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Local Government Turnaround Strategy
Posted on: 29 March 2010
This forms part of our Local Government Liaison articles
what is the state of local government in 2009, and what1 was compiledPlease read more in the extra document attached...
1. The Importance of Local Government
Local Government is a key part of the reconstruction and development effort in our country. The
aims of democratizing 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.
The establishment of a South African Developmental State is grounded in the vision of the State
and Society working together at all levels to advance social justice, economic growth and
development. Developmental local government is central to building the developmental state.
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.
This Local Government Turnaround Strategy (LGTAS) is therefore aimed at counteracting those
forces that are undermining our Local Government system. Root causes for some of these
problems include:
i. Systemic factors, i.e. linked to model of local government;
ii. Policy and legislative factors;
iii. Political factors;
iv. Weaknesses in the accountability systems;
v. Capacity and skills constraints;
vi. Weak intergovernmental support and oversight; and
vii. Issues associated with the inter-governmental fiscal system.
With this in mind, the key question government undertook to reflect on with a range of role
players over the past few months was ‘
must be done to restore the confidence of our people in this sphere of government by 2011 and
beyond?’
To begin to answer this question, nine province-wide assessments of each of the 283
municipalities were carried out by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional
Affairs (CoGTA), during the course of the year, led by Minister, Mr Sicelo Shiceka together with
the respective MECs responsible for Local Government. 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.
From these assessments, the consolidated State of Local Government Report
and widely consulted over with stakeholders.
Following the analysis of the results of these assessments and from the issues covered in the
overview report, the ‘force motif’ for the turnaround strategy (LGTAS) was created. This means
that government wants to create a country-wide programme, mobilizing all of government and
society to embark upon a concentrated effort to deal with the factors undermining Local
Government and to restore good performance in the country’s municipalities.
The Strategy also draws on the discussion that happened at an extraordinary sitting of the three
spheres of government involving the entire Cabinet led by the State President on 20 October
2009 in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. It also draws on the discussions and declaration of the Local
Government Indaba. This Strategy therefore, represents the views of a wide variety of
stakeholders who participated in, what is arguably the most consultative process ever
undertaken on local government in this country.
The LGTAS applies largely to those forces undermining Local Government including those
municipalities who have evidence of performance failures, or difficult social and economic
circumstances to manage. The Report points to the need for a number of adjustments and
reforms in the leadership, policy, regulatory and oversight environments of municipalities.
Thus government wants to turn around municipalities from struggling with failure to ones that
are confident in their abilities to execute their service delivery mandates. All of us must rise to
the challenge of ensuring our municipalities are sites of excellence and they are led and staffed
politically and administratively with office bearers and public servants who are responsive,
accountable, efficient, effective, and carry out their duties with civic pride.
This LGTAS must be read together with the State of Local Government Report, 2009 and the
Framework for the Local Government Turnaround strategy, discussed at the National Indaba on
Local Government. The SLGR provides a comprehensive picture of the problems and
challenges facing Local Government. These problems are summarised in the LGTAS.
Extra documents
