
? Integration
? Accountability
www.search.com
www.search.com
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4.3 Historical Background
The Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (MLM) is found in the former Bantu homeland that was
named ‘Lebowa’ during the epoch of Apartheid. In 2000, MLM was established with the
amalgamation of the former Nebo, Ngwaritsi and Makhuduthamaga Transitional Local Councils in
terms of the Municipal Systems Act of 2000. It is a Category B municipality – in other words, a Local
Municipality. In 2005 the headquarters of MLM moved from Groblersdal to Jane Furse. The move to
Jane Furse was not only influenced by its more central location, but also due to the economic role it
plays in the Sekhukhune Region. This is mainly due to presence of the regional hospital, the large
shopping centre that was established in 1995, and a growing taxi industry that connects residents to
nearby cities and towns i.e. Polokwane and Groblersdal. Initially retail activities were largely
characterised by small enterprises, but today, large retail corporations, such as Pick n Pay, Shoprite-
Checkers and KFC are key anchor tenants of the shopping centre. This boom of economic activity has
attracted many informal traders from across the Sekhukhune Region and beyond into Jane Furse.
The small town is likely to see significant public investment in the near future. Recently the MEC for
Local Government and Housing, Soviet Lekganyane announced that government had a revitalisation
plan for towns such as Jane Furse which should be seen in the context of national government’s
commitment to rural development. Further, there are talks surfacing of plans to move the district
offices from Groblersdal to Jane Furse.
4.4 Demographic Profile
According to the Integrated Development Plan of MLM (2010), the estimated population of the
municipality is 300 206, 146 with 56 642 households. The average household size is 5.3 persons. This
is higher than the national average which is estimated to be 4.11 (Statistics South Africa: 2007).
Table 2: Breakdown of the Race Groups
Source: MLM, 2011: 32
Population Group Population Number % 2007
Black 299 941 99.93
Coloureds 42 0.002
Indian or Asian 93 0.003
White 124 0.05
Total 300 200 100
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The municipal population is mainly comprised of individuals below the age of 20. This age group is
depended on government’s social system to survive because the unemployment rate in the
municipality is estimated to be 60-75 percent (MLM: 2010). The average household size also
indicates the high dependency. Moreover, there are more females (176 744- 56 %) than males (123
462- 44 %) in the municipality. This is because males are most likely to migrate areas with potential
employment opportunities i.e. Gauteng Province. The mobility of females is not only restricted by
economic factors but also traditional perceptions on the role of females in society. Tradition in the
Pedi clan (dominant in the municipality) dictates that males are head of the family and as such
should venture out and seek for a livelihood strategy whilst the females are responsible for
reproduction processes. In most cases males migrate to areas like Johannesburg and Burgersfort to
work in the mining sector and other manufacturing related fields. Mining is usually associated with
male labour absorption.
Figure 7: Age Distribution in Percent
Source: MLM, 2011: 32
The employment profile of the municipality reveal that the dependency ration is above 3.33 which
means for every 10 economically active people they will support 33 not economically active and
unemployed persons (MLM, 2011). The municipality used the international formula to calculate the
dependency:
Dependency = Number of Children (0-15) + Number of Pensioners (65+) (Economically
Inactive) / Number of Working age 16-65 (Economically Active)
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The municipal dependency ratio is an indication of vulnerability in the area. For the municipality,
high rate of vulnerability means that more resources have to be allocated to basic service delivery.
The indigent state of affairs in the municipality is worsened by low income levels.
Table 3: Employment Profile
Economically
active
Male
numbers
% for
males
Female
numbers
% for
female
Total % for
Male and
Female
Total for
Male and
Female
Employed 10 759 49 11 219 51 100 21 978
Unemployment 11 950 36 21 397 64 100 33 347
Total 22 709 32 616 100 55 746
Not
economically
active
34 403 41 49 636 59 100 84 039
Total 57 111 82 251 139 364
Source: MLM, 2011: 32
Approximately 54.8 percent of individuals have no formal income (MLM, 2010). In 2006, Stats SA
reported that 41.56 percent of the people in MMLM had no formal income.
Table 4: Household Income
Income category No of Households Population (%)
No income 22 525 41.56
R1- R4 800 4197 7.74
R4 801- R9 600 14 546 26.84
R9 601- R19 200 6781 12.51
R38 401- R76 800 2346 4.33
R76 801- R153 600 815 1.50
R153 601- R307 200 186 0.34
R307 201- R614 400 57 0.11
R614 401- 1 228 800 18 0.03
R1 228 801- R2 457 600 27 0.05
R2 457 600 and more 12 0.02
Source: MLM, 2006: 42
The statistics show that more than 40 percent of households in the municipality are classified as
indigent. The National Indigent Policy requires municipalities to provide Free Basic Services (water,
electricity, sanitation and waste removal) to households whose combined income does not exceed
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R1600. This task is almost impossible for a rural municipality like MLM. The municipality does not a
property revenue base.
4. 5 Basic Services
The settlement pattern is also a developmental challenge for the municipality. This has had a
profound impact on the delivery of infrastructural services. This is because the “municipality is
characterised by dispersed villages that lie distant from one another” (MLM, 2011: 34). Long
distances between settlements coupled with poor road infrastructure have made service provision a
difficult and “sometimes impossible” to the communities (MLM, 2011: 34). Compounding these is
the fact that the area is characterised by low density (MLM, 2011: 34). Thus, the municipality is
characterised by a number of basic service delivery backlogs.
4.5.1. Water
MLM is not a Water Service Authority or Water Service provider. Water is a function of the
Sekhukhune District Municipality.
Figure 8: Household Access to Water
Source: Stats SA, 2007
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Only 0.98 percent of the total population has access to piped water inside the dwelling. Overall, the
total population that has access to piped water is 13.7 %.
Table 5: Water Backlog
MLM Households Households
receiving water
up to RDP
standard and
above
Backlog % Backlog
56 642 20 888 32 899 64
Source: MLM, 2011: 34
Water supply authorities in the municipality have been unable to meet the target set by the
Department of Water Affairs to eradication of water supply backlog in households by 2008. To
overcome the water backlog the 2011 Sekhukhune District Municipality IDP has identifies 11 projects
across to be implemented in various villages across MLM. In total budget for this projects is R9 3809
4848.
4.5.2. Sanitation
Like water, the district municipality (Sekhukhune District Municipality) is responsible for sanitation.
Only 9% of household has sanitation up to RDP standard. Of the 56 642 households 51 271 do not
have a sanitation system that meets the minimal standard of the RDP. This means that the sanitation
backlog in the municipality is 91%.
Table 6: Access to Sanitation
Sanitation Type No. %
Flush toilet (connected to sewerage system) 879 1.6%
Flush toilet (with septic tank) 412 0.8%
Dry toilet facility 242 0.5%
Pit toilet with ventilation (VIP) 6,945 12.9
Pit toilet without ventilation 41,738 77.8
Chemical toilet - 0%
Bucket toilet system - 0%
None 3,439 6.4%
Total 56 642 100%
Source: MLM, 2011: 35
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In contrast to the commitment on water provision, the Sekhukhune District Municipality has
identified only one project to overcome sanitation in the MLM. The sanitation project is in the village
of Ramphelane village. The total budget for the project is R 4 100 100.
4.5.3 Electricity
The “electrification projects that are implemented by the municipality are ceded to Eskom for
operation and maintenance” (MLM, 2011: 46). This is because the municipality is not a licensed
supplier of electricity. Unlike water and sanitation statistics suggest that municipality is making
inroads insofar as delivering electricity. In total 46 266 households have electrified.
Table 7: Sources of Energy for Lighting in MLM
Electricity Gas Paraffin Candles Solar Other
2007 84.1 0.1 2.7 12 0 1.1
2001 62.58 0.11 4.83 31.84 0.22 0.43
1996 25.3 0.33 11.86 54.5 0 0.01
Source: MLM, 2011: 47
Currently, the electricity backlog is 18.3 percent. The villages without access to electricity are mainly
located in mountainous regions of the municipality and newly formed settlements. The municipal
IDP has identified the following as developmental challenges to electricity:
? Eskom has no capacity;
? Illegal connections to households;
? New extensions of residential sites for post connections;
? Budgetary constraints; and
? Authority over electricity (MLM, 2011: 34).
4.5.4. Housing
The Department of Local Government and Housing (DLGH) is responsible for housing in the
municipality. The role of the municipality is to identify and submit the names of beneficiaries.
Table 8: Access to Housing
MLM Households Backlog % Backlog
56 642 13 258 22
Source: MLM, 2011: 51
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According to Stats SA (2007) 72 percent of the dwelling type in the municipality is made of brick
structure. However, most of these houses are not up to the standard of the RDP and require
upgrading. The IDP also points out that there has been a proliferation of backyard shacks and
informal settlements in the municipality because of the envisaged development in Jane Furse.
Nonetheless, there are 81 059 planned units to be implemented across various villages in the
municipality (MLM: 2011).
The service delivery backlog show that MLM is faced with a number of challenges, as Makgetla
outlines:
Makhuduthamaga in the former Lebowa homeland was the poorest municipality in South
Africa in 2004, spending just R50 on each of its 250 000 inhabitants every year. If you lived in
Makhuduthamaga, you would likely be desperately poor, unemployed, and dependent on
social grants and remittances. You would almost certainly carry in your water and have a pit
toilet. In 2001, only 11 per cent of households in the municipality had piped water on site,
while just 2 per cent had flush toilets and 16 per cent had no toilets at all. In 2004, just under
half the population living in this municipality went hungry at least sometimes (Makgetla,
2007: 145).
4.6 The IDP Institutional Organization
Figure 8: Organogram representing the IDP Institutional Process of Makhuduthamaga Local
Municipality
Makhuduthamaga
Local Municipality
Council
Municipal Manager
(IDP Manager, IDP
Steering
Projects,
Programmes and
sectorial task teams
IDP Representative
Forum
Stakeholder, Interest
groups and ward
committees
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The aim of the organogram is to show the institutional process governing participation in the
preparation of the municipal IDP. This is pivotal because the IDP is the developmental tool of the
municipality. In line with the Municipal Systems Act; the municipality uses IDP forums to encourage
civil society to participate in the preparation of the IDP. Also, it is important to note that this is not
the only form of participation in the municipality. Community members are able to participate in the
municipal processes through Traditional Leaders. Traditional Leaders are also members of the
Council.
4.7. Conclusion
Service delivery in MLM remains a huge challenge to the municipality. The municipality is
characterised by basic service delivery backlogs. The municipality concedes that the developmental
challenges are immense and argues that the situation is worsened by the fact that land ownership in
the municipality is “predominantly under the South African Development Trust but under the
custodianship of local Traditional Authorities” (MLM, 2011: 34). The municipality does not own land.
At times this culminates a situation where in municipal projects are delayed or even cancelled
because they do not enjoy support of the local Tribal Authorities. Thus whilst the Tribal Authorities
can support the municipality in terms of galvanizing the community for participation in some
instances they can hinder developmental projects in the municipality. Nonetheless, Jane Furse has
emerged as the core economic node of the region and represents hope for MLM. As far as
governance is concerned, public participation process of the IDP process is complemented by the
relationship between Traditional Leaders and the municipality. This complementary relationship is
quite different from that experienced in other parts of country like in KwaZulu-Natal where the
relationship between municipalities and traditional leaders is often characterized by conflict and
animosity (Mtimkulu, 2009).
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Chapter 5: Findings and Analysis
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5.1. Introduction
In this chapter, the findings of the fieldwork are discussed and analysed. In the first section, a
detailed account of the research findings is followed by key points that have emerged from the
fieldwork. The narration of the research findings is structured to reflect the content of the interview
questionnaire. This approach begins to paint a picture of the impact of the LGTAS in
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality. In the second part of the chapter, the findings are analysed
through the conceptual framework set out in Chapter Two.
5.2 DLG in Makhuduthamaga: The Research Findings
The information that was gathered for the case study was done so through a series of interviews
with municipal councillors and officials from the Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (MLM). In
total, seven interviews were conducted:
? Senior Manager;
? Director of Infrastructure and Services;
? Two members of the Community Liaison Office;
? Project Manager; and
? Two Ward Councillors.
The primary aim of the LGTAS is to consolidate the developmental nature of local government (DLG).
To contextualise the research study the questionnaire commences by asking several questions
related to the concept of DLG:
? What do you think are the objectives of DLG?
? Has the municipality been able to reach these objectives?
? If not, what impediments do you think the municipality has encountered in its endeavour to
deliver DLG?
? What has been the role of interventions like Project Consolidate and Five Year Local
Government Strategic Agenda in aiding the municipality to deliver DLG?
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Of the seven interviewees, only the Senior Manager was aware of what DLG entailed as envisaged by
the WPLG. This is not to suggest that the other interviewees are not aware of the developmental
role of local government. According to the Senior Manager, DLG is about reversing the injustices of
the apartheid system through basic service provision and the creation of job opportunities. One of
the Community Liaison Officers commented that, for him, DLG is about decentralising development
because “under the previous regime (apartheid) rural areas like Makhuduthamaga” experienced
limited development. Consequently, “people had to travel long distances to access strong economic
centres like Polokwane.” Therefore, for him, DLG was introduced as a balancing act to development.
Although the Director of Infrastructure and Services admits that while she is not aware of either the
WPLG or the DLG concept, she was aware that the ANC government has introduced a number of
policies to ensure that “municipalities are responsive to the needs of communities.” In this regard,
she cited the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). She pointed out that the EPWP is
important because it seeks to address the dual challenge of service delivery and unemployment.
None of the interviewees made the link between DLG and participation.
The general perception of the interviewees is that the main objective of municipality is to deliver
basic services. From this perspective, the Director of Infrastructure and Services argues that the
municipality has made some inroads, despite the limited resources. Both the Director of
Infrastructure and Services and the Senior Manager point out that the municipality has addressed 90
percent of the electricity backlog. They argue that areas that do not have access to electricity in the
municipality are newly formed areas. The pair also indicate that the municipality has improved the
road and network infrastructure. The qualities of these roads are, however, questionable. According
to the Director of Infrastructure and Services, the municipality has had to “compromise” the quality
of the roads because of limited resources. According to her, this practice shortens the lifespan of the
roads. Although the municipality has made some inroads in service delivery, the SLGR states that the
municipality is one of the worst performing municipalities in service delivery. This is because service
delivery goes beyond electricity and road network infrastructure.
Importantly, all the interviewees acknowledge that service delivery in the municipality is still faced
with a number of backlogs. In this regard, one of the Community Liaison Officers states that some
services are not prioritised. For example, sanitation remains a challenge because in a setting like
MLM the general norm is that have to take their own initiative to ensure that they have a pit latrine.
People are mainly concerned about services like “electricity, roads, and water.” Inevitably, the issue
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of limited resources is labeled as the single most impediments undermining the developmental
mandate of the municipality. Others include the lack of skills and capacity. According to the Director
of Infrastructure and Services, interventions like Project Consolidate and the Five Year Local
Government Strategic Agenda are adopted by the municipality to comply with the regulations of
national government. The Senior Manager commented that success of local government
interventions is unlikely because these interventions do not differ. He states that the only thing that
national government does is to change the name “Project Consolidate to LGTAS.” Also, he
highlighted that the success of this intervention is limited because municipalities are expected to
follow national goals, which at times tend to alter the developmental course of the municipalities.
5.2.1 The Emergence of the LGTAS
The Senior Official interviewed was the only interviewee who was aware of the LGTAS policy
document. Some of the interviewees are only aware of the Municipal Turnaround Strategy (Project
Manager and Community Liaison Officers). The Two Councillors and the Director of Infrastructure
and Services were not aware of either the LGTAS policy initiative or the Municipal Turnaround
Strategy. Thus, only the Senior Manager was able to express his views on the emergence of the
LGTAS as a programme of action for consolidating DLG. He states that the LGTAS offers
municipalities a real chance to perform better. Furthermore, he added that the LGTAS is a “good”
intervention because it offers municipalities a chance to direct development through a SWOT
analysis (strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats). The LGTAS requires municipalities to
formulate a municipal turnaround strategy that is informed by the priorities of the locality
concerned. The SLGR has classified MLM as a low capacity municipality. As highlighted in Chapter
Three, the methodology of the LGTAS is premised on the idea that “there must be a differentiated
and targeted support system for local government” (COGTA, 2009b: 25).
This means that different support structures will be given to municipalities to implement the LGTAS.
This support depends on the capacity of the municipality concerned. This qualifies the Minister’s
utterance that the LGTAS shifts away from the ‘one size fits all’ approach. For example, the LGTAS
states that “measures will be taken to ensure that in those parts of the country, especially rural
areas, where severe poverty and underdevelopment sits side by side with weak municipal capacity;
there is a dedicated focus to augment municipal capacity with delivery through capable institutions
at either provincial or national level” (COGTA, 2009b: 25). MLM is one of the municipalities wherein
the latter has been implemented. According to the Senior Manager, this approach weakens the
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LGTAS because municipalities are deprived the opportunity to formulate a turnaround strategy that
is informed by their own understanding of the local conditions. Nevertheless, the Senior Manager
applauded the LGTAS because it recognised that municipalities are faced with challenges that fall
outside their mandate of governance. In this regard, the official cited water provision. He
commented that although water provision was a function of the district municipality (Sekhukhune
District Municipality) this was a burden for MLM.
The non-provision of water is a burden to the municipality because prior to conducting the
interviews the people of the Ga-Masemola community had engaged in a violent service delivery
protest over the issue of water. During the service delivery protests, some sections of the “crowd
burned tyres, blocked and vandalised the road” (Senior Manager, 2012). This does not only hamper
the initiative to improve the road system but also has negative effects for the economy in the
municipality. Thus, the LGTAS is a progressive intervention because it seeks to address both the
external and internal forces undermining MLM.
5.2.2 The Process of Formulating the Makhuduthamaga Turnaround Strategy
The LGTAS requires municipalities to tailor-make their own TAS, reflect on their strengths and
weaknesses and identify and manage appropriate interventions, and focus on localised issues
(COGTA, 2009b). Moreover, the LGTAS states that this strategy must be formulated in consultation
with the various organs of civil society. This is part of the LGTAS’ call to make ‘local government
everybody’s business.’ Nonetheless, in the case of a low capacity municipality like MLM, the
implementation methodology calls for the decentralisation of a capable institution from either
national or provincial government to support the municipality. Although the LGTAS clearly prescribes
a participatory process to the formulation of the municipal Turnaround Strategy, this did not occur in
the case of MLM. The process was rather compliance led. The Senior Manager states that instead of
supporting, the Provincial Department of Local Government and Housing (DLGH) took over the
process of formulating the Municipal Turnaround Strategy.
The Senior Manager explained the process that was followed. The DLGH conducted various seminars
with the Heads of Departments to formulate the Municipal Turnaround Strategy (MTS).
Consequently, the key intervention areas outlined in the LGTAS were used to formulate the
municipal Turnaround Strategy. Therefore, the product did not emanate from a democratic
participatory process. Despite his critique on the approach followed, the interviewee was quick to
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point out that the compliance-driven process does not mean that the MTS does not address the
challenges faced by the municipality. In this regard, he pointed out that the key intervention areas of
the LGTAS are informed by the issues raised in the SLGR. Moreover, the Senior Manager admitted
that the Makhuduthamaga community was not involved in the formulation of the strategy. This is
not surprising, especially if one considers that it took one day to formulate the strategy. There is no
model to determine how long a MTAS should take, but one day is not sufficient to produce a product
that is informed by a participatory process. The Ward Councillors interviewed, who would normally
facilitate the community participation process, are not aware of the Municipal Turnaround Strategy.
The Director of Infrastructure and Services commented that she is not aware of the MTAS because
the “people above her have never made reference to it.” She added that she has “never used it as a
working tool.”
5.2.3 Meeting Basic Needs of Communities
The primary objective is to ascertain service delivery in Makhuduthamaga since the introduction of
the LGTAS. MLM, like most municipalities located in the former Bantustans, is characterised by lack
of development. Key service delivery issues in the municipality include:
? The lack of access to a clean, safe drinkable water supply;
? Access to sanitation;
? Access to electricity;
? Access to adequate housing facilities; and
? Underdeveloped road network infrastructure (COGTA, 2009b: 4).
There is a general sentiment amongst the interviewees that the municipality is moving in the right
direction. One of the Councillors interviewed stated that, “anyone who has been staying in the
municipality since the ANC took over is aware of the changes that have occurred.” In terms of
sanitation, the Councillor pointed out that since 2006 the municipality has embarked on a campaign
to upgrade pit latrines to the standard Ventilated Pit System (VIP). In this regard, he suggested that
although MLM was a rural municipality, it is better than those municipalities that are building open
toilets for their people. He added that one of the biggest challenges the municipality was facing is
that people do not maintain these toilet facilities and thus the effort is not appreciated. It is difficult
to understand how people can use their income to maintain their toilet system in an area that is
characterised by poverty. As discussed in the preceding sections, access to electricity in the
municipality has improved drastically. In fact, the Senior Manger is confident that the electricity
backlog in the municipality will be addressed by 2014. One of the Councillors adds that in 1995,
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residents of the municipality who had never been outside the boundaries of the municipality did not
know what a tar road was. This he argued is an illustration that the municipality was performing its
duties because most of the main roads in the municipality are tarred. Water and housing are not a
function of MLM.
The Senior Manger states that the track record of the municipality shows that there is a will to
deliver basic services to the community. However, he adds that these efforts are frustrated by
limited resources. The municipality faces a dual challenge. On the one hand, he points out that the
budget allocated by national government is not enough relative to the service delivery backlog. On
the other hand, he highlighted that the municipality does not have a property revenue base like
those located in cities and towns. The inception of the Turnaround Strategy has not improved basic
service delivery in the municipality. According to the Senior Manger, this is because the MTAS was
formulated to compile with national legislation. Basically, the MTS is an outline of how the
municipality plans to address the key intervention areas identified by the LGTAS i.e. basic service
delivery (water, sanitation, electricity, refuse removal, roads, and housing), public participation,
governance issues, administration, labour relations, financial management, and local economic
development.
Table 9: Makhuduthamaga MTAS for Basic Service Delivery
Priority Turn
Around
Focal Area
January
2010
(Current
Situation/
Baseline)
Target for
December
2010
(Changed
Situation)
Munici pal
Action
Unblocking
Action Needed
from other
Spheres and
Agencies (e.g.
intervention or
technical
support)
Human
Resource
Allocated
Allocated Projected
Access to
water
Backlog is at
293 28 out of
58991 H/H
Distri ct as
the Water A
Authori ty
and Provider
to provide
the target
Liaise wi th
the Distri ct
on water
plans and
backlogs
Distri ct to
provide plans to
address the
backlog
NONE NONE NONE
Access to
sani tation
Backlog is at
426 32 out of
58991 H/H
Distri ct to
provide
target
Liaise wi th
the Distri ct
Distri ct to
provide plans to
address the
backlog
NONE NONE NONE
Refuse
removal and
solid waste
disposal
Collection at
NEBO,
Phokoane,
Jane Furse
and
Schoonoord
Extend the
collection to
H/H in the
areas listed
Fi nalise the
By-laws on
waste
manageme
nt
Request LEDET to
assist in extra
funding for the
extension of the
servi ce
No
addi tional
staff
requi red
R1m R1m
Access to 35.5Km 6.5KM tarred Develop Department of No R18,4m R18.4m
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Source: MLM, 2010: 1-2
5.2.4 Strengthen Partnerships Between Local Government, Communities and Civil Society
According to the one of the Community Liaison Officers, the local Chiefs are pivotal to the
relationship between the community and the municipality. He states that “one of the fundamental
policies introduced by the ANC government was to acknowledge and work with tribal authority.” He
points out that the tribal authorities are crucial to the IDP process. The Community Liaison Officer
uses the words “very good” to describe the relationship between the community and the
municipality. To qualify his statement, he argued that the relationship is very good because the
community was satisfied with progress made by the municipality over the years. This is despite the
fact that the SLGR has categorised MLM as one of the worst performing municipalities in the
country. Furthermore, he pointed out that the “municipality had never experienced service delivery
protest even when it seemed like all municipalities were under siege.” (He was interviewed a week
before the service delivery protest in the Ga-Masemola region). The Project Manager and the
Director of Infrastructure and Services confirmed the good working relationship between the
municipality and the Tribal Authorities. They pointed out the success of the Expanded Public Works
Programme (EPWP) in the municipality is proof of the cohesion between the municipality and the
community.
According to the Senior Manager, one of the challenges facing the municipality is that people in the
municipality are not aware that they (community) have a role to play in the municipality. The
community perceives the municipality to be the main organ of “everything” and as such wants the
municipality to solely provide basic services. Against this backdrop, he argued that the LGTAS is a
necessary intervention because municipalities are urged to work with communities. This perception
departs from the fundamentals of DLG. DLG as envisaged by the WPLG and the LGTAS is a symbiotic
muni cipal
roads
roads tarred
No road
master Plan
for the
Distri ct and
Local
and finalise
a Master
Plan by
June 2010
Roads and
Transport must
intervene in
drawing Road
Master Plan for
the enti re Distri ct
addi tional
Staff
requi red
Formalisatio
n of informal
settlements
Land Audit
done
Proclamation
and
formalisation
Appoint a
qualified
servi ce
provider
NONE No
addi tional
staff
requi red
R1.8m R1.8m
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relationship between all organs of the society engaged in an effort to better development. As in the
case of service delivery, the respondents argued that the MTAS has not had an impact on citizen
participation in the municipality. Participation in the municipality during the pre-LGTAS was
happening through consultation with the IDP and this was still the case. Consultative participation as
it has occurred in MLM does not empower the community to spearhead development but serves as
a ‘rubber stamp’ procedure to legitimise the municipal process.
Table 10: Makhuduthamaga MTAS for Participation
Priority Turn
Around Focal
Area
January 2010
(Current
Situation/
Baseline)
Target for
December
2010
(Changed
Situation)
Munici pal
Action
Unblocking
Action
Needed
from other
Spheres and
Agencies
(e.g.
interventi on
or technical
support)
Human
Resource
allocated
Allocated Projected
Functionality of
Ward
Committees
All Ward
committees are
functional
N/A N/A N/A N/A
Broader public
participati on
policies and
plans
Communication
Strategy is in
Place
Develop and
Adopt Publi c
Parti cipation
Strategy
Develop and
adopt Publi c
Parti cipation
strategy
NONE No
addi tional
staff
requi red
NONE NONE
Public
Communicati on
systems
Communication
Strategy is in
Place and is
being
implemented
effecti vel y
N/A N/A NONE No
addi tional
staff
requi red
NONE NONE
Complaints
management
systems
Suggestion
Boxes i n all
Tradi tional
authori ties.
Traffi c Stations,
Libraries and
Muni cipal
Offi ces
Document all
acti vi ties into
a complaints
Management
Plan
Document all
acti vi ties into
complaints
Management
Plan.
Council to
adopt the
plan
NONE No
addi tional
Staff
requi red
NONE NONE
Source: MLM, 2010:2-3
5.2.5 Summary of the Findings
Although the LGTAS document signals a shift to a more inclusionary form of DLG, the case study of
MLM does not seem to reflect this shift. Furthermore the MTS has only outlined projects to improve
service delivery, but little is said with regard to improving community participation in governance
issues. From the findings of the field work one can deduce that the inception of the municipal
turnaround strategy has not had a profound impact on both citizenry participation and service
delivery.
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5.3. Analysis of Findings
The LGTAS was established to consolidate the developmental mandate of local government. In the
literature review, the researcher argued the initiative (LGTAS) resulted from a combination of both
political factors as well as the track record of municipal performance. On the one hand, the SLGR
painted a picture of a local government system that is struggling to deliver the objectives of DLG as
set out in the WPLG and on the other hand the Zuma-led ANC has revitalised and renewed the call
for a developmental state. Local government is understood to be the primary expression of a
developmental state. In the words of Jay Naidoo, the post-apartheid first Minister of Local
Government, local government is the “arms and legs” of a developmental state (Schmidt, 2008:
109). DLG is “local government committed to working with citizens and groups within the
community to find sustainable ways to meet their social, economic and material needs and improve
the quality of their lives” (DCD, 1998: 34). Thus, a DLG municipality should be able to carry out the
objects of local government as outlined by the Constitution:
? To provide democratic and accountable government for local communities;
? To ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner;
? To promote social and economic development;
? To promote a safe and healthy environment; and
? To encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in matters of
local government (RSA, 1996: S152).
Academics have highlighted the complexity of challenges hampering the developmental mandate of
municipalities. Pieterse and van Donk (2008) argue that the intergovernmental (IGR) system
presents numerous challenges for the DLG idea. Firstly, Pieterse and van Donk (2008: 62) highlight
the struggle to balance “top-down directives and programmes and bottom up initiatives to address
local priorities” since IDPs are defined as an “expression of governmental investments and activities
in a given locality.” Secondly, the developmental mandate is undermined by a tension between
technical and political accountability. For example, in the delivery of housing, the “over-emphasis on
chasing numerical targets has sidelined more important policy objectives such as spatial integration,
access to economic opportunities for the poor and more environmentally sustainable land use
patterns (Ibid, 63). Also, the developmental agenda for local government is hampered by the
‘prescriptive nature’ of the IGR system. Here, Pieterse and van Donk (2008) argue that the numerous
local government interventions (prescriptions) are not positively affecting the experimental side
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which might enable municipalities to learn from experience. Lastly, the performance of
municipalities is affected by the tension between horizontal and vertical integration (ibid). Municipal
departments tend to overlook the necessity of integration amongst the various organs of the
institutions (horizontal integration) and over-emphasise a need to align better with provincial and
national departments.
Heller (2008) argues that there are two desiderates to DLG, that is, participation and efficiency.
According to Heller (2008), for the realisation of DLG, the two desiderata have to co-exist.
Unfortunately, the South African case is one where efficiency is overly emphasised in an effort to
build institutions that are capable of delivering development. Heller (2008: 153) states that this is
perpetuated by the belief that efficiency and participation cannot co-exist. He states that on the one
hand, ‘technocrats’ “believe that too much participation can overwhelm fragile institutions,” and on
the other hand, ‘associationalists’ “believe that an over-emphasis on institutional building crowds
out civil society.” One of the main findings of the SLGR is that there is a “growing social distance”
(COGTA, 2009b: 24) between communities and municipalities. It is argued that local government is
not accountable to communities. The Constitution clearly states that one of the roles of local
government is to “provide democratic and accountable government for local communities” (RSA,
1996: S3). In this light, the emphasis on institutional building tends to undermine the participatory
element of DLG. These compound the findings of the SGLR: local government is failing the poor; not
working properly; marred by excessive levels of corruption, fraud and maladministration; are centres
of factional conflicts, political infighting and patronage (COGTA, 2009b: 25).
Schmidt (2008: 110) argues that the post-apartheid public administration system is characterised by
three “paradigms of governance; traditional public administration, New Public Management (NPM)
and network governance.” According to Schmidt (2008: 110), the network governance that has
dominated the policy level has been displaced by “more hierarchical and bureaucratic practice.” For
example, Section Six of the LGTAS prescribes areas of interventions for municipalities. The MLM case
study reveals a case whereby a municipality has adopted legislation because it is compiled by
national government to do so. The latter is an illustration that the ethos of NPM is entrenched in
South Africa’s public administration system. In the LGTAS, the intervention framework serves as a
mechanism that is used to manage MTAS. Consequently, the MLM MTAS reflects the focus areas
outlined by the intervention framework of the LGTAS:
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? Basic service delivery;
? Governance;
? Local Economic Development;
? Financial Management; and
? Labour relations.
According to the respondents, the LGTAS has not changed or improved the way in which the
municipality delivers services. For the respondents, the MTAS is a symbolic gesture to show that the
municipality is aligned to the 2014 national vision. The LGTAS states that municipalities must “ensure
that by 2014 all households have access to the minimum standard for each basic service” (COGTA,
2009b: 6). The emphasis on service delivery targets perpetuates the tension between political and
technical accountability. Pieterse and van Donk (2008: 64) point out that the “focus on service
delivery targets (and not sustainable human settlement outcomes and shared growth)
institutionalised in the performance management system tends to structure accountability upwards
and not outwards to citizens and civil society organizations.” This is the practice in MLM because the
MTAS is mainly concerned in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and does not seek
to improve service delivery protocol.
For responsive accountable local government it is imperative to empower communities and ensure
that communities play a meaningful role in the performance management of senior managers and
politicians. There is nothing in the LGTAS to suggest that communities will play a central role in the
performance management of municipalities. The LGTAS states that the “implementation of the
LGTAS will be supported by national government concomitantly addressing a range of longer-term
and more systemic issues that have contributed to failure or distress within local government”
(COGTA, 2009b: 28).These include:
? Intergovernmental co-ordination and support;
? Supervision, monitoring and interventions; and
? Incentives and disincentives (COGTA, 2009b: 28).
Furthermore, the LGTAS states that “in the case of municipalities that are dysfunctional, a special set
of measures based on stronger state intervention must apply to ensure that these municipalities
achieve a basic level of functionality” (COGTA, 2009b: 27). The latter confirms the argument
presented by Schmidt (2008) that the traditional public administration is also entrenched in the
post-apartheid governance system. Performance in the traditional bureaucratic governance is
“about carrying out instructions from above and complying with law” (Schmidt, 2008: 117). The role
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of the DLGH in the formulation of the MLM MTAS seems to suggest a practice of traditional
bureaucratic governance. Pieterse and van Donk (2008: 64) point out that this form of practice
endangers the fundamentals of DLG; “if the accountability pressure points lie upward inside the
governmental system, this part of the democratic design will fail, undermining the developmental
responsiveness of the municipality and raising questions about the quality and depth of the
participatory democracy we are building”.
In the LGTAS, national government recognised that it was demanding the same things from all
municipalities, but because there were differences between them, it realised it should focus on a
more asymmetrical approach in which municipalities would have greater say over what they should
do, and were capable of doing. The MLM case reveals that there is a disjuncture between policy
intent (LGTAS) and practice on the ground.
As it has occurred, MLM did not play a central role during the formulation process of the MTAS. The
DLGH used the LGTAS as master plan to fast track the process. This is because the LGTAS was a
response to the service delivery protests, among other concerns, that sprang up across the country
in 2009. In total, COGTA (2009a) reports that were 52 recorded service delivery protests. All this
occurred on the eve of the March 2011 local government elections. As the ruling party and the party
governing most municipalities in the country, the ANC were aware of the political need to introduce
strategies that could ‘calm’ the situation. There was a need for local government to respond to the
scourge of service delivery protests and this had to happen before the March 2011 ballot. The short-
term goals (pre-2011) played a pivotal role in the manner and process leading to the formulation of
the MTAS for MLM. Parliament approved the LGTAS in December of 2009 and municipalities were
required to have their own by the time of approving the Integrated Development Plans for 2010-
2011 (May/June 2010). Municipalities were given 3-4 months to prepare a turnaround strategy.
The procedure of the MTAS confirms the argument outlined by Heller (2008: 159) that the role of
civil society in “South Africa’s transformative agenda is largely complementary to the goals of the
ANC.” During the preparation of the MTAS, the communities of MLM were not involved. In fact,
members of the municipal bureaucracy were also not involved. This is because the LGTAS was used
as a master plan to prepare the MTAS. The role of MTAS is to ensure that civil society supports the
set out plan of national government to improve municipalities. The emphasis in the MTAS is about
building an efficient institution that is able to mobilise civil society to ensure that civil society plays a
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role in the plan to improve the performance of MLM. The strategy to improve the developmental
nature of local government is produced by the State. This is different from the case of Kerala where
the strategies for development are produced locally and later consolidated into one grand plan. This
is exemplary of network governance wherein strategies are produced through partnerships between
civil society and the State (Schmidt, 2008). In MLM this is not the case because the MTAS is prepared
to solidify the leading role of national government in a developmental state.
5.4 Conclusion
When the LGTAS was tabled in Parliament on the 4th of December, it represented a fundamental
step in South Africa’s developmental programme. The LGTAS brought hope to municipalities and
followed a SLGR wherein government admitted that something was fundamentally wrong with local
government. Also, the euphoria was reinforced by the fact that South Africa had just ushered in a
new government promising to revert to the developmental state idea of the RDP. The general
perception within the ANC-led alliance was that the Zuma-led administration was willing to listen to
the masses, unlike Thabo Mbeki who was accused of operating the Union Buildings like a manager.
Phrases that came to be associated with initiative include the chanting that claimed that the LGTAS
was ‘turning the tide,’ ‘making local government everyone’s business’ and that this represents a
departure from the ‘one size fits all’ approach. However, it seems like this euphoria was not felt at
MLM.
This is chiefly because of the methodology approach of the LGTAS. The LGTAS states that “measures
will be taken to ensure that in those parts of the country, especially rural areas, where severe
poverty and underdevelopment sits side by side with weak municipal capacity, there is a dedicated
focus to augment municipal capacity with delivery through capable institutions at either provincial
or national level” (COGTA, 2009b: 24). The MTAS for MLM was prepared by the provincial
Department of Local Government and Housing. Consequently, the intervention framework of the
LGTAS was used as a master plan for the MTAS. This is to ensure that the priorities of MLM are
aligned to the overall developmental vision of the country. For example the MTAS is not about
improving the status quo of service delivery in the municipality but is mainly to ensure that the
service delivery targets of the municipality are in line with the MDGs. Also, the call to make ‘local
government everyone’s business’ does not entail a ‘people driven development’ as is the case in the
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state of Kerala. It is about mobilising the organs of civil society to support and play an active role in
governments plan to remedy local government.
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Chapter 6: Conclusion and
Recommendations
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6.1. Introduction
The research report was set out to understand how the LGTAS sought to consolidate DLG. To
capture this, MLM was used as a case study. Has the LGTAS enhanced citizen participation and
service delivery in the case of the Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality? The research was instituted
to find out this. The aim of this chapter is twofold: to reflect on the main findings from the study and
to suggest a way forward for DLG in MLM. In the conclusion, the findings of Makhuduthamaga case
are linked to the broader DLG trajectory. Also the overview of the chapters is outlined. The
recommendations section outlines some of points that need to be considered in order to realise
DLG.
6.2 Conclusion
This report has examined government’s ambition to consolidate DLG through the LGTAS. The case
study of MLM was selected to determine the impact of the LGTAS at a municipal level. DLG has been
conceptualised by the government as the bedrock for a developmental state, and numerous local
government support mechanisms have been formulated over the years to facilitate it. So far, the
performance of local government in meeting its Constitutional mandate and functioning as DLG is
not impressive, and it is evident that despite considerable support many municipalities are unable to
play their developmental role. The study and the SLGR, as well as numerous other documents and
scholarships have shown that there is no one solution to explain the situation, due to the complex
and dynamic nature. However, this has not discouraged the government’s ambition of DLG, because
the vision to build a developmental state remains the core policy of the ANC-led government and,
the LGTAS is one of the latest national initiatives to reaffirm its centrality.
The study began by using the story of Plaatjes to metaphorically consider the history of DLG in South
Africa. DLG is yet to be realised, despite the numerous ‘boats’ built over the years. The LGTAS should
be understood as yet another ‘boat’ that has been built to ensure DLG. For Heller (2008), DLG is born
from two desiderata: participation and efficiency. The latter sees institutional building as the best
viable option for DLG and the former urges DLG to occur through vigorous civil society participation.
He argues that in South Africa the efficiency side of the equation is highly developed, in contrast to
the participation side of the equation. This is the case because participation has suffered from many
conventional zero-sum assumptions that pervade the literature on decentralisation (Heller, 2008:
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157). This includes the assumption that the two desiderata of DLG cannot co-exist. The LGTAS did
not emerge in a vacuum. Instead, it has been strongly influenced by South Africa’s post-1994 public
administration system. International emphasis on good governance and its association with
decentralisation, democratisation and NPM are some of the policy positions that informed the
transition to a democratic South Africa. The LGTAS does not only reaffirm a decentralised form of
governance but also emphasises the principles of NPM.
The adoption of NPM by the South African public administration had more in common with the
second wave associated with the Third Way politics of the 1990s, rather than the earlier neo-liberal
project of the 1980s. Under the Third Way, NPM is presented as a system that adheres to free
market policies and also acknowledges the need for progressive ideals such as “building community,
inclusion, participation, poverty alleviation and integration” (Harrison, 2006: 189). Harrison (2006)
identifies three key elements of NPM in the IDP process: joined-up government, performance
management and participatory governance. These have played a significant role in the way local
government has sought to become developmental. Joined-up government emphasises the co-
ordination and integration of policies and plans between different government entities (Harrison,
2006: 190). Long and Franklin (2004, in Harrison, 2006: 190) define joined-up government as a top-
down direction for bottom-up implementation. This definition captures South Africa’s DLG
experience.
In South Africa, centralism is legislated through the Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Act of 2005.
Harrison (2006) argues that this is designed to consolidate the power of national government. The
emphasis on co-ordination and integration is noted by Harrison et al (2008: 71) who argue that 2004
represented a shift in ANC thinking from the orthodox neo-liberal (GEAR) to the notion of a
Developmental State. The shift is associated with strengthening the leading role of national
government in the developmental agenda. This dovetails the argument presented by Pieterse and
van Donk (2008: 62) who argue that the IDP changed from a tool that represented a coalition of local
debates to one that was seen as an expression of governmental investments and activities in a given
locality. Thus, the IGR system consolidates the developmental role of municipalities as implementers
of policies set up by national government (Harrison, 2006).
The focus on joined-up government and performance management has led to the marginalisation of
civil society. Participatory governance has not taken the shape of a people-driven process but rather
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one wherein citizens are passengers to a state-led development process (Harrison, 2006: 192). This
confirms Vigoda’s concern that participatory governance has been met by “a lower willingness to
share, participate, collaborate and partner with citizens” (Vigoda in Harrison, 2006: 192). The
combination of joined-up government and performance management with participatory governance
presents numerous contradictions and challenges for municipalities.
These challenges have undermined the ability of municipalities to deliver DLG. Pieterse and van
Donk (2008) outline some of these challenges:
? Top-down direction for bottom-up implementation dilutes the strategic aspect of IDP;
? Focus on performance management tends to undermine local issues by concentrating on
service delivery targets;
? The prescriptive nature of local government intervention hampers the experimentalism of
municipalities; and
? Emphasis on vertical integration with national and provincial government can undermine the
horizontal integration of municipal departments (Pieterse and van Donk, 2008).
Nine years into the new local government system there are worrying trends and signs that are
undermining the progress and successes achieved thus far. The country faces a great development
risk if local government fails. The “Local Government Turnaround Strategy is therefore aimed at
counteracting those forces that are undermining our Local Government system” (COGTA, 2009b: 3).
Three years on, to what extent has the LGTAS addressed the challenges to achieving DLG? This study
examined the LGTAS in the light of one of the worst performing municipalities. The case study of
MLM begins to reveal the implications of LGTAS for DLG. The analysis of the LGTAS in Chapter Three
revealed that government is prioritising the need to change the ‘social distance’ between
communities and municipalities. Municipalities are urged to ensure that communities play a
meaningful role in the endeavor to obtain nationally defined objectives. Thus, a participatory
element is evident in the LGTAS. Thus, the LGTAS can be understood as an attempt to reignite
participation in a highly technocratic development planning system. Community participation in the
LGTAS, however, does not entail an outright call for network governance wherein the population is a
co-producer of development strategy (Schmidt, 2008: 112).
However, the over-emphasis on joined-up government and performance management of the LGTAS
continues the earlier overly technocratic approach to governance. Although the issue of
participation comes out strongly, the LGTAS seems to continue the earlier approach to DLG through
an emphasis on institutional building and intergovernmental planning. With this approach come the
problems that arise from institutionalising participation (Heller, 2008) and the legacy of poor
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communication between council and communities (Pieterse, 2007: 10). If an unbalanced emphasis
continues, local government will continue to be hampered by the lack of citizen participation and a
failure to achieve DLG. The South African experience of DLG has shown that incapacitated
municipalities will struggle to achieve the objectives of DLG. As an appropriate response, Heller
(2008) is correct to call for the co-existence of both desiderata of DLG. Some emphasis on institution
building is critical to improve weak capacity and thus should not be done away with altogether.
The findings from the case study show that the municipality is primarily concerned with the
institutional impediments to DLG. Limited resources, an unskilled labour force, shortage in the
labour force and the IGR system were raised as obstacles to the municipality’s mandate to deliver
DLG. As the findings reveal, participation was seldom raised as an issue that has to be tackled.
Although the slogan of the LGTAS is that ‘Local Government is Everybody’s Business’; the MLM
community was not even included in the preparation of the MTAS. This is because a top-down
approach was followed in formulating the strategy. The formulation process followed is testimony
that the LGTAS has not changed the decision making process. Institutional building is still at the
forefront of DLG; while participation seems to be an ignored issue. According to Heller (2008: 159),
one of the aftermath scenarios of the 1994 elections was that the ANC consolidated power by
replacing “structures and processes that were originally presented as providing autonomous spaces
for civil participation in DLG with more technocratic forms of decision making.” A participatory
interpretation of DLG runs the risk of disfiguring the consolidated power.
It was found that only one of the interviewees was aware of the LGTAS and MTS. In fact, most of the
interviewees were not aware of the DLG concept. The responded argued that service delivery in the
municipality was ‘business as usual’. This was also the case for community participation. It was found
that the LGTAS has had none or little impact on service delivery and participation in the municipality.
This means that the LGTAS has not had a significant impact on vulnerability experienced by many in
MLM.
6.3. Recommendations
The LGTAS has reaffirmed that DLG is at the forefront of South Africa’s developmental trajectory.
Central to this trajectory is the idea of building a developmental state. The LGTAS captures the
importance of local government: local government is a key part of the reconstruction and
80 | P a g e
development effort in our country. The aims of democratising our society and growing our economy
inclusively can only be realized through a “responsive, accountable, effective and efficient Local
Government system that is part of a Developmental State” (COGTA, 2009b: 3). However this has to
be balanced by a rigorous participatory process that seeks to ensure that the MLM community is
part of the developmental programme.
To date, the SLGR represents the most extensive exercise that government has undertaken to issues
affecting local government. The SGLR found that the majority of municipalities are struggling to
discharge their developmental agenda. The findings echo the concerns in the academic literature
suggesting that municipalities in South Africa are far from the achieving the objectives of WPLG. The
constraints include: weaknesses in the accountability systems; capacity and skills constraints; and
weak intergovernmental support and oversight (COGTA, 2009a: 3). Some of these challenges are
institutionally self-inflicted constraints. For instance, weak accountable systems lead to corruption,
maladministration and nepotism. Positively, the LGTAS covers these challenges extensively, and its
progressive prescriptions are likely to have the potential to consolidate the developmental agenda
of local government in MLM.
One such intervention is that both national and provincial government support incapacitated
municipalities like MLM. MLM is geographically disadvantaged and is not going to attract the type of
expertise one would find in more affluent municipalities like the Johannesburg Metropolitan
Municipality or Polokwane Local Municipality. The municipality is situated in one of the poorest and
rural districts in the country and will inevitably struggle to attract the skills needed to realise DLG.
The decentralisation of skilled personal from national and provincial government to support the
municipality is, therefore, a welcomed intervention. However, national and provincial government
should support capacity building instead of taking charge of municipal affairs. This should only
happen if the municipality has been placed under administration. Following the examples of the
Department of Health, skilled personnel can be incentivised to work in state institutions in rural
areas. An incentive like that of Department of Health, wherein a rural allowance is used to lure skills
to rural areas can go long way in addressing the incapacity of municipalities like MLM.
Incapacity is not the only factor hampering DLG in rural municipalities. According to the SLGR (2009),
municipalities are often centres of corruption, maladministration and nepotism. The professional
ethics governing municipal officials has not only been questioned by the SLGR but concerns have
also been raised in the literature. Thus, it would be necessary for the municipality to ensure that it is
not characterised by these negative perceptions. In this regard, the principles of NPM emanating
from the LGTAS are pivotal for DLG in MLM. These include the call to:
81 | P a g e
? Professional administration that supports the political vision contained in the electoral
mandate;
? Properly constitute corporate services, technical services and financial management
functions, including recruitment and skills retention policies ensuring right people in the
right job; and
? Provision of basic services and ensuring every cent spent is well considered and accounted
for – value for money (COGTA, 2009b: 21).
Adhering to these principles will ensure the efficiency of MLM. An efficiently run institution will
ensure that the municipality responds quickly to challenges. Often municipalities are not efficiently
operated and consequently respond late to challenges that were raised a long way back. Responding
late to challenges is problematic because dynamics change over time and thus solutions which might
have been appropriate then might not be the answer for today. It is important to acknowledge that
the efficiency of municipalities to respond to the needs of communities is also dependent on the IGR
system. Thus, the efficiency issue can sometimes be beyond the scope of municipalities and
questions the broad IGR system. In this light the call to review the IGR system is welcomed. As
mentioned before it is important to balance efficiency with participation to realize DLG. To balance
the equation, the ideas of Gaventa (2002) on participation are pivotal.
Gaventa (2002: 29) notes that there is a “growing gap” between ordinary people and government in
both developed and developing world. In other words, the finding of the SLGR that there is a social
distance between communities and local government is actually a global phenomenon. To avert this
in MLM there is a need to reconstruct the “relationship between ordinary people and the
institutions”. In the interview the Senior Manager mentioned that the community is not aware that
they have a role to play in the developmental agenda. For DLG to occur the attitude of merely
understanding communities as customers or citizens towards local government has to be addressed.
This is possible through education forums wherein the municipality should educate the public about
their role. The second recommendation by Gaventa (2002) relates directly to the shortcomings of
DLG South Africa. He argues that in order to rebuild the relationship between government and
citizens the approach must go beyond “civil society or state-based approaches” (Gaventa, 2002: 30).
To ensure participation in MLM it is crucial to improve both the institutional mechanisms used by
the municipality to engage the community (capacity building) whilst improving the platform for
citizenry participation. Here, the focus should be on the intersections between the two sets of
approaches (“civil society or state-based) to “create new forms of participation, responsiveness and
accountability” (Gaventa, 2002: 30).
82 | P a g e
According to one of the Community Liaison Officers, the MLM has been able to mobilise community
participation through relations with Tribal Authorities. This is good because it does not only
capitalise on the existing structures of participation but also acknowledges and preserves the
traditional power dynamics of the community. However, the municipality has to be cautious in this
approach. Conflict of interest is inevitable because the Tribal Leaders are also members of Council.
Harrison (2001) and Pieterse and van Donk (2008) argue that national government is unresponsive
to the priorities of local communities. Therefore, the role of Tribal Leaders as representative of
communities whilst serving Council needs to be monitored. This dovetails the third recommendation
presented by Gaventa (2002).
According to Gaventa (2002: 30) it is critical to “re-thinking about the ways in which citizens’ voices
are represented in the political process and a re-conceptualisation of the meanings of participation
and citizenship in relationship to local governance”. There needs to be a “more direct connection”
(Gaventa, 2002: 30) between communities and municipalities. MLM can achieve these by setting up
structures that will complement the current representative system wherein communities are
represented by both elected and traditional leaders. For a more robust civil society in MLM, it is
essential for the municipality to create avenues of inclusionary governance.
Fourthly, any form of citizenry participation has to be weary of power dynamics communities. For
participation to thrive in MLM; the municipality has to ensure that the process is representative of
all voices and is not captured by the local elites. Gaventa (2002) warns that decentralisation often
empowers the local elites and therefore democratic outcomes of participatory local government
ignore the plight of the poor. Lastly, it is necessary for MLM to create an enabling environment for
participation to thrive. The principles of Empowered Deliberative Democracy (EDD) are important in
this regard:
? focusing on specific, tangible problems;
? involving ordinary people affected by these problems and officials close to them;
? deliberately developing solutions to these problems;
? devolving public decision making authority;
? formalising linkages of responsibility, resource distribution and communication; and
? using and generating new state institutions to support and guide these efforts (Gaventa,
2011: 33).
83 | P a g e
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Appendix
Interview Questions (Municipal Manager/Senior Official)
(1)
? What do you think are the objectives of DLG?
Developmental Local Government
? Has the municipality been able to reach these objectives?
? If not, what impedi ments do you think the municipality has encountered in its
endeavour to deliver DLG?
? What has been the role of interventions like Project Consolidate and Five Year Local
Government Strategic Agenda in aiding the municipality to deliver DLG?
(2)
? Do you think that the LGTAS differs substantially from these the previ ous national
programmes that were designed to support municipalities? If so, in what way?
The emergence of LGTAS
? Do you think that the LGTAS is a necessary intervention for MLM? If so, what can be
improved using the LGTAS?
? Do you think it (LGTAS) to responds to actual problems/challenges that are
experienced by the municipality? If so, what are some of these challenges?
? Do its recommendations seem realistic/feasible?
?
(3)
? What process was followed in the formulation of the municipal TAS?
The Process of formulating the Municipal TAS
? How long did this process take and what did it entail?
? Which stakeholders were involved in the different stages of the process, and how?
? According to the LGTAS municipalities are required to tailor-make thei r own TAS,
reflects on their strengths and weaknesses and identify and manage appropriate
interventions, and focus on localised issues. Do you think the MLM has done this? If
so, how did it go about doing this? What are its strengths and weaknesses? What are
the appropriate interventions and how will they be managed? What are the key
localised issues?
(4) 'Meeting basic service needs of communities
? What have been the key service delivery issues in the municipality?
(This is outlined as one of the
objectives of the LGTAS and is used in the questionnaire)
? What are some of the challenges the municipality has encountered in dealing with
these service delivery issues?
? Do you think the municipal TAS is addressing these obstacles? If so, how does it aim
to deal with the service delivery issues?
? Do you think the TAS has changed the way in which the municipality responds to
services delivery issues? If so, how?
? Does the track record suggest that the TAS has improved service delivery in the
municipality? If so, can you mention any successful projects that have resulted from
the TAS? Importantly, why do you regard these projects successful?
(5) 'Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities and civil society'
? How would you describe the relationship between these stakeholders before the
inception of the TAS? Was it tense and difficult, co-operative and trusting, or
passive?
is another LGTAS objective
? The SLGR points out that there is lack of service delivery in the municipality. Given
this point, have there been demonstration in the form protests on the part of the
community like elsewhere in the country to voice their dissatisfaction? If not, what
do you attribute this to?
? Has the TAS had a positive impact on the relations of these stakeholders? If so, how?
? Do you think there is a link between this LGTAS Objective and improved service
delivery? If so, how has this happened in MLM?
? Is the municipality's TAS building a partnership/social compact between these
stakeholders, as required by the LGTAS? If so, what are some of the measures that
have been adopted to ensure that local government is 'everybody's business'? Is it
linked to other programmes, e.g service delivery?
?
(6) How would you describe relationship between the municipality and the community?
? Do you think that LGTAS and the municipality's TAS mark a
Mapping a way Forward
change in the way in
? What would you regard as shortcomings of the LGTAS? What recommendations
would you make to improve the Municipal Turnaround Strategy?
which (local) government is doing things? Or is it 'business as usual'?
? What you regard as the shortcomings of the municipal TAS? How would you improve
the TAS?
Interview Questions (Community Liaison Officer)
(7)
? How do you understand the concept of DLG?
Developmental Local Government
? One of the main characteristics of DLG is ‘democratising development, empowering
and redistributing’. Do you thi nk that the municipality has been able to deliver on
this objective? If so, how? What are the obstacles/challenges in implementing this
characteristic?
? How would you describe the relationship between the municipality and the
community? Does it enable DLG?
? How has the relationship impacted upon past local government support programmes
like Project Consolidate?
? The LGTAS states that communities have lost confidence in municipalities as primary
service delivery provider. Do you think that this is the case in this area? How do
communities view the municipality?
?
(8)
? Do you think that the LGTAS differs substantially from these the previ ous national
programmes (e.g Project Consolidate) insofar as communi ty engagement is
concerned? If so, in what way?
The emergence of LGTAS
? Do you think the LGTAS responds to the challenges the municipality is facing
regarding community engagement?
? Have you begun to implement some of the recommendations outlined in the LGTAS?
Are they feasible/realistic?
(9)
? Was the community involved in the formulation process? If so, how?
The Process of formulating the Municipal TAS
? Do you think the community understands the TAS (process and objectives)?
? Do you think that the TAS addresses the concerns of citizens in the area?
(10) 'Meeting basic service needs of communities’
? Is the community content with the provision of basic services in the municipality? If
not, which deliverables are they dissatisfied about?
? How have they expressed their dissatisfaction?
? Are communication channels between communities and the municipalities effective?
Can you comment on the roles of the ward councillors, ward committees and CDWs.
? Does the TAS respond to the concerns of residents? If so, how?
(11) 'Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities and civil
society'
? Do you think that the municipal TAS marks a change in the way in which the MLM
engages the community or is it 'business as usual'? if so, how?
? What are some of the programmes that have been adopted in the municipal TAS to
ensure that community participation occurs? What is the role of the community in
this regard?
? Do you think the TAS has strengthened the relationship bonds between the
municipality and the community? If so, what has been done through the TAS
programmes that were not done before?
? How has the municipal TAS made local government ‘everybody’s business’?
? Do you thi nk improved relations between the parties could lead to improved service
delivery?
(12)
? What would you regard as shortcomings of the TAS insofar as community
engagements are concerned? If any, what i mprovements or alternatives to the
current approach woul
Mapping a way Forward
d you suggest and why?
Interview Questions Project Manager
? What do you think are the objectives of DLG?
? Has the municipality been able to reach these objectives?
? If not, what impedi ments do you think the municipality has encountered in its
endeavour to deliver DLG?
What has been the role of interventions like Project Consolidate and Five Year Local
Government Strategic Agenda in aiding the municipality to deliver DLG
(13)
? How does it (municipal TAS) compare to previous programmes (such as Project
Consolidate) in terms of facilitating service delivery?
The emergence of LGTAS
? Do you think the municipal TAS responds to the challenges faced by project
managers in service delivery?
? How would you rate service delivery in the municipality after the inception of the
LGTAS? why do you think this is the case?
?
(14)
? Were you consulted during the formulation process of the TAS? If so, which issues
pertaining service delivery did you highlight, or have been included/addressed?
The Process of formulating the Municipal TAS
(15) 'Meeting basic service needs of communities’
? What are the basic service needs of communities? How are they being met by the
municipality?
? Has the municipal TAS impacted upon the way services are delivered in the
municipality or it ‘business as usual’? If so, how?
(16) The LGTAS outlines the minimum standard service delivery targets for 2014.
Do you think that project managers can use municipal TAS to ensure that these
targets are met 'Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities
and civil society'
? Do you think that the municipal TAS has strengthened relations between the
community a
nd the municipality? If so, has this led to improved service delivery and
why do
you think this has been the case?
(17)
? Do you think that the municipal TAS adequatedly addresses service delivery
challenges in the municipality? How could it be improved?
Mapping a way Forward
Interview Questions (Councillors)
(18) Developmental Local Government
? How do you understand the concept of DLG?
? Has the MLM been able to deliver on the objectives of DLG? If so, what measures
have been taken to ensure that MLM delivers on these objectives?
? Do you think the municipality can improve the way in which it has delivered DLG? If
so, what should the municipality improve?
? What impediments do you think the municipality has encountered in its endeavour
to deliver DLG?
(19)
? What does the LGTAS mean for you? What do you think is the main purpose of the
LGTAS?
The emergence of LGTAS
? Did its recommendations seem realistic/feasible?
(20)
? What was the role of the councillors during the formulation process of the TAS?
The Process of formulating the Municipal TAS
? Were ward committees involved in the process? How?
? How were the municipal challenges determined?
? What is the role of councillors in the implementation of the TAS?
? Do you think that the municipal TAS will address the challenges faced by the
municipality?
?
(21) Meeting basic service needs of communities
? What have been the key service delivery issues in the municipality?
? What are some of the challenges the municipality has encountered in dealing with
these service delivery issues?
? Do you think the municipal TAS addresses these obstacles? If so, how does it aim to
deal with the service delivery issues?
? Do you think the TAS has changed the way in which the municipality responds to
service delivery issues? If so, how?
? Does the track record thus far suggest that the TAS has improved service delivery in
the municipality? If so, can you mention any successful projects that have resulted
from the TAS? Importantly, why do you regard these projects successful?
(22) 'Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities and civil
society'
Was the community informed on what the municipal TAS entails? If so, how?
?
? How would you describe the relationship between these stakeholders before the
inception of the TAS? Was it tense and difficult, co-operative and trusting, or
passive?
? The SLGR points out that there is lack of service delivery in the municipality. Given
this point, have there been demonstration in the form protests on the part of the
community like elsewhere in the country to voice their dissatisfaction? If not, what
do you attribute this to?
? Has the TAS had a positive impact on the relations of these stakeholders? If so, how?
? Do you think there is a link between this LGTAS Objective and improved service
delivery? If so, how has this happened in MLM?
? Is the municipality's TAS building a partnership/social compact between these
stakeholders, as required by the LGTAS? If so, what are some of the measures that
have been adopted to ensure that local government is 'everybody's business'?
? How would you compare the municipal’s engagement during the pre and post
introducti on of the TAS with the community?
(23)
? Do you think the municipal turnaround strategy adequately addresses the challenges
faced by the municipality? How would you improve it?
Mapping a way Forward
doc_702357024.pdf
Consolidating Developmental Local Government Through The Local Government Turnaround
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Consolidating Developmental Local
Government through the Local
Government Turnaround Strategy: The
Case Study of Makhuduthamaga Local
Municipality
Tshepo Albia Monakedi
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of
the Witwatersrand in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in
Development Planning.
Johannesburg, May 2012
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DECLARATION
I declare that this is my own unaided work and that, it has never been submitted before in this or
any other university for examination.
Signed..............................on this.............day of.........................2012
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DEDICATION
For my Parents
REP - MO
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This dissertation could not have been completed without the help and support of the following
people:
My Supervisor (Amanda Williamson), Thank you for patience, support and guidance
My Parents (Rep-Mo), your support is priceless
My Siblings (Neo, Bonolo, Mothekgi, Phetho), Love you always
To Tshepiso NM, love you still’
To all my friends especially Phasha the commander of the troops, Thanks
Last but not least, I would like to thank the Officials of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality for their
participation in the study.
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ABSTRACT
In 2009 the State of Local Government Report (SLGR) found that municipalities across were
struggling to deliver the developmental objective of the White Paper on Local Government. The goal
to build Developmental Local Government (DLG) has not been achieved despite the numerous
interventions that have been introduced over the years to support local government. Following the
diagnosis by the SGLR the Local Government Turnaround Strategy (LGTAS) was introduced as an
intervention to support and complement municipal programmes. In this report, the case study of
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (MLM) was used to investigate the impact of the LGTAS on the
aspirations to deliver on the objectives of DLG. MLM is situated in the Sekhukhune Region (southern
region) of Limpopo Province and is one of the poorest municipalities in South Africa. Thus, the study
investigated the impact of the LGTAS in a ‘distressed’ municipality that does not have the capacity to
execute its developmental mandate.
One of the main factors that is often cited to explain South Africa’s inability to deliver DLG is that
municipalities tend to focus more on institutional building and thus sideline the issue of community
participation. In this regard, the influence of the New Public Management is pointed out. Although
the South African Constitution provides for a decentralised developmental planning system that is
‘bottom- up’ in approach, evidence suggest that community participation in municipal programmes
has been minimal. Instead of a ‘bottom-up’ approach, the development planning system is
characterised by a ‘top- down’ approach wherein municipal programmes are formulated by national
and provincial government. The lack of citizen participation is acknowledged by the LGTAS. In fact,
the LGTAS attempts to create a platform where both community participation and institutional
building can occur simultaneously.
The study reveals that the impact of the LGTAS in the case of MLM has not been significant in
improving community participation and service delivery which is a key indicator of a municipality
that is able to deliver on its developmental mandate. The minimal impact of the LGTAS in MLM has
been due to a number of factors which include the ‘top-down’ process followed to formulate
Municipal Turnaround Strategy. To improve community participation, the report suggests that MLM
should seek new ideas that have the potential to accentuate the existing measures. In this regard
the ideas of presented by Gaventa (2002) are pivotal. Importantly, the report also outlines
institutional building as a prerequisite for a good function municipality.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Abbreviations....................................................................................................................... vii
List of Tables.................................................................................................................................... ix
List of Figures ................................................................................................................................... x
List of Maps ..................................................................................................................................... xi
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................1
1.1. Background to the Study...........................................................................................................2
1.2. Developmental Local Government.............................................................................................2
1.3. The Genealogy of ‘Good Governance’ and the Emergence of New Public Management................3
1.4. Good Governance in South Africa and the Rise of Institutional Reform........................................5
1.5. Developmental Local Government and the Local Government Turnaround Strategy ....................6
1.6. Problem Statement ..................................................................................................................7
1.7. Research Question...................................................................................................................9
1.8. Methodology .........................................................................................................................10
1.9. Ethical Issues..........................................................................................................................12
1.10. Rationale..............................................................................................................................12
1.11. Chapter Outline....................................................................................................................13
Chapter 2: Literature Review and Conceptual Framework.............................................................16
2.1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................17
2.2 ‘Good’ Governance: A Historical Perspective.............................................................................17
2.2.1. From Democracy to Neo-Liberalism: Shifts in ‘Good Governance’...........................................20
2.3. New Public Management and Public Administration in South Africa..........................................24
2.3.1 South Africa’s Reconstruction and the Third Way Approach....................................................25
2.4. Public Administration in the Post-Apartheid Era.......................................................................26
2.4.1. Towards Developmental Local Government..........................................................................26
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2.4.2. Developmental Local Government: The Experience thus Far ..................................................28
2.5. Conclusion.............................................................................................................................31
Chapter 3: Analysis of the Local Government Turnaround Strategy ..............................................34
3.1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................35
3.2 Background to the LGTAS.........................................................................................................35
3.3 Overview of the LGTAS ............................................................................................................37
3.4 Analysis of the LGTAS ..............................................................................................................44
3.5 Conclusion..............................................................................................................................47
Chapter 4: Overview of the Case Study Area: Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ....................49
4.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................50
4.2 Physical location......................................................................................................................50
4.3 Historical Background..............................................................................................................52
4.4 Demographic Profile................................................................................................................52
4. 5 Basic Services.........................................................................................................................55
4.5.1. Water .................................................................................................................................55
4.5.2. Sanitation............................................................................................................................56
4.5.3. Electricity............................................................................................................................57
4.5.4. Housing...............................................................................................................................57
4.6 The IDP Institutional Organization............................................................................................58
4.7. Conclusion.............................................................................................................................59
Chapter 5: Findings and Analysis ....................................................................................................60
5.1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................61
5.2 The Research Findings .............................................................................................................61
5.2.1 The Emergence of the LGTAS.................................................................................................63
5.2.2 The Process of Formulating the Makhuduthamaga Turnaround Strategy .................................64
5.2.3 Meeting Basic Needs of Communities....................................................................................65
5.2.4 Strengthen Partnerships Between Local Government, Communities and Civil Society...............67
5.2.5 Summary of the Findings.......................................................................................................68
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5.3. Analysis of Findings ................................................................................................................69
5.4 Conclusion..............................................................................................................................73
Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations ...............................................................................75
6.1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................76
6.2 Conclusion..............................................................................................................................76
6.3. Recommendations..................................................................................................................79
7. REFERENCE LIST............................................................................................................................83
8. APPENDIX ....................................................................................................................................88
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ANC - African National Congress
ASGI-SA - Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa
COGTA - Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs
DFA - Development Facilitation Act
DLG - Developmental Local Government
DLGH - Department of Local Government and Housing
GEAR - Growth, Employment and Redistribution Strategy
IDP - Integrated Development Plan
IGR - Intergovernmental Relations
KPIs - Key Performance Indicators
LDOs - Land Development Objectives
LGTAS - Local Government Turnaround Strategy
MLM - Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality
MSA - Municipal Systems Act
MFMA – Municipal Financial Management Act
MTAS - Municipal Turnaround Strategy
NPM - New Public Management
RDP - Reconstruction and Development Programme
SGLR - State of Local Government Report
TAS - Turnaround Strategy
UN ESCAP - United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Public Administration Paradigms ..........................................................................................32
Table 2: Breakdown of the Race Groups in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ................................52
Table 3: Employment Profile in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality .................................................54
Table 4: Household Income in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ...................................................54
Table 5: Water Backlog in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality .........................................................56
Table 6: Access to Sanitation in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality .................................................56
Table 7: Sources of Energy for Lighting in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ..................................57
Table 8: Access to Housing in Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ....................................................57
Table 9: Municipal Turnaround Strategy for Basic Services .................................................................66
Table 10: Municipal Turnaround Strategy for Participation .................................................................68
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: : Characteristics/Elements of Good Governance ..................................................................18
Figure 2: Graphical representation of the governance philosophy under Traditional Bureaucracy .........22
Figure 3: Graphical representation of the governance philosophy under New Public Management .......23
Figure 4: Graphical representation of the National Development Planning System ..............................30
Figure 5: Graph depicting the number of Service Delivery Protests from 2004 - 2009 ...........................37
Figure 6: Institutional Framework for the Local Government Turnaround Strategy ..............................44
Figure 7: Graphical representation of the Age Distribution of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality .....53
Figure 8: Graphical representation of Household Access to Water In Makhuduthaga Local
Municipality ....................................................................................................................................55
Figure 9: Organogram representing the IDP Institutional Process of Makhuduthamaga Local
Municipality ....................................................................................................................................58
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LIST OF MAPS
Map 1: Location Map of Sekhukhune District Municipality illustrating the position of
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ................................................................................................11
Map 2: Location Map of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality ...........................................................51
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Chapter 1: Introduction
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1. 1. Background to the Study
Burger (2009: 6) argues that the primary reason behind the wave of service delivery protests is
“dissatisfaction with the delivery of basic municipal services such as running water, electricity and
toilets, especially in informal settlements.” To ameliorate these, the Department of Cooperative and
Traditional Affairs (COGTA) launched the Local Government Turnaround Strategy (LGTAS) in
December 2009. The LGTAS represents the most recent initiative introduced by government to
promote the effective functioning of municipalities in its aim to facilitate Development Local
Government (DLG). The analogy used by Schmidt (2008) best captures the struggles of municipalities
to oversee DLG. In From Spheres to Tiers – Conceptions of Local Government in South Africa in the
Period 1994-2006, David Schmidt draws parallels between local government policy in South Africa
and the story of Plaatjes, a prisoner on Robben Island. Plaatjes built numerous boats in an attempt
to reach mainland Cape Town, but unfortunately passed away before realising his dream because
the authorities kept on destroying the boats (Smith, 1997; Schmidt, 2008). For Schmidt (2008: 109)
“the story of Plaatjes serves as a metaphor for how local government policy in South Africa has
functioned over the past decade” because “new boats are continuously being built” to trigger DLG
with little success to show for it. The intention of this research report is to explore whether the most
recent initiative, the LGTAS signals a more successful effort to bring about DLG in South African
municipalities. In other words, is the LGTAS the boat that can finally carry DLG to the mainland?
1.2. Developmental Local Government
Developmental Local Government (DLG) is defined by the White Paper on Local Government as
“local government committed to working with citizens and groups within the community to find
sustainable ways to meet their social, economic and material needs and improve the quality of their
lives” (PACD, 1998: 1). According to Section 40 (1) of the Constitution, “government is constituted as
national, provincial and local spheres of government which are distinctive, interdependent and
interrelated.” The roles of local government are outlined as the following:
? To provide democratic and accountable government for local communities;
? To ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner;
? To promote social and economic development;
? To promote a safe and healthy environment; and
? To encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in matters of
local government (DCD, 1996: S152).
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Hence, local government in South Africa has been earmarked to play a pivotal role in the “overall
developmental ambitions” (Pieterse, 2008: 3) of the developmental state. Therefore, DLG refers to
creating local government systems that will meet the aforementioned objectives of local
government through working together with the community (PACD, 1998). Further, the DLG concept
in South Africa was strongly influenced by the broader context of the international policy focus on
good governance.
1.3. The Genealogy of ‘Good Governance’ and the Emergence of New Public Management
Schalkwijk argues that “effective democratic local government can, in theory, contribute to poverty
alleviation through a chain of causal relationships, starting with increased participation by the urban
poor which should lead to increased representation and thus to empowerment, in turn leading to
the poor having increased access to resources” (Schalkwijk in Gilbert, 2006: 401). The growing
dominance of democracy as the ideal political ideology is promoted by the shift away from earlier
technocratic institutions to new practices of good governance. Cheema and Rondinelli (2007: 6)
define governance as “the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority in the
management of a country’s affairs.” Against this background, good governance can be understood
as the shift from “authoritarian, totalitarian, and dictatorial” forms of governance to a system that
adheres to democratic values through the inclusion of various stakeholders in government’s decision
making (Cheema and Rondinelli, 2007: 2).
Against this backdrop, the concept of governance expanded from the definition that envisaged the
state as the “dominant source of political and legal decision making” to one which opened up
channels for other stakeholders in society (NGOs, civil society, private sector) to have a say in issues
of governance. From this perspective, good governance encompasses a government that is
transparent, representative, and participatory (UN-Habitat in Devas, 2004) hence the push towards
decentralisation. Decentralisation was a way of bringing government closer to the people not only to
ensure participation, democracy and representative but also to position government so that it is
more responsive to the needs of the people.
Heller (2008) argues that there are two components to good governance. On the one hand,
“technocrats” promote efficiency, believing that too much participation can overwhelm institutions.
On the other hand, “associationalists” emphasise the need for increased participation, arguing that
“an over-emphasis on institution building crowds out civil society” (Heller, 2008: 153). This
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distinction between the technocrats and associationalists is embedded in the different
interpretations of good governance. For technocrats, good governance involves building government
institutions that are able to meet the needs of the people, whilst the interpretation by the
associationalists entails a more inclusive and consultative way of delivering government services.
The two-fold interpretation of good governance is rooted in the early 1980s, when there was a shift
from the political decentralisation in the good governance agenda. According to Beard et al. (2008:
3), the 1980s saw a shift in the good governance agenda from the “logic of political devolution and
democratisation to neo-liberal economic policies.” This was fuelled by the rise of neo-liberalism and
closely associated with the New Public Management (NPM) of the 1980s. The first wave of NPM
swept through countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States
of America (Rondinelli, 2007). Under NPM, governments were encouraged to adopt a handful of free
market policy principles, including the following:
? Catalytic - governments should steer rather than row and see that services are provided
rather than always delivering them directly;
? Mission-driven rather than rule-bound, setting goals and allowing employees to find the best
ways of meeting objectives;
? Customer-driven in meeting the needs of citizens rather than those of the bureaucracy;
? Enterprising - in earning revenues rather than just spending tax resources;
? Decentralised - working through participation and teamwork among government agencies at
different levels and with groups outside of government; and
? Market-oriented in solving problems through market forces rather than larger government
programmes (Rondinelli, 2007: 5).
According to Harrison (2006: 35) NPM introduced a “corporate culture to public sector
management.” As a result, the idea of strategic planning, which is mainly used in the private sector
(Rondinelli, 2007), has become synonymous with public sector policies. Blackerby (in Myeza, 2009:
25) defines strategic planning as “a continuous and systematic process where people make decisions
about intended future outcomes, how outcomes are to be accomplished, and how success is
measured and evaluated”. According to Harrison (2001) the second wave of NPM of the mid-1990s
differs from that of the 1980s. Unlike the first wave of NPM, the second wave shifts away from the
single-minded focus on economic rationality to a system that conflates the ideals of neo-liberalism
and the progressive stance on “inclusion, participation and poverty alleviation” (Harrison, 2001:
189). Promoted by leaders such as Bill Clinton (USA), Tony Blair (UK), Jean Chretien (Canada) and
Thabo Mbeki (South Africa), this came to be known as the Third Way approach.
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Under the umbrella of Third Way, NPM sought to promote economic modernisation whilst
emphasising the need for government to be inclusionary in nature (Harrison, 2006: 194). While the
Third Way is “broadly acceptable to global capitalism and global development agencies it could also
be regarded as an approach of the left because Third Way scholarship makes references to inclusion,
community building and poverty alleviation” (Harrison, 2006: 194). In the case of South Africa, the
Third Way was adopted as a progressive policy trajectory during the early days of the democratic era
as part of the government/institutional restructuring process following apartheid.
1.4. Good Governance in South Africa and the Rise of Institutional Reform
In the South African context, DLG has been introduced as a particular form of ‘good governance’ in
which decentralisation to the municipal level was intended to bring about more responsive, effective
and democratic local government. Decentralisation was a prerequisite for the adoption of South
Africa’s first macro-economic policy in the post-apartheid era, the Growth, Employment and
Redistribution policy (GEAR). The simultaneous call for DLG and implementation of free market
policies through GEAR was representative of the NPM approach that dominated the policy arena
during the 1990s. Thus, the South African government conceptualised DLG as a mechanism for
growth-orientated and participatory local government. Central to this objective is the need to build
effective government institutions that can respond to the needs of the people in an efficient manner
(Pieterse and van Donk, 2008).
To achieve these objectives, the Municipal Systems Act (MSA) of 2000 required municipalities to
produce Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) as a strategic tool to guide development. In short, the
IDP became the centrepiece for municipalities to attain the aspirations of DLG as envisaged by the
1998 White Paper on Local Government. Harrison (2006: 186) draws a number of similarities
between the IDP and the Community Strategies that were used by the Labour Party in Scotland to
illustrate the influence of international thinking on public administration in the formulation of the
IDP.
The IDP, however, has failed to build a people-centred local government because the emphasis has
been placed mainly on building institutions. Harrison (2006: 190) argues that this represents a
departure from the ideals of a social compact. The idea of social compact is typical of the good
governance agenda that advocates for a people-driven project as seen in places like Porto Alegre,
Brazil and Kerala, India (Heller, 2001). Contrary to the latter cases, Heller argues that the African
6 | P a g e
National Congress (ANC) drifted toward technocratic governance that embraces a neo-liberal
economic orthodoxy (Heller, 2001: 159). The latter statement correlates with Pieterse and van
Donk’s (2008) critique of the top-down participatory approach of the IDP process. In short, the cases
of Porto Alegre and Kerala demonstrate the implementation of a centre-left good governance
agenda that calls for a democratic participatory process in government’s operations, and, in the case
of South Africa, the centre-right ideology has mainly focused on institution building.
According to Harrison (2008), the institutional reforms that have been introduced by government
over the years to complement municipalities in delivering DLG are exemplary of neo-liberal elements
of the NPM. Moreover, the sole focus on institutional capacity has negated the dynamic local politics
and power struggles that play a fundamental role attaining DLG or lack thereof (Pieterse and van
Donk, 2008: 66). As a result, the prescribed solutions have turned out to be blanket solutions with a
“top-down direction for bottom-up implementation” (Long and Franklin, 2004, in Harrison, 2006:
190). Thus, the South African experience of good governance in the post-1994 era has been partial
and far removed from the social impact that ought to be realised by the Third Way approach.
1.5. Developmental Local Government and the Local Government Turnaround Strategy
Despite nine years of implementing the IDP, the State of Local Government Report (SLGR) of 2009,
prepared by COGTA, revealed that most municipalities are a long way from reaching the objectives
of DLG. This is the case although numerous initiatives have been introduced over the years to
support local government. These initiatives include, “Local Government Support Programme,
Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme and Urban Renewal Programme, specialised
training by professional institutes, Project Consolidate including Siyenza Manje, and Five-Year Local
Government Strategic Agenda” (COGTA, 2009b: 4). According to COGTA (2009a: 11), the inability of
municipalities to deliver on the objectives of DLG has resulted in the “escalating loss of confidence in
governance” by communities.
The SLGR recognises that local government is in distress and a long way from attaining the
aspirations of DLG. Importantly, the SLGR points out that the failure to provide DLG is caused in
equal measure by internal problems and a low level of community trust in municipalities (COGTA,
2009a). Thus, on the one hand, the internal organisational setbacks impede municipalities in
attaining the ambitions of DLG. On the other hand, the lack of consultation between municipalities
and their communities and lack of adequate municipal services has resulted in service delivery
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protests across the country. As a result, COGTA launched the Local Government Turnaround Strategy
following the findings of the SLGR. It is premised on the idea that government needs to do “things
differently” (COGTA, 2009b: 5) in order to “restore the confidence of people in municipalities as the
primary delivery machine of the developmental state at a local level,” as well as “rebuilding and
improving the basic requirements for a functional, responsive, effective, efficient local government”
(COGTA, 2009b: 19).
The LGTAS plans to address the shortcomings of DLG through five strategic objectives, which are:
? Ensure that municipalities meet the basic services needs of communities;
? Build clean, effective, efficient, responsive and accountable local government;
? Improve performance and professionalism in municipalities;
? Improve national and provincial policy, oversight and support; and
? Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities and civil society (COGTA,
2009a: 19).
The LGTAS aims to achieve these through the following six interventions:
? National Government (including state enterprises) will organise itself better in relation to
local government;
? Provinces will improve their support and oversight responsibilities over local government;
? Municipalities will reflect on their own performance and identify their own tailor-made
turnaround strategies;
? All three spheres of government will improve Inter-Governmental Relations (IGR) in practice;
? Political parties will promote and enhance the institutional integrity of municipalities; and
? A good citizenship campaign will be designed and launched, at the core of which is Ubuntu.
All citizens, including public officials at all levels, those in the private sector, trade unions,
professional bodies and traditional leaders will be guided in their actions by a common set of
values (COGTA, 2009a: 20-22).
1.6. Problem Statement
Harrison (2006: 188) suggests that the Third Way approach of NPM represented a progressive policy
trajectory insofar as creating a balancing act between the ideals of neo-liberalism and centre left
policiesprimarily to build inclusionary government institutions through decentralisation. However,
literature on South Africa’s local government experience (Harrison, 2008; Heller, 2008; Pieterse and
van Donk, 2008) suggests that this equilibrium has not been attained. It points out that the focus of
the IDP has been to deliver DLG by building institutions of government that can meet the needs of
the people, rather than facilitating people-driven local government/participatory governance
processes. This view is also reflected in the SLGR. According to the SLGR, poor communication and
accountability relationships with communities and municipalities remain at the forefront of
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government developmental challenges (COGTA, 2009b: 4). This single-minded approach to
development has undermined the relationship between communities and municipalities. The latter
problem has been compounded by the inability of local government to deliver services despite
numerous interventions introduced.
The strategic objectives in the LGTAS do not represent a departure from the initial aspirations of DLG
as inscribed in the 1998 WPLG. However, COGTA has attempted to distinguish the LGTAS from
earlier municipal reform initiatives, such as Project Consolidate and the Local Government Support
Programme. Unlike the past reforms, the LGTAS urges municipalities to “reflect on their strengths
and weaknesses and to take responsibility for identifying and managing appropriate interventions”
(COGTA, 2009b: 11). COGTA has committed itself to move away from the earlier “one size fits all”
approach to one that focuses on localised issues within each municipality (COGTA, 2009c: 1).
In this regard, the LGTAS appears significant as it aims to do things differently in order to address the
problems facing local government. This is because the policy initiative recognises that government is
“everyone’s business” (COGTA, 2009b: 5). It states that government programmes across the country
will be driven by the idea of “social compact,” namely, the convergence of the state and broader
society (COGTA, 2009b: 24). Although the LGTAS aims to improve the performance of municipalities
through citizenry engagement, the six interventions it proposes seem to reinforce the earlier
institutional approach. This raises doubts as to whether there is a commitment on the part of
government to deepen democracy through local government policy. However, given its ambitious
intentions, it is suggested that the LGTAS may signal a shift towards more inclusive democratic DLG,
and associationalist good governance. Thus, the research is instituted to investigate whether the
LGTAS signals a shift to a more inclusive, democratic form of DLG.
According to COGTA (2009b: 4), the LGTAS “applies largely to those undermining local government
including those municipalities who have evidence of performance failures, or difficult social and
economic circumstances to manage.” It is envisaged that the LGTAS will “turn around municipalities
from struggling with failure to ones that are confident in their abilities to execute their service
delivery mandates” through working with communities (COGTA, 2009b: 4). This assertion will be
tested through the case of a distressed municipality, with reference to Objective One (ensure that
municipalities meet the basic services needs of communities) and Objective Six (strengthen
partnerships between local government, communities and civil society) of the LGTAS. The case of
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Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality is chosen to inform the research study because the LGTAS aims
to “turn around municipalities from struggling with failure to ones that are confident in their abilities
to execute their service delivery mandates” (COGTA, 2009b: 4). In 2001, “only 11 per cent of
households in the municipality had piped water on site, while just 2 per cent had flush toilets and 16
per cent had no toilets at all” (Makgetla, 2007: 146). Similarly, COGTA (2009) states that households
without access to water, sanitation, electricity and refuse removal in the municipality stands at
31.1%, 84. 7%, 61% and 98.5% respectively.
1.7. Research Question and Sub-Questions
Has the LGTAS enhanced citizen participation and service delivery in the case of Makhuduthamaga
Local Municipality?
Sub-questions:
? In what way does the LGTAS, as national policy, signal a shift to a more inclusionary and
responsive form of DLG?
? In what way does the Makhuduthamaga TAS seek to improve citizen participation and
service delivery?
? What change, if any, has there been regarding citizen participation and service delivery since
the inception of the Makhuduthamaga TAS?
? In what way can the TAS be improved to ensure increased citizen participation and adequate
service delivery?
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1.8. Research Method
The nature of the research is qualitative in approach and it will be based on a case study. One of the
advantages of using a case study is that this method allows in-depth research (Sarantakos, 2005).
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality has been selected as a case study because, as indicated above,
it represents one of those municipalities “struggling with failure”, and one which the SLGR classified
as being very vulnerable. This kind of municipalities is the primary focus of the LGTAS, and thus an
investigation of its developmental impact on MLM would not only reveal the extent to which it has
turned around fortunes in this and similar municipal areas but also the way in which it has
consolidated the promise of DLG. This municipality has been selected not only because of its
vulnerability, but also because of the researcher’s familiarity with it. Having been born and bred in
the area, the researcher has firsthand knowledge of how the area has evolved over time. As a former
resident of the municipality and the established communication network thereof, the researcher is
at an advantage to gain access to many of the interviewees.
MLM is located in the southern region of Limpopo Province and falls under the Sekhukhune District
Municipality. Refer to Map 1: Location Map and indicate that MLM is shaded in yellow.
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Map 1: Location Map of Sekhukhune District Municipality illustrating the position of
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (yellow)
Source: www.ledet.gov.za
The case study will be conducted through interviews with various stakeholders of the municipality,
and through an analysis of the key documents. The interviewees were selected because they were
directly involved in the formulation and implementation of the MLM Turnaround Strategy. The
interviewees were:
? Municipal Manager, who was responsible for preparing the MLM Turnaround Strategy. This
interview provided an understanding of the LGTAS on the part of the municipality, and the
process of preparing the Municipal Turnaround Strategy.
? Senior Manager in the Technical Services Department, and two Project Managers for
infrastructural projects that have been implemented since the inception of the MLM
Turnaround Strategy. These interviews explored the ramifications of the Turnaround
Strategy for service provision.
searchcom
Source: Googlemaps
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? Community Liaison Officer and two Ward Councillors, which provided an understanding
about the extent of citizen participation in the municipal affairs since the adoption of the
MLM Turnaround Strategy.
An analysis of both the national LGTAS and the MLM Turnaround Strategy was also conducted. The
aim of this analysis was to critically extrapolate the envisaged change brought about the LGTAS.
1.9. Ethical Issues
The researcher is aware of the ethical considerations that have to be adhered to regarding the
university rules and regulations. Central to the data collection process are interviews with
stakeholders. As part of the procedure, the interviewees were notified that the research was solely
for academic purposes, and thus, the data has not been used for anything else but academic work. In
this regard, the researcher provided the relevant documentation from the university to all potential
interviewees stating that the data is purely collected for the use of academic research. Further, the
researcher informed the interviewees that the interview was to be conducted anonymously and,
therefore, their names will not be published without their consent. This will ensure the
confidentiality of the data collected.
1.10. Rationale
The starting point of this research is premised on the metaphor drawing parallels between the South
African local government system and the story of Plaatjes. As stated before, new boats are
continuously built to deliver on the aspirations of DLG, with little success. Service delivery and
community participation in government’s decision making are two of the central determinants of
DLG (PACD, 1998). Service delivery and community participation in most municipalities has been
below the satisfactory level, hence the shortcomings of municipalities in delivering DLG. On the one
hand, service delivery has been hampered by challenges such as lack of capacity, corruption,
nepotism and weak IGR, and on the other hand, the emphasis on delivering DLG though technocratic
institutionalism has overlooked the more inclusive democratic outcomes of DLG.
It was with this in mind that the research was conceptualised. The literature on the South African
local government experience suggests that there was a deviation from the Third Way approach of
NPM to a system whereby DLG was mainly thought of in terms of institution building. Therefore, the
research seeks to uncover whether the LGTAS represents a continuation of technocratic
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institutionalism or if it signals a shift towards more inclusive democratic DLG. Academically, there is
little work, if any, that has interrogated the implementation of the LGTAS. Thus, the research
represents an original piece of work that makes a contribution to developing a critical understanding
of this policy intervention developed to support local government.
1.11. Chapter Outline
This report consists of six chapters, the structure and content of which is outlined below.
Chapter One - Introduction
The primary aim of Chapter One is to introduce the research study thus highlighting key aspects of
the study such as the rationale underpinning the focus on DLG. The chapter is structured into eleven
sub-headings. First, the background to the study report introduces the LGTAS as the most recent
intervention to ensure that municipalities deliver on the objectives of DLG. Secondly, the concept of
DLG is defined. The third section argues that DLG South Africa has been influenced by the good
governance agenda as well as the emphasis on NPM. Building from the third section, the fourth
argues that the focus on NPM has created a situation wherein good governance in South Africa has
largely focused on the institutional reform. The fifth section briefly highlights that the LGTAS should
be understood as a mechanism to consolidate the DLG programme. Following the fifth section is the
problem statement, research question and research method respectively. The last three sections
cover the ethical considerations, the rationale as well as the chapter outline. To conclude, it must be
noted that the introductory chapter has established that the objectives of DLG are yet to be realised
and thus the LGTAS aims to correct this.
Chapter Two - Literature Review and Conceptual Framework
The aim of this chapter is two-fold: first, to provide a critical understanding of the good governance
discourse; and second, to review literature on DLG. Chapter Two is divided into five sections. The
first section outlines the aim as well as the structure of the chapter. The second section provides a
historical perspective of good governance. The third looks at the influence of NPM in South Africa.
Following the third, the fourth section outlines South Africa’s path to DLG and how this has been
shaped by NPM. The last section summarises the key points emanating from the chapter, which
include the shortfalls of DLG in South Africa.
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Chapter Three - Analysing the LGTAS
The aim of Chapter Three is to understand the LGTAS in light of the conceptual framework. The
analysis is divided into five sections. The first section is the introduction of the LGTAS. In the second
section, the background to the LGTAS is discussed. Importantly, these include the rationale
underpinning government’s decision to formulate the policy intervention (LGTAS). The third section
composes an overview of the content of the LGTAS. Building from the third, the fourth section
analyses the content of the LGTAS in light of the conceptual framework. Lastly, the fifth section
concludes the chapter by highlighting that the LGTAS is a balancing act to DLG. The LGTAS
emphasises that DLG should be realised through greater community participation and efficient
institutions.
Chapter Four - Overview of the Case Study Area: Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality
The chief aim of Chapter Four is to introduce the case study area. This chapter is divided into seven
sections. First is the introduction of the chapter. This is then followed by sections dealing with the
physical location, the historical background, demographic profile as well as the state of basic service
delivery in the municipality. The latter argues that the municipality is struggling to deliver basic
services. Before concluding, section six outlines the IDP institutional organisation of the municipality.
One of the key points emanating from the chapter is that MLM is located in one of the most
impoverished regions in South Africa.
Chapter Five - The Case Study of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality
The aim of Chapter Five is to analyse the findings from the interviews and the analysis of the MLM
Turnaround Strategy. This chapter is divided into four sections. The first section is the introduction of
the chapter. This is then followed by an outline of the research findings based on the field work.
These findings are then analysed in section three, and the fourth section is the conclusion. Although
some of the interviewees interviewed acknowledge that the LGTAS is a progressive intervention they
are reluctant to use it as a governing policy tool for the municipality.
Chapter 6 - Conclusions and Recommendations
The aim of Chapter Six is to conclude the research study as well provide some recommendations for
MLM. The chapter is divided into three sections, that is, introduction, conclusion and
recommendations. For MLM to realise participation in DLG, it is pivotal for the municipality to
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explore other measures that have been formulated to maximise community participation in
development.
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Chapter 2: Literature Review and
Conceptual Framework
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2.1. Introduction
The aim of this chapter is two-fold: first, to provide a critical understanding of the good governance
discourse; and second, to review literature on DLG. Understanding of good governance is
fundamental to exploring DLG, as DLG is informed by the principles of good governance. In this light,
the chapter will provide a conceptual lens for understanding and analysing the research findings. The
aim of the literature review is to reflect on South Africa’s DLG experience and thereby contextualise
the LGTAS initiative. The chapter is divided into four sections. The first section deals primarily with
the notion of good governance and the different interpretations thereof. The second section reviews
the influence of NPM on South Africa’s post-apartheid public administration. The third section
outlines South Africa’s DLG experience. Lastly, the fourth section summarises the central arguments
emanating from the chapter.
2.2 Good Governance: A Historical Perspective
The UN ESCAP defines governance as the “process of decision-making and the process by which
decisions are implemented (or not implemented)” (UN ESCAP, 2012: 1). Although governance is a
relatively new term in the policy arena, the literature on the subject is widespread. The literature
ranges from international relations, policy analysis, public administration, comparative politics and
urban planning to political theory (Hajer and Wagenaar, 2003). This multiplicity is also confirmed by
the UN ESCAP (2012), which explains that governance can be used in several contexts including
“corporate governance, international governance, national governance and local governance” (UN
ESCAP, 2012: 1). Wagenaar and Hager (2003), Rakodi (2003), Cheema (2007), Rondenelli (2007) and
Beard et al. (2008) agree that in the past (the pre-1980s), government and governance were
inseparable. In public administration governance, the state was the main stakeholder (Burger, 2006).
Much has changed since then.
Today, the term governance refers to a ‘quasi’ system wherein “the exercise of political, economic
and administrative authority to manage a nation’s affairs” (Abdellatif, 2003: 4; Cheema and
Rondinelli, 2007: 6-7) involves a number of societal actors. Governance is not limited to the state but
includes a variety of non-state actors, such as the private sector, Non-Governmental Organisations
(NGOs) and broader civil society. This definition represents a shift from “government to governance”
(Hajer and Wagenaar, 2001: 1; Meehan, 2003: 5), in which “governance refers to the development
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of governing styles in which boundaries between and within public and private sectors have become
blurred” (Stoker in Ewalt, 2001: 8).
Governance is a decision-making process, but the meaning and norms of the process have evolved
over years. The good governance agenda is a component of this evolution (Ewalt, 2001). Good
governance is understood to be a process that undertakes the necessary measures to ensure the
participation of all societal stakeholders. It promotes the rule of law (Ewalt, 2001; Rondenelli and
Cheema, 2003) in order to improve governance and eradicate issues such as corruption, nepotism
and maladministration. Ewalt (2001) notes that good governance may also cover issues like
democracy, human rights, and economic policy. Lately, its scope has been widened by the global
drive on sustainability. The UN ESCAP defines good governance as a “participatory, consensus
oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive”
process that adheres to the “rule of law” (UN ESCAP, 2012). The characteristics of good governance
are depicted in the figure below.
Figure 1: Characteristics of Good Governance
There are various factors to explain the upsurge of the good governance paradigm. Some authors
(Beard et al., 2007) find the earliest push towards good governance in the 1970s arising from the
post-World War II period that was characterised by contestations and uncertainty. More recently,
however, previously disadvantaged groups, such as the disenfranchised youth, ethnic minorities,
women, and the poor challenged the meaning and interpretation of governance (Beard et al., 2008:
3). At this point, government and the state were generally perceived to be interchangeable, and
Source: UN ESCAP, 2012: 3
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assumed the status of the “dominant source of political and legal decision making” (Cheema and
Rondinelli, 2007: 1). The disadvantaged groups sought to change this hegemony of governance. In
this respect, their demands were for decentralisation of the state (Beard et al., 2008: 4).
Decentralisation was perceived to be a prerequisite for democratic society that is based on
principles of participation and inclusion. The mandate was to demand a greater representation in
the decision-making process.
According to Devas (2004) and Rondinelli (2007), technology and globalisation were some of the
stimuli for this advocacy movement, and served to erode nation-state borders. This was significant
because there was a realisation that people’s lives are not only shaped by the state but also a variety
of institutions that exist at both the local and international levels. Rondinelli and Cheema (2007: 1)
comment that this “changed perceptions of governance and of the appropriate functions of the
state.” Rondinelli (2007: 4) adds that “lack of capacity to respond quickly and effectively to strategic
issues and for failing to leverage off opportunities in emerging markets offered by, among others,
new technologies,” justified the call to review the governance status quo. Against this backdrop, the
concept of governance expanded from the definition that envisaged the state as the primary
institutional decision maker to one which included other stakeholders (NGOs, civil society, private
sector) in the decision-making process. From this perspective, governance entails “complex
mechanisms, processes, relationships and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate
their interests, exercise their rights and obligations and mediate their differences” (Rondinelli, 2007:
8). By this definition, the state is one of many actors. The change in the definition of governance can
be summarised as follows:
As international economic interaction grew and as societies became more complex and
interconnected, government came to be seen as only one, albeit a critically important,
governance institution. The fact that people’s lives were also shaped by decisions made by
individual entrepreneurs, family enterprises, and private firms; by multinational
corporations and international financial institutions; and by a variety of civil society
organizations operating both within and outside of national territories, became more
apparent (Cheema and Rondinelli, 2007: 1).
Thus, decentralisation enables good governance. It can be understood as a means to achieving good
governance. By definition, decentralisation is the process of rolling back the role of central
government by devolving some responsibilities to lower structures of government such as the
regional and municipal level (Bryld, 2000; Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007). This tier of government is
best suited to deliver good governance because it is closer to the people. Bryld (2000) and Cheema
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and Rondinelli (1997) draw a distinction between three forms of decentralisation: deconcentration,
delegation and devolution. Deconcentration refers to the transfer of workload from central
government to local administrators. Delegation is the transfer of responsibility from the state to
semi-autonomous agencies or government parastatals that operate independently from the state
(Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007; Bryld, 2000). Devolution entails the transfer of legislative power to
the lower structures of government (Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007; Bryld, 2000). The emphasis on
good governance and decentralisation in the 1990s was instigated to pave the way for a political
system of governance that was inclusionary in nature.
As the level of government that is closer to the people, local government is the ideal platform where
broad civil society can engage with the state more effectively. In this vein, political decentralisation
is emphasised. Other forms of decentralisation include: administrative decentralisation of authority
and legislative powers; fiscal decentralisation of the means and mechanisms for fiscal co-operation
in sharing public revenues among all levels of government; and economic decentralization, which
involves market liberalization, deregulation, privatization of state enterprises, and public-private
partnership (Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007: 7). Some of these forms (fiscal and economic) were
emphasised under the influence of NPM, whereas during the 1970s and more recently, good
governance has been often understood in terms of political decentralisation and democracy.
Kauzaya (2010: 8) argues that decentralisation is “used as an instrument of people empowerment, a
platform for sustainable democratisation, a structure for the mobilization of resources for economic
development, a veritable instrument of reconciliation, social integration and well-being in post-
conflict environments, and a vehicle for the promotion of a culture of political, economic, civic, and
managerial/administrative good governance.”
2.2.1. From Democracy to Neo-Liberalism: Shifts in Good Governance
Beard et al. (2008) argue that there was a shift in the interpretation of good governance from one
that was embedded in a democratic ethos to one that dovetailed with the predominant neo-liberal
economic focus. It changed from the early version whereby the basic principles were based on the
notion of democracy, inclusion and participation to one in the 1980s, which was underlined by
fundamentals of neo-liberalism, witnessed particularly through the introduction of NPM. For many,
the NPM interpretation of good governance ‘hijacked’ the earlier version (Beard et al., 2008;
Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007). Thus, Beard et al. (2008) argue that decentralised planning processes
changed from following a “political logic of democratic, inclusive and redistributive planning as
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articulated by equity planning and radical planning practice,” to a system whereby decentralised
planning is intertwined with an “economic logic of efficiency, cost recovery and entrepreneurship”
(2008: 3).
The shift to neo-liberalism was influenced by a number of factors ranging from what was perceived
to be an inefficient traditional bureaucratic system to globalisation and the realisation that people’s
lives were not only affected by decisions taken by the state but also large corporations and
international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank (Rondinelli and
Cheema, 2007). These factors include:
? Economic and fiscal pressures on governments experienced in most developed countries in the
1970s and early 1980s, and more dramatically in developing countries in Africa and Asia and,
more recently, in the Asian Tiger economies;
? Public attitudes and increasing criticisms of the ineffectiveness and inefficiencies of delivering
public services through bureaucratic organisational arrangements and the need to search for
alternatives;
? The resurgence of new right politics in the late 1970s and 1980s (i.e. Reaganomics and
Thatcherism) that were pro-market and pro-private sector;
? The proliferation of management ideas generated, packaged and marketed by international
management consultants, who often act as advisors on reforms to governments around the
world;
? In the case of most developing and transitional countries, an additional factor driving NPM-type
reforms has been donor advocacy and lending conditions of international financial institutions,
notably the IMF and the World Bank, with the adoption of a more pro-market and pro-private
sector stance in structural adjustment programmes;
? The spread of global markets, especially those related to financial integration and liberalisation
and the resultant competition are forcing the public sector in most countries to reshape itself to
keep pace with the emerging global economy and modern information technology; and
? The growth and use of new information technology has also provided impetus for some of the
changes. Some aspects of the NPM reforms, such as performance management, executive
agencies and management decentralisation of public services, have been facilitated by the
development of information technology that allows for indirect monitoring and control of
performance (Larbi, 2003: 1-2).
Neo-liberalism sought to roll back the role of the state, resulting in a shift in public governance
philosophy (Burger, 2006: 5). NPM was introduced as a response to the crisis facing Keynesian
welfare states of developed economies (United Kingdom, Canada and Australia) (Larbi 1999: 1), and
it emerged in the 1980s as the recognised instrument of public administration modernisation
(Tamekou, 2008: 217). Further, the change of the political context in the 1980s with the ascendancy
of New Right ideas served as a stimulus for the widespread adoption of NPM. From this point, NPM
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began to shape the governance of Anglo-Saxon countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and
Canada (Burger, 2006; Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007; Bourgon, 2007; Moloney, 2009).
Figure 2: Graphical Representation of the Governance Philosophy under Traditional Bureaucracy
Source: Burger, 2006: 6
The primary aim of the NPMs was to “kill or cut down the size of the huge bureaucratic monster”
that has been created by the traditional Weberian bureaucracy (Burger, 2006: 6). Figure 2 above
illustrates the homogeneity of the state in the traditional bureaucracy model. In this model, the key
objective of governance was for the government to manage inputs and deliver services in the
context of the welfare state (Stoker, 2011: 18). The public sector was kept sharply distinct from the
private sector (Jan, 2010: 2). As can be seen, the role of society played virtually no role in the
decision making because the order of the day was a “top-down instructions and command-and-
control mechanisms” (Jan, 2010: 2). According to Hajer and Wagenaar (2003), the vocabulary of
governance was rigid and inflexible. In the context of the 1950s and 1960s, “the industrial society
was a slow-paced society, characterised by its mass markets, where people had similar needs, strong
geographical communities, with a logic of hierarchical authority and functional specialization” (Jan,
2010: 4).
In contrast to the industrial society, the post-industrial is globalised and knowledge based, in which
information flows fast, global enterprises increase market competition and often the traditional
bureaucracy is too rigid to respond to this new market (Jan, 2010). To rescue the situation, the
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potency of free market policies in the ‘new’ era was highlighted by the Anglo-Saxon countries
(Burger, 2006; Rondinelli and Cheema, 2007; Bourgon, 2007; Moloney, 2009). Free market policies
were popularised as a way to good governance and therefore, “this logic of state decentralisation, by
which restructuring of the state would facilitate neo-liberal economic policies, overshadowed the
earlier core logic of decentralisation that sought political devolution and democratisation” (Beard et
al., 2008: 3).
The NPM of the early 1980s reflects “a pre-occupation with slowing down or reversing government
growth and very particularly with privatizing previously publicly provided services” (Manning, 2001:
298). In so doing, NPM resulted in the corporatisation of the public sector (Polidano, 1999; Harrison,
2006). Countries that conformed to the principles of NPM were deemed exemplary of good
governance by powerful development agencies, such as the World Bank, the IMF and the United
Nations (Harrison, 2003: 188). For example, the Bretton Woods institutions required African
countries and other Third World countries to adopt Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) as a
prerequisite for receiving aid (Olukoshi, 2000; Ayee, 2008), and in so doing, the SAPs introduced
NPM principles to the Less Developed Countries (Bardill, 2001). For Burger (2006), the governance
philosophy under NPM paradigm is represented by the Figure 3 below.
Figure 3: Graphical Representation of the Governance Philosophy under the New Public
Management
Source: Burger, 2006, 6
Contrary to the traditional bureaucracy model, NPM encourages a public administration that does
not supply standardised services to society. Instead, society is treated as individual consumers who
are required to pay for services. The aim is to nurture a culture of entrepreneurialism in a society
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that is based on the notion of ‘survival of the fittest.’ In this respect, decentralisation is emphasised
as a critical tool to limit the role of the state as opposed to calls for democracy and inclusion. The
principles of the NPM are outlined as follows:
? Catalytic - governments should steer rather than row, and see that services are provided
rather than always delivering them directly;
? Community-empowering - governments should encourage local groups to solve their own
problems rather than dictating bureaucratic solutions;
? Competitive rather than monopolistic: by deregulating and privatizing those activities that
could be carried out by the private sector or non-governmental organisations more
efficiently or effectively than public agencies;
? Mission-driven rather than rule-bound - setting goals and allowing employees to find the
best ways of meeting objectives;
? Results-oriented - funding effective outcomes rather than inputs;
? Customer-driven - meeting the needs of citizens rather than those of the bureaucracy;
? Enterprising - earning revenues rather than just spending tax resources;
? Anticipatory - investing in the prevention of problems rather than spending to solve
problems after they occur;
? Decentralised - working through participation and teamwork among government agencies at
different levels and with groups outside of government; and
? Market-oriented - solving problems through market forces rather than larger government
programmes (Rondinelli, 2007: 5).
Thus, “generally, NPM reforms stressed such aspects as control, financial transparency,
decentralisation of management authority, and the creation of quasi-market mechanisms and
performance indicators” (Blomgren and Sahlin, 2007: 157). The “common element was an attempt
to bring corporate culture – concerned with business-like efficiency and outcomes – into public
agencies” (Harrison, 2006: 188). However, neo-liberal NPM of the 1980s did not negate the
imperative of participation as a means to good governance: the difference is that this imperative
was not overly emphasised like the “economic logic of efficiency” (Beard et al., 2008, 4).
2.3. New Public Management and Public Administration in South Africa
According to Cameron (2009), Harrison (2006) and Bardill (2001), the influences of NPM philosophy
in South Africa’s public administration sector can be seen in the period following the demise of
apartheid. Unlike other parts of the developing world, however, the introduction of NPM discourse
in South Africa’s post-apartheid public administration was not influenced by the adoption of SAPs.
South Africa and Namibia were not party to any treaty with the Bretton Wood institutions (Ayee,
2008). Therefore, although the South African public administration service escaped the explicitly
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rightist agenda in the 1980s because of its isolation from the international community (Cameron,
2009), this was not to be the case during the second wave of the NPM (Harrison, 2006: 188). In
South Africa NPM was adopted as a result of the second wave of NPM that dominated both the
policy and political scene during the 1990s under the rubric of Third Way politics (Harrison, 2006:
188). Third Way politics is characterised by a philosophy on governance that is based on centre-left
ideology (Harrison, 2006). Third Way upholds the imperatives of neo-liberalism–conservative fiscal
and monetary policies, the welfare-to-work approach, and a commitment to privatisation and at the
same time commits to progressive ideals such as building community, inclusion, participation,
poverty alleviation and integration (Harrison, 2006: 189).
2.3.1 South Africa’s Reconstruction and the Third Way Approach
In the mid-1990s, one of the biggest challenges facing the African National Congress (ANC) led
government was to reform the public administration system (Harrison, 2006; Cameron, 2009). As a
progressive movement, the ANC sought models of governance from numerous settings, including
Asia and the former Soviet Union. However, the demise of state socialism and financial crisis that
engulfed the Asian continent during the 1990s, made senior ANC leaders sceptical about the
potential adoption of these models (Harrison, 2006: 188). Eventually, the Third Way approach was
seen as a viable policy trajectory for South Africa’s reconstruction process. Its centre-left approach
was appealing for a country that sought to be economically competitive whilst redressing the
injustices of the past. Given South Africa’s history and the ANC’s ambitious policy goals, it became a
national imperative to accommodate leftist goals with neo-liberal policies. It is in this vein that the
South African government adopted the Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) macro-
economic policy. It has been considered controversial by many commentators because it appeared
to contradict some of the principles outlined in the ANC’s 1994 policy manifesto, the Reconstruction
and Development Programme (RDP).
On the one hand, the socialist-leaning RDP advocated for growth through redistribution, and on the
other, the neo-liberal-inspired GEAR policy emphasised the need for redistribution through growth.
What was important is that the Third Way model afforded the ANC-led government a pragmatic
opportunity to alleviate poverty as well as democratising government through decentralisation. It is
from this perspective that one can understand the influence of NPM on South Africa’s public
administration reform agenda in the post-1994 era.
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2.4. Public Administration in the Post-Apartheid Era
With the transfer of power in the mid-1990s, the ANC-led government was faced with the difficult
task of changing a public sector that was previously authoritarian, repressive, and oligarchic in
nature to one that was democratic, developmental and committed to goals of human rights
(Cameron and Tapscott, 2000: 81). The political, ideological and racial interference in the South
African public service during apartheid had resulted in a public service with seemingly
insurmountable challenges (Miller, 2005: 8). In response, the new government introduced numerous
reforms designed to re-orientate the administration system towards the achievement of its
envisaged objectives of democracy, development and human rights. The cornerstone of the post-
apartheid public administration is embedded in the Constitution of 1996, which paved way for the
establishment of three spheres of government (local, provincial, national) that are distinctive,
interdependent and interrelated (RSA, 1996). The use of the word ‘spheres’ as opposed to ‘tiers’
illustrates that decentralisation in South Africa has occurred through devolution.
2.4.1. Towards Developmental Local Government
In addition to the influence of the Third Way and NPM, local government administration reform in
South Africa was influenced by a number of local factors. Of primary importance was an urgent need
to democratise local government (Lemon, 2002) and implement the imperatives of the RDP.
According to Nyalunga (2006); van Donk and Pieterse (2006) the period leading to 1994 was
characterised by a number of demonstrations as people, especially in the townships, protested
against the apartheid system of local government. Central to the outcry was the demand to create a
single tax base, the establishment of non-racial and democratic local government (van Donk and
Pieterse, 2006) and the demand for the delivery of better basic services. Along with objective to
democratise the state and society (ANC, 1994: 4), the demands gave rise to several policies and
pieces of legislation designed to reform and re-orientate local government. The basis of South
Africa’s decentralised planning system is the Interim Constitution of 1993 and the Local Government
Transition Act of 1993. Both pieces of legislation defined local authorities as autonomous tiers of
government (Chipkin, 2002: 64).
The envisaged developmental nature of local government can be traced back to the early 1990s.
According to Chipkin (2002), Lemon (2002) and Schmidt (2008), local government was seen as the
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hands and feet of the RDP. In this regard, the Local Government Negotiating Forum (LGNF) was set
up to negotiate the role and structure of local government. It consisted of national government,
organised associations of local government, political parties, trade unions and the South African
National Civic Organisation (van Donk and Pieterse, 2006: 112). The LGNF framed a three-phase
(pre-interim phase, 1993-1995, the interim phase, 1995-2000, and the final phase) transitional
process for local government (Chipkin, 2002; Schmidt, 2008; Nyalunga, 2006). The imperative of the
first phase was to establish pre-interim councils that incorporated sections of the community
previously excluded from local government (non-statutory bodies) into existing council structures
(statutory bodies) (Chipkin, 2002: 111).
During the Interim Phase in 1995, government amended the Local Government Transition Act. The
Local Government Transition Act Second Amendment Act 61 of 1995 began to outline the
developmental nature of local government. Section 10 of this legislation required Metropolitan
Councils to produce IDPs. Camay and Gordon (2004: 286) comment that IDPs link development,
delivery and democracy. Harrison (2006: 196) states that IDPs were an attempt by national
government to ensure that local authorities performed their functions diligently, in way that was
developmental and fiscally responsible. The influence of the NPM is evident. The latter because
Harrison (2006: 202) points out that IDPs were introduced as instruments for joined-up government,
participatory governance and of modernised, efficient administration. Further, Harrison (2008: 325)
sees performance management and goal-directed budgeting in the IDP as instruments of NPM. The
developmental nature of local government was consolidated in 1998 when government released the
White Paper on Local Government (WPLG). For the first time, IDPs became mandatory tools for all
local government structures. The WPLG defines DLG as a local government committed to working
with citizens and groups within the community to find sustainable ways to meet their social,
economic and material needs and improve the quality of their lives and, therefore, urged
government to continuously engage with citizens, business and community groups (DCD, 1998: 37-
38).
DLG rests on four pillars: social development and economic growth; integrating and coordinating;
democratising development; leading and learning (DCD, 1998: 38). These pillars are complementary
and thus have to co-exist. Importantly, the pillars represent the challenges of post-apartheid South
Africa. From the report of the Presidency (2003), Towards Ten Years of Freedom: Progress in the
First Decade, Challenges of the Second, Pieterse and van Donk (2008) conclude that during the first
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decade of democracy, the predominant focus of extending basic services and opportunities to those
excluded by the apartheid regime took precedence over other imperatives. The report concluded
that this approach to DLG was not sustainable and stated the need to grow the economy as a
prerequisite for labour absorption (Pieterse and van Donk, 2008).
Developmentally, this led to a precarious balancing act between economic growth and the efficiency
of service delivery for the enhancement of poor people’s livelihood (Pieterse and van Donk, 2008:
57). For Harrison et al. (2008: 70), this signaled a shift from the orthodox neo-liberalism of GEAR to
the notion of a developmental state. In 2006, ASGI-SA was adopted to reflect the developmental
state idea (Harrison et al., 2008: 70). This is the development context within which DLG rests and
correlates positively with the NPM as practiced under the Third Way approach.
2.4.2. Developmental Local Government: The Experience thus Far
According to Heller (2008: 153), “there are two desiderata of DLG: efficiency and participation”. Both
desiderata are pivotal to development. In the context of South Africa, both efficiency and
participation are central to the reconstruction process. On the one hand, service delivery has to be
fast tracked if municipalities are to eradicate poverty and service backlogs. On the other hand,
participation has to be encouraged and nourished to realise ‘people’-driven development. Thus, the
two desiderata should be prioritised. Heller states that (2008: 153) technocrats, as advocates for
efficiency believe that too much participation can overwhelm new and fragile institutions. Equally,
associationalists, as advocates of participation believe that an over-emphasis on institution building
crowds civil society (Heller, 2008). These contrasting positions capture the “fault line” of South
Africa’s DLG programme (Heller, 2008: 154). As it has happened, DLG in South Africa has tended to
be driven by efficiency, hence the formalisation of participation through a series of legislation
(Heller, 2008). This has culminated into various power struggles and tensions between top-down
directives and bottom-up implementation (Pieterse and van Donk, 2008: 62). Comparatively
speaking, this differs from the case of Kerala (India) and Porto Alegre (Brazil) where participation is
not guided by legislation but emerges as a genuine process from grassroots level (Heller, 2008). The
expectation was for South Africa’s DLG to follow the same pattern as that of Kerala and Porto Alegre
because the apartheid legislation had disabled the majority of people from participating in
governance issues. However this was not to be the case; “a once strong social-movement sector has
been incorporated and/or marginalized by the ANC’s political hegemony, with the result that
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organized participation has atrophied and given way to a bureaucratic and commandist logic of local
government reform” (Heller, 2001: 134). Thus, the institutionalisation of participation for Heller
(2008: 159) is part of the political logic to consolidate power. The move to institutionalise
participation is a product of NPM and the political calculation to consolidate power by the ruling
ANC party. Thus, over the years the South African government has enacted legislation to formally
institutionalise participation. This means that participation as envisaged for DLG is procedural. The
RDP White Paper (1994) began to show the influence of NPM in ANC policy (Harrison et al., 2008:
48). Similarly, traces of NPM were also evident in the 1995 White Paper on the Transformation of
Public Service.
The Development Facilitation Act (DFA) of 1995 is one of the first pieces of legislation. The DFA
called for all local authorities to embark on a participatory process of establishing Land Development
Objectives (LDOs), which must be overtly committed to redressing apartheid injustices (Parnell, van
Donk and Pieterse, 2002: 81). It also creates two centres of power. For example, in the case of the
LDOs, the DFA calls for a people-driven process. This means that officials involved in the formulation
of LDOs are accountable to communities. But, the DFA also states that local authorities are
accountable to Provincial Development Tribunals. In this instance, the maximisation of participation
is unlikely because local authorities will be driven by the need to meet key deliverables as prescribed
by the Development Tribunals. Institutionalising the participatory process, however, also tends to
limit the creativity of civil society (Heller, 2008).
Like the LDOs, IDPs are instruments for DLG. Although IDPs were presented as a bottom-up
approach to development, this was not to be the case. According to Harrison et al. (2008), IDPs were
devised by national government to direct local government towards national objectives. This is
different from a perspective that sees IDPs as a locally negotiated product that is based on dynamics
and priorities of a certain locality. IDPs are expressions of governmental investment and activities in
a given locality, and the DPLG has referred to them as Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) impact
zones (Pieterse and van Donk, 2008: 62). Under the IGR thinking, strategic priorities of municipal
IDPs are informed by the plans from national and provincial government.
Harrison (2008) argues that the IDP has a narrow focus of efficiency as it is mainly concerned with
introducing a corporate culture to the public sector management (Harrison, 2008: 352). This is
because good governance as expressed in Third Way politics is contradictory. The Third Way
administrative model is based on three key elements: joined-up government, performance
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management and participatory governance (Harrison, 2006: 189). Joined-up governance entails:
inter-governmental planning; performance management emphasises the imperative to set up
monitoring process that will ensure rational budgeting and outcome based performance evaluation;
and participatory governance seeks to establish a culture of collaborative governance as prerequisite
to promote a more participatory of citizenship (Harrison, 2006: 191-2).
Figure 4: Graphical Representation of the National Development Planning System
Source: Pieterse et al., 2008: 6
Harrison (2006) states that there are contradictions between the idea of collaborative governance
and the performance management culture, which places officials under enormous pressure to attain
targets within specified timeframes. This is because the complexity associated with community
participation makes it difficult for officials to pin down timeframes. Pieterse and van Donk (2008)
also note that there is tension between the technical and political accountability. In this regard,
officials tend to give impetus to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) instead of participation.
Performance under NPM is driven by “indicators and targets expressed in contracts” (Schmidt, 2008:
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117). The South African NPM experience is one wherein the goal for efficiency has seriously
hampered participation. The international case studies of Kerala and Porto Alegre show that this
does not have to be the case. Lessons from both case studies nullify the belief that participation and
efficiency cannot co-exist as desiderates of DLG.
Heller (2008: 168) argues that it is possible to create institutions that nurture meaningful forms of
citizen engagement. In turn, this leads to a nuanced DLG. For example, in Kerala and Porto Alegre,
increased citizenry participation contributed positively to the DLG agenda. In this vein, Heller (2008)
argues that participation has led to the creation of new forms of institutions (thus, contributing to
the institutional building) and has also led to socially cohesive communities. Therefore, there is an
urgent need to improve the desideratum of participation in order to consolidate DLG. The 2009
State of Local Government Report has also highlighted that of participation is missing in South
Africa’s DLG system.
2.5. Conclusion
South Africa’s public administration had to change from one that was repressive, technocratic and
discriminatory to one that is inclusive, democratic and participatory over a short period. Buoyed by
the euphoria of democracy in the early 1990s, the post-apartheid government sought to
decentralise government and envisage a developmental role for municipalities in South Africa’s
restructuring process. Against this backdrop, the Third Way approach offered an alternative viable
governance philosophy for South Africa’s relatively new democracy, because it drew together
efficiency concerns from the 1980s NPM with “progressive ideals of building community, inclusion,
participation, poverty alleviation, and integration” (Harrison, 2006: 189). From the onset, DLG was
part of a programme to address the injustices of the past whilst maintaining neo-liberal imperative
to encourage international investment as a prerequisite for economic growth, represented by GEAR.
However, seventeen years after laying the basic foundations for DLG, its aims have not been
realised. There is general agreement that municipalities are a long way from achieving the objectives
of DLG as set out in the 1998 WPLG. Instead of leading to a balance between the two desiderata of
efficiency and participation, decentralisation under Third Way politics in South Africa has prioritised
the technocratic and institutionalist imperatives of NPM over that of democracy, inclusion and
participation. Participation is seen by the ruling party as a complementary process to national plans
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that are formulated by central government (Heller, 2008). Little space exists for communities to
influence the development agenda. The South African case is one whereby the over-
institutionalisation of the participatory process has empowered the bureaucracy and politicians at
the expense of civil society (Heller, 2008: 162). It can be described as a technocratic form of DLG. It is
different from the case of Kerala and Porto Alegre where a participatory form of DLG occurred.
Schmidt (2008) captures the different approaches to public administration that characterise the
post- apartheid era in South Africa.
Table 1: Public Administration Paradigms
Traditional public
administration
NPM Network governance
Context Stable Competitive Continuous change
Population Homogenous Atomised Diverse
Needs/problem Straight forward,
defined by
professionals
Wants, expressed through
market
Complex, volatile,
prone to risk
Strategy State-/producer-
centred
Customer- centered Shaped by civil society
Governance through
actors
Hierarchies, public
servants
Markets, clients &
contractors
Networks/partnerships,
civil leadership
Key concepts Public goods Public choice Public value
Improvement Initial big step
change, but less
continuous
improvement
capability
Improvements in process
and systems
Transformational and
continuous
improvement
Role of policy
makers
Commanders Announcers/commissioners Leaders and
interpreters
Role of public
managers
‘Clerks & martyrs’ Efficiency/market
maximises
‘Explorers’
Role of population Clients Customers Co-producers
Source: Schmidt, 2008: 112
The problem with DLG as it has occurred in South Africa is the limitation of citizen participation. To
make matters worse, government has been unable to adequately reverse the tide of apartheid
insofar as alleviating poverty and providing basic services. For Some (Heller, 2008; Pieterse and van
Donk, 2008) suggest that the top-down approach to development is to blame for the lack of
progress. From this perspective, the argument is that the ‘one size fits all’ approach has failed
because different localities have different challenges and require different solutions. Nevertheless,
the limited space for citizen participation is evident through service delivery protests illustrating the
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frustrations experienced on the ground. To fix these weaknesses, government has introduced the
LGTAS. In the LGTAS it is assumed that better participation will lead to better development and
hence improved service delivery. The cases of Kerala and Porto Alegre have shown that a people-
centred development yields positive results.
The LGTAS is premised on the notion that Local Government is Everyone’s Business (COGTA, 2009b,
3). It sought to correct the criticism leveled against South Africa’s DLG experience, that is, the
tendency of municipalities to focus more on the efficiency imperative of the NPM. As argued earlier
this narrow focus has resulted in the neglect of the participatory imperative and has proved to be
detrimental to the overall DLG project. Does the LGTAS present an opportunity for government to
consolidate the missing pieces of the DLG puzzle?
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Chapter 3: Analysis of the Local
Government Turnaround Strategy
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3.1. Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to provide an analysis of the LGTAS. This will is important in order to
understand what the LGTAS requires from municipalities. The chapter is divided into four parts. The
first section deals with the factors that have led to the formulation the LGTAS. The second section is
the overview of the content of the LGTAS. Thirdly, the LGTAS is analysed in light of the literature
review and the conceptual framework outlined in Chapter Two. Finally, the chapter concludes by
highlighting the key points from the analysis.
3.2 Background to the LGTAS
What is the state of local government in 2009 and what must be done to restore the
confidence of our people in this sphere of government by 2011 and beyond? (COGTA,
2009b: 5).
The previous chapter concluded with a question: Does the LGTAS present an opportunity for
government to consolidate the intentions of DLG? This question underlined the rationale
underpinning the LGTAS initiative. In 2009, national government acknowledged the challenges facing
municipalities in the State of Local Government Report (SLGR). These include:
? Huge service delivery and backlog challenges, e.g. housing, water and sanitation;
? Poor communication and accountability relationships with communities;
? Problems with the political administrative interface;
? Corruption and fraud;
? Poor financial management, e.g. negative audit opinions;
? Number of (violent) service delivery protests;
? Weak civil society formations;
? Intra- and inter-political party issues negatively affecting governance and delivery; and
? Insufficient municipal capacity due to lack of scarce skills (COGTA, 2009a: 4).
As a result, communities have lost confidence in the ability of municipalities to deliver the objects of
local government as set out in the Constitution. The service delivery protests that engulfed the
country in 2009 are cited as empirical evidence for the vote of no confidence in municipalities.
Moreover, government concedes that the protests illustrate the frustration on the ground
emanating from the lack of communication between municipalities and communities. The SLGR goes
as far as suggesting that there is a growing social distance between government and communities
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(COGTA, 2009a: 6). The situation is aggravated by the fact that most municipalities are struggling to
deliver on basic services. There is no one reason to determine why municipalities are struggling to
discharge their mandate.
“Dysfunctional”, “in distress” and “inefficient” are some of the words used to describe municipalities
in South Africa in the SLGR. Over the years, national government has formulated several
programmes and policies to counter the challenges that face local government. COGTA observes
that since the establishment of the local sphere, a number of measures to support and strengthen
local government have been undertaken, including, the Local Government Support Programme,
ISRDP, URP, specialized training by professional institutes and Project Consolidate (COGTA, 2009b:
4). However, these remedies have not proved to be the panacea of local government, especially with
regard to delivering on the objectives of DLG. Although there are isolated success stories in some
municipalities, the overall picture remains bleak, and has set the context for the spate of service
delivery protests over the past few years.
Pieterse et al. (2008) acknowledge that there is evidence to suggest that some of these service
delivery protests are politically motivated. However, the vast majority of them indicate that many
communities are frustrated with local government’s inability to deliver on the objectives of DLG,
chiefly the provision of basic services. The reasons for this are complex in that there are both
internal and external forces undermining local government. Internal factors refer to challenges that
are a direct result of municipalities, such as corruption, lack of skills, limited resources and weak
political leadership. External forces have to do with challenges that are beyond the scope of
municipalities, such as policy formulation and the impact of intergovernmental planning.
According to COGTA (2009a), there were an unprecedented 52 major service delivery protests in
2009. This is worrying given that in 2004 there were only 10 service delivery protests (COGTA,
2009a. In other words, the number of protests has quadrupled in five years.
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Figure 5: Graph depicting the number of service delivery protests from 2004 to 2009
Source: COGTA, 2009a: 77
The trend is made more worrying because by 2009, there were a number of government
programmes that had already been implemented to remedy the challenges and provide support to
local government. The LGTAS does not emerge as a substitute to these interventions but as a
mechanism of support for existing measures. Despite the aforementioned challenges, there are also
political factors that underpinned the introduction of the LGTAS. The removal of Mbeki as the
president of the ANC during the 2007 National Conference in Polokwane is pivotal in this regard, and
his subsequent resignation in May 2008 as South African President. In the political realm the
replacement of Thabo Mbeki with Jacob Zuma signaled a new era because the latter is perceived to
be more of a consultative leader. Also, the 2011 local government election were central to the
preparation of the LGTAS. Against the backdrop of popular frustration and discontent in local
government, the ANC needed a strategy to calm the situation before the polls.
3.3 Overview of the LGTAS
The first section of the policy deals with the role of local government in South Africa’s
developmental aspirations. This section can be seen as a justification for trying to make local
government function, despite its lackluster performance thus far. Central to these justifications is
the role of local government in achieving the goals of the RDP. One of the imperatives of the LGNF
was the need to democratise society following 48 years of apartheid government centralisation. The
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goal to democratise society became a policy imperative of the ANC and is one of the main aims of
the RDP. By the same token, the RDP also emphasises the need for an inclusive economy. Local
government is seen as the necessary sphere to achieve both goals.
More recently, local government is seen as a pivotal player in South Africa’s ambitions to become a
developmental state. The developmental state ideology stems from lessons learnt from the success
of the Asian Tigers (Harrison, 2006). The developmental state idea was feasible because this offered
the State an opportunity to have a direct impact on development. This is important in the context of
South Africa wherein the spatial inequalities of the past are still evident. The ANC-led government
sees it necessary for government to play an active role in development to ensure that development
is evenly spread. This is different from a neo-liberal approach whereby the market dictates
development. In South Africa’s reconstruction programme, local government is the primary
expression of a developmental state.
The importance of local government is emphasised in the first paragraph of the LGTAS document.
The LGTAS states that “the aims of democratising our society and growing our economy inclusively
can only be realized through a “responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government
system that is part of a developmental state” (COGTA, 2009b: 3). The assertion regarding the pivotal
role of local government paves way for the introduction of the LGTAS as an intervention to counter
the forces undermining the developmental role of local government. The root causes of these forces
include:
? Systemic factors, i.e. linked to model of local government;
? Policy and legislative factors;
? Political factors;
? Weaknesses in the accountability systems;
? Capacity and skills constraints;
? Weak intergovernmental support and oversight; and
? Issues associated with the inter-governmental fiscal system (COGTA, 2009a: 3).
These factors were outlined in the SLGR, which was compiled following a nation-wide assessment
programme of the 283 municipalities undertaken by COGTA. The LGTAS articulates the underlying
rationale for the municipal assessment: “The purpose of the provincial assessments was to ascertain
the key problem statement in different thematic areas and to establish the root causes for poor
performance, distress or dysfunctionality in municipalities” (COGTA, 2009b: 3). Given the
fundamental role of local government in South Africa’s development that was established in the
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LGTAS opening remarks, the conclusion of this first section outlines its aim, which is to “turn around
municipalities from struggling with failure to ones that are confident in their abilities to execute their
service delivery mandates” (COGTA, 2009b: 4).
Section Two of the document uses legislation to describe how a municipality ought to perform, as
required by the various pieces of legislation governing local government. The focal point is the 1998
WPLG, and once again the definition of DLG is reiterated as “local government committed to
working with citizens and groups within the community to find sustainable ways to meet their social,
economic and material needs and improve the quality of their lives” (COGTA, 2009b: 4). According to
the LGTAS, the ideal municipality should deliver the objects of local government as set out in the
Constitution, and should result in the following outcomes:
? The provision of household infrastructure and services;
? The creation of livable, integrated and inclusive cities, towns and rural areas;
? Local economic development; and
? Community empowerment and distribution (COGTA, 2009a: 13).
These outcomes, the LGTAS argues “should create a healthy local environment in which vulnerable
groups are supported and protected. It should also mitigate the growing social distance between
government and communities” (COGTA, 2009b: 4). The LGTAS acknowledges that a number of
interventions have been introduced to achieve the ideal municipality as envisaged by the WPLG.
These interventions include Siyenza Manje, and Project Consolidate. Although the SLGR states that
these interventions have made some improvement in the ability of local government to execute
their Constitutional mandate, the picture is far from the ideal. An indicator of this picture is the
service delivery protests that have been proliferating at an alarming rate since 2004. To achieve the
ideal municipality, the LGTAS proposes the following:
? “Local Government is everyone’s business” (COGTA, 2009b: 5). The Strategy extends beyond
government and must be owned across society. Municipalities can be made to work better
for everyone by everyone. One of the main findings of the SLGR is that there is a growing
distance between communities and municipalities. This distance, the SLGR argues, has
resulted in the number of violent service delivery protests. The general perception is that
municipalities do not engage with communities to listen to their needs, hence the
frustrations. The goal to make local government everybody’s business should be understood
as a response to this shortfall. Thus, to achieve the ideal, participation is pivotal.
? “The structure of local government system remains. Notwithstanding certain changes that
may have to be effected, the overall architecture of the system of local government is still
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sound” (COGTA, 2009b: 4). Some commentators (Pieterse et. al., 2008; Harrison, 2006) have
critiqued the structure of the IGR system. The LGTAS argues that the structure needs to be
restructured to ensure that municipalities deliver on the aspirations of the WPLG.
? “The local government system is still new and is evolving. The new system of local
government was always intended to be phased in over time and the current problems must
be seen as part of an effort to learn and correct as we continue with implementation”
(COGTA, 2009b: 4). This point accentuates the call for the current structure to remain intact.
The LGTAS stresses that success will not be achieved overnight and that the shortfalls that
have been experienced thus far should be understood as part of the learning experience. In
other words, the local government system has not failed in principle, because it is an
ongoing process that is faced with numerous challenges, but further efforts will be needed
to ensure its success. The LGTAS has been formulated to counter challenges and ensure that
municipalities deliver on their Constitutional mandate.
Section Three of the document is designed to illustrate the spatial inequalities of the South African
landscape. The section shows that municipalities face different challenges and thus require a
differentiated approach. This is part of COGTA’s call to shift away from the earlier ‘one size fits all’
approach. In previous years, municipalities have been critiqued for adopting and applying local
government interventions that do not address their needs and challenges. In this light, the LGTAS is
seen as a progressive intervention. To qualify the need for a differentiated approach, the LGTAS
provides a Vulnerability Index which is indicative of a municipality’s vulnerability:
? Class 1: Very high vulnerability;
? Class 2: High vulnerability;
? Class 3: Medium vulnerability; and
? Class 4: Low vulnerability (COGTA, 2009b: 23)
The Vulnerability Index does not only take into account the spatial, social, municipal capacity and
economic indicators, but also it considers the audit opinions by National Treasury regarding
municipal capacity to implement the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). The latter is a
good indication of financial and management capacity. The LGTAS argues that this classification
system “will guide the kinds and levels of support and interventions developed for the LGTAS”
(COGTA, 2009b: 24). Further, “it will also lay the basis for determining the appropriate
responsibilities, powers and functions that different municipalities ought to ideally provide to their
communities and guide how greater state involvement must take place to ensure that all
communities receive quality services, irrespective of which municipality they live in” (COGTA, 2009b:
24). Moreover, “this approach to understanding municipal difference is intended to assist
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municipalities to reflect on their respective strengths and weaknesses and to take responsibility for
identifying and managing appropriate interventions” (COGTA, 2009b: 25).
As outlined above, the LGTAS is premised on three key assumptions, that is, local government is
everybody’s business, the structure of local government remains, and local government is still new
and evolving. The last two assumptions inform the LGTAS despite calls from some quarters to review
the local government structure. In Section Four of the LGTAS, government can be seen to justify
their position on the matter by highlighting some success stories. For example, the cases of
Thabazimbi Local Municipality and the Overstrand Local Municipality are respectively lauded for
their performance in Local Economic Development (LED) and financial viability. It is argued that the
success stories should be a model of development for other municipalities.
The challenges faced by local government are covered in Section Five of the LGTAS. Some of the root
causes of municipal failure have been determined as being due to:
? Inappropriate national and provincial government policies, practices and onerous
requirements;
? Political parties that are undermining the integrity and functioning of municipal councils
through intra- and inter-party conflicts and inappropriate interference in councils and
administration; and
? Those municipalities that are not geared for delivering basic services and are not responsive
and accountable enough to residents, including a failure to involve communities in their own
development (COGTA, 2009b, 18-19).
According to the LGTAS, these have fuelled public perception and concern within government that
the entire Local Government system is in distress due to the following factors:
? Local government is failing the poor;
? Local government is not working properly;
? Local government is unaccountable to the citizens;
? Local government is marred by excessive levels of corruption, fraud, maladministration; and
? Municipalities are centres of factional conflicts, political infighting and patronage (COGTA,
2009b: 18).
The LGTAS identifies that municipalities are affected by both internal and external problems. Whilst
internal factors refer to issues affecting the municipalities directly, such as administrative capacity,
external factors refer to factors that affect municipalities indirectly, such as national policy. The
LGTAS states that external factors require a solution that is beyond the scope of local government.
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The internal problems are categorised into seven thematic areas, service delivery, spatial conditions,
governance, financial management, LED and labour relations, and these problems are the focus of
the policy’s recommendations.
Having identified the root causes of the problems undermining local government, Section Six of the
LGTAS outlines the plans and interventions that government seeks to introduce. To provide overall
direction, five strategic objectives have been formulated:
? Ensure that municipalities meet the basic service needs of communities;
? Build clean, effective, efficient, responsive and accountable local government;
? Improve performance and professionalism in municipalities;
? Improve national and provincial policy, oversight and support; and
? Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities and civil society (COGTA,
2009b: 19).
These objectives have been identified to “rebuild and improve the basic requirements for a
functional, responsive, effective, efficient and accountable developmental local government”
(COGTA, 2009b: 19).
Objectives One and Five are the main focus of this research. Whilst Objective Five represents the
means for DLG, Objective One represents some of the ends that should result from DLG. Focusing on
these two objectives is informed by the analyses that suggest that participation is absent from South
Africa’s quest for DLG, which has not only impacted negatively on service delivery, but also has led
to a social distance between communities and government, and the proliferation of service delivery
protests. The perceived lack of participation is not the only reason for local government’s inability to
deliver DLG. To fully comprehend this inability the institutional shortfalls that the LGTAS seeks to
correct through the other three objectives should be acknowledged. These three objectives can be
categorized as part of the imperative of efficiency in DLG, which has dominated the history of DLG in
South Africa. The research question of this study is focused on the impact of the LGTAS on the
imperatives of participation, hence the focus on Objectives One and Five.
An improved inter-governmental planning system is encouraged, hence the envisaged role for all the
three spheres of government. The LGTAS calls for the creation of “a single window and entry point
for the coordination of local government support and monitoring in the Department of Cooperative
Governance and Traditional Affairs” (COGTA, 2009b: 20). Nevertheless, whilst national government
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continues to play a leading role in the formulation of policies, the provincial structures are
encouraged to support local government where possible. Other interventions include the launch of a
good citizenship campaign that is based on the principles of ‘Ubuntu’. The latter is to ensure that all
of society is guided by a common set of values. For the realisation of the five strategic objectives, the
LGTAS plans to mobilise all of society to become involved.
Section Seven covers the implementation plan of the LGTAS. The implementation of the LGTAS is
premised upon the methodology that there must be a differentiated and targeted support system
for local government. This is the case because Section Two of the LGTAS has established that
different municipalities face different challenges. As noted earlier, this is largely because of the
spatial inequalities. Some municipalities are more capable of discharging their Constitutional
mandate than others. Thus, for the implementation the LGTAS states that “measures will be taken to
ensure that in those parts of the country, especially rural areas, where severe poverty and
underdevelopment sits side by side with weak municipal capacity, there is a dedicated focus to
augment municipal capacity with delivery through capable institutions at either provincial or
national level” (COGTA, 2009b: 25). Because the implementation is envisaged through a two-phased
period (pre-2011 which is the short term and post-2011, the long-term), the support system is
focused on the “institutional measures to facilitate improved delivery of infrastructure and services
(related to the short-term goals) and structural, policy, legislative and capacity building measures
over the longer-term” (COGTA, 2009b: 22).
The following factors need to be addressed in the implementation of the LGTAS:
? The impact of uniform regulatory framework - shifting from the one size fits all approach;
? Municipalities focus on compliance - municipalities should start to focus on the issues
affecting their localities rather than to merely observe protocol;
? Untargeted and ineffective support - the role and relationship between the three spheres of
government should be scrutinized and improved upon; and
? The combination of internal factors with external impacts - poor municipal performance can
be due to factors that are outside the local government scope, such as policy formulation
and global economic instability (COGTA, 2009b: 24).
Section Eight is the intervention framework. This section builds from Section Five in that it sets out
the priorities that should be met to address the root causes undermining the local government. The
intervention framework identifies the responsibilities of the various spheres of government as well
as the timeframe (short- or long-term). For example, one of the interventions to enhance service
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delivery is better planning and oversight over local service delivery. In this regard the role of national
government is to identify legislation and practice that constrains service delivery while that of
province and local is to strengthen regional planning and strengthen collective municipal plans
respectively. The pre-2011 goal was to identify constraints to service delivery and the long-term
vision is to improve planning and service provision. The LGTAS document concludes by setting out
the institutional arrangement for the LGTAS before outlining the key intervention areas (Section
Nine) and a road map for the process moving forward (Section Ten).
Figure 6: Institutional Framework for the LGTAS
Source: COGTA, 2009b: 45
3.4 Analysis of the LGTAS
The conceptual framework highlighted the profound impact of New Public Management (NPM)
practice on South Africa’s public administration system. The WPLG is a good example of the ideals
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represented by NPM under the Third Way approach. The WPLG calls for a system of local
government that is not only institutionally competent in terms of efficiency, but also adheres to
progressive ideals such as “participation, collaborative planning, and democracy” (Harrison, 2006:
188). The WPLG requires that municipalities are to produce an IDP to achieve DLG through efficient
institutions that seek to address the aforementioned progressive ideas. However, conflating
efficiency with participation has proved to be difficult, given South Africa’s ‘top-down’ development
system. Developmental plans are produced at the ‘top’ (national government) and implemented
through a ‘bottom up’ approach. The system is characterised by contradictions and contestations
that make it difficult for local government to simultaneously be efficient and participatory in nature.
Since 2000, DLG has favoured the desiderata of ‘technocrats’, with an emphasis on efficiency in the
public administration. Parnell and Pieterse (2002) argue that this has had a negative impact on local
government’s ability to realise the objectives of DLG as set out in the 1998 WPLG.
For Heller (2008), participation and efficiency are both necessary for DLG to occur. Several scholars
argue that the South African case is one wherein participation has been institutionalised, henceforth
the lack of participation (Heller, 2001, 2008; Pieterse, 2007; Pieterse and van Donk, 2008; Pieterse et
al., 2008). The lack of participation is also confirmed by the SLGR. This has negatively affected the
relationship between communities and local government, and has created a “social distance”
between municipalities and communities (COGTA, 2009b: 24). The LGTAS has been introduced to
curb this situation, and it has been designed to revitalise the participatory component of DLG and to
reinforce the efficiency of local government. Therefore, the LGTAS is an indication that government
has the utmost confidence in the current development system to deliver DLG. The LGTAS does not
seek to overhaul the system but calls for an improvement in the implementation process. There is an
urgent need to improve the relationship between communities and municipalities through
meaningful participatory measures that will ensure good governance practices and lead to better
service delivery.
By the same token, municipalities as institutions of government are encouraged to be efficient in
executing their Constitutional mandate as well as ensuring that they are not affected by practices
that do not adhere to good governance such as corruption, nepotism, and maladministration
(COGTA, 2009b). From the content of the LGTAS, it is clear that government is attempting to create a
common ground wherein both the imperatives of participation and efficiency of DLG can co-exist. In
light of this attempt, the LGTAS has to be applauded. However, we need to investigate the ‘co-
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existence’ further. In Chapter Two it has been established that the success of participatory
governance enjoyed in places like Porto Alegre and Kerala was not evident in the earlier experience
of DLG. Heller (2008: 157) argues that this is the case because in South Africa the efficiency side of
DLG is highly developed, whereas the participatory element remains poorly developed. The LGTAS is
an attempt to change this. The stated intentions of the document seem to suggest a more
responsive, inclusionary DLG.
The key intervention areas illustrate that the LGTAS signals a shift to a responsive, inclusionary local
government. Pieterse and van Donk (2008) argued that the IGR system undermined the
responsiveness of municipalities to communities. Local government is accountable to the national
sphere because this structure sets out the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of municipalities and
municipal officials alike. The LGTAS states that national government (including state enterprises)
needs to organise itself better in relation to local government. In this regard one of the objectives is
to address the ‘one size fits all’ approach to enable municipalities to focus on functions that are
suited to their different sizes and capacities (COGTA, 2009b). Addressing the ‘one size fits all’
approach will also enable municipalities to better respond to the needs of their communities. Here,
the argument is that municipalities have been unable to respond to the needs of their communities
because the municipal Spatial Development Framework, for example, reflects the priorities of
national government through the National Spatial Development perspective (NSDP) and Provincial
Spatial Development Framework (PSDF). The priorities of national and provincial government might
differ from that of the local municipalities. In terms of the LGTAS, national government is to ensure a
more responsive DLG by doing the following:
? Address socio- economic and institutional vulnerability of the relevant municipalities;
? Intergovernmental agreement with a targeted set of municipalities;
? More enabling environment for service delivery;
? Improve spatial prioritisation of budgets and investments, and delivery of national functions
and inter-sectoral alignment in municipalities; and
? Organised participation in IDP processes (COGTA, 2009b: 20).
The role of provincial government is also imperative. According to the LGTAS, provinces will improve
their “support and oversight responsibilities for local government and better communication and
involvement of municipalities and communities in planning and execution of provincial functions”
(COGTA, 2009b: 20). As implementers of the development programme, municipalities are expected
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to “reflect on their own performance and identify their own tailor-made turnaround strategies”
(COGTA, 2009b: 20).
The MTAS should focus on the following:
? Undertake appropriate set of powers and functions and identify and establish relevant
agency arrangements with national and provincial government within current policy
framework;
? Through the municipal Spatial Development Frameworks, each municipality is aware of and
is able to guide the land use activity on every square metre and kilometre in its area of
jurisdiction; and
? Improved public participation and communication including effective complaint
management and feedback systems (COGTA, 2009b: 21).
Notably, institutional building is also outlined as an intervention for a more responsive DLG.
3.5 Conclusion
The emergence of the LGTAS has been influenced by a number of factors. The LGTAS reaffirms
government’s commitment to the developmental state idea. According to Harrison et al. (2006), the
decision to revert to the developmental state idea was spearheaded by the Zuma-led faction of the
ANC who felt that the idea was sidelined during the Mbeki tenure. Unlike during the Mbeki reign
where the governance approach was ‘managerial’, the Zuma-led administration emphasises the
fundamentals of network governance. The LGTAS is a good illustration of network governance: local
government is encouraged to mobilise all societal organs to contribute to the success of
municipalities, thereby forming a complex relationship that contributes to the greater good of the
developmental agenda. It is argued that “the LGTAS serves as a social compact across all sectors of
society to contribute to building responsive, accountable and effective municipalities” (COGTA,
2009b: 22). In this regard, the good citizenship campaign is pivotal. The main aim of the campaign is
to ensure a good citizenship programme centered on involvement in local government affairs by all
of civil society.
The SLGR has played a major influence in the formulation of the LGTAS. In the SLGR it was found that
communities have lost confidence in local government as the primary expression of a developmental
state. The LGTAS argues that the model of local government has not failed entirely but is
characterised by a number of shortcomings. These shortcomings, government argues, has
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undermined the integrity of the whole local government system. Several success stories have been
outlined in the LGTAS to show that the model has not failed entirely. Given the limited success,
however, government uses the LGTAS to respond to those forces undermining the ability of
municipalities to discharge their developmental mandate. Importantly, the LGTAS seeks to address
both the external and internal factors undermining the developmental role of local government.
Externally, the impact of the IGR system is questioned. Internally, municipalities are encouraged set
up structures that will ensure institutional efficiency and community participation. The LGTAS can be
understood as an attempt to balance both the imperatives of efficiency and participation
encapsulated in the notion of DLG. However, greater priority is given to the government’s long-held
orientation towards institutional reform to resolve development challenges.
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Chapter 4: Overview of the Case Study
Area: Makhuduthamaga Local
Municipality
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4.1 Introduction
The SLGR represents the latest undertaking by government to understand the challenges
undermining the ability of municipalities to deliver DLG. The LGTAS labels the SLGR as is the most
consultative exercise that was instituted to understand the dynamics impacting the local
government sphere in the post-apartheid era. The process was led by the Minister of Co-operative
Governance and Traditional Affairs and the respective MECs for each province. Although there is
evidence that some municipalities are performing relatively well in certain aspects of DLG; the
overall picture is one of a local government system that is largely unable to implement its
developmental mandate (COGTA: 2009b). The LGTAS makes it clear that its priority is to re-orientate
municipalities that have been identified as Class 1 (most vulnerable) and Class 2 (second most
vulnerable) by the SLGR. Thus, it is appropriate to examine the impact of the LGTAS in consolidating
DLG in a municipality that has been classified as vulnerable. As a Class 1 municipality,
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (MLM) has been selected as the case study.
The municipality is primary rural and subsistence farming is a livelihood strategy for many in the
municipality. Poverty in the area is rife. The situation is perpetuated by a municipality that is
struggling to deliver basic services to the community. Nevertheless, this chapter will provide a
descriptive overview of the MLM, giving particular attention to details about poverty and
vulnerability, as well as service needs and delivery, and levels of civil society organisation. The first
section of the chapter deals with the physical location of the municipality. Secondly, a historical
background is outlined. This is vital for the reader to understand the factors that have shaped MLM.
In the third section the demographics of the municipality are discussed. The fourth section contains
basic service delivery backlogs in the municipality and the fifth presents the municipal response to
this backlogs. Finally, the sixth section concludes by summarising the key points of the chapter.
4.2 Physical location
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (MLM) is a predominantly rural municipality that is found in
the south-eastern part of Limpopo Province. It lies approximately 189 kilometers south-east of the
provincial capital, Polokwane, and is located at the heart of the Sekhukhune District Municipality. It
is bordered by Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality to the south-east), Tubatse Local Municipality in
the north-east, and Fetakgomo Local Municipality in the north.
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Map 2: Location Map of Makhuduthamaga local Municipality
Mayor: Clr Alfred Matlala
Vision
A development municipality that
provides need satisfying, sustainable
services
Mission
To strive for a people centered
municipality that delivers sustainable
services underpinned by the following
principles:
? Efficiency
? Effectiveness
? Economy
? Integration
? Accountability
www.search.com
www.search.com
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4.3 Historical Background
The Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (MLM) is found in the former Bantu homeland that was
named ‘Lebowa’ during the epoch of Apartheid. In 2000, MLM was established with the
amalgamation of the former Nebo, Ngwaritsi and Makhuduthamaga Transitional Local Councils in
terms of the Municipal Systems Act of 2000. It is a Category B municipality – in other words, a Local
Municipality. In 2005 the headquarters of MLM moved from Groblersdal to Jane Furse. The move to
Jane Furse was not only influenced by its more central location, but also due to the economic role it
plays in the Sekhukhune Region. This is mainly due to presence of the regional hospital, the large
shopping centre that was established in 1995, and a growing taxi industry that connects residents to
nearby cities and towns i.e. Polokwane and Groblersdal. Initially retail activities were largely
characterised by small enterprises, but today, large retail corporations, such as Pick n Pay, Shoprite-
Checkers and KFC are key anchor tenants of the shopping centre. This boom of economic activity has
attracted many informal traders from across the Sekhukhune Region and beyond into Jane Furse.
The small town is likely to see significant public investment in the near future. Recently the MEC for
Local Government and Housing, Soviet Lekganyane announced that government had a revitalisation
plan for towns such as Jane Furse which should be seen in the context of national government’s
commitment to rural development. Further, there are talks surfacing of plans to move the district
offices from Groblersdal to Jane Furse.
4.4 Demographic Profile
According to the Integrated Development Plan of MLM (2010), the estimated population of the
municipality is 300 206, 146 with 56 642 households. The average household size is 5.3 persons. This
is higher than the national average which is estimated to be 4.11 (Statistics South Africa: 2007).
Table 2: Breakdown of the Race Groups
Source: MLM, 2011: 32
Population Group Population Number % 2007
Black 299 941 99.93
Coloureds 42 0.002
Indian or Asian 93 0.003
White 124 0.05
Total 300 200 100
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The municipal population is mainly comprised of individuals below the age of 20. This age group is
depended on government’s social system to survive because the unemployment rate in the
municipality is estimated to be 60-75 percent (MLM: 2010). The average household size also
indicates the high dependency. Moreover, there are more females (176 744- 56 %) than males (123
462- 44 %) in the municipality. This is because males are most likely to migrate areas with potential
employment opportunities i.e. Gauteng Province. The mobility of females is not only restricted by
economic factors but also traditional perceptions on the role of females in society. Tradition in the
Pedi clan (dominant in the municipality) dictates that males are head of the family and as such
should venture out and seek for a livelihood strategy whilst the females are responsible for
reproduction processes. In most cases males migrate to areas like Johannesburg and Burgersfort to
work in the mining sector and other manufacturing related fields. Mining is usually associated with
male labour absorption.
Figure 7: Age Distribution in Percent
Source: MLM, 2011: 32
The employment profile of the municipality reveal that the dependency ration is above 3.33 which
means for every 10 economically active people they will support 33 not economically active and
unemployed persons (MLM, 2011). The municipality used the international formula to calculate the
dependency:
Dependency = Number of Children (0-15) + Number of Pensioners (65+) (Economically
Inactive) / Number of Working age 16-65 (Economically Active)
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The municipal dependency ratio is an indication of vulnerability in the area. For the municipality,
high rate of vulnerability means that more resources have to be allocated to basic service delivery.
The indigent state of affairs in the municipality is worsened by low income levels.
Table 3: Employment Profile
Economically
active
Male
numbers
% for
males
Female
numbers
% for
female
Total % for
Male and
Female
Total for
Male and
Female
Employed 10 759 49 11 219 51 100 21 978
Unemployment 11 950 36 21 397 64 100 33 347
Total 22 709 32 616 100 55 746
Not
economically
active
34 403 41 49 636 59 100 84 039
Total 57 111 82 251 139 364
Source: MLM, 2011: 32
Approximately 54.8 percent of individuals have no formal income (MLM, 2010). In 2006, Stats SA
reported that 41.56 percent of the people in MMLM had no formal income.
Table 4: Household Income
Income category No of Households Population (%)
No income 22 525 41.56
R1- R4 800 4197 7.74
R4 801- R9 600 14 546 26.84
R9 601- R19 200 6781 12.51
R38 401- R76 800 2346 4.33
R76 801- R153 600 815 1.50
R153 601- R307 200 186 0.34
R307 201- R614 400 57 0.11
R614 401- 1 228 800 18 0.03
R1 228 801- R2 457 600 27 0.05
R2 457 600 and more 12 0.02
Source: MLM, 2006: 42
The statistics show that more than 40 percent of households in the municipality are classified as
indigent. The National Indigent Policy requires municipalities to provide Free Basic Services (water,
electricity, sanitation and waste removal) to households whose combined income does not exceed
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R1600. This task is almost impossible for a rural municipality like MLM. The municipality does not a
property revenue base.
4. 5 Basic Services
The settlement pattern is also a developmental challenge for the municipality. This has had a
profound impact on the delivery of infrastructural services. This is because the “municipality is
characterised by dispersed villages that lie distant from one another” (MLM, 2011: 34). Long
distances between settlements coupled with poor road infrastructure have made service provision a
difficult and “sometimes impossible” to the communities (MLM, 2011: 34). Compounding these is
the fact that the area is characterised by low density (MLM, 2011: 34). Thus, the municipality is
characterised by a number of basic service delivery backlogs.
4.5.1. Water
MLM is not a Water Service Authority or Water Service provider. Water is a function of the
Sekhukhune District Municipality.
Figure 8: Household Access to Water
Source: Stats SA, 2007
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Only 0.98 percent of the total population has access to piped water inside the dwelling. Overall, the
total population that has access to piped water is 13.7 %.
Table 5: Water Backlog
MLM Households Households
receiving water
up to RDP
standard and
above
Backlog % Backlog
56 642 20 888 32 899 64
Source: MLM, 2011: 34
Water supply authorities in the municipality have been unable to meet the target set by the
Department of Water Affairs to eradication of water supply backlog in households by 2008. To
overcome the water backlog the 2011 Sekhukhune District Municipality IDP has identifies 11 projects
across to be implemented in various villages across MLM. In total budget for this projects is R9 3809
4848.
4.5.2. Sanitation
Like water, the district municipality (Sekhukhune District Municipality) is responsible for sanitation.
Only 9% of household has sanitation up to RDP standard. Of the 56 642 households 51 271 do not
have a sanitation system that meets the minimal standard of the RDP. This means that the sanitation
backlog in the municipality is 91%.
Table 6: Access to Sanitation
Sanitation Type No. %
Flush toilet (connected to sewerage system) 879 1.6%
Flush toilet (with septic tank) 412 0.8%
Dry toilet facility 242 0.5%
Pit toilet with ventilation (VIP) 6,945 12.9
Pit toilet without ventilation 41,738 77.8
Chemical toilet - 0%
Bucket toilet system - 0%
None 3,439 6.4%
Total 56 642 100%
Source: MLM, 2011: 35
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In contrast to the commitment on water provision, the Sekhukhune District Municipality has
identified only one project to overcome sanitation in the MLM. The sanitation project is in the village
of Ramphelane village. The total budget for the project is R 4 100 100.
4.5.3 Electricity
The “electrification projects that are implemented by the municipality are ceded to Eskom for
operation and maintenance” (MLM, 2011: 46). This is because the municipality is not a licensed
supplier of electricity. Unlike water and sanitation statistics suggest that municipality is making
inroads insofar as delivering electricity. In total 46 266 households have electrified.
Table 7: Sources of Energy for Lighting in MLM
Electricity Gas Paraffin Candles Solar Other
2007 84.1 0.1 2.7 12 0 1.1
2001 62.58 0.11 4.83 31.84 0.22 0.43
1996 25.3 0.33 11.86 54.5 0 0.01
Source: MLM, 2011: 47
Currently, the electricity backlog is 18.3 percent. The villages without access to electricity are mainly
located in mountainous regions of the municipality and newly formed settlements. The municipal
IDP has identified the following as developmental challenges to electricity:
? Eskom has no capacity;
? Illegal connections to households;
? New extensions of residential sites for post connections;
? Budgetary constraints; and
? Authority over electricity (MLM, 2011: 34).
4.5.4. Housing
The Department of Local Government and Housing (DLGH) is responsible for housing in the
municipality. The role of the municipality is to identify and submit the names of beneficiaries.
Table 8: Access to Housing
MLM Households Backlog % Backlog
56 642 13 258 22
Source: MLM, 2011: 51
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According to Stats SA (2007) 72 percent of the dwelling type in the municipality is made of brick
structure. However, most of these houses are not up to the standard of the RDP and require
upgrading. The IDP also points out that there has been a proliferation of backyard shacks and
informal settlements in the municipality because of the envisaged development in Jane Furse.
Nonetheless, there are 81 059 planned units to be implemented across various villages in the
municipality (MLM: 2011).
The service delivery backlog show that MLM is faced with a number of challenges, as Makgetla
outlines:
Makhuduthamaga in the former Lebowa homeland was the poorest municipality in South
Africa in 2004, spending just R50 on each of its 250 000 inhabitants every year. If you lived in
Makhuduthamaga, you would likely be desperately poor, unemployed, and dependent on
social grants and remittances. You would almost certainly carry in your water and have a pit
toilet. In 2001, only 11 per cent of households in the municipality had piped water on site,
while just 2 per cent had flush toilets and 16 per cent had no toilets at all. In 2004, just under
half the population living in this municipality went hungry at least sometimes (Makgetla,
2007: 145).
4.6 The IDP Institutional Organization
Figure 8: Organogram representing the IDP Institutional Process of Makhuduthamaga Local
Municipality
Makhuduthamaga
Local Municipality
Council
Municipal Manager
(IDP Manager, IDP
Steering
Projects,
Programmes and
sectorial task teams
IDP Representative
Forum
Stakeholder, Interest
groups and ward
committees
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The aim of the organogram is to show the institutional process governing participation in the
preparation of the municipal IDP. This is pivotal because the IDP is the developmental tool of the
municipality. In line with the Municipal Systems Act; the municipality uses IDP forums to encourage
civil society to participate in the preparation of the IDP. Also, it is important to note that this is not
the only form of participation in the municipality. Community members are able to participate in the
municipal processes through Traditional Leaders. Traditional Leaders are also members of the
Council.
4.7. Conclusion
Service delivery in MLM remains a huge challenge to the municipality. The municipality is
characterised by basic service delivery backlogs. The municipality concedes that the developmental
challenges are immense and argues that the situation is worsened by the fact that land ownership in
the municipality is “predominantly under the South African Development Trust but under the
custodianship of local Traditional Authorities” (MLM, 2011: 34). The municipality does not own land.
At times this culminates a situation where in municipal projects are delayed or even cancelled
because they do not enjoy support of the local Tribal Authorities. Thus whilst the Tribal Authorities
can support the municipality in terms of galvanizing the community for participation in some
instances they can hinder developmental projects in the municipality. Nonetheless, Jane Furse has
emerged as the core economic node of the region and represents hope for MLM. As far as
governance is concerned, public participation process of the IDP process is complemented by the
relationship between Traditional Leaders and the municipality. This complementary relationship is
quite different from that experienced in other parts of country like in KwaZulu-Natal where the
relationship between municipalities and traditional leaders is often characterized by conflict and
animosity (Mtimkulu, 2009).
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Chapter 5: Findings and Analysis
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5.1. Introduction
In this chapter, the findings of the fieldwork are discussed and analysed. In the first section, a
detailed account of the research findings is followed by key points that have emerged from the
fieldwork. The narration of the research findings is structured to reflect the content of the interview
questionnaire. This approach begins to paint a picture of the impact of the LGTAS in
Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality. In the second part of the chapter, the findings are analysed
through the conceptual framework set out in Chapter Two.
5.2 DLG in Makhuduthamaga: The Research Findings
The information that was gathered for the case study was done so through a series of interviews
with municipal councillors and officials from the Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (MLM). In
total, seven interviews were conducted:
? Senior Manager;
? Director of Infrastructure and Services;
? Two members of the Community Liaison Office;
? Project Manager; and
? Two Ward Councillors.
The primary aim of the LGTAS is to consolidate the developmental nature of local government (DLG).
To contextualise the research study the questionnaire commences by asking several questions
related to the concept of DLG:
? What do you think are the objectives of DLG?
? Has the municipality been able to reach these objectives?
? If not, what impediments do you think the municipality has encountered in its endeavour to
deliver DLG?
? What has been the role of interventions like Project Consolidate and Five Year Local
Government Strategic Agenda in aiding the municipality to deliver DLG?
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Of the seven interviewees, only the Senior Manager was aware of what DLG entailed as envisaged by
the WPLG. This is not to suggest that the other interviewees are not aware of the developmental
role of local government. According to the Senior Manager, DLG is about reversing the injustices of
the apartheid system through basic service provision and the creation of job opportunities. One of
the Community Liaison Officers commented that, for him, DLG is about decentralising development
because “under the previous regime (apartheid) rural areas like Makhuduthamaga” experienced
limited development. Consequently, “people had to travel long distances to access strong economic
centres like Polokwane.” Therefore, for him, DLG was introduced as a balancing act to development.
Although the Director of Infrastructure and Services admits that while she is not aware of either the
WPLG or the DLG concept, she was aware that the ANC government has introduced a number of
policies to ensure that “municipalities are responsive to the needs of communities.” In this regard,
she cited the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). She pointed out that the EPWP is
important because it seeks to address the dual challenge of service delivery and unemployment.
None of the interviewees made the link between DLG and participation.
The general perception of the interviewees is that the main objective of municipality is to deliver
basic services. From this perspective, the Director of Infrastructure and Services argues that the
municipality has made some inroads, despite the limited resources. Both the Director of
Infrastructure and Services and the Senior Manager point out that the municipality has addressed 90
percent of the electricity backlog. They argue that areas that do not have access to electricity in the
municipality are newly formed areas. The pair also indicate that the municipality has improved the
road and network infrastructure. The qualities of these roads are, however, questionable. According
to the Director of Infrastructure and Services, the municipality has had to “compromise” the quality
of the roads because of limited resources. According to her, this practice shortens the lifespan of the
roads. Although the municipality has made some inroads in service delivery, the SLGR states that the
municipality is one of the worst performing municipalities in service delivery. This is because service
delivery goes beyond electricity and road network infrastructure.
Importantly, all the interviewees acknowledge that service delivery in the municipality is still faced
with a number of backlogs. In this regard, one of the Community Liaison Officers states that some
services are not prioritised. For example, sanitation remains a challenge because in a setting like
MLM the general norm is that have to take their own initiative to ensure that they have a pit latrine.
People are mainly concerned about services like “electricity, roads, and water.” Inevitably, the issue
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of limited resources is labeled as the single most impediments undermining the developmental
mandate of the municipality. Others include the lack of skills and capacity. According to the Director
of Infrastructure and Services, interventions like Project Consolidate and the Five Year Local
Government Strategic Agenda are adopted by the municipality to comply with the regulations of
national government. The Senior Manager commented that success of local government
interventions is unlikely because these interventions do not differ. He states that the only thing that
national government does is to change the name “Project Consolidate to LGTAS.” Also, he
highlighted that the success of this intervention is limited because municipalities are expected to
follow national goals, which at times tend to alter the developmental course of the municipalities.
5.2.1 The Emergence of the LGTAS
The Senior Official interviewed was the only interviewee who was aware of the LGTAS policy
document. Some of the interviewees are only aware of the Municipal Turnaround Strategy (Project
Manager and Community Liaison Officers). The Two Councillors and the Director of Infrastructure
and Services were not aware of either the LGTAS policy initiative or the Municipal Turnaround
Strategy. Thus, only the Senior Manager was able to express his views on the emergence of the
LGTAS as a programme of action for consolidating DLG. He states that the LGTAS offers
municipalities a real chance to perform better. Furthermore, he added that the LGTAS is a “good”
intervention because it offers municipalities a chance to direct development through a SWOT
analysis (strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats). The LGTAS requires municipalities to
formulate a municipal turnaround strategy that is informed by the priorities of the locality
concerned. The SLGR has classified MLM as a low capacity municipality. As highlighted in Chapter
Three, the methodology of the LGTAS is premised on the idea that “there must be a differentiated
and targeted support system for local government” (COGTA, 2009b: 25).
This means that different support structures will be given to municipalities to implement the LGTAS.
This support depends on the capacity of the municipality concerned. This qualifies the Minister’s
utterance that the LGTAS shifts away from the ‘one size fits all’ approach. For example, the LGTAS
states that “measures will be taken to ensure that in those parts of the country, especially rural
areas, where severe poverty and underdevelopment sits side by side with weak municipal capacity;
there is a dedicated focus to augment municipal capacity with delivery through capable institutions
at either provincial or national level” (COGTA, 2009b: 25). MLM is one of the municipalities wherein
the latter has been implemented. According to the Senior Manager, this approach weakens the
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LGTAS because municipalities are deprived the opportunity to formulate a turnaround strategy that
is informed by their own understanding of the local conditions. Nevertheless, the Senior Manager
applauded the LGTAS because it recognised that municipalities are faced with challenges that fall
outside their mandate of governance. In this regard, the official cited water provision. He
commented that although water provision was a function of the district municipality (Sekhukhune
District Municipality) this was a burden for MLM.
The non-provision of water is a burden to the municipality because prior to conducting the
interviews the people of the Ga-Masemola community had engaged in a violent service delivery
protest over the issue of water. During the service delivery protests, some sections of the “crowd
burned tyres, blocked and vandalised the road” (Senior Manager, 2012). This does not only hamper
the initiative to improve the road system but also has negative effects for the economy in the
municipality. Thus, the LGTAS is a progressive intervention because it seeks to address both the
external and internal forces undermining MLM.
5.2.2 The Process of Formulating the Makhuduthamaga Turnaround Strategy
The LGTAS requires municipalities to tailor-make their own TAS, reflect on their strengths and
weaknesses and identify and manage appropriate interventions, and focus on localised issues
(COGTA, 2009b). Moreover, the LGTAS states that this strategy must be formulated in consultation
with the various organs of civil society. This is part of the LGTAS’ call to make ‘local government
everybody’s business.’ Nonetheless, in the case of a low capacity municipality like MLM, the
implementation methodology calls for the decentralisation of a capable institution from either
national or provincial government to support the municipality. Although the LGTAS clearly prescribes
a participatory process to the formulation of the municipal Turnaround Strategy, this did not occur in
the case of MLM. The process was rather compliance led. The Senior Manager states that instead of
supporting, the Provincial Department of Local Government and Housing (DLGH) took over the
process of formulating the Municipal Turnaround Strategy.
The Senior Manager explained the process that was followed. The DLGH conducted various seminars
with the Heads of Departments to formulate the Municipal Turnaround Strategy (MTS).
Consequently, the key intervention areas outlined in the LGTAS were used to formulate the
municipal Turnaround Strategy. Therefore, the product did not emanate from a democratic
participatory process. Despite his critique on the approach followed, the interviewee was quick to
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point out that the compliance-driven process does not mean that the MTS does not address the
challenges faced by the municipality. In this regard, he pointed out that the key intervention areas of
the LGTAS are informed by the issues raised in the SLGR. Moreover, the Senior Manager admitted
that the Makhuduthamaga community was not involved in the formulation of the strategy. This is
not surprising, especially if one considers that it took one day to formulate the strategy. There is no
model to determine how long a MTAS should take, but one day is not sufficient to produce a product
that is informed by a participatory process. The Ward Councillors interviewed, who would normally
facilitate the community participation process, are not aware of the Municipal Turnaround Strategy.
The Director of Infrastructure and Services commented that she is not aware of the MTAS because
the “people above her have never made reference to it.” She added that she has “never used it as a
working tool.”
5.2.3 Meeting Basic Needs of Communities
The primary objective is to ascertain service delivery in Makhuduthamaga since the introduction of
the LGTAS. MLM, like most municipalities located in the former Bantustans, is characterised by lack
of development. Key service delivery issues in the municipality include:
? The lack of access to a clean, safe drinkable water supply;
? Access to sanitation;
? Access to electricity;
? Access to adequate housing facilities; and
? Underdeveloped road network infrastructure (COGTA, 2009b: 4).
There is a general sentiment amongst the interviewees that the municipality is moving in the right
direction. One of the Councillors interviewed stated that, “anyone who has been staying in the
municipality since the ANC took over is aware of the changes that have occurred.” In terms of
sanitation, the Councillor pointed out that since 2006 the municipality has embarked on a campaign
to upgrade pit latrines to the standard Ventilated Pit System (VIP). In this regard, he suggested that
although MLM was a rural municipality, it is better than those municipalities that are building open
toilets for their people. He added that one of the biggest challenges the municipality was facing is
that people do not maintain these toilet facilities and thus the effort is not appreciated. It is difficult
to understand how people can use their income to maintain their toilet system in an area that is
characterised by poverty. As discussed in the preceding sections, access to electricity in the
municipality has improved drastically. In fact, the Senior Manger is confident that the electricity
backlog in the municipality will be addressed by 2014. One of the Councillors adds that in 1995,
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residents of the municipality who had never been outside the boundaries of the municipality did not
know what a tar road was. This he argued is an illustration that the municipality was performing its
duties because most of the main roads in the municipality are tarred. Water and housing are not a
function of MLM.
The Senior Manger states that the track record of the municipality shows that there is a will to
deliver basic services to the community. However, he adds that these efforts are frustrated by
limited resources. The municipality faces a dual challenge. On the one hand, he points out that the
budget allocated by national government is not enough relative to the service delivery backlog. On
the other hand, he highlighted that the municipality does not have a property revenue base like
those located in cities and towns. The inception of the Turnaround Strategy has not improved basic
service delivery in the municipality. According to the Senior Manger, this is because the MTAS was
formulated to compile with national legislation. Basically, the MTS is an outline of how the
municipality plans to address the key intervention areas identified by the LGTAS i.e. basic service
delivery (water, sanitation, electricity, refuse removal, roads, and housing), public participation,
governance issues, administration, labour relations, financial management, and local economic
development.
Table 9: Makhuduthamaga MTAS for Basic Service Delivery
Priority Turn
Around
Focal Area
January
2010
(Current
Situation/
Baseline)
Target for
December
2010
(Changed
Situation)
Munici pal
Action
Unblocking
Action Needed
from other
Spheres and
Agencies (e.g.
intervention or
technical
support)
Human
Resource
Allocated
Allocated Projected
Access to
water
Backlog is at
293 28 out of
58991 H/H
Distri ct as
the Water A
Authori ty
and Provider
to provide
the target
Liaise wi th
the Distri ct
on water
plans and
backlogs
Distri ct to
provide plans to
address the
backlog
NONE NONE NONE
Access to
sani tation
Backlog is at
426 32 out of
58991 H/H
Distri ct to
provide
target
Liaise wi th
the Distri ct
Distri ct to
provide plans to
address the
backlog
NONE NONE NONE
Refuse
removal and
solid waste
disposal
Collection at
NEBO,
Phokoane,
Jane Furse
and
Schoonoord
Extend the
collection to
H/H in the
areas listed
Fi nalise the
By-laws on
waste
manageme
nt
Request LEDET to
assist in extra
funding for the
extension of the
servi ce
No
addi tional
staff
requi red
R1m R1m
Access to 35.5Km 6.5KM tarred Develop Department of No R18,4m R18.4m
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Source: MLM, 2010: 1-2
5.2.4 Strengthen Partnerships Between Local Government, Communities and Civil Society
According to the one of the Community Liaison Officers, the local Chiefs are pivotal to the
relationship between the community and the municipality. He states that “one of the fundamental
policies introduced by the ANC government was to acknowledge and work with tribal authority.” He
points out that the tribal authorities are crucial to the IDP process. The Community Liaison Officer
uses the words “very good” to describe the relationship between the community and the
municipality. To qualify his statement, he argued that the relationship is very good because the
community was satisfied with progress made by the municipality over the years. This is despite the
fact that the SLGR has categorised MLM as one of the worst performing municipalities in the
country. Furthermore, he pointed out that the “municipality had never experienced service delivery
protest even when it seemed like all municipalities were under siege.” (He was interviewed a week
before the service delivery protest in the Ga-Masemola region). The Project Manager and the
Director of Infrastructure and Services confirmed the good working relationship between the
municipality and the Tribal Authorities. They pointed out the success of the Expanded Public Works
Programme (EPWP) in the municipality is proof of the cohesion between the municipality and the
community.
According to the Senior Manager, one of the challenges facing the municipality is that people in the
municipality are not aware that they (community) have a role to play in the municipality. The
community perceives the municipality to be the main organ of “everything” and as such wants the
municipality to solely provide basic services. Against this backdrop, he argued that the LGTAS is a
necessary intervention because municipalities are urged to work with communities. This perception
departs from the fundamentals of DLG. DLG as envisaged by the WPLG and the LGTAS is a symbiotic
muni cipal
roads
roads tarred
No road
master Plan
for the
Distri ct and
Local
and finalise
a Master
Plan by
June 2010
Roads and
Transport must
intervene in
drawing Road
Master Plan for
the enti re Distri ct
addi tional
Staff
requi red
Formalisatio
n of informal
settlements
Land Audit
done
Proclamation
and
formalisation
Appoint a
qualified
servi ce
provider
NONE No
addi tional
staff
requi red
R1.8m R1.8m
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relationship between all organs of the society engaged in an effort to better development. As in the
case of service delivery, the respondents argued that the MTAS has not had an impact on citizen
participation in the municipality. Participation in the municipality during the pre-LGTAS was
happening through consultation with the IDP and this was still the case. Consultative participation as
it has occurred in MLM does not empower the community to spearhead development but serves as
a ‘rubber stamp’ procedure to legitimise the municipal process.
Table 10: Makhuduthamaga MTAS for Participation
Priority Turn
Around Focal
Area
January 2010
(Current
Situation/
Baseline)
Target for
December
2010
(Changed
Situation)
Munici pal
Action
Unblocking
Action
Needed
from other
Spheres and
Agencies
(e.g.
interventi on
or technical
support)
Human
Resource
allocated
Allocated Projected
Functionality of
Ward
Committees
All Ward
committees are
functional
N/A N/A N/A N/A
Broader public
participati on
policies and
plans
Communication
Strategy is in
Place
Develop and
Adopt Publi c
Parti cipation
Strategy
Develop and
adopt Publi c
Parti cipation
strategy
NONE No
addi tional
staff
requi red
NONE NONE
Public
Communicati on
systems
Communication
Strategy is in
Place and is
being
implemented
effecti vel y
N/A N/A NONE No
addi tional
staff
requi red
NONE NONE
Complaints
management
systems
Suggestion
Boxes i n all
Tradi tional
authori ties.
Traffi c Stations,
Libraries and
Muni cipal
Offi ces
Document all
acti vi ties into
a complaints
Management
Plan
Document all
acti vi ties into
complaints
Management
Plan.
Council to
adopt the
plan
NONE No
addi tional
Staff
requi red
NONE NONE
Source: MLM, 2010:2-3
5.2.5 Summary of the Findings
Although the LGTAS document signals a shift to a more inclusionary form of DLG, the case study of
MLM does not seem to reflect this shift. Furthermore the MTS has only outlined projects to improve
service delivery, but little is said with regard to improving community participation in governance
issues. From the findings of the field work one can deduce that the inception of the municipal
turnaround strategy has not had a profound impact on both citizenry participation and service
delivery.
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5.3. Analysis of Findings
The LGTAS was established to consolidate the developmental mandate of local government. In the
literature review, the researcher argued the initiative (LGTAS) resulted from a combination of both
political factors as well as the track record of municipal performance. On the one hand, the SLGR
painted a picture of a local government system that is struggling to deliver the objectives of DLG as
set out in the WPLG and on the other hand the Zuma-led ANC has revitalised and renewed the call
for a developmental state. Local government is understood to be the primary expression of a
developmental state. In the words of Jay Naidoo, the post-apartheid first Minister of Local
Government, local government is the “arms and legs” of a developmental state (Schmidt, 2008:
109). DLG is “local government committed to working with citizens and groups within the
community to find sustainable ways to meet their social, economic and material needs and improve
the quality of their lives” (DCD, 1998: 34). Thus, a DLG municipality should be able to carry out the
objects of local government as outlined by the Constitution:
? To provide democratic and accountable government for local communities;
? To ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner;
? To promote social and economic development;
? To promote a safe and healthy environment; and
? To encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in matters of
local government (RSA, 1996: S152).
Academics have highlighted the complexity of challenges hampering the developmental mandate of
municipalities. Pieterse and van Donk (2008) argue that the intergovernmental (IGR) system
presents numerous challenges for the DLG idea. Firstly, Pieterse and van Donk (2008: 62) highlight
the struggle to balance “top-down directives and programmes and bottom up initiatives to address
local priorities” since IDPs are defined as an “expression of governmental investments and activities
in a given locality.” Secondly, the developmental mandate is undermined by a tension between
technical and political accountability. For example, in the delivery of housing, the “over-emphasis on
chasing numerical targets has sidelined more important policy objectives such as spatial integration,
access to economic opportunities for the poor and more environmentally sustainable land use
patterns (Ibid, 63). Also, the developmental agenda for local government is hampered by the
‘prescriptive nature’ of the IGR system. Here, Pieterse and van Donk (2008) argue that the numerous
local government interventions (prescriptions) are not positively affecting the experimental side
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which might enable municipalities to learn from experience. Lastly, the performance of
municipalities is affected by the tension between horizontal and vertical integration (ibid). Municipal
departments tend to overlook the necessity of integration amongst the various organs of the
institutions (horizontal integration) and over-emphasise a need to align better with provincial and
national departments.
Heller (2008) argues that there are two desiderates to DLG, that is, participation and efficiency.
According to Heller (2008), for the realisation of DLG, the two desiderata have to co-exist.
Unfortunately, the South African case is one where efficiency is overly emphasised in an effort to
build institutions that are capable of delivering development. Heller (2008: 153) states that this is
perpetuated by the belief that efficiency and participation cannot co-exist. He states that on the one
hand, ‘technocrats’ “believe that too much participation can overwhelm fragile institutions,” and on
the other hand, ‘associationalists’ “believe that an over-emphasis on institutional building crowds
out civil society.” One of the main findings of the SLGR is that there is a “growing social distance”
(COGTA, 2009b: 24) between communities and municipalities. It is argued that local government is
not accountable to communities. The Constitution clearly states that one of the roles of local
government is to “provide democratic and accountable government for local communities” (RSA,
1996: S3). In this light, the emphasis on institutional building tends to undermine the participatory
element of DLG. These compound the findings of the SGLR: local government is failing the poor; not
working properly; marred by excessive levels of corruption, fraud and maladministration; are centres
of factional conflicts, political infighting and patronage (COGTA, 2009b: 25).
Schmidt (2008: 110) argues that the post-apartheid public administration system is characterised by
three “paradigms of governance; traditional public administration, New Public Management (NPM)
and network governance.” According to Schmidt (2008: 110), the network governance that has
dominated the policy level has been displaced by “more hierarchical and bureaucratic practice.” For
example, Section Six of the LGTAS prescribes areas of interventions for municipalities. The MLM case
study reveals a case whereby a municipality has adopted legislation because it is compiled by
national government to do so. The latter is an illustration that the ethos of NPM is entrenched in
South Africa’s public administration system. In the LGTAS, the intervention framework serves as a
mechanism that is used to manage MTAS. Consequently, the MLM MTAS reflects the focus areas
outlined by the intervention framework of the LGTAS:
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? Basic service delivery;
? Governance;
? Local Economic Development;
? Financial Management; and
? Labour relations.
According to the respondents, the LGTAS has not changed or improved the way in which the
municipality delivers services. For the respondents, the MTAS is a symbolic gesture to show that the
municipality is aligned to the 2014 national vision. The LGTAS states that municipalities must “ensure
that by 2014 all households have access to the minimum standard for each basic service” (COGTA,
2009b: 6). The emphasis on service delivery targets perpetuates the tension between political and
technical accountability. Pieterse and van Donk (2008: 64) point out that the “focus on service
delivery targets (and not sustainable human settlement outcomes and shared growth)
institutionalised in the performance management system tends to structure accountability upwards
and not outwards to citizens and civil society organizations.” This is the practice in MLM because the
MTAS is mainly concerned in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and does not seek
to improve service delivery protocol.
For responsive accountable local government it is imperative to empower communities and ensure
that communities play a meaningful role in the performance management of senior managers and
politicians. There is nothing in the LGTAS to suggest that communities will play a central role in the
performance management of municipalities. The LGTAS states that the “implementation of the
LGTAS will be supported by national government concomitantly addressing a range of longer-term
and more systemic issues that have contributed to failure or distress within local government”
(COGTA, 2009b: 28).These include:
? Intergovernmental co-ordination and support;
? Supervision, monitoring and interventions; and
? Incentives and disincentives (COGTA, 2009b: 28).
Furthermore, the LGTAS states that “in the case of municipalities that are dysfunctional, a special set
of measures based on stronger state intervention must apply to ensure that these municipalities
achieve a basic level of functionality” (COGTA, 2009b: 27). The latter confirms the argument
presented by Schmidt (2008) that the traditional public administration is also entrenched in the
post-apartheid governance system. Performance in the traditional bureaucratic governance is
“about carrying out instructions from above and complying with law” (Schmidt, 2008: 117). The role
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of the DLGH in the formulation of the MLM MTAS seems to suggest a practice of traditional
bureaucratic governance. Pieterse and van Donk (2008: 64) point out that this form of practice
endangers the fundamentals of DLG; “if the accountability pressure points lie upward inside the
governmental system, this part of the democratic design will fail, undermining the developmental
responsiveness of the municipality and raising questions about the quality and depth of the
participatory democracy we are building”.
In the LGTAS, national government recognised that it was demanding the same things from all
municipalities, but because there were differences between them, it realised it should focus on a
more asymmetrical approach in which municipalities would have greater say over what they should
do, and were capable of doing. The MLM case reveals that there is a disjuncture between policy
intent (LGTAS) and practice on the ground.
As it has occurred, MLM did not play a central role during the formulation process of the MTAS. The
DLGH used the LGTAS as master plan to fast track the process. This is because the LGTAS was a
response to the service delivery protests, among other concerns, that sprang up across the country
in 2009. In total, COGTA (2009a) reports that were 52 recorded service delivery protests. All this
occurred on the eve of the March 2011 local government elections. As the ruling party and the party
governing most municipalities in the country, the ANC were aware of the political need to introduce
strategies that could ‘calm’ the situation. There was a need for local government to respond to the
scourge of service delivery protests and this had to happen before the March 2011 ballot. The short-
term goals (pre-2011) played a pivotal role in the manner and process leading to the formulation of
the MTAS for MLM. Parliament approved the LGTAS in December of 2009 and municipalities were
required to have their own by the time of approving the Integrated Development Plans for 2010-
2011 (May/June 2010). Municipalities were given 3-4 months to prepare a turnaround strategy.
The procedure of the MTAS confirms the argument outlined by Heller (2008: 159) that the role of
civil society in “South Africa’s transformative agenda is largely complementary to the goals of the
ANC.” During the preparation of the MTAS, the communities of MLM were not involved. In fact,
members of the municipal bureaucracy were also not involved. This is because the LGTAS was used
as a master plan to prepare the MTAS. The role of MTAS is to ensure that civil society supports the
set out plan of national government to improve municipalities. The emphasis in the MTAS is about
building an efficient institution that is able to mobilise civil society to ensure that civil society plays a
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role in the plan to improve the performance of MLM. The strategy to improve the developmental
nature of local government is produced by the State. This is different from the case of Kerala where
the strategies for development are produced locally and later consolidated into one grand plan. This
is exemplary of network governance wherein strategies are produced through partnerships between
civil society and the State (Schmidt, 2008). In MLM this is not the case because the MTAS is prepared
to solidify the leading role of national government in a developmental state.
5.4 Conclusion
When the LGTAS was tabled in Parliament on the 4th of December, it represented a fundamental
step in South Africa’s developmental programme. The LGTAS brought hope to municipalities and
followed a SLGR wherein government admitted that something was fundamentally wrong with local
government. Also, the euphoria was reinforced by the fact that South Africa had just ushered in a
new government promising to revert to the developmental state idea of the RDP. The general
perception within the ANC-led alliance was that the Zuma-led administration was willing to listen to
the masses, unlike Thabo Mbeki who was accused of operating the Union Buildings like a manager.
Phrases that came to be associated with initiative include the chanting that claimed that the LGTAS
was ‘turning the tide,’ ‘making local government everyone’s business’ and that this represents a
departure from the ‘one size fits all’ approach. However, it seems like this euphoria was not felt at
MLM.
This is chiefly because of the methodology approach of the LGTAS. The LGTAS states that “measures
will be taken to ensure that in those parts of the country, especially rural areas, where severe
poverty and underdevelopment sits side by side with weak municipal capacity, there is a dedicated
focus to augment municipal capacity with delivery through capable institutions at either provincial
or national level” (COGTA, 2009b: 24). The MTAS for MLM was prepared by the provincial
Department of Local Government and Housing. Consequently, the intervention framework of the
LGTAS was used as a master plan for the MTAS. This is to ensure that the priorities of MLM are
aligned to the overall developmental vision of the country. For example the MTAS is not about
improving the status quo of service delivery in the municipality but is mainly to ensure that the
service delivery targets of the municipality are in line with the MDGs. Also, the call to make ‘local
government everyone’s business’ does not entail a ‘people driven development’ as is the case in the
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state of Kerala. It is about mobilising the organs of civil society to support and play an active role in
governments plan to remedy local government.
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Chapter 6: Conclusion and
Recommendations
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6.1. Introduction
The research report was set out to understand how the LGTAS sought to consolidate DLG. To
capture this, MLM was used as a case study. Has the LGTAS enhanced citizen participation and
service delivery in the case of the Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality? The research was instituted
to find out this. The aim of this chapter is twofold: to reflect on the main findings from the study and
to suggest a way forward for DLG in MLM. In the conclusion, the findings of Makhuduthamaga case
are linked to the broader DLG trajectory. Also the overview of the chapters is outlined. The
recommendations section outlines some of points that need to be considered in order to realise
DLG.
6.2 Conclusion
This report has examined government’s ambition to consolidate DLG through the LGTAS. The case
study of MLM was selected to determine the impact of the LGTAS at a municipal level. DLG has been
conceptualised by the government as the bedrock for a developmental state, and numerous local
government support mechanisms have been formulated over the years to facilitate it. So far, the
performance of local government in meeting its Constitutional mandate and functioning as DLG is
not impressive, and it is evident that despite considerable support many municipalities are unable to
play their developmental role. The study and the SLGR, as well as numerous other documents and
scholarships have shown that there is no one solution to explain the situation, due to the complex
and dynamic nature. However, this has not discouraged the government’s ambition of DLG, because
the vision to build a developmental state remains the core policy of the ANC-led government and,
the LGTAS is one of the latest national initiatives to reaffirm its centrality.
The study began by using the story of Plaatjes to metaphorically consider the history of DLG in South
Africa. DLG is yet to be realised, despite the numerous ‘boats’ built over the years. The LGTAS should
be understood as yet another ‘boat’ that has been built to ensure DLG. For Heller (2008), DLG is born
from two desiderata: participation and efficiency. The latter sees institutional building as the best
viable option for DLG and the former urges DLG to occur through vigorous civil society participation.
He argues that in South Africa the efficiency side of the equation is highly developed, in contrast to
the participation side of the equation. This is the case because participation has suffered from many
conventional zero-sum assumptions that pervade the literature on decentralisation (Heller, 2008:
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157). This includes the assumption that the two desiderata of DLG cannot co-exist. The LGTAS did
not emerge in a vacuum. Instead, it has been strongly influenced by South Africa’s post-1994 public
administration system. International emphasis on good governance and its association with
decentralisation, democratisation and NPM are some of the policy positions that informed the
transition to a democratic South Africa. The LGTAS does not only reaffirm a decentralised form of
governance but also emphasises the principles of NPM.
The adoption of NPM by the South African public administration had more in common with the
second wave associated with the Third Way politics of the 1990s, rather than the earlier neo-liberal
project of the 1980s. Under the Third Way, NPM is presented as a system that adheres to free
market policies and also acknowledges the need for progressive ideals such as “building community,
inclusion, participation, poverty alleviation and integration” (Harrison, 2006: 189). Harrison (2006)
identifies three key elements of NPM in the IDP process: joined-up government, performance
management and participatory governance. These have played a significant role in the way local
government has sought to become developmental. Joined-up government emphasises the co-
ordination and integration of policies and plans between different government entities (Harrison,
2006: 190). Long and Franklin (2004, in Harrison, 2006: 190) define joined-up government as a top-
down direction for bottom-up implementation. This definition captures South Africa’s DLG
experience.
In South Africa, centralism is legislated through the Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Act of 2005.
Harrison (2006) argues that this is designed to consolidate the power of national government. The
emphasis on co-ordination and integration is noted by Harrison et al (2008: 71) who argue that 2004
represented a shift in ANC thinking from the orthodox neo-liberal (GEAR) to the notion of a
Developmental State. The shift is associated with strengthening the leading role of national
government in the developmental agenda. This dovetails the argument presented by Pieterse and
van Donk (2008: 62) who argue that the IDP changed from a tool that represented a coalition of local
debates to one that was seen as an expression of governmental investments and activities in a given
locality. Thus, the IGR system consolidates the developmental role of municipalities as implementers
of policies set up by national government (Harrison, 2006).
The focus on joined-up government and performance management has led to the marginalisation of
civil society. Participatory governance has not taken the shape of a people-driven process but rather
78 | P a g e
one wherein citizens are passengers to a state-led development process (Harrison, 2006: 192). This
confirms Vigoda’s concern that participatory governance has been met by “a lower willingness to
share, participate, collaborate and partner with citizens” (Vigoda in Harrison, 2006: 192). The
combination of joined-up government and performance management with participatory governance
presents numerous contradictions and challenges for municipalities.
These challenges have undermined the ability of municipalities to deliver DLG. Pieterse and van
Donk (2008) outline some of these challenges:
? Top-down direction for bottom-up implementation dilutes the strategic aspect of IDP;
? Focus on performance management tends to undermine local issues by concentrating on
service delivery targets;
? The prescriptive nature of local government intervention hampers the experimentalism of
municipalities; and
? Emphasis on vertical integration with national and provincial government can undermine the
horizontal integration of municipal departments (Pieterse and van Donk, 2008).
Nine years into the new local government system there are worrying trends and signs that are
undermining the progress and successes achieved thus far. The country faces a great development
risk if local government fails. The “Local Government Turnaround Strategy is therefore aimed at
counteracting those forces that are undermining our Local Government system” (COGTA, 2009b: 3).
Three years on, to what extent has the LGTAS addressed the challenges to achieving DLG? This study
examined the LGTAS in the light of one of the worst performing municipalities. The case study of
MLM begins to reveal the implications of LGTAS for DLG. The analysis of the LGTAS in Chapter Three
revealed that government is prioritising the need to change the ‘social distance’ between
communities and municipalities. Municipalities are urged to ensure that communities play a
meaningful role in the endeavor to obtain nationally defined objectives. Thus, a participatory
element is evident in the LGTAS. Thus, the LGTAS can be understood as an attempt to reignite
participation in a highly technocratic development planning system. Community participation in the
LGTAS, however, does not entail an outright call for network governance wherein the population is a
co-producer of development strategy (Schmidt, 2008: 112).
However, the over-emphasis on joined-up government and performance management of the LGTAS
continues the earlier overly technocratic approach to governance. Although the issue of
participation comes out strongly, the LGTAS seems to continue the earlier approach to DLG through
an emphasis on institutional building and intergovernmental planning. With this approach come the
problems that arise from institutionalising participation (Heller, 2008) and the legacy of poor
79 | P a g e
communication between council and communities (Pieterse, 2007: 10). If an unbalanced emphasis
continues, local government will continue to be hampered by the lack of citizen participation and a
failure to achieve DLG. The South African experience of DLG has shown that incapacitated
municipalities will struggle to achieve the objectives of DLG. As an appropriate response, Heller
(2008) is correct to call for the co-existence of both desiderata of DLG. Some emphasis on institution
building is critical to improve weak capacity and thus should not be done away with altogether.
The findings from the case study show that the municipality is primarily concerned with the
institutional impediments to DLG. Limited resources, an unskilled labour force, shortage in the
labour force and the IGR system were raised as obstacles to the municipality’s mandate to deliver
DLG. As the findings reveal, participation was seldom raised as an issue that has to be tackled.
Although the slogan of the LGTAS is that ‘Local Government is Everybody’s Business’; the MLM
community was not even included in the preparation of the MTAS. This is because a top-down
approach was followed in formulating the strategy. The formulation process followed is testimony
that the LGTAS has not changed the decision making process. Institutional building is still at the
forefront of DLG; while participation seems to be an ignored issue. According to Heller (2008: 159),
one of the aftermath scenarios of the 1994 elections was that the ANC consolidated power by
replacing “structures and processes that were originally presented as providing autonomous spaces
for civil participation in DLG with more technocratic forms of decision making.” A participatory
interpretation of DLG runs the risk of disfiguring the consolidated power.
It was found that only one of the interviewees was aware of the LGTAS and MTS. In fact, most of the
interviewees were not aware of the DLG concept. The responded argued that service delivery in the
municipality was ‘business as usual’. This was also the case for community participation. It was found
that the LGTAS has had none or little impact on service delivery and participation in the municipality.
This means that the LGTAS has not had a significant impact on vulnerability experienced by many in
MLM.
6.3. Recommendations
The LGTAS has reaffirmed that DLG is at the forefront of South Africa’s developmental trajectory.
Central to this trajectory is the idea of building a developmental state. The LGTAS captures the
importance of local government: local government is a key part of the reconstruction and
80 | P a g e
development effort in our country. The aims of democratising our society and growing our economy
inclusively can only be realized through a “responsive, accountable, effective and efficient Local
Government system that is part of a Developmental State” (COGTA, 2009b: 3). However this has to
be balanced by a rigorous participatory process that seeks to ensure that the MLM community is
part of the developmental programme.
To date, the SLGR represents the most extensive exercise that government has undertaken to issues
affecting local government. The SGLR found that the majority of municipalities are struggling to
discharge their developmental agenda. The findings echo the concerns in the academic literature
suggesting that municipalities in South Africa are far from the achieving the objectives of WPLG. The
constraints include: weaknesses in the accountability systems; capacity and skills constraints; and
weak intergovernmental support and oversight (COGTA, 2009a: 3). Some of these challenges are
institutionally self-inflicted constraints. For instance, weak accountable systems lead to corruption,
maladministration and nepotism. Positively, the LGTAS covers these challenges extensively, and its
progressive prescriptions are likely to have the potential to consolidate the developmental agenda
of local government in MLM.
One such intervention is that both national and provincial government support incapacitated
municipalities like MLM. MLM is geographically disadvantaged and is not going to attract the type of
expertise one would find in more affluent municipalities like the Johannesburg Metropolitan
Municipality or Polokwane Local Municipality. The municipality is situated in one of the poorest and
rural districts in the country and will inevitably struggle to attract the skills needed to realise DLG.
The decentralisation of skilled personal from national and provincial government to support the
municipality is, therefore, a welcomed intervention. However, national and provincial government
should support capacity building instead of taking charge of municipal affairs. This should only
happen if the municipality has been placed under administration. Following the examples of the
Department of Health, skilled personnel can be incentivised to work in state institutions in rural
areas. An incentive like that of Department of Health, wherein a rural allowance is used to lure skills
to rural areas can go long way in addressing the incapacity of municipalities like MLM.
Incapacity is not the only factor hampering DLG in rural municipalities. According to the SLGR (2009),
municipalities are often centres of corruption, maladministration and nepotism. The professional
ethics governing municipal officials has not only been questioned by the SLGR but concerns have
also been raised in the literature. Thus, it would be necessary for the municipality to ensure that it is
not characterised by these negative perceptions. In this regard, the principles of NPM emanating
from the LGTAS are pivotal for DLG in MLM. These include the call to:
81 | P a g e
? Professional administration that supports the political vision contained in the electoral
mandate;
? Properly constitute corporate services, technical services and financial management
functions, including recruitment and skills retention policies ensuring right people in the
right job; and
? Provision of basic services and ensuring every cent spent is well considered and accounted
for – value for money (COGTA, 2009b: 21).
Adhering to these principles will ensure the efficiency of MLM. An efficiently run institution will
ensure that the municipality responds quickly to challenges. Often municipalities are not efficiently
operated and consequently respond late to challenges that were raised a long way back. Responding
late to challenges is problematic because dynamics change over time and thus solutions which might
have been appropriate then might not be the answer for today. It is important to acknowledge that
the efficiency of municipalities to respond to the needs of communities is also dependent on the IGR
system. Thus, the efficiency issue can sometimes be beyond the scope of municipalities and
questions the broad IGR system. In this light the call to review the IGR system is welcomed. As
mentioned before it is important to balance efficiency with participation to realize DLG. To balance
the equation, the ideas of Gaventa (2002) on participation are pivotal.
Gaventa (2002: 29) notes that there is a “growing gap” between ordinary people and government in
both developed and developing world. In other words, the finding of the SLGR that there is a social
distance between communities and local government is actually a global phenomenon. To avert this
in MLM there is a need to reconstruct the “relationship between ordinary people and the
institutions”. In the interview the Senior Manager mentioned that the community is not aware that
they have a role to play in the developmental agenda. For DLG to occur the attitude of merely
understanding communities as customers or citizens towards local government has to be addressed.
This is possible through education forums wherein the municipality should educate the public about
their role. The second recommendation by Gaventa (2002) relates directly to the shortcomings of
DLG South Africa. He argues that in order to rebuild the relationship between government and
citizens the approach must go beyond “civil society or state-based approaches” (Gaventa, 2002: 30).
To ensure participation in MLM it is crucial to improve both the institutional mechanisms used by
the municipality to engage the community (capacity building) whilst improving the platform for
citizenry participation. Here, the focus should be on the intersections between the two sets of
approaches (“civil society or state-based) to “create new forms of participation, responsiveness and
accountability” (Gaventa, 2002: 30).
82 | P a g e
According to one of the Community Liaison Officers, the MLM has been able to mobilise community
participation through relations with Tribal Authorities. This is good because it does not only
capitalise on the existing structures of participation but also acknowledges and preserves the
traditional power dynamics of the community. However, the municipality has to be cautious in this
approach. Conflict of interest is inevitable because the Tribal Leaders are also members of Council.
Harrison (2001) and Pieterse and van Donk (2008) argue that national government is unresponsive
to the priorities of local communities. Therefore, the role of Tribal Leaders as representative of
communities whilst serving Council needs to be monitored. This dovetails the third recommendation
presented by Gaventa (2002).
According to Gaventa (2002: 30) it is critical to “re-thinking about the ways in which citizens’ voices
are represented in the political process and a re-conceptualisation of the meanings of participation
and citizenship in relationship to local governance”. There needs to be a “more direct connection”
(Gaventa, 2002: 30) between communities and municipalities. MLM can achieve these by setting up
structures that will complement the current representative system wherein communities are
represented by both elected and traditional leaders. For a more robust civil society in MLM, it is
essential for the municipality to create avenues of inclusionary governance.
Fourthly, any form of citizenry participation has to be weary of power dynamics communities. For
participation to thrive in MLM; the municipality has to ensure that the process is representative of
all voices and is not captured by the local elites. Gaventa (2002) warns that decentralisation often
empowers the local elites and therefore democratic outcomes of participatory local government
ignore the plight of the poor. Lastly, it is necessary for MLM to create an enabling environment for
participation to thrive. The principles of Empowered Deliberative Democracy (EDD) are important in
this regard:
? focusing on specific, tangible problems;
? involving ordinary people affected by these problems and officials close to them;
? deliberately developing solutions to these problems;
? devolving public decision making authority;
? formalising linkages of responsibility, resource distribution and communication; and
? using and generating new state institutions to support and guide these efforts (Gaventa,
2011: 33).
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Appendix
Interview Questions (Municipal Manager/Senior Official)
(1)
? What do you think are the objectives of DLG?
Developmental Local Government
? Has the municipality been able to reach these objectives?
? If not, what impedi ments do you think the municipality has encountered in its
endeavour to deliver DLG?
? What has been the role of interventions like Project Consolidate and Five Year Local
Government Strategic Agenda in aiding the municipality to deliver DLG?
(2)
? Do you think that the LGTAS differs substantially from these the previ ous national
programmes that were designed to support municipalities? If so, in what way?
The emergence of LGTAS
? Do you think that the LGTAS is a necessary intervention for MLM? If so, what can be
improved using the LGTAS?
? Do you think it (LGTAS) to responds to actual problems/challenges that are
experienced by the municipality? If so, what are some of these challenges?
? Do its recommendations seem realistic/feasible?
?
(3)
? What process was followed in the formulation of the municipal TAS?
The Process of formulating the Municipal TAS
? How long did this process take and what did it entail?
? Which stakeholders were involved in the different stages of the process, and how?
? According to the LGTAS municipalities are required to tailor-make thei r own TAS,
reflects on their strengths and weaknesses and identify and manage appropriate
interventions, and focus on localised issues. Do you think the MLM has done this? If
so, how did it go about doing this? What are its strengths and weaknesses? What are
the appropriate interventions and how will they be managed? What are the key
localised issues?
(4) 'Meeting basic service needs of communities
? What have been the key service delivery issues in the municipality?
(This is outlined as one of the
objectives of the LGTAS and is used in the questionnaire)
? What are some of the challenges the municipality has encountered in dealing with
these service delivery issues?
? Do you think the municipal TAS is addressing these obstacles? If so, how does it aim
to deal with the service delivery issues?
? Do you think the TAS has changed the way in which the municipality responds to
services delivery issues? If so, how?
? Does the track record suggest that the TAS has improved service delivery in the
municipality? If so, can you mention any successful projects that have resulted from
the TAS? Importantly, why do you regard these projects successful?
(5) 'Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities and civil society'
? How would you describe the relationship between these stakeholders before the
inception of the TAS? Was it tense and difficult, co-operative and trusting, or
passive?
is another LGTAS objective
? The SLGR points out that there is lack of service delivery in the municipality. Given
this point, have there been demonstration in the form protests on the part of the
community like elsewhere in the country to voice their dissatisfaction? If not, what
do you attribute this to?
? Has the TAS had a positive impact on the relations of these stakeholders? If so, how?
? Do you think there is a link between this LGTAS Objective and improved service
delivery? If so, how has this happened in MLM?
? Is the municipality's TAS building a partnership/social compact between these
stakeholders, as required by the LGTAS? If so, what are some of the measures that
have been adopted to ensure that local government is 'everybody's business'? Is it
linked to other programmes, e.g service delivery?
?
(6) How would you describe relationship between the municipality and the community?
? Do you think that LGTAS and the municipality's TAS mark a
Mapping a way Forward
change in the way in
? What would you regard as shortcomings of the LGTAS? What recommendations
would you make to improve the Municipal Turnaround Strategy?
which (local) government is doing things? Or is it 'business as usual'?
? What you regard as the shortcomings of the municipal TAS? How would you improve
the TAS?
Interview Questions (Community Liaison Officer)
(7)
? How do you understand the concept of DLG?
Developmental Local Government
? One of the main characteristics of DLG is ‘democratising development, empowering
and redistributing’. Do you thi nk that the municipality has been able to deliver on
this objective? If so, how? What are the obstacles/challenges in implementing this
characteristic?
? How would you describe the relationship between the municipality and the
community? Does it enable DLG?
? How has the relationship impacted upon past local government support programmes
like Project Consolidate?
? The LGTAS states that communities have lost confidence in municipalities as primary
service delivery provider. Do you think that this is the case in this area? How do
communities view the municipality?
?
(8)
? Do you think that the LGTAS differs substantially from these the previ ous national
programmes (e.g Project Consolidate) insofar as communi ty engagement is
concerned? If so, in what way?
The emergence of LGTAS
? Do you think the LGTAS responds to the challenges the municipality is facing
regarding community engagement?
? Have you begun to implement some of the recommendations outlined in the LGTAS?
Are they feasible/realistic?
(9)
? Was the community involved in the formulation process? If so, how?
The Process of formulating the Municipal TAS
? Do you think the community understands the TAS (process and objectives)?
? Do you think that the TAS addresses the concerns of citizens in the area?
(10) 'Meeting basic service needs of communities’
? Is the community content with the provision of basic services in the municipality? If
not, which deliverables are they dissatisfied about?
? How have they expressed their dissatisfaction?
? Are communication channels between communities and the municipalities effective?
Can you comment on the roles of the ward councillors, ward committees and CDWs.
? Does the TAS respond to the concerns of residents? If so, how?
(11) 'Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities and civil
society'
? Do you think that the municipal TAS marks a change in the way in which the MLM
engages the community or is it 'business as usual'? if so, how?
? What are some of the programmes that have been adopted in the municipal TAS to
ensure that community participation occurs? What is the role of the community in
this regard?
? Do you think the TAS has strengthened the relationship bonds between the
municipality and the community? If so, what has been done through the TAS
programmes that were not done before?
? How has the municipal TAS made local government ‘everybody’s business’?
? Do you thi nk improved relations between the parties could lead to improved service
delivery?
(12)
? What would you regard as shortcomings of the TAS insofar as community
engagements are concerned? If any, what i mprovements or alternatives to the
current approach woul
Mapping a way Forward
d you suggest and why?
Interview Questions Project Manager
? What do you think are the objectives of DLG?
? Has the municipality been able to reach these objectives?
? If not, what impedi ments do you think the municipality has encountered in its
endeavour to deliver DLG?
What has been the role of interventions like Project Consolidate and Five Year Local
Government Strategic Agenda in aiding the municipality to deliver DLG
(13)
? How does it (municipal TAS) compare to previous programmes (such as Project
Consolidate) in terms of facilitating service delivery?
The emergence of LGTAS
? Do you think the municipal TAS responds to the challenges faced by project
managers in service delivery?
? How would you rate service delivery in the municipality after the inception of the
LGTAS? why do you think this is the case?
?
(14)
? Were you consulted during the formulation process of the TAS? If so, which issues
pertaining service delivery did you highlight, or have been included/addressed?
The Process of formulating the Municipal TAS
(15) 'Meeting basic service needs of communities’
? What are the basic service needs of communities? How are they being met by the
municipality?
? Has the municipal TAS impacted upon the way services are delivered in the
municipality or it ‘business as usual’? If so, how?
(16) The LGTAS outlines the minimum standard service delivery targets for 2014.
Do you think that project managers can use municipal TAS to ensure that these
targets are met 'Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities
and civil society'
? Do you think that the municipal TAS has strengthened relations between the
community a
nd the municipality? If so, has this led to improved service delivery and
why do
you think this has been the case?
(17)
? Do you think that the municipal TAS adequatedly addresses service delivery
challenges in the municipality? How could it be improved?
Mapping a way Forward
Interview Questions (Councillors)
(18) Developmental Local Government
? How do you understand the concept of DLG?
? Has the MLM been able to deliver on the objectives of DLG? If so, what measures
have been taken to ensure that MLM delivers on these objectives?
? Do you think the municipality can improve the way in which it has delivered DLG? If
so, what should the municipality improve?
? What impediments do you think the municipality has encountered in its endeavour
to deliver DLG?
(19)
? What does the LGTAS mean for you? What do you think is the main purpose of the
LGTAS?
The emergence of LGTAS
? Did its recommendations seem realistic/feasible?
(20)
? What was the role of the councillors during the formulation process of the TAS?
The Process of formulating the Municipal TAS
? Were ward committees involved in the process? How?
? How were the municipal challenges determined?
? What is the role of councillors in the implementation of the TAS?
? Do you think that the municipal TAS will address the challenges faced by the
municipality?
?
(21) Meeting basic service needs of communities
? What have been the key service delivery issues in the municipality?
? What are some of the challenges the municipality has encountered in dealing with
these service delivery issues?
? Do you think the municipal TAS addresses these obstacles? If so, how does it aim to
deal with the service delivery issues?
? Do you think the TAS has changed the way in which the municipality responds to
service delivery issues? If so, how?
? Does the track record thus far suggest that the TAS has improved service delivery in
the municipality? If so, can you mention any successful projects that have resulted
from the TAS? Importantly, why do you regard these projects successful?
(22) 'Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities and civil
society'
Was the community informed on what the municipal TAS entails? If so, how?
?
? How would you describe the relationship between these stakeholders before the
inception of the TAS? Was it tense and difficult, co-operative and trusting, or
passive?
? The SLGR points out that there is lack of service delivery in the municipality. Given
this point, have there been demonstration in the form protests on the part of the
community like elsewhere in the country to voice their dissatisfaction? If not, what
do you attribute this to?
? Has the TAS had a positive impact on the relations of these stakeholders? If so, how?
? Do you think there is a link between this LGTAS Objective and improved service
delivery? If so, how has this happened in MLM?
? Is the municipality's TAS building a partnership/social compact between these
stakeholders, as required by the LGTAS? If so, what are some of the measures that
have been adopted to ensure that local government is 'everybody's business'?
? How would you compare the municipal’s engagement during the pre and post
introducti on of the TAS with the community?
(23)
? Do you think the municipal turnaround strategy adequately addresses the challenges
faced by the municipality? How would you improve it?
Mapping a way Forward
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