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.".t . Universiteit Vrystaat
IMPLEMENTING INTEGRATED STRATEGIC PLANS IN FREE STATE
MUNICIPALITIES
By
LYNDON MARK DU PLESSIS
Student Number: 2004152407
Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
PHILOSOPHIAE DOCTOR (Ph.D.)
In the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences at the University of the Free
State
(Department of Public Administration and Manaqernent)
February 2013
PROMOTER: PROFESSOR J.C.O. BEKKER
II
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this thesis, submitted by me for the degree
Philosophiae Doctor (Ph.D.) in Public Administration and Management at the
University of the Free State, is my own work and has not previously been submitted to
any other university for this or any other purpose. I furthermore cede copyright of this
thesis in favour of the University of the Free State.
LYNDON MARK DU PLESSIS
BLOEMFONTEIN,1 FEBRUARY 2013
Universiteit van die
Vrysta~t
'ËLOE,?i:~c·r:d~~!EFÏ-l
E 2 ocr 2013
III
TO PERLE, JENNA, MARK AND DALE
IV
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Upon completion of this thesis, I wish to acknowledge:
My Heavenly Father for granting me strength and wisdom to study.
My promoter, Professor Koos Bekker, for providing valuable professional supervision
and support during this process.
The University of the Free State for financial assistance provided.
My colleagues in the Department of Public Administration and Management for their
continued support and academic advice.
Mr. Monyake Mothekge of the Free State Department of Cooperative Governance and
Traditional Affairs for his never-ending enthusiasm and support in assisting me with
data collection for the research and his willingness to be interviewed for the purpose of
the research.
Mr. Thabo Masukela and Dr. Frans Minnaar for participating in the interviews for the
study.
v
All the IDP Managers in the Free State who completed the questionnaire for the
purpose of the study. It is hoped that this work will contribute towards our shared vision
of improving local government in South Africa.
Ms. Dudu Dlodlo for assisting me with the statistical analysis of the empirical data.
Ms Robynne Sudbury for the language editing of the document.
My family and friends who supported me throughout this process. A special thank you
to my father, Franklin Du Plessis who taught us the value of education and the
importance of being of service to society.
My precious wife and children, Perle, Jenna, Mark and Dale who have loved me
unconditionally through good and bad times and without whom my existence would be
meaningless. This thesis is dedicated to you.
VI
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS IV
TABLE OF CONTENTS VI
LIST OF TABLES XVIII
LIST OF APPENDIXES XIX
LIST OF FIGURES xx
ABSTRACT XXV
OPSOMMING XXVII
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.2. MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY 2
1.3. PROBLEM STATEMENT 4
VII
PAGE
1.4. HYPOTHESIS 5
1.5. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES 5
1.6. RESEARCH DESIGN 6
1.7. CHAPTER OUTLINE 7
1.8. CONCLUSION 8
CHAPTER TWO: THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT
IN SOUTH AFRICA: EXAMINING KEY DIMENSIONS 9
2.1. INTRODUCTION 9
2.2. THE RATIONALE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT 10
2.3. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND A NEW
POLITICAL ORDER 14
2.3.1. Local autonomy in context 16
2.3.1.1. Local autonomy in a new constitutional framework 18
2.3.1.2. Local autonomy and the new enabling legislative environment 21
2.3.1.2.1. The White Paper on Local Government, 1998 22
2.3.1.2.2. Municipal Demarcation Act, 1998, No. 27 of 1998 23
2.3.1.2.3. Municipal Structures Act, 1998, No. 117 of 1998 24
VIII
PAGE
2.3.1.2.4. Municipal Systems Act, 2000, No. 32 of 2000 25
2.3.1.2.5. Municipal Finance Management Act, No. 56 of 2003 27
2.3.2. Financial and Economic Considerations 28
2.3.2.1. Unconditional Grants 29
2.3.2.2. Conditional Grants 30
2.3.3. Municipalities and Economic Development 33
2.3.4. Service delivery as a prerequisite for local government
functioning 36
2.3.5. Community participation in local government: involving
citizens in improving their lives 39
2.3.6. Municipal institutional development and transformation 42
2.4. CONCLUSION 44
CHAPTER THREE: INTEGRATED STRATEGIS PLANNING:
ON SOUTH AFRICAN LOCAL GOVERNEMNT 47
3.1. INTRODUCTION 47
3.2. DEFINING STRATEGIC PLANNING 47
IX
PAGE
3.3. STRATEGIC PLANNING IN A MUNICIPAL ORGANISATIONAL
CONTEXT 49
3.3.1. The business concept of local government 50
3.3.1.1. The local government customer in perspective 50
3.3.2. The organisation concept of local government 53
3.3.2.1. Municipal human resources: the human drivers of
municipalities 54
3.3.2.1.1. Municipal human driver number one: the elected
council/councillors 55
3.3.2.1.2. Municipal human driver number two: the appointed
officials 58
3.3.2.1.3. Municipal driver number three: the local community 61
3.3.2.1.4. Municipal driver number four: provincial and national spheres
of government 62
3.3.2.2. Municipal financial resource management as a key
organisational factor 63
3.3.2.2.1. Ensuring municipal solvency and liquidity 64
3.3.2.2.2. Ensuring organisational growth through financial resources 69
3.3.3. The core processes of product creation 75
x
PAGE
3.4. THE INTEGRATED NATURE OF lOCAL GOVERNMENT
STRATEGIC PLANNING 75
3.4.1. Aspects contributing to the integrated nature of lOP 76
3.4.1.1. long term development for municipalities 76
3.4.1.2. The existing level of development in the municipality 77
3.4.1.3. A council's development priorities for its elected term 78
3.4.1.4. Alignment of local development strategies with national
and provincial sector plans 79
3.4.1.5. Spatial development framework 79
3.4.1.6. Operational strategies 80
3.4.1.7. Financial management and performance plans 81
3.5. CONCLUSION 82
CHAPTER FOUR: POLICY PROCESSES AS FACILITATION MECHANISMS
FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF MUNICIPAL STRATEGIC PLANS 84
4.1. INTRODUCTION 84
4.2. DEFINING PUBLIC POLICY 85
XI
PAGE
4.2.1. Public policy - expressing local government's intended pursuit of
Predetermined goals 86
4.2.1.1. Facilitating democratic and accountable local government
through policy determination 87
4.2.1.2. Rendering sustainable services to local communities 88
4.2.1.3. Promoting social and economic development in local
government 90
4.2.1.4. Promoting a safe and healthy environment 93
4.2.1.5. Encouraging the involvement of communities and community
organisations in the matters of local government 96
4.2.2. Public policy - authoritative representation of constituency
values 98
4.2.3. Public policy - raising societal expectations 100
4.2.4. Public policy - reacting to societal shortcomings 103
4.3. SERVICE DELIVERY AND BUDGET IMPLEMENTATION PLANS 105
4.4. THE LINK BETWEEN PUBLIC POLICY AND STRATEGIC
PLANNING 106
XII
PAGE
4.4.1. Strategic leadership: taking South African municipalities
Into a new management environment 108
4.4.1.1. Characteristics of strategic leaders 109
4.5. CONCLUSION 111
CHAPTER FIVE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND FINDINGS
REGARDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INTEGRATED STRATEGIC
PLANS IN FREE STATE MUNICIPALITIES 113
5.1. INTRODUCTION 113
5.2. RESEARCH DESIGN 113
5.3. SELECTION OF THE SAMPLE FOR THE STUDY 114
5.4. ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND/OR ORGANISATIONAL
FACTORS AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION
OF INTEGRATED STRATEGIC PLANNING 117
5.4.1. Location of participants 118
XIII
PAGE
5.4.2. Responses to the various question categories 118
5.4.2.1. The extent of local autonomy: constitutional and legislative
factors and the functioning of municipalities 119
5.4.2.1.1. The extent to which Free State municipalities exercised its
constitutional right of governing without undue interference
by the other spheres of government 119
5.4.2.1.2. The availability of financial and administrative capacity
to act more independently/autonomously 120
5.4.2.1.3. The existence of sufficient national and provincial
support in strengthening municipal capacity 122
5.4.2.1.4. The functioning of municipal structures in promoting operational
competence 123
5.4.2.1.5. Role clarification between political office bearers and officials 124
5.4.2.1.6. Obstacles to institutional efficiency 126
5.4.2.2. The extent of local autonomy: financial and economic factors
Influencing the municipal environment 127
5.4.2.2.1. The contribution of equitable share (ES) to basic services 127
5.4.2.2.2. Participation in or benefits from conditional grant schemes 128
5.4.2.2.3. Conditional grants are used for the purpose they were allocated
for to the municipality 129
XIV
PAGE
5.4.2.2.4. Municipalities do not depend on conditional grant allocations
to sustain operational requirements 130
5.4.2.2.5. Quality standards as a means of promoting value for money 130
5.4.2.3. Community participation in municipalities 131
5.4.2.3.1. Implementing legislative requirements regarding community
pa rticipation 131
5.4.2.3.2. Involving communities inmunicipal affairs other than those
prescribed by legislation 132
5.4.2.3.3. Integrating community inputs into municipal plans 133
5.4.2.3.4. Commitment of councillors and officials to community
participation 134
5.4.2.3.5. Community participation free from political bias 135
5.4.2.3.6. Commitment and challenges to and mechanisms to improve
community participation 136
5.4.2.4. Defining local communities as municipal customers 137
5.4.2.4.1. Instilling the idea of communities as customers 138
5.4.2.4.2. Promoting a customer focused approach amongst councillors 138
5.4.2.4.3. Reflecting customer care in municipal strategies 139
5.4.2.4.4. Citizens' feedback on the nature and quality of services 140
5.4.2.4.5. Incorporating citizens' feedback in quality improvement efforts 140
XV
PAGE
5.4.2.4.6. Improving the relationship between municipalities and their
customers 141
5.4.2.5. Role player contribution to lOP as municipal strategic plan 142
5.4.2.5.1. Role clarification between politicians, officials and communities 142
5.4.2.5.2. Role-players understanding their contribution to the lOP process 143
5.4.2.5.3. Councillors representing the needs of local residents equally 144
5.4.2.5.4. Functional relationship between councillors and officials 144
5.4.2.5.5. Local residents' involvement in the lOP process 145
5.4.2.5.6. Cooperation in terms of lOP between municipalities and other
spheres of government 146
5.4.2.5.7. General obstacles to and the involvement of communities in
the lOP process 147
5.4.2.6. Translating lOP as part of the overall local government policy
framework into action 148
5.4.2.6.1. Understanding the lOP as part of the overall local government
policy framework 148
5.4.2.6.2. lOP targets as a direct response to expressed community needs 150
5.4.2.6.3. lOPs reflecting a fair representation of the expectations of all
residents 151
5.4.2.6.4. Resource allocation in line with achieving strategic objectives 151
XVI
PAGE
5.4.2.6.5. SOBIPs as sufficient operational plans 152
5.4.2.6.6. SOBIPs as monitoring and evaluation mechanisms 153
5.4.2.6.7. The impact of lOP on community well-being 154
5.4.2.7. Leadership competencies for implementing lOP - municipal
and other managers responsible for lOP 155
5.4.2.7.1. The authority and influence of municipal managers to facilitate
the formulation and implementation of the process 155
5.4.2.7.2. Municipal managers and decision making discretion 156
5.4.2.7.3. Municipal managers establishing an organisational culture
around lOP 157
5.4.2.7.4. Municipal managers infusing ethical values into municipalities
in order to strive towards continuous overall organisational
improvement 158
5.4.2.7.5. Most important leadership challenges for municipalities 158
5.5. CONCLUSION 159
CHAPTER SIX: GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 162
6.1. INTRODUCTION 162
6.2. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 162
XVII
PAGE
6.3. RECOMMENDATIONS 168
6.4. CONCLUSION 174
BIBLIOGRAPHY 175
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX A: SCHEDULE 4 OF THE CONSTITUTION - FUNCTIONAL AREAS OF
CONCURRENT NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL LEGISLATIVE COMPETENCE
APPENDIX B: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE
APPENDIX C: LIST OF INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
XVIII
LIST OF TABLES
PAGE
Table 1: Reliability Statistics: Cronbach's Alpha 117
XIX
LIST OF APPENDIXES
PAGE
APPENDIX 1: Schedule 4(8) and 5 (8) of the Constitution 193
APPENDIX 2: Questionnaire distributed to lOP managers in the Free State 196
APPENDIX 3: Interview Questions to provincial government participants
and consultant 204
XX
LIST OF FIGURES
PAGE
FIGURE 1: Transversal material issues that for the basis for qualified/
adverse/disclaimed opinions on the financial statements of
Free State municipalities 66
FIGURE 2: Service delivery protests per province - January to June 2009 71
FIGURE 3: Unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure by
Free State municipalities for 2009/2010 74
FIGURE 4: Location of Participants 118
FIGURE 5: Exercising of Constitutional governing right 119
FIGURE 6: Financial and administrative capacity to act independently 120
FIGURE 7: National and provincial support for municipalities 122
FIGURE 8: Municipal structures in promoting operational competence 124
XXI
PAGE
FIGURE 9: Role clarification between political office bearers and officials 125
FIGURE 10: The contribution of equitable share (ES) to basic services 127
FIGURE 11: Participation in or benefits from conditional grant schemes 128
FIGURE 12: Use of conditional grants for purpose they are allocated 129
FIGURE 13: Dependence on conditional grants to sustain operations 130
FIGURE 14: Legislative requirements regarding community participation 132
FIGURE 15: Involving communities in affairs other than legislated 133
FIGURE 16: Integrating community inputs into municipal plans 134
FIGURE 17: Commitment of councillors and officials to participation 135
FIGURE 18: Community participation free from political bias 136
XXII
PAGE
FIGURE 19: Instilling the idea of communities as customers 138
FIGURE 20: Promoting customer focused approach amongst councillors 139
FIGURE 21: Reflecting customer care in municipal strategies 139
FIGURE 22: Citizens' feedback on the nature and quality of services 140
FIGURE 23: Incorporating citizens' feedback in quality improvement
FIGURE 24: Role clarification between politicians, officials and communities 142
FIGURE 25: Role players understanding their contribution in lOPs 143
FIGURE 26: Councillors representing the needs of residents equally 144
FIGURE 27: Functional relationship between councillors and officials 145
FIGURE 28: Local residents' involvement in lOP process 146
XXIII
PAGE
FIGURE 29: Cooperation between municipalities and other government
spheres 147
FIGURE 30: lOP as part of overall local government policy framework 149
FIGURE 31: lOP targets as direct response to expressed community needs 150
FIGURE 32: lOPs reflecting a fair representation of residents' expectations 151
FIGURE 33: Resource allocation in line with achieving strategic objectives 152
FIGURE 34: SOBIPs as sufficient operational plans 153
FIGURE 35: SOBIPs as monitoring and evaluation mechanisms 154
FIGURE 36: Authority and influence of municipal managers - formulating
and implementing lOPs 155
FIGURE 37: Municipal managers and decision-making discretion 156
XXIV
PAGE
FIGURE 38: Organisational culture and lOP 157
FIGURE 39: Promoting ethical values 158
xxv
ABSTRACT
Local government in South Africa forms part of an overall state system also consisting
of national and provincial government. Together their main objective is to promote the
general welfare of the populace through service delivery and development initiatives.
For the purpose of delivering services and promoting development local government is
of significant importance as it is the state agency that citizens firstly come into contact
with. The local sphere of government has undergone fundamental transformation, both
from a political and structural point of view. In addition to local government becoming
democratic structures in line with the overall democratisation of South Africa, the
approach to and actual municipal structures also changed dramatically. Municipalities,
the organisational units of local government, have the task of pursuing the "new" goals
of local government within this changed environment.
One of the significant changes that have been introduced into municipal management is
the utilisation of an integrated strategic approach to organisational planning. This has
been facilitated by legislative reform that provides for municipalities to compile
integrated development plans (lOPs) and utilise it, together with budgets and
performance management systems, to promote service delivery and development in
their areas of jurisdiction. Therefore reference to the term integrated strategic planning.
The introduction of this new system has, however, not been flawless with dissatisfaction
about the service levels of municipalities being expressed through negative reporting on
municipal performance from a variety of public role-players as well as through local
communities illustrating their dissatisfaction through protest action. A critical question
XXVI
therefore revolved around why there was such a high degree of dissatisfaction with
municipal services, in spite of legislative provisions for improved municipal planning.
This thesis therefore explored the implementation of integrated strategic plans in Free
State municipalities in order to ascertain what the typical factors were that contributed to
the inability of municipalities to implement such plans. Recommendation were
furthermore provided, based on empirical and literature research on the issue with the
view of improving the status quo, not only in the Free State, but in South Africa as a
whole.
Key Concepts: Local government, Institutional reform, Local autonomy, Integrated
strategic planning, Policy implementation.
XXVII
OPSOMMING
Plaaslike regering in Suid Afrika vorm deel van 'n oorhoofse staatsbestelook bestaande
uit nasionale en provinsiale regering. Saam is huloorhoofse doelom die algemene
welsyn van die bevolikng te bevorder deur middel van dienslewering en
ontwikkelingsinisiatiewe.
Vir die doeleinde om dienste te lewer en ontwikkeling te bevorder, is plaaslike regering
van besondere belang, omdat dit die regeringsagentskap verteenwoordig met wie
landsburgers eerste in kontak kom. Die plaaslike sfeer van regering het fundamentele
transformasie ondergaan, beide vanuit 'n politieke sowel as strukturele oogpunt.
Addisioneel daartoe dat plaaslike regering demokratiese strukture geword het binne die
algehele demokratisering van Suid Afrika, het die benadering tot, asook die strukture
van munisipaliteite ook dramaties verander. Munisipaliteite, die organisatoriese
eenhede van plaaslike regering, het dus die doelom hierdie "nuwe" doelwitte van
plaaslike regering n ate streef binne 'n veranderde omgewing.
Een van die besondere veranderinge wat in in die bestuur van munisipaliteite ingestel
is, is die gebruik van 'n geïntegreerde strategiese benadering tot organisatoriese
beplanning. Dit is gefasiliteer deur wetgewende hervorming wat voorsiening maak vir
munisipaliteite om geïntegreerde ontwikkelingsplanne (GOPs) saam te stel, en dit saam
met begrotings en prestasiebestuurstelsels te gebruik, om dienslewering en
ontwikkeling binne hul areas van jurisdiksie te bevorder. Daarom verwysing na die term
geïntegreerde strategiese beplanning.
Die instelling van hierdie nuwe stelsel was egeter nie sonder uitdagings, met
ontevredenheid oor diensvlakke van munisipaliteite wat deur negatiewe verslagdoening
XXVIII
deur verskeie openbare rolspelers uitgespreek is, sowel as deur plaaslike
gemeenskappe wat hulontevredenheid deur protesaksie begin illustreer het. 'n Kritiese
vraag sentreer daarom rondom waarom daar so 'n hoë vlak van ontevredenheid oor
munisipale dienslewering is, ten spyte van wetgewende maatreëls om verbeterde
munisipale beplanning te bevorder.
Hierdie tesis het daarom ondersoek ingestel na die implementering van geïntegreerde
strategiese planne in munisipaliteite in die Vrystaat om vas te stel watter tipiese faktore
bygedra het tot die onvermoë van munisipaliteite om sulke planne te implementer.
Aanbevelings, op grond van die empiriese en literatuurnavorsing, is voorts verskaf, met
die oog daarop om die huidige stand van sake te verbeter, in die Vrystaat, maar ook in
die res van Suid Afrika.
Sleutelkonsepte: Plaaslike regering, Institusionele hervorming, Plaaslike outonomiteit,
Geïntegreerde strategiese beplanning, Beleidsimplementering.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. INTRODUCTION
Local government in South Africa has come to a crossroads with many municipalities,
the system of local government's functional units perceived as being unable to fulfil their
mandate of providing services to their communities. Several reasons are provided by
various commentators for the current state of affairs. These reasons aside, it is critical
that municipalities in South Africa be in a position to meet the modern challenges of
service delivery to expectant communities.
There have been fundamental changes to the system guiding local government in South
Africa. An amended policy framework, resulting from provisions in the Constitution of
the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996) [hereinafter referred to as the
Constitution], has led to changes in various facets of local government management.
This includes changes in the structures of municipalities as well as changes to the
manner in which municipalities have to be managed. In terms of managing
municipalities, there has been increased reference to strategic planning in
municipalities. A fundamental question is therefore whether municipalities are in a state
of improvement due to the implementation of strategic planning, and whether municipal
managers possess the skills and expertise to develop and implement strategic plans.
Based on the above, this thesis aims to examine various issues pertaining to the
implementation of strategic planning in South African local government, and ultimately
provide recommendations for improving the status quo. An empirical component is
envisaged, limited to the Free State province of South Africa. In spite of this limitation,
the results of the study would contribute to improved service delivery in the rest of South
Africa.
1.2. MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY
Local government has a vital role to play in governments' service delivery efforts.
Municipalities represent the first point of interaction between citizens and government.
This is of particular significance in a developing society, where so many people depend
on government for a prosperous existence. In South Africa, significant responsibility for
promoting community welfare is placed on local government, both in terms of the
interrelated role it has to fulfil together with national and provincial government and, in
terms of the Constitutional mandate assigned to municipalities given its specific service
delivery responsibilities.
The Constitution, in Section 40(1), states that "in the Republic government is constituted
as national, provincial and local spheres of government which are distinctive,
interdependent and interrelated". Section 41 (1) (b) of the Constitution furthermore
states that "all spheres of government and all organs of state within each sphere must
secure the well-being of the people of the Republic". These constitutional provisions
imply that municipalities, as part of the overall state system of South Africa, have an
important role to play in promoting people's well-being.
Chapter 7 of the Constitution is applicable with regard to the more direct role of local
government. Section 152 (1) states that the objects of local government are as follows:
• To provide democratic and accountable government to local communities.
• To ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner.
• To promote social and economic development.
2
• To promote a safe and healthy environment.
• To encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in
the matters of local government.
Section 152 (2) adds that "a municipality must strive, within its financial and
administrative capacity, to achieve the above objectives.
Given the above constitutional provisions, there is certainty about the enormity and
extent of municipalities' responsibility as a vital cog in the service delivery chain. There
could however be uncertainty as to how these constitutional provisions are to be
translated into operationally effective and efficient municipal organisations. In addition
to the Constitution, a series of enabling legislation has been promulgated by Parliament
in order to give effect to the constitutional mandate of local government, and therefore
South African municipalities in general. These legislative measures place certain
fundamental requirements on those responsible for managing municipalities.
According to Section 25 (1) of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act
32 of 2000), [hereinafter referred to as the Systems Act], each South African
municipality must compile an Integrated Development Plan, a five year plan outlining
the municipality's vision for the long, medium and short term development of its area of
jurisdiction. The Systems Act, Section 25 (1) [a] states that lOPs should be strategic
and inclusive in nature and should link, integrate and coordinate other plans.
Furthermore, Section 25 (1) [b & c] requires lOPs to be aligned with municipalities'
resources and capacity, taking into consideration the annual budget. From these
references, two important aspects become clear: (i) that municipal lOPs can be equated
to organisational strategic plans in the case of South African municipalities and (ii) that
the strategic plans must be integrated in nature in that they should be linked to other
plans of the municipality pertaining to its available resources and capacity.
3
On the basis of the above, this study was undertaken with the intention of addressing
deficient municipal service delivery. This was done by examining the relationship
between formulating integrated strategic plans, as required by relevant legislation, and
operationally implementing these plans in the Free State. Recommendations for
improving the current state of affairs that will benefit municipalities in the province, and
could also possibly be utilised by municipalities in the rest of the country, are provided
at the end of this thesis.
1.3. PROBLEM STATEMENT
A number of recent protest activities in parts of South Africa seem to indicate
dissatisfaction on the part of local communities. In this regard Botes, Lenka, Marais,
Matebesi & Sigenu (2007:1) state that "over the past few years municipal protests have
become commonplace in South Africa". Managa (2012:1), in addition, states that in
spite of South Africa now being a democracy, the country still faces serious challenges
of unemployment, poverty and inequality that have culminated in citizens taking to the
streets to raise their dissatisfaction over poor service delivery. Finally, McDonald
(2002:4-5) is of the opinion that although major strides have been made in the provision
of water and electricity in particular, substantial amounts of citizens were still in need of
these basic amenities, while in the area of sanitation and refuse collection,
government's service delivery record was poor.
There is a blatant contradiction between the aforementioned references to questionable
municipal service delivery, and the sound existing policy framework for the management
of municipalities and therefore service delivery. In fact, Cloete, in De Villiers (2008:100)
states that "there is sufficient evidence that the current lack of service delivery at all
government levels can be attributed to inadequate implementation of the current
constitutional structure rather than to the inadequacy of the contents of these
constitutional provisions and the current structure itself'.
4
On the basis of the above, this study thus focused on eliminating pitfalls that exist
between the compilation of integrated strategic plans and the implementation of these
plans. The Free State province was used as focal area for the study, but as has
previously been mentioned, it is envisaged that the value of the study could be
extended to municipalities outside the province.
1.4. HYPOTHESIS
Improving the implementation of integrated strategic plans will enhance the quality of
municipal services rendered and development and thus increase the satisfaction levels
of local communities in the Free State.
1.5. AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of the study was to develop constructive recommendations for the improved
implementation of integrated strategic plans in Free State municipalities in order to
improve service delivery to local communities. To achieve this aim, the following
specific objectives of the study were identified:
• To analyse the role of local government in the overall South African constitutional
state.
• To provide an appraisal of the enabling policy framework for integrated strategic
planning in South African local government.
• To providing a detailed theoretical framework for integrated strategic planning in
organisations.
• To empirically determine the current state of affairs and the typical factors that
challenge the implementation of integrated strategic plans in the Free State.
5
• To provide recommendations for the improved implementation of integrated
strategic plans in the Free State that will ultimately lead to improved service
delivery.
1.6. RESEARCH DESIGN
According to Mouton (2001 :55) a research design is "a plan or blueprint of how you
intend conducting the research". At this stage of the thesis, note should be taken of the
following in terms of the research design.
It is envisaged that the study will consist of:
• A literature review in order to provide an in-depth analysis of the role of local
government in the South African state system. Furthermore, an in-depth
literature study is necessary to assess the policy framework for integrated
strategic planning in South African local government, as well as the value of
integrated strategic plans to organisations in general. This information will be
sou reed from academic literature in the form of books, periodicals, government
policy documents and reports, as well as from the results of relevant conference
proceedings.
• An empirical study to gather evidence and make inferences about whether
implementation levels were in accordance with the existing policy framework. In
addition, the objective is to ascertain what problems and challenges respondents
in the study were experiencing in their endeavours to effectively translate policy
into service delivery.
6
A specific chapter, in which the exact nature of the empirical component of the study is
outlined, will be included in the thesis.
1.7. CHAPTER OUTLINE
Chapter One of the thesis will provide the general foundation for the study. It therefore
provides the basis on which decisions to conduct the study were made. It indicates the
key objectives of the study and the broad methodological approach to be taken.
Chapter Two will provide a detailed theoretical appraisal of the nature of local
government in democratic South Africa. The reason for the existence of local
government within the overall state system will be explained, and the necessity for a
strategic approach to municipal service rendering will be outlined.
Chapter Three will analyse the integrated nature of strategic planning in the context of
South African local government. Specific emphasis will be placed on the policy
framework for strategic planning. Furthermore this chapter will deal with the
requirement for integrating and aligning key municipal strategic planning processes,
namely Integrated Development Planning, Budgeting and Performance Management.
Chapter Four will address the organisational requirements for implementing integrated
strategic plans as part of the policy framework for local government. This discussion
will attempt to determine the essential elements required in a South African local
government context, in order to facilitate sufficient progression from determination of
integrated strategic plans as a policy mechanism to the implementation thereof.
7
Chapter Five will, on the basis of empirical investigation, provide an analysis of the
current state of affairs with regard to the implementation of integrated strategic plans in
local municipalities in the Free State province of South Africa. A detailed explanation of
the profile of municipalities in the province will be provided in this chapter, as well as the
methodology employed to gather relevant data. Furthermore, deductions will be made
as to the state of implementing integrated strategic plans in the province.
The thesis is concluded with the provision of general recommendations and a
conclusion in Chapter Six.
1.8. CONCLUSION
The thesis is intended to contribute significantly to the study of municipal governance
and management in the Free State and South Africa, by providing recommendations for
the improved implementation of integrated strategic plans. It is envisaged that it will
contribute to the academic debate concerning municipal management as an important
component of the Public Management subject field, and engage practitioners of
municipal management.
8
CHAPTER TWO
THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA:
EXAMINING KEY DIMENSIONS
2.1. INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this chapter is to provide a detailed overview of the main dimensions of
the system of local government in South Africa. This is of profound importance if the
environment within which municipalities, the functional units of local government, have
to operate, is to be fully understood. It is furthermore of importance, as it will provide an
illustration of the role of local government in the South African system of government.
Local government, in line with almost all facets of South African society, has undergone
fundamental transformation in the country's transition to a democratic state. Now these
democratic structures are charged with ensuring that the general welfare of local
communities is promoted, and that the ideals associated with the struggle for a
democratic South Africa are achieved.
Although the intention of change is often noble, immediate positive results are usually
difficult to achieve and the situation in South African local government seems to be no
exception. Recent service delivery protests, and accompanying negative reports on the
state of local government, suggests concerns over the ability of municipalities to satisfy
community expectations. On the other hand, those managing the system provide what
they regard as relevant explanations for the current state of affairs. Irrespective of
these opposing views, it is necessary to objectively investigate the intended functioning
of local government in South Africa for the benefit of local communities. Before this is
attempted however, it may be necessary to firstly contemplate the rationale for the
existence of local government.
9
2.2. THE RATIONALE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT
In an attempt to highlight the importance of local government, Reddy (1999:10) states
that "local authorities are created to render services in defined geographical areas,
primarily because of the inability of central governments to attend to all the detailed
aspects of government". Kafle and Karkee (2004:4) add that "local governments are
relatively autonomous, multi-purpose institutions, providing a wide range of services,
with tax raising capacity and are controlled through the election of representatives to
oversee the work of full-time officials". From these definitions, it becomes clear that
local government is important with regard to the provision of services at a smaller
geographical scale (defined geographical areas), and they have to do this with the
assistance of locally elected political representatives and appointed employees. The
issue of service delivery is of particular significance in the context of South Africa. The
transition to democracy did not only signify the restoration of political equality to the
majority of its citizens, but was also meant to eradicate the inequality in service delivery
that characterised the previous political order.
In addition to the matter of service delivery, local government is regarded as an
important vehicle for promoting democratic values so sorely missed during the years of
racial divide in South Africa. To this effect, Pratchett (2004:4) argues that without some
degree of freedom for self-determination, communities are unlikely to cultivate
democratic practices. This notion in turn also highlights the significant role that local
citizens are required to play in addition to locally elected representatives and appointed
officials. In fact, in South Africa, its importance is deemed significant enough for the
Constitution Section 152 (1) (e) to state that local government should "encourage the
involvement of communities and community organisations in the matters of local
government".
Should it be argued that local government should play a pivotal role in the delivery of
services and the promotion of democracy, logic dictates that the power to do so be
10
decentralised to local government. In this regard, Reddy (1999: 16) emphasises the
importance of decentralisation as "the sharing of decision-making authority with lower
levels in the organisation in an effort to unblock central bureaucracy and giving more
direct access for the people to the government and the government to the people".
Gildenhuys and Knipe (2000:287) argue that "the decentralisation of authority defines
the powers of lower governments and leaves them free to decide on these matters
without intervention from above". Treisman (2002:3-4) suggests the following two
important advantages of decentralisation in support of the previous authors' assertions:
• Local knowledge - local politicians and officials are deemed to have better
knowledge of unique local circumstances, and it is therefore argued that their
decision-making would be more responsive to local needs.
• Greater accountability - the fact that local political representatives are elected at
community level means that greater accountability can be demanded by the
same communities who elect them.
The perceived and theoretical benefits of decentralised power would however be
irrelevant, without considering the extent of said decentralisation, for the purpose of this
thesis, in a South African context. The question is thus to what extent Reddy's
(1999:16) notion of "devolution of decision-making authority to relatively autonomous
regional or local governments" takes place. Chapter One of this thesis explained that
the Constitution, in describing the composition of the South African state, emphasises
the existence of national, provincial and local spheres of government that are distinctive,
interdependent and interrelated. This implies that each sphere has relatively unique
characteristics and by virtue of the Constitution Schedules 4 and 5, also specific
decision-making powers.
South Africa can thus not be seen as being characterised by a rigid centralised
authority. According to Gildenhuys, Fox and Wissink (1991 :92) "political centralisation
is a basic characteristic of unitary political systems where all authority is vested in a
11
sovereign legislature and regional and local authorities receive their legislative and
executive authority directly from the central legislature, which can be withdrawn,
expanded or reduced at any time". Contrary to what is contained in this definition of
centralisation, the legislative and executive authority of the regional (provincial) and
local authorities are in fact enshrined in the Constitution, and can thus not be
"withdrawn, expanded or reduced" without the inputs of these government spheres and
the required amendments to the Constitution.
The reference to the terms interdependence and interrelatedness adds an interesting
dimension to the South African situation. Although distinctiveness could be interpreted
as suggesting autonomy, these terms suggests the existence of common goals and
characteristics between the three spheres and therefore an inability to function
completely independent from one another. Therefore absolute autonomy or "the right to
self-government" from a state point of view, as defined in the Shorter Oxford English
Dictionary (1973:126), can also not be deemed applicable. According to Steytler
(2005:204) the constitutional terms describing how government is constituted refers to
the three spheres being "distinctive in their powers, interrelated in a hierarchy of
supervisory powers and interdependent to perform the task of government in a
cooperative manner". Steytier's reference to supervisory powers, suggests that while
the three spheres of government possess distinct powers, a vertical hierarchy of
supervisory power remains which implies that, to an extent (to a lesser extent it might
be argued), local government remained subservient to the national and provincial
spheres of government.
In light of the aforementioned, the conclusion could be drawn that local government
provides an opportunity for the provision of services to communities confined to a pre-
determined jurisdictional areas by locally elected political representatives and appointed
officials responsible for such areas. Furthermore, it could be concluded that local
government should undertake its endeavours, while also nurturing and promoting
democratic values by ensuring that the communities they serve become active
participants in the governance process. An important consideration with regard to local
12
government would revolve around the resources required for local governments to carry
out their mandate. Therefore the manner in which local government is funded, and local
government's relationship to other government spheres in this regard, is important.
It can furthermore be concluded that, in the South African context, local government has
an integral role to fulfil in the governance process. This becomes evident when
examining the Constitutional positioning of local government and the reference, not to
levels, but spheres of government (national, provincial and local) with equally important
responsibilities and decision-making authority. This reference to spheres rather than
levels suggests a more integrated governance structure rather than the top-down
hierarchical relationship between the levels of government, as was previously common
in South Africa. It furthermore suggests that the previously "lower" spheres of
government, provincial and local government, have more authority to, through their own
initiatives, devise strategies in order to address provincial and local societal issues.
Finally, having considered the above information, the following characteristics of local
government and municipalities as its functional units, can be outlined for the purpose of
this thesis:
• Autonomy.
• Service delivery responsibility.
• Democracy promotion responsibility and community participation.
• Financial sustainability.
The above characteristics could be deemed to be similar, indirectly, to the five key
performance areas for local government, as determined in Section 26(4) of the
Performance Regulations for Municipal Managers and Managers directly accountable to
Municipal Managers of 2006, namely:
• Basic service delivery.
• Municipal institutional development and transformation.
13
• Local economic development.
• Municipal financial viability and management.
o Good governance and public participation.
It is however necessary to contemplate the exact extent to which the above
characteristics are in fact applicable to local government in a "new" state order in South
Africa. Therefore, in the paragraphs that follow, an attempt is made to explain how the
above characteristics of local government are manifested in South Africa.
2.3. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND A NEW
POLITICAL ORDER
Although it is not the intention of this chapter to focus on the historical and political
events leading to the current system of local government, the discussion would be
incomplete without providing the historical and political context relevant to local
government.
The democratisation process has resulted in fundamental changes to South Africa's
state structures. The establishment of nine (9) provinces and accompanying provincial
government structures was firstly, an expansion of the four provinces that had
previously existed and, secondly, an indication of the approach to be taken by the newly
elected government, in order to render services to its citizens. Similarly, the nature of
local government structures also changed fundamentally. In addition to existing
municipalities having to find new "provincial homes", in terms of the new provincial
order, the number of municipalities was reduced from 843 to 283 (at that stage), in
terms of a municipal boundary re-demarcation process.
14
The most fundamental reason behind the reorganisation of the structures of state in
South Africa was obviously to ensure the provision of government services to an equal
base, detached from the racial considerations that had previously characterised service
rendering. This was of particular significance in terms of local government, considering
that separate local government structures had previously existed based on the racial
division in the country. Du Plessis (2005:22-24) refers to the existence of White and
Black local authorities as well as Coloured and Indian Management committee
structures, that had to provide for the needs of these designated racial groups although
the resource allocation with which to do so was not necessarily equal to the task. In
addition, the re-demarcation of municipal boundaries and therefore their geographical
areas of jurisdiction, had to deal with structural inequities associated with the existing
municipal structures. In this regard, Cameron (2000:3-6) asserts that some of the major
considerations in re-demarcating municipal boundaries included the following:
• The creation of municipal structures devoid of subjective needs and preferences,
but rather on the basis of national norms and standards. In certain provinces for
example, there were municipalities with fewer than one hundred voters, whereas
in the same province, some urban communities with over fifteen thousand voters
had no primary local government.
• Approximately two thirds of all rural councils were relatively small with less than
two thousand voters. This resulted in some of these areas becoming "ghost
towns", often with inadequate resource bases for rendering services.
• The tax base of existing local government structures had to be expanded in order
to ensure that it was as inclusive as possible of the users of municipal services in
the area.
It can therefore be deduced that the past political order, based on racial divide and the
inequitable local government structures associated with it, had a major influence in
determining the newly created structures. The question remains, as to what extent
15
these newly created municipal structures have influenced the characteristics of local
government as identified earlier.
Based on the literature referred to earlier in this chapter, it could be argued that there
are two primary reasons for the existence of local government. Firstly, local
government exists to bring government structures closer to local communities, and
thereby promote democracy. Secondly local government exists to provide services to
citizens in a defined geographical area, over which the municipality has jurisdictional
powers. The first identified characteristic of local government, autonomy, therefore
seems to be an integral one.
2.3.1. Local autonomy in context
As previously stated, absolute autonomy in local government in South Africa cannot be
claimed given the constitutional provision of distinctiveness, interrelatedness and
interdependence between the three spheres of government. Tyler Dickovick (2005: 189)
in this regard states that "while the constitution claims that the three "spheres" of
government are "interdependent", in reality the traditional principles of a hierarchy
between the levels of government have been upheld." To this effect, the Department of
Provincial and Local Government's Policy Review (2007:9) document states that "even
though the three spheres (of government) are independent, they have to work together
when deciding on budgets, policies and activities, particularly in areas that cut across all
spheres".
Furthermore, according to the United Nations' Guidelines on Decentralisation and the
Strengthening of Local Authorities and Habitat Agenda (2007:4) "local autonomy aims to
allow local authorities to develop to a point where they can be effective partners with
other spheres of government and thus contribute fully in the development process".
Galvin (1999: 1) furthermore raises the interesting idea that in a relatively new
16
democracy such as South Africa, there might be pressure to exercise more centralised
power "in response to local government's lack of capacity and the desire of the national
government to control planning and development." This implies that the central
government could be the tempted to take control of planning and development initiatives
in order to consolidate its powerbase.
From a local perspective, autonomy could therefore be seen to refer to municipalities
taking initiative in identifying and pursuing opportunities to enhance the lives of local
communities. They could then work together with other spheres of government, to
realise pre-determined goals and objectives presented by such opportunities. While it is
possible for municipalities to identify local needs and develop strategies and plans to
address such needs, they often lack the financial resources to address the needs. It
could be argued that municipalities in South Africa are "stripped" of their autonomy in
two major ways, firstly by the financial dependence of municipalities on other spheres of
government. Secondly, municipalities are, to a large extent, dependent on sector
departments at the provincial sphere of government for directives in terms of basic
services to be rendered locally. These basic services include water, energy and
sanitation. In the case of water provision as an example, the Constitution, according to
Earle, Goldin & Kgomotso (2005:16), allows national government in the form of the
Department of Water Affairs (DWA) to decentralise its power and attendant
responsibilities. As a result, local government can assume the responsibility for the
provision of water services, but the DWA (national government) ultimately remains
responsible to ensure compliance with the state's obligation towards citizens for the
provision of water, as contained in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution (Earle, Goldin &
Kgomotso 2005:16). To this end, Fleurke and Willemse (2006:72) argue that there are
two sets of indicators that determine local autonomy, which can be described as follows:
• Legal indices such as the formal distribution of tasks between governmental tiers,
the formal constitutional competencies and protection of local government.
17
• The financial and economic aspects such as the relative amount of revenues
raised by central or local government (this will be discussed in detail under the
tax raising and financial sustainability component of this chapter).
These indicators are discussed hereafter to further examine the nature of local
autonomy in South Africa.
2.3.1.1. Local autonomy in a new constitutional framework
A Constitution mainly regulates the relations between the constituent units of a state.
This was however not always the case in local government. In spite of the fact that, in
its development towards democracy South Africa has had five Constitutions, it was only
in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act, 1993 (Act 200 of 1993) [interim
constitution] and finally the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act, 1996 (Act
108 of 1996) that there was significant provision for local government. Reference has
already been made to Section 40(1) of the Constitution's reference to the three spheres
of government, and the entrenchment of local government as an equal partner to
national and provincial government. In addition there are more explicit provisions in the
Constitution regarding local government. These include the following:
Sections 151 to 163 that deal, inter alia, with numerous matters pertaining to local
government. Those matters that can be linked closest to the issue of autonomy are, for
the purpose of this thesis, discussed below:
• Status of municipalities - In terms of the status of municipalities, two
constitutional provisions are of importance in as far as local autonomy is
concerned. Section 151 (3) firstly states the right of municipalities to govern, on
its own initiative, the affairs of communities, subject to national and provincial
legislation. Section 151 (4) continues that national or provincial government may
not compromise or impede a municipality with regard to exercising its powers or
performing its functions. The constitution therefore does not guarantee absolute
autonomy, and it is therefore the legislature's responsibility to interpret
18
constitutionally referred terms such as "own initiative" and "not compromise or
impede".
• Objects of local government - Section 152 (1) outlines the objectives of
municipalities in terms of rendering services, development and the promotion of
democracy through community participation. Section 152 (2) emphasises the
fact that municipalities have to achieve these constitutional objectives within their
administrative and financial capacity. An impediment to absolute autonomy in
this regard could arguably be the administrative and financial capacity of
municipalities. The dire position in terms of financial and administrative capacity
will be referred to later in this thesis. A logical deduction from this has to be that,
in the absence of financial and administrative capacity, municipalities cannot
realistically achieve the constitutional objectives of service provision,
development, and the promotion of democracyoptimally.
• Municipalities in co-operative government - Cooperative government has
received much attention in the democratically elected government's efforts to
promote the well-being of all South Africans equally. In terms of local
government Sections 154 (1) and (2) emphasise the support to be given to local
government by national and provincial government to support and strengthen the
capacity of municipalities to manage their own affairs and to consult with local
government in the event of the initiation of legislative measures that may affect
the status of local government. In terms of the Section 163 of the Constitution,
an act of parliament must provide for the recognition of national and provincial
organisations. The Organised Local Government Act, 1997, No. 52 of 1997
provided for the establishment of the South African Local Government
Association (SALGA), nationally as well as with provincial branches, to ensure
the representation of all municipalities in this organisation. Section 5 of the Act
allows, inter alia for municipal representation on the Financial and Fiscal
Commission who determines the formula for the annual Equitable Share of
19
nationally raised revenue, as well as for representation in the National Council of
Provinces.
Finally, the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act 2005, No. 13 of 2005
was passed in Parliament in 2005, and suggests a number of measures and/or
structures to improve the cooperative relationship between the three spheres of
government. These include provincial intergovernmental forums that must
consist of the provincial premier, as well as the mayors of metropolitan and
district municipalities (Steytler 2005:207). It is therefore clear that, although
municipalities are deemed to have more initiative through which to solve local
community problems, they are to a large degree having to promote and
implement these initiatives in a spirit of cooperation with the other spheres of
government. This is because legislative and policy measures prescribe this, but
also because municipalities do not really have a choice when considering
resource and capacity constraints.
• Powers and functions of municipalities - In terms of Section 156 of the
Constitution, a municipality has executive authority in respect of, and has the
right to administer local government matters listed in Part B of Schedule 4 and
Part B of Schedule 5 of the Constitution. These schedules are attached as
Appendix A to this thesis. Furthermore, a municipality has executive authority in
respect of any other matter assigned to it by national or provincial legislation. On
17 June 2009 the Constitution 1yth Amendment Bill was published with the aim of
providing national government with greater power to regulate the executive
authority of municipalities. The aim of the proposed Bill was to ensure the
establishment of Regional Electricity Distributors, which the government had
been attempting to do for an extended period of time, without success. While
under consideration, this Bill drew widespread criticism, as it was seen as an
effort on the part of the national government to inhibit the same autonomy the
20
Constitution attempts to guarantee for local government. The Bill was
subsequently abolished, but not without reminding all that the autonomy of local
government could come under threat in cases where the legislature determined
the need to intervene, and that there was no absolute constitutional provision
with regard to the autonomy of local government.
Although the Constitution does not provide specific and detailed prescriptions with
regard to the above matters, the fact that they are constitutionally entrenched
emphasises the degree of independence of local government as a constituent state
structure. In addition, the constitutional provisions regarding local government have
been followed by a series of enabling policies and legislative provisions which have
fundamentally changed the structures of local government and the manner in which
municipalities should be managed. These policies and legislative provisions are
discussed in the paragraphs that follow.
2.3.1.2. Local autonomy and the new enabling legislative environment
In order to ensure that the constitutional provisions regarding local government
translated into operational action, various policies and legislative measures were
introduced. With regard to legislative measures, Robinson (1998:3) suggests that the
"autonomy" of local government is entirely dependent on the national legislation
governing local state capacity. It is therefore almost impossible to think of local
government as autonomous at all against this background. The extensive legislative
framework for the regulation of local government management can be described in two
ways. Firstly, the legislative framework could be viewed as an effort to facilitate the
decentralisation of central power to more "autonomous" municipalities bearing in mind
the extent to which municipalities can have absolute autonomy. Secondly, depending
on what the various legislative measures provide for, it could also be viewed as a rigid
regulation of local government, thereby inhibiting the concept of autonomy. Hereunder
follows a discussion on the most important municipal legislative measures in the
21
democratic era, as an effort to determine the influence of these measures on local
autonomy.
2.3.1.2.1. The White Paper on Local Government, 1998
According to Du Plessis (2005:47), the White Paper in 1998 became the official policy
document for local government in South Africa and envisaged the restructuring of local
government in order to become fully democratic in terms of local service delivery and
development. The White Paper (1998:17) defined the following challenges for local
government in a new dispensation:
• Settlement patterns that leads to inefficiency.
• The redistribution of economic resources to ensure that not only formerly white
areas benefit from local government activities.
• Backlogs in terms of service infrastructure in historically underdeveloped areas.
• Modes of decision-making, administration and delivery to ensure that it conforms
to the new inclusive approach of the government.
• Cooperation between local government and the private sector in order to secure
resources from this sector for development.
• Variations in capacity that exist in municipalities.
• Building constructive relationships between municipalities and the communities
they have to serve.
Based on the above challenges, the White Paper proposed numerous issues to be
addressed in formal acts of parliament pertaining to the "new" local government agenda.
This included the need for applicable institutional and administrative arrangements to be
in place, to give effect to local government service delivery, and more importantly to
promote what the White Paper termed developmental local government. The White
Paper on Local Government laid the foundation for the system of local government that
is in place in South Africa today. It led to the enactment of legislation discussed below,
22
that would in the future determine the direction municipalities are required to take in
their pursuit of providing services to, and developing local communities. As far as the
influence of the White Paper on the concept of local autonomy is concerned, it is rather
complex to consider without considering the legislative measures that followed on the
White Paper itself. The issues raised in the White Paper could all be seen as legitimate
and noble ideas, necessary for transforming the local sphere of government in
accordance with the Constitution. However, as previously mentioned, the extent to
which addressing these issues is "workable" for individual municipalities could
realistically only be considered in a discussion on the enabling legislation.
2.3.1.2.2. Municipal Demarcation Act, 1998, No. 27 of 1998
The Demarcation Act has, as its main objective, facilitating the re-drawing of municipal
boundaries in alignment with the constitutional provisions for the establishment of
different categories of municipalities. According to Craythorne (2006:12), the
Demarcation Act established the Municipal Demarcation Board as a juristic person with
the main function of fulfilling the constitutional requirement that the determination of
municipal outer boundaries, as well as the determination of wards within municipal
areas, be carried out by an independent authority. In addition, the Demarcation Act had
to specify procedural requirements to be followed by the Demarcation Board, as well as
the exact nature and scope of its activities and the interrelationships with other role-
players. The Act is quite clear about the demarcation objectives, and the factors to be
taken into account in Sections 24 and 25.
Furthermore, Section 28 of the Act refers to the importance of the established provincial
demarcation boards to involve the public in its processes and decisions, so as to ensure
devolution of decision-making on the boundaries of municipal areas to the lowest levels
in local communities. The extent to which these noble provisions of the Municipal
Demarcation Act came to fruition has been questioned in many circles though. There
has been a school of thought suggesting that the demarcation board in essence
23
rubberstamped the proposals on municipal boundaries of the major political party, the
African National Congress, in an attempt to ensure the party's political powerbase. This
would suggest that the boundaries had been pre-determined in party caucuses rather
than the municipal demarcation boards. The legislative provisions created by the
Demarcation Act have therefore been perceived to be surplus to an already politically
determined outcome, and therefore of very little positive contribution to local autonomy.
2.3.1.2.3. Municipal Structures Act, 1998, No. 117 of 1998
According to Craythorne (2006:13) the Structures Act emanates from the Constitution,
"for example, for the definition within the categories, of types of municipality, the
establishment of municipalities and the electoral system". Furthermore, according to
Fourie and Opperman (2007:5), the Structures Act "focused primarily on the
establishment of municipalities, the election of municipal councillors and the
composition, membership, operation and structuring of municipal councils." What
becomes evident is that, in determining municipal boundaries and wards, the
Demarcation Board also had to seriously consider the provisions of the Structures Act.
This is echoed by Craythorne (2006:45) who states that "in practice the provisions for
providing criteria and procedures for determining municipal boundaries are found partly
in the Municipal Demarcation Act and partly in the Municipal Structures Act".
The Structures Act could be said to determine municipal structures and procedural
arrangements for the effective functioning of said structures. This in itself could be seen
to be a necessary legislative directive in an effort to decentralise on the part of the
legislature. It could also be seen to be a facilitation mechanism to ensure autonomous
functioning on the part of municipalities, in whichever category or type they may fall. In
spite of this, one could again question the positive impact of the Act on the positive
functioning of municipalities. Sections 72 to 78 for instance refer to the role and
functioning of ward committees in municipalities, as a mechanism for promoting
community involvement in municipal affairs. Although the Act is quite clear on the
impact ward committees should have, this has not materialised in practice for a variety
24
of reasons. There has been increasing intervention on the part of provincial
governments in order to address this. It could therefore be argued that, without
necessarily focussing on the issue as such, the autonomous functioning of
municipalities, as envisaged by the legislation, is compromised.
Another contentious area with regard to the Structures Act is the powers and functions
of municipalities as defined in Sections 83 to 89. There remains, in the light of these
provisions in the Act, uncertainty over the division of functions between district and local
municipalities, as well as the division and coordination of functions between
municipalities and provincial governments. Health services and education are good
examples of this uncertainty. This, once again, raises questions regarding the
autonomous functioning of municipalities.
2.3.1.2.4. Municipal Systems Act, 2000, No. 32 of 2000
During the discussion of the background and reason for the study in Chapter One of this
thesis, reference was made to the Systems Act and its provisions with regard to
integrated strategic planning by South African municipalities. Emphasis was placed
inter alia on the alignment of municipal plans for service delivery and development with
resource planning (budgeting), as well as the measurement and management of
municipal performance as key requirements of the Systems Act. In the foreword to the
Act, this is referred to as "providing the core principles, mechanisms and processes that
are necessary to enable municipalities to move progressively towards the social and
economic upliftment of local communities, and ensure universal access to essential
services that are affordable to all". Craythorne (2006:13) states that the Systems Act
focuses "mainly on community participation, integrated development planning,
performance management, local public administration, municipal services and credit
control and debt collection".
25
The Systems Act and policy requirements (regulations) emanating from it, can therefore
be regarded as one of the cornerstones of this study, and various components thereof
will be examined in more detail at various stages of this thesis.
As far as the Systems Act and local autonomy is concerned, it is important to refer to a
number of provisions in the Act. Sections 16 to 22 of the Act refer to, and prescribe
mechanisms for promoting community participation in municipalities. In the South
African context, it is understandable that there should be a focus on community
participation as local government should inherently be the place where community
participation is promoted and as the previous political dispensation did not have
community participation on equal footing as a result of the racial division that
characterised the old order. When considering the manifestation of community
participation in municipalities, as discussed later in this chapter, the likelihood that
approximately 280 individual and presumably more autonomous municipalities could
realistically be required to adhere to a nationally determined recipe for community
participation becomes questionable. Communities, especially within South Africa, differ
and the circumstances within local communities at any given moment may differ.
Taking all this into consideration, it is doubtful whether the majority of the municipalities
in South Africa are able to promote community participation as envisaged in the
Systems Act.
Sections 95 to 104 of the Systems Act furthermore refers to credit control and debt
collection in and by municipalities. In spite of the Act being clear on matters of
outstanding debt to municipalities, the problem of outstanding debt and the inability of
municipalities to collect outstanding revenue seem to be increasing rather than
diminishing. It is a known fact that without consistent revenue collection, no service
organisation can deliver on its mandate of delivering quality service to its client base.
Although the provisions on debt collection and credit control have good intentions, it is
questionable, in the wake of financial difficulties municipalities are experiencing inter
alia because of poor credit control and debt collection practices, whether these
provisions are in fact aiding municipalities. The resultant intervention in municipal
26
financial affairs by other spheres of government seems proof enough of this. In
addition, it should be remembered that the geographical size of South Africa's
municipalities as well as the socio-economic conditions experienced by each may vary.
The "one-size-fits-all" syndrome of attempting to fix every municipal problem in this
regard with the same solution could therefore be questioned.
2.3.1.2.5. Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003, No. 56 of 2003 [MFMA]
The MFMA was based on the provisions of the Constitution and the White Paper and
revolves around the transformation of the financial management system of
municipalities, as well as promoting sound fiscal relations between local government
and the other spheres of government. According to Section 2 of the MFMA, the
following can be regarded as the main objectives of the Act:
• Ensuring transparency, accountability and appropriate lines of responsibility in
the fiscal and financial affairs of municipalities and municipal entities.
• Managing the revenues, expenditure, assets and liabilities and the handling of
the financial dealings of municipalities.
• Budgetary and financial planning processes and the coordination of those
processes with the processes of organs of state, in other spheres of government.
• Borrowing.
• The handling of financial problems in municipalities.
• Supply chain management.
• Other financial matters.
While it is not in doubt that the intention of the MFMA is to strengthen the financial
affairs of municipalities, the dire financial position of many municipalities in the country
has resulted in the MFMA becoming less of a regulatory mechanism and more of a
mechanism ensuring continuous financial aid to struggling municipalities.
27
When one considers the above policy and legislative interventions, it becomes clear that
local government stakeholders have had to participate in an extensive process of
change. In fact the process of change is still in progress given the many challenges in
municipalities. It highlights the notion that the result of change often does not take
effect as rapidly as might be envisaged, but requires an extensive evaluation of the
newly introduced policy scope. In this regard South African local government might
have some distance to go and the transition is therefore far from complete.
Finally, the extensive centrally determined policy and legislative framework for local
government suggests that there is little argument for total autonomy on the part of
municipalities in South Africa.
2.3.2. Financial and Economic Considerations
As per the criteria for autonomy provided by Fleurke and Willemse (2006:72), as well as
the legislative and policy considerations, it is necessary to examine the extent of
financial and economic independence in municipalities, to measure autonomy. The
purpose of this discussion is not to look into the financial viability of municipalities, as
this will be discussed later in this chapter. Rather, the purpose is to examine the extent
to which municipalities are dependent on other spheres of government for funds.
Municipalities, like any other organisation, need money to remain operationally
sustainable and to fulfil their mandates of rendering services and facilitating
development within their areas of jurisdictions. A critical question in the South African
local government environment remains the extent to which municipalities are able to
financially sustain themselves, and thereby determine the well-being of their
constituencies in an autonomous fashion. In addition to having to generate money on
an individual basis, municipalities are, in accordance with the intergovernmental fiscal
relations system in South Africa, entitled to various grants from national and provincial
28
government. These grants are categorised according to conditional and unconditional
types and examples of such grants, which are discussed hereafter.
2.3.2.1. Unconditional Grants
According to Whelan (2004: 2), the most important unconditional grant to local
government is the Equitable Share (ES) of nationally raised revenue. These grants are
paid directly to all municipalities in the country, and are based on a formula that takes
into account the operating cost required by each individual municipality, to deliver basic
services to local communities, specifically those sections that are too poor to pay for
these services. In this regard, Whelan (2004:2) is of the view that the grant is only
partially needs-based. Where it wholly needs-based, it would also have to take into
account the revenue generated by each municipality across all households, and thus
their ability to render these services with their own money.
According to Fourie and Opperman (2007:411), although the Equitable Share is
essentially an unconditional grant, in terms of determining the amount allocated to each
municipality, the grant is broken down into specific components, also known as "funding
windows". These "funding windows" represent suggestions as to how the ES should be
utilised, and although Whelan (2004:3) suggests that it does not amount to legally
forced spending, it is an attempt by national government attempting to ensure that the
grant is utilised towards basic services to poor local communities. It can therefore be
seen as efforts on the part of national government to ensure that citizens benefit from
the grants, and that it is not used for day to day operational costs of the municipality,
such as the payment of salaries for example.
In addition to the ES as unconditional grants, the following examples of conditional
grants to municipalities are also prevalent.
29
2.3.2.2. Conditional Grants
The following are examples of conditional grants to municipalities by a variety of
national departments.
• Financial Management Grant (FMG) received from the National Treasury -
This grant is designed to promote and support reforms to municipal financial
management and the implementation of the Municipal Finance Management Act,
2003, Act 56 of 2003 (Fourie and Opperman, 2007:409).
• Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant (NDPG) received from the
National Treasury - According to the National Treasury (www.treasurv.gov.za)
this grant has been established "with the ultimate objective of leveraging private
sector investment in underserved residential neighbourhoods thereby unlocking
the social and economic potential in these areas." It is essentially a grant
through which treasury will provide a combination of technical support and capital
financing for municipal projects, that will attract private sector investment to make
these projects sustainable in the long term. The grant can therefore be
described as a combination of a grant in kind (technical support) and cash grant
(capital finance).
• Municipal Systems Improvement Grant (MSIG) received from the
Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) -
This grant is a cash transfer "directed to selected Local and District municipalities
and its purpose is to support municipalities in implementing new systems as
provided in the Municipal Systems Act, Municipal Structures Act and other
related local government policy and legislation" (www.dplg.gov.za).
• Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) received from the Department of
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) - The MIG is a
cash grant to selected municipalities combining all existing capital grants for
30
municipal infrastructure into a single consolidated grant (www.dplg.gov.za). The
following existing capital grants resort under the MIG:
o Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Programme.
o Water Services Projects.
o Community Based Public Works Programme.
o Local Economic Development Fund.
o Urban Transport Fund.
o Building for Sport and Recreation Programme.
o National Electrification Programme (www.dplg.gov.za).
• From the above discussion on unconditional and conditional grants, it is clear
that municipalities rely substantially on the national sphere for funding to render
services in line with the Constitutional provision for the sharing of nationally
raised revenue. In addition, the situation is complicated in that, although
provinces have a monitoring role over municipalities in their areas, the grants are
directly paid to municipalities, and are not channelled through the provinces
except in the case of the housing subsidy provision (Pillay, Tomlinson and Du
Toit, 2006:163). Provincial governments therefore have limited input as to the
money provided to municipalities, and yet they have to monitor the progress
made by municipalities and ensure that expenditure is in line with the intended
outcome of the grants.
In addition to the dependency of municipalities for funding, Venter and Landsberg
(2006:149-150) highlights the following financial management deficiencies in
municipalities, as a fundamental contributing factor to the undesirable financial position
of municipalities:
31
The continued culture of non-payment for services - According to Schoeman
(2011 :3) outstanding debtors of municipalities for which data was available amounted to
3.7. billion US dollars in the 2009/2010 fiscal year compared to 3,4 billion US dollars in
the 2007/2008 fiscal year. Although there is recognition that many local consumers
default in terms of service payment due to dire socio-economic conditions, Venter and
Landsberg (2006:149) are of the opinion that the political and administrative inability
and unwillingness to consistently and fairly apply credit control and debt collection
strategies represents the main reason for the current debt crisis in local government.
Poor financial management- Considering service backlogs and the limited resources
municipalities have at their disposal, sound financial management should logically be
one of the cornerstones of operationally managing a municipality. The importance of
sound financial management lies in the fact that it can contribute to municipalities'
efforts to transform their local areas into better places to live and work. Furthermore it
can aid councillors and officials in terms of monitoring activities, so that the vision of
creating this better place is operationally implemented (www.etu.org.za). However,
Venter and Landsberg (2006:150) are of the view that in too many municipalities,
politicians and officials embark on irresponsible expenditure to thé detriment of sound
financial management, and ultimately service delivery. It is therefore imperative for
municipal councillors and officials to align the allocation and utilisation of scarce
resources with actual organisational and service delivery needs so as to avoid
unnecessary and wasteful expenditure.
lack of legal measures to enforce accountability - According to Brinkerhoff (2001 :2)
"the availability and application of sanctions for illegal or inappropriate actions and
behaviour uncovered through answerability constitute a defining element of
accountability." This implies that there can be no real accountability unless individuals
and/or organisations (municipalities in this case) are subjected to punitive measures, in
the event that they are responsible for irregular behaviour and/or expenditure. Venter
and Landsberg (2006: 150) are of the view that, although municipal managers as
accounting officers are subject to being held accountable, in terms of various municipal
laws, there is limited authority to hold councillors accountable for fruitless, wasteful or
32
irregular expenditure. This is important as councillors are more often the root cause of
financial mismanagement. It is therefore important that individuals responsible for the
misguided utilisation of municipal resources be exposed, but more important that
appropriate sanctions be instituted in order to avoid repetition of such behaviour. On
the basis of the above discussion, it becomes evident that South African municipalities
are too reliant for financial aid, in various forms, on the other spheres of government. In
the absence of financial dependence, municipalities cannot really be said to be
autonomous, as those who control the money inadvertently control the activities of an
organisation.
2.3.3. Municipalities and Economic Development
In addition to the issue of funding provision to municipalities for operational and service
delivery purposes, the issue of developing local economies is a contentious one in the
newly established system of local government. While reference to developmental local
government encompasses far more than local economies, it is economic prosperity that
would enable municipalities to achieve many of the other development objectives (i.e.
social, human and physical). The question is what the role of a municipality in local
economic development is, and whether municipalities in South Africa possess the tools
needed to fulfil this role, and in the process become self-reliant.
According to Bekker (2003:3), local economic development (LED) can be defined as "a
process whereby local initiatives combine skills, resources and ideas in stimulating local
economies to respond innovatively and competitively to changes in the national and
global economies, towards the goals of job creation, poverty alleviation and
redistribution." According to Venter and Landsberg (2006:147), local economic
development presents a challenge to most municipalities in South Africa, especially in
the rural areas, as they often lack even the most basic infrastructure, and poverty levels
remain extremely high.
33
According to the National Framework for LED in South Africa, 2006-2011 (2006:13-14)
the following are key considerations for local economic development:
• Links with macro-economic policy - Although from a macro- economic policy
level, there has been much consideration to reduce unemployment and thereby
reduce poverty levels, there is generally a lack of coordination of these efforts
with the efforts in local government. To this end, Du Plessis and Thomas
(2007:25) refer to elimination of the second economy as a key consideration for
eradicating poverty. In 2003, former President Thabo Mbeki expressed the
desire for the first economy, comprised mainly of wealthy individuals and
industries, to absorb the majority of South Africans "trapped" in the second
economy, comprised mainly of non-functioning local township and marginalised
rural areas (Philip 2010: 1). It can therefore be regarded as pivotal for the local
sphere of government to have an understanding of this reality of the South
African economy, and its manifestations in the local sphere of government, to
accordingly develop strategies that would neutralise its effects.
• Enabling the environment - In order to address the abovementioned situation,
specific steps are obviously needed. The National Framework for LED in South
Africa, 2006-2011 report states that resources should be directed towards
creating conditions which stimulate the environment in which business is done.
This should be done by means of information, knowledge and skills programmes
that can assist in leading municipalities to a higher growth path. Furthermore,
according to Bekker (2003:4) this should be done by "making people who have
lived in social isolation and in a spirit of dependency understand the inescapable
reality that they have to make significant contributions towards the improvement
of their own quality of lives". De Visser (2001: 2) supports this notion by stating
that development should be initiated and sustained by the people themselves.
De Visser (2001: 3) further states that, the inherent dignity of people dictates that
they should be able to make choices about their own well-being. It must
therefore be concluded that promoting economic development in local
government cannot be a unilateral process on the part of municipalities, but
34
should rather involve a reciprocal process of empowering all stakeholders
(including the citizens as beneficiaries of LED), and simultaneously having
adequate institutional strategies in place for promoting local economic
development.
• Institutionalising local economic development - It cannot be expected of
municipalities to promote economic development in their areas if it is not an
integral part of their organisational strategy. To this end, Du Plessis and Thomas
(2007:22) refer to municipal strategic plans in the form of Integrated
Development Plans (lOP), as required by the Systems Act, 32. Local economic
development within the context of municipal lOPs require that municipalities
identify key economic development strategies, ensure concrete decision-making
with regard to economic priority areas to be addressed within specific time
frames, align municipal institutional strategies with national and provincial
planning to ensure cooperative efforts, and allocate resources for promoting
economic development and ensuring that economic development targets are
subject to performance evaluation (Du Plessis and Thomas, 2007:22).
Furthermore, Pieterse (www.local.gov.za/dcdindex:1) states that, with regard to
local economic development, municipalities should support small and medium
businesses through the provision of training and other support mechanisms,
improve infrastructure and services in general to improve economic efficiency,
employ targeted investment initiatives to boost potentially growing sectors, and
employ a pro-localism procurement and servicing policy in order to define the
municipality as an actor in promoting LED.
In conclusion, in order to ensure local economic development, municipalities are
required to foster a thorough understanding of the macro-economic dynamics that are
applicable to the South African situation, enable the local environment in order to have a
launching pad for local economic development strategies, and ensure that local
35
economic development forms an integral part of municipalities' broad institutional
strategies.
2.3.4. Service delivery as a prerequisite for local government functioning
After 1994 there was a major focus on service delivery by the new government. This
was to ensure that all sectors of society had equal access to the services government
was responsible to provide. Service delivery in a South African context has an
additional dimension however as the efforts of government are also aimed at ensuring
that backlogs in services due to previous unequal service distribution would be
addressed. Many initiatives have been launched to ensure improved service delivery.
These include institutional mechanisms to ensure that the required services reach the
end consumer, as well as general mechanisms centred on the improvement of
customer relations. This will be explained in the paragraphs that follow.
From an institutional perspective, the most significant service delivery mechanism in
local government has arguably been the introduction of an integrated approach to
service delivery. In terms Sections 23 to 25 of the Systems Act, this integrated
approach requires that municipalities' Integrated Development Plans (lOP), budgets and
performance management plans be linked, in order to address actual needs within local
communities. To this end, a recent IDASA report to the portfolio committee on COGTA
(2010:8) emphasised the need for integrating lOPs and budgets. The report states that
"the effectiveness of municipalities to deliver on their mandate is largely dependent on
their ability to plan and allocate public resources in a developmental and sustainable
manner.
Therefore it is significant that municipalities carefully integrate community needs in their
development plans and when allocating budget". Furthermore the South African Local
Government Association (SALGA) (2006: 11) states that municipal key performance
36
indicators "must contain performance targets that are practical and realistic, in line with
the municipality's lOP and take into account the municipality's budget." It can thus be
concluded that a concerted effort, from a regulatory point of view, has been initiated to
constructively plan for the delivery of services to local communities. Questions remain
regarding the impact of this effort in the wake of growing dissatisfaction and protest over
what is seen as a lack of local service delivery.
According to the COGTA report on the state of local government in South Africa
(2009:36-38), a number of problems regarding the successful implementation of the
integrated management approach were identified, that have had a negative impact on
service delivery. These include the following:
• The scale of the problem regarding ageing and decaying infrastructure that
support bulk services, such as water and electricity.
• An unresponsive political and official environment that marginalises communities.
• A lack of accountability by municipalities to communities regarding the
implementation of the development plan, and discrepancies in what communities
put forward during consultative processes as priorities, and the inclusion thereof
in the plan and the budget of the municipality.
• A lack of councillor involvement in the development planning process.
From the above it is clear that the service delivery problems of municipalities revolve
around two key issues. Firstly, the service delivery backlogs that exist in local
communities are often underestimated, and given a limited resource base, this poses a
fundamental challenge to municipalities. In this regard Sokupa, in www.ngopulse.org
(2011 :3) is of the opinion that, although the provision of grants to municipalities is a
noble idea, government should reconsider the equality regarding the distribution of
money. Sokupa argues that money is often unequally distributed in relation to needs,
and poorer rural municipalities often do not receive adequate funding in order to
address the backlogs that exist in their areas. It could also be argued that municipalities
37
should be innovative in their approach to securing funding, and that more efforts should
be made to involve the private sector in improving local service provision, rather than
merely waiting to receive additional funding.
Secondly, the institutional incapacity of the municipalities needs to be addressed. An
unresponsive political and official environment, a lack of accountability and a lack of
councillor involvement in the development planning process, suggests human error on
the part of those primarily responsible for satisfying community needs and meeting the
growing expectations of local communities. According to Muller (2009:6) it is imperative
that councils (councillors and officials) have a system in place by means of which they
can accurately assess what the actual backlogs are, what service levels should be
reviewed in line with community expectations, whether the service backlogs are being
reported, and whether the reporting standards are uniform so as to ensure a shared
understanding of the services being discussed.
It is thus clear that, in terms of service delivery, municipalities are challenged with
regards to funding in order to address backlogs. Municipalities need to ensure that
available resources are well spent in accordance with locally determined priorities, and
in addition they need to attempt to secure alternative sources of funding in order to
address the increasing need for services. It is furthermore imperative that councillors
and officials respect the mandate that they have been given as public representatives,
by being responsive and accountable to local communities. This includes regular
interactions with local communities, in order to ensure that decisions on service delivery
initiatives are indeed aligned with community needs and expectations. This discussion
on local service delivery would therefore be incomplete without considering the issue of
citizen participation as an important mechanism in local government management.
38
2.3.5. Community participation in local government: involving citizens in
improving their lives
Since the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994, much emphasis has been
placed on the importance of involving communities in the governance process at all
levels of government. This has been emphasised especially in local government, as
municipalities are the agents of state closest to local communities, and since it is the
place where people's most basic needs are to be satisfied.
According to Nyalunga (2006:1), community participation could be seen as a relatively
new phenomenon in the South African context. This is due to the fact that no equal
opportunity for participation really existed under Apartheid, but moreover because of the
strong central approach to governing the country prevalent during this period, which
meant that local communities were frequently denied the opportunity to voice their
views. It could be argued that this is why the new government decided to regulate a
system of community participation through policy and legislative measures. The
Constitution, 1996, Section 152 (1) [el states that one of the objectives that
municipalities should strive towards, is involving communities and community
organisations in their affairs. Community participation in local government is therefore a
constitutionally entrenched requirement, and because of this ensuing, enabling
legislation has attempted to promote it in various facets and processes of municipalities.
Indeed, there are various legislative measures in place to regulate community
participation in local government.
• Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 117 of 1998: Sections 72 (3)
and 74 (a) provide for the establishment of ward committees in local and
metropolitan municipalities, to enhance participatory democracy in local
government. Ward committees can make recommendations to ward councillors
on matters affecting their wards, or to the local council through the ward
councillors.
39
• Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, 32 of 2000: Sections 29(1) [ii] and
42 stipulate that local communities have to be involved in the process of
compiling a municipality's Integrated Development Plan (lOP) and Performance
Management System, prior to its formal approval by the municipal council. Since
both the establishment of the development plan (which includes the setting of
service delivery priorities), and performance management mechanisms, can be
seen to be highly influential in terms of service delivery, it is significant that the
Systems Act compels municipalities to involve its communities.
• Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, 56 of 2003:
Section 23 (1) [a] of the Act requires that municipalities consider any views by the
local community during the budget preparation process. This implies that, in
attaching financial value to the service delivery targets, as set out in a
municipality's lOP, communities have to be consulted.
When considering the above examples, it is clear that local government legislation has
been drafted to promote the notion of participation in the decision-making process by
local communities. Nyalunga (2006:2) is of the view that, although these legislative
guidelines have the promotion of transparency and accountability as a primary purpose,
it has inadequately been practiced due to:
• Party politicisation of development and participatory structures - this could
imply that many local citizens feel isolated in these processes. This is because
those not aligned to the governing party are often seen to be isolated from key
consultative processes.
• A lack of commitment by municipalities to prioritise public consultation -
councillors and officials often neglect participatory processes, as they do not rank
highly on the managerial list of priorities.
• The slow pace of basic service delivery - It is relevant to question people's
willingness to participate in consultative sessions if their most basic needs are
not add ressed.
40
A general lack of capacity amongst stakeholders - If, for example, a
municipality requires of its citizens to participate in the budget process, these
citizens must have a level of understanding regarding how the budget works. If
not, the constructive value of such consultative processes could be questioned.
o Access to information - the value of consultative processes depends on the
timely dissemination of accurate information, without which consultative sessions
could be reduced to being mere "talk shops".
• Failure to recognise and work closely with community based organisations
- Officials and councillors are often sceptical in involving these organisations,
especially when opposing views on matters exist. The reality is that through
constructive interaction with community based organisations, the pool of
alternative solutions to local problems could only be increased.
In an attempt to address the above issues, Africa (2006:6) is of the view that municipal
officials should work hand in hand with local communities in developing a mutually
beneficial customer service charter. This charter should, inter alia, explicitly outline the
rights and responsibilities of the municipality and its citizens to cooperate as a
collective, towards addressing local problems. Nicol (2006:12) furthermore states that,
from a political perspective, councillors should be deemed leaders to ensure that the
clear philosophy of involving local communities becomes a practical reality.
It is evident that from a local government perspective, the philosophy of community
participation is crucial. Hence the thorough legislative guidelines put in place for these
processes. It is however apparent that a clear legislative framework does not
automatically translate into a satisfactorily result for all concerned, and that local leaders
need to ensure that continuous efforts are made to promote the community's
constructive involvement in local affairs. In order to address the relatively independent
functioning of municipalities, ensure financial viability, promote economic development,
provide basic services to local communities, and ensure citizen involvement, it is
41
important that the necessary institutional structures are in place. To this end, the
institutional development and transformation of municipalities is imperative.
2.3.6. Municipal institutional development and transformation
In order to achieve its pre-determined objectives, it is imperative for any organisation to
possess the institutional capacity to do so. When considering local government, it is
clear that municipalities have been fundamentally affected by structural changes in
terms of the demarcation process, as well as changes in terms of the broader role
municipalities should play in society, in addition to merely regulating local communities.
It can therefore be argued that municipalities have to perform expanded functions in an
environment of change, and this could prove rather challenging considering the service
delivery and development needs that exist in the South African context.
Section F of the White Paper on Local Government (1998) refers to the need to have
administrative structures that are geared towards the new mandate of local government
in place. According to the former department of Provincial and Local Government (now
known as Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs [COGTA]) (www.dplg),
municipalities need the following administrative capacities for the purpose of promoting
developmental local government:
• Strategic capacity to assess, plan and develop innovative programmes to meet
local needs. This includes taking into account existing resource levels, as well as
ensuring that while immediate service needs are addressed, medium and long
term objectives are set, and strategies are developed to meet these objectives.
• Integrating capacity in order to coordinate inputs both internal and external to
municipalities. It is suggested that capacity building and sound resource
utilisation should, in addition to being driven by municipalities themselves, also
42
be informed by the results of cooperating with the national and provincial
government.
• A community orientation to inform a user-friendly and quality driven approach to
local government service delivery. It is important that access to local services
includes promoting the idea of acceptable quality standards, and a willingness on
the part of municipal officials to redress poor service quality, thereby promoting
the concept of user-friendliness. In order to do this, municipalities should be
staffed by individuals who understand the importance of building customer
relations of trust and goodwill.
The aforementioned three sets of capacities are crucial for the achievement of the
development local government model. In this regard, IDASA (2010:4) states that "the
developmental local government model is premised on recognition of the primacy of
linkages between development, service delivery and citizen participation, defined as the
organised effort to increase control over resources." This implies that the control over
resource distribution and allocation should not be limited to the local government
authorities (councillors and officials) as such, but that the communities should also
exercise a degree of control.
For the above to take place, it is important that local government leaders (elected
politicians and appointed officials) provide appropriate leadership in order to ensure that
platforms for constructive community involvement are indeed created, without these
leaders being intimidated by the community involvement. In this regard, Leftwhich
(2010: 103) is of the view that successful and sustained development depends on
whether leaders are able to form inclusive developmental coalitions that establish locally
appropriate, legitimate, and feasible institutional arrangements to facilitate economic
growth and (inclusive) social development.
43
Finally, it is imperative that, logical and goal-directed work units, which are staffed by
qualified and competent individuals, are created in each municipality in the country for
municipalities' broad service delivery and developmental visions to be achieved.
Meiring and Parsons (1994: 102), in Du Plessis (2005: 75) state that the creation of
specialized work units could lead to the improvement of work performance and, in the
context of local government, improved service delivery and development outcomes. It
is therefore imperative that municipal structures, aligned with the functions of an
individual municipality, are created if the objectives of such a municipality are to be
attained.
2.4. CONCLUSION
The purpose of this chapter was to provide a detailed analysis of important dimensions
pertaining to local government in South Africa. This was to establish how local
government contributed to the South African government's overall vision to promote the
general welfare of its citizens, through the delivery of quality services and enhanced
social and economic development. This is of particular importance in the South African
context, given the backlogs that exist in many local communities in terms of access to
basic services, and low levels of economic and social (including human) development.
For the purpose of the analysis, a number of key characteristics attached to the local
sphere of government were identified and discussed.
The importance of local autonomy was discussed as a prerequisite for local
communities to take ownership of governing their locally defined areas of jurisdiction. It
was determined that, from a South African perspective, local government could not be
defined as being totally autonomous. This was firstly because of the Constitutional
reference to the distinctiveness, interrelatedness, and interdependence of the three
spheres of government in South Africa. In addition to this, it was ascertained that local
government remained dependent on the other spheres of government to provide
directives from a macro perspective to municipalities in the country. This was
44
particularly evident when consideration was given to the extensive nationally
determined policy and legislative framework for local government in South Africa.
The financial viability of municipalities was highlighted as another important dimension
for ensuring local government success. It was ascertained that this issue was
significantly challenging for South African municipalities. This was firstly because of the
dependence, that existed within municipalities, on the national government for
intergovernmental grants, whether conditional or unconditional grants. In addition to
this, an inability on the part of municipalities to collect revenue owed to them by local
communities thereby missing an opportunity for greater self-sustainability, poor
judgement and decision-making in terms of financial management, and a lack of
accountability, were identified as factors detrimental to financial viability.
Local economic development was identified as a key requirement for creating conditions
locally that would lead to wealth creation, a rise in employment, poverty alleviation, and
thus contribute to the socio-economic well-being of all at community level. In order to
ensure that local economies would indeed be developed, a number of key requirements
were identified. Firstly, it was necessary for any strategy aimed at developing the local
economy to be closely linked to the macro-economic policy objectives of the state.
Secondly, it was imperative to create an enabling environment for local economic
development. This could be done by directing resources to create suitable conditions in
which to conduct business, and furthermore by involving and empowering the
beneficiaries of economic development initiatives, thereby rendering them equal
partners in the process. Finally, local economic development had to be institutionalised.
In other words, a municipality could not realistically be expected to promote economic
development unless it formed an integral part of the organisational structure and human
resource strategy of the municipality.
45
One of the primary reasons for the existence of local government is fulfilment of this
government sphere's mandate to provide for the most basic needs of local residents. In
South Africa, access to water, electricity and sanitation proves more difficult for many
citizens, than should normally be the case. Even though democratic municipal
structures in South Africa exist, local communities have recently been expressing
dissatisfaction with service quality more frequently. In addition, people have
increasingly complained about the lack of responsiveness to their complaints. It was
therefore necessary to ensure renewed commitment to service delivery by municipal
leaders, and to address the issue of institutional incapacity were dissatisfaction with the
level and quality of municipal services to be rectified.
The importance of, and emphasis on, community participation in local government since
the advent of democracy, was furthermore analysed as a key local government
dimension. The constitutional and legislative requirements for community participation
were referred to, and strong emphasis on the issue when considering the legislative
regulation attached to it was indeed evident. It became apparent however, that in spite
of the regulatory measures, many challenges existed in terms of practically achieving
constructive community participation.
Finally, it was determined that institutional development and transformation played an
important role, in ensuring that municipalities could succeed in fulfilling their expanded
role in society. This means that local government requires a unique brand of leadership
to ensure that the broad vision of achieving local government's objectives is in place,
and that operationally effective administrative structures are created to ensure the
implementation of that vision.
46
CHAPTER THREE
INTEGRATED STRATEGIC PLANNING: PERSPECTIVES ON SOUTH AFRICAN
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
3.1. INTRODUCTION
It was established in the previous chapter that municipalities in South Africa had a two-
fold task to fulfil in South African society, namely to: (i) render basic essential amenities
to the public, while (ii) simultaneously developing underdeveloped sections of society,
that had become underdeveloped as a result of skewed development practices during
the previous political dispensation. It was also found that an extensive regulatory/policy
framework was established, within which local government should operate in order to
achieve its objectives. In discussing the regulatory/policy framework, the discussion on
the Municipal Systems Act is of particular significance, especially the Act's reference to
integrating planning, resource allocation (budgeting), and performance measurement
and management.
The purpose of this Chapter is therefore to provide a theoretical basis for strategic
planning in local government, with specific reference to its relevance in the South
African context. The integrated nature of strategic planning in the South African local
government environment and the value of such an approach in the South African
context will also be dealt with.
3.2. DEFINING STRATEGIC PLANNING
Hussey (1999: 1) defines strategic planning as "the detailed specification of both the
long-term aims of an organisation and the strategy for achieving them, giving
consideration to organisational culture, structure and systems so that every element of
the organisation can be mobilised to make the strategy eftective". Bovaird and Loftier
47
(2009:61) are of the view that, for an organisation to be without a strategy is "to appear
directioniess and incompetent".
When considering the above definitions, the importance of strategic planning appears to
lie not only in the plan itself (strategic planning), but also in the act of the decision taken
by an organisation to embark on a particular future direction. Towards interpretation of
the latter part of the above, it could be argued that the end-result of the organisation's
decision is known, without necessarily having an operational plan in place to achieve
the future state of affairs. Thus, a concrete decision of where the organisation is
headed in the immediate, as well as medium and long-term, future must precede the
drafting of a strategic plan. In the case of local government in South Africa this decision
could, simply put, be interpreted as relating to the rendering of basic services and
promotion of local, physical, social and economic development.
In the context of the South African local government, the Integrated Development Plan
(IDP) to be compiled by each municipality in the country, in terms of Section 25 of the
Systems Act, 2000, constitutes the strategic plans of municipalities. In this regard,
Myeza (2009:14) holds that the IDP serves as the principal strategic plan of a
municipality, and that it supersedes all other development initiatives at the local sphere
of government. An interesting observation at this point is that IDPs are nationally
prescribed strategic plans for municipal organisations, with a local/community focus. In
relation to the definition of a strategy as being a concrete and deliberate decision to take
an organisation in a particular direction, this element could be seen to be absent, and
the IDPs could be interpreted as being merely an enforced strategic planning exercise
in local government. It could therefore be argued that IDPs constitute a politically driven
direction for South African municipalities, over which the legislature rather than
individual municipalities themselves, has dictated the concrete decision. In this regard,
it is questionable whether a nationally determined strategic direction for individual
municipal organisations could be regarded as an ideal management approach.
48
Irrespective of this argument, all South African municipalities are required to compile
Integrated Development Plans as strategic instruments for service rendering and the
development of local communities, in terms of legislation. It is within this context
therefore of key importance to, in some detail, look at the logic for the existence of
municipal organisations and what municipal strategies should entail.
3.3. STRATEGIC PLANNING IN A MUNICIPAL ORGANISATIONAL CONTEXT
In referring to the strategic logic for the existence of organisations, Sanchez and Heene
(2004:59) refer to three interrelated reasons for/components of organisational existence:
A business concept - identifies the customers of the organisation and the key activities
to be undertaken to create value for those customers.
An organisation concept - defining the resources the organisation will use in its value-
creating activities, the organisational design for coordinating activities, the controls for
monitoring activities, and the plan for value distribution.
The core processes of product creation - refers to stakeholder development and
organisational transformation, through which the organisation attempts to create value
on a sustainable basis.
It should be borne in mind that Sanchez and Heene's reference to the logic for
organisational existence relates to the private sector, and could therefore not be
regarded as applicable to the municipal environment in this specific form. However,
when investigating the logic for the existence of municipal organisations specifically, it
becomes clear that there is merit in considering important elements provided by these
authors.
49
3.3.1. The business concept of local government
When considering the "customers" of the municipality as an organisation, and the "key
activities for value creation" proposed by Sanchez and Heene in relation to the logic for
organisational existence, there do not seem to be any simple answers. The customers
are local residents/citizens, and the activities of the municipality revolve around
providing services to those residents/citizens, in order to satisfy their needs and
expectations. The business concept of local government therefore seems clear and
simplistic. It does become rather complex however, when considering various aspects
regarding South African local government "customers", and therefore the activities for
the common benefit of these customers. The fact of the matter is that there are a
variety of municipal customers who are in need of a variety of services in varying
geographical and socio-economic circumstances. In this regard Reddy, Nzimakwe and
Ramlucken (2012:52) state that it is essential for municipalities to take cognisance of
their local circumstances, needs and dynamics and based on that develop a vision for
improving the quality of life of their local communities. This is proof that, although it
might be argued that service delivery constitutes the business concept of local
government organisations, there can be no uniform recipe for approaching this business
concept. This, it can be argued, is one of the primary reasons why, in spite of a uniform
legislative framework, municipalities are experiencing varying degrees of success in
implementing this legislative framework.
3.3.1.1. The local government customer in perspective
A customer can be defined as a person who pays for a product and/or service. In
return, the person has preconceived expectations as to the quality of the product or
service, in order to satisfy their needs. In the absence of such quality, individuals often
feel that they have the right to bring such deficiency to the attention of the service
provider, in order to improve the standard of products.
50
When considering a traditional private sector enterprise, there are certain
considerations with regard to the customer, and the relationship between the enterprise
and its customer. The enterprise normally caters for, and targets, a specific market
within which it wants to promote and sell its products. There is thus a differentiation in
terms of certain factors, such as the income levels of the targeted customers, their
levels of sophistication, and therefore their expectations. Based on this, pricing of the
product would obviously also be in a particular range. This implies that, in this scenario,
different customers could purchase similar products or services from different providers,
depending on factors such as affordability and the quality of the product or service. It
could therefore further be assumed that an organisation's strategy, in terms of
producing, marketing, and ultimately selling its products, will primarily depend on the
target customers.
When considering local government, the situation differs quite dramatically.
Municipalities, as organisations, have no choice as to their customer base. They
therefore have to provide products and services to all residents under their areas of
jurisdiction, regardless of factors such as ability to pay more or less for particular
services, and/or the level of sophistication of its customer base. Indeed, irrespective of
residents' levels of sophistication, all need basic amenities such as water, electricity and
sanitation. Although measures, such as the indigent policies (as part of municipal credit
control and debt collection strategies), provide price relief for poorer customers, there is
not a possibility of different price structures based on customers' ability to pay.
In addition to the above, it should also be borne in mind that some residents are more
dependent on municipalities than others. This is because of the varying socio-economic
conditions found in South African towns and cities, and the accompanying reality that in
most municipal areas, the majority of residents remain poor and therefore dependent on
government for promoting their well-being. It could therefore be argued that self-
sufficiency, which could be regarded as one of the cornerstones of local development,
51
remains a major challenge to South African municipalities. Although many local
residents are only dependent on municipalities for basic amenities such as water,
electricity, sanitation and refuse removal, the majority of residents, in addition to
needing basic services, are also dependent on the municipality for promoting their daily
livelihoods, and in so doing ensuring their prosperous existence.
When considering the aforementioned, it becomes evident that determining strategy
from a municipal perspective might be complex. Politt (2003:8) encompasses this
essential differentiation between private and public organisations aptly by referring to:
• A perceived lack of efficiency in terms of satisfying the needs of its customers on
the part of public organisations, as opposed to their private sector counterparts.
• A perception that private sector organisations provide customers merely with
what they want, whereas public organisations' business entails interfering with
people, whether they like it or not (e.g. the inability to purchase municipal
amenities from alternative service providers, whether customers are satisfied
with their current service or not).
• The notion that the role of public organisations could at times seem broad/poorly
defined, and where the extent to which the organisation is successful could be
difficult to determine.
• The fact that private organisations have competitors that keep them efficient,
while public organisations do not, and customers have to purchase products and
services from a single provider which ultimately disadvantages them.
It can therefore be deduced that, as far as the business concept of local government is
concerned, the customer relationship between municipal organisations and their
customers differs vastly from that of private organisations. In line with this,
municipalities' activities also differ vastly, mainly because municipalities cannot
research a particular market and choose their customers on the basis thereof, but have
52
to provide in the varying needs of all local customers. Municipalities have a
responsibility, albeit on a varying scale, towards all citizens who live in their areas of
jurisdiction, and their strategies have to cater for the needs of all their customers.
3.3.2. The organisation concept of local government
Sanchez and Heene (2004) state that the organisation concept of an organisation
defines the resources that the organisation is to use in its value creating activities, the
organisation design for coordinating activities, the controls for monitoring activities, and
the plan for value distribution.
In discussing the relationship between the municipality and its client, it has been
ascertained that municipalities' value creating activities revolve around the provision of
services and the promotion of local development (social, economic and physical) in
order to satisfy locally determined needs. In chapter two of this thesis it was also
determined that, in order for these needs to be addressed satisfactorily, it was essential
for municipalities to work with local communities in determining needs, and ultimately,
municipal strategy. This would determine how the municipality's resources would be
allocated to achieve its organisational goals. Chapter Two however, also brought to
light the fact that municipalities in South Africa are limited in their service delivery
endeavours due to the severe limitations as far as resource availability is concerned.
This resulted from a combination of poor financial management on the part of municipal
councils and officials with regard to expenditure patterns, financial controls, and local
socio-economic conditions, as well as the inability of municipalities, in many instances,
to enforce credit control and debt collection policies. Local socio-economic conditions
contributed to the inability of many local residents to pay for locally rendered services,
and thereby robbed municipalities of a primary source of revenue. The inability of
municipalities to enforce credit control and debt collection policies (where such policies
are in place) could almost be viewed as a self-inflicted inability by municipalities to
collect much needed revenue.
53
From the above the deduction could be made that two resource factors could be seen
as vital for strategy determination in a municipal context. These include the presence of
adequate human resources for determining organisational vision and plans and
activities for implementing such a vision, and the availability and management of
adequate financial resources.
3.3.2.1 Municipal human resources: the human drivers of municipalities
Human beings are inadvertently linked to organisations, as without them, organisations
would not exist. Furthermore, there are reasons for the existence of organisations, as a
lack of reasons would result in no logical rationalisation for creating organisations. The
deduction can thus be made that organisations exist to give meaning to the lives of a
target group (in the case of government, a whole society), and for this to happen, such
organisations require the involvement of people with qualities that would drive the
achievement of organisational objectives. The question is thus who drives local
government, and who drives local government in a South African context in particular.
Furthermore, this begs the question as to what requirements these drivers of local
government require in order to successfully steer local government in the intended
direction. The discussion on the role-players in local government will, for the purpose of
this thesis, aim to identify those involved internally in municipal organisations, and those
involved in municipalities from an external point of view.
From an internal point of view, it is important to understand the system of local
government as far as the exercising of legislative and executive authority is concerned.
It is imperative to understand who is responsible for decision-making in the form of local
legislation and policy, as well as who is responsible for the execution thereof. From an
external point of view, it is important to understand who the external role-players are
that have a significant influence on the functioning of municipalities.
54
Section 151 (2) of the Constitution states that "the executive and legislative authority of
a municipality is vested in its Municipal Council". This implies that the power to make
policy decisions, or to determine local legislation, rests with the local municipal council,
as well as the power to monitor the implementation of such policy/legislative decisions.
It can therefore be argued that the first important internal human resource component of
a municipality is its municipal council.
3.3.2.1.1. Municipal human driver number one: the elected council/councillors
In referring to the composition and election of municipal councils, the Constitution,
Section 157 (1) states that "A Municipal Council consists of members elected by
national legislation and that the national legislation must prescribe a system of the
following:
• Proportional representation based on a municipality's segment of the national
common voters' roll, which provides for the election of members from lists of
party candidates drawn up in a party's order of preference; or
• Proportional representation combined with a system of ward representation,
based on a municipality's segment of the national common voters' roll.
According to Craythorne (2006:69), the national legislation on the local government
electoral system is referred to in the Constitution as the Municipal Structures Act. The
Act, Schedule 1, states that a municipality consists of councillors elected by the
following:
• Voters to proportionally represent the parties contesting the election.
• Voters in wards, to directly represent the wards.
The Structures Act specifically provides for a combined system of ward and proportional
representatives in Category A (Metropolitan) and Category B (Local) municipalities,
where the ward councillors must be equal to 50% of the total number of councillors
determined for the municipality. In Category A (District) municipalities, 60% of the total
55
number of councillor positions are allocated to the local councils, who reside in the area
of the specific district municipality, and the other 40% are filled by the voters in the
district (Craythorne 2006:69).
Whatever the technicalities of the electoral system may be, what is of importance is the
fact that the members of municipal legislative bodies are elected, as at national and
provincial level, by the public. This implies that the first, and arguably the most
important, human resource components of municipalities are elected and not appointed.
It further implies that political considerations, as well as the popularity of individuals,
play an overriding part in the election of candidates, rather than a detailed knowledge of
local government and its structures. However, this raises the question of whether the
aforementioned places municipalities at a disadvantage.
In answering the above question, it would be difficult to find justification for potential
councillors to be required to have pre-determined qualifications for them to be elected
as representatives of their communities, from a popular democracy point of view. This
defeats the notion of the best political candidate being the most "popular" candidate as
well. Furthermore, from a South African point of view, with the emphasis on political
party popularity, this nullifies the idea behind popular democracy. Therefore, the
proponents of the current political and electoral system go to great lengths to inform
people that election of legislators is about local communities' and/or voters' perceptions
of leaders and that there are management and administrative structures in place to
supervise management of the factual and technical details of public organisations,
municipalities in this case.
Furthermore, from a political point of view, it is important to reflect on the notion that
politics, and therefore politicians, are representatives of societal values, and their role is
to understand the needs and values of the communities or constituencies they serve.
56
When considering the role of elected representatives from this angle, the argument for
representatives to have detailed knowledge of the organisational functioning of public
institutions, municipalities in this case, is indeed questionable.
Proponents of the argument for more councillor knowledge/expertise argue that elected
representatives have become more than the guardians of societal values and needs,
and that their involvement has been moved over into the daily administration and
management of the organisations they are involved in. In this regard, Thornhill
(2010a:7) states that "a major inhibiting phenomenon in the public service is the
increased interference of politicians in the normal administrative activities of the state".
Thornihill (2010a:7-8) adds that the practice of interference in the administrative
activities of public organisations is especially "rampant" at the municipal sphere of
government, and especially in human resources, where the appointment of senior
executives such as the municipal manager, is often done primarily on the basis of party
political considerations, a practice commonly known as "deployment" in South Africa.
Once more however, this begs the question as to whether appointing senior public
service or municipal executives on the grounds of political affiliation is an entirely South
African phenomenon, and whether the practice is indeed peculiar to the South African
environment.
lA further important question with regard to the role of elected representatives, are
whether they can, in these times, be entirely excluded from managing municipalities, i.e.
whether the role of elected representatives and appointed officials can really be seen as
being mutually exclusive. The role of appointed executive managers will be discussed
under the next sub-heading however, insofar as the involvement of elected
representatives in the administration of municipalities is concerned, it is important to
note the following:
57
• In terms of the Municipal Structures Act, provision is made, under specific
circumstances, for permanent councillors, i.e. elected representatives who have
a full-time involvement in the municipality, unlike in previous dispensations,
where councillors were part-time representatives of local communities. It would
therefore be illogical to expect any full-time representative not to be involved in
the managerial/administrative affairs of the municipality on a daily basis.
• Even in cases of part-time councillors, the local needs are of such a pressing
nature, as can be seen in the increase in protests over local service rendering,
that it is impossible to expect elected representatives, who are under constant
pressure for their constituencies to perform, not to become involved in
managerial/administrative matters on an increased basis.
Considering the above factors, it is logical for municipal councillors to involve
themselves in the daily managerial and/or administrative arrangements of
municipalities, in some capacity or another What is of importance however, is that
these councillors understand that, in terms of legislation, there are limits to the binding
decision making authority that councillors have, as individuals or as a collective, and
that the orderly functioning, and ultimate success of the municipality, will depend on
their ability and (political) will to abide by the rules.
3.3.2.1.2. Municipal human driver number two: the appointed officials
From a management perspective, it is the duty of appointed municipal managers to
ensure the execution of council policy by ensuring the following:
• Municipal operations take place in a sustained manner, in the form of the
provision of services and the promotion of local development.
• The resources (financial, human and any other) are utilised in a responsible,
accountable and goal-directed manner.
• There is a coherent, working relationship between the elected politicians,
appointed officials, and the citizens living in the municipality's area of jurisdiction.
58
This is not only the duty of the appointed municipal manager, but should be seen
as a shared duty of all involved in the municipal processes.
It is important to clarify the need to have senior executives in municipalities who are
able to perform their required duties in a manner that benefits the municipality as an
organisation, but also the local community as the primary clients/customers of the
municipality, although they may have a particular political affiliation,.
According to Hendriks (2011 :63) "South Africa is increasingly becoming a complex
society, characterised by aspects such as a fragile democracy that needs, inter alia,
institutional strengthening, social transformation and restructuring". When considering
an aspect such as the increasing dissatisfaction with service delivery, as earlier referred
to in this thesis, it becomes clear that communities expect this institutional
strengthening, transformation, and restructuring to take place sooner rather than later.
This therefore emphasises the need for public organisations, such as municipalities, to
be led and managed by individuals equipped with the necessary capabilities if
community needs and expectations are to be met. There is a purposeful reference to
management and leadership, as both these elements are of significant importance for
municipalities to succeed.
With regard to the above Hellriegel et al. (2010:295) in Jarbandhan (2011 :22) refers to
leadership as the ability to influence others to act towards the attainment of a pre-
determined goal. Furthermore, the Department of Public Service and Administration
(DPSA) (2005), in Jarbandhan (2011 :22) lists various elements as being central to
effective leadership, namely personal character, emotional intelligence, social
intelligence, and cultural intelligence. These assertions imply that effective leaders are
individuals with a short, medium and long term vision for the organisations they serve,
and who possess the ability to impart the required motivation to others in the
organisation, to strive towards organisational goals. This additionally includes the
59
personal ability of the leader to impart this motivation within the context of different
individuals' emotional, social, and cultural contexts. This is especially important in a
South African environment, characterised by varying degrees of individual and/or group
differences in public organisations.
In addition, Jarbandhan (2011 :23) like many other authors refers to management as
entailing the traditional functions of planning, organising, leading, and controlling
organisations. The DPSA (2005) in Jarbandahn (2011 :23) describes management as a
role in creating an environment where organisational and individual performance can
take place. When considering the leadership and management capabilities essential for
public executives (for the purpose of this thesis, municipal executives), it is clear that
these individuals are required to operationally manage municipalities by planning,
organising, leading and controlling activities, while promoting the long-term vision of
municipalities within the context of institutional strengthening, restructuring and
transformation. These requirements can also not be isolated from what is required in
terms of the constitutional requirements for Public Administration, as described in
Section 195 of the Constitution which, inter alia, refers to the following:
• The efficient, effective and economic use of resources.
• The provision of services in an impartial, fair and equitable manner.
• A development-oriented public administration.
• The promotion of responsiveness, transparency and accountability.
• The promotion of good human resource practices.
Finally, the above key leadership and managerial capabilities for senior executives in
municipalities can only be of value to municipalities if they can be practiced in a
conducive environment, created by the politically elected representatives. Therefore,
while politically elected representatives have a specific political role, and appointed
executive managers have a specific organisational managerial leadership function, their
tasks cannot be separated as one depends on the other.
60
3.3.2.1.3. Municipal human driver number three: the local community
In Chapter Two of this thesis reference was made to the intended role of citizen
participation in local government, as well as the challenges experienced in ensuring a
system of citizen involvement that will have the intended outcome. The importance and
pitfalls of citizen involvement in local government will therefore not be repeated here.
However, it is important to emphasize the legitimacy of local community as a participant
in the governance process, in the local sphere of government. Furthermore,
municipalities must constantly be aware of the expectation to involve local communities
in the plans they decide upon, irrespective of the direction they decide to take. It is also
important to ensure that the inputs provided by local communities translate into tangible
results in the end. In this regard, Van Parys, Beuselinck and Brans (2009:47)
emphasise the need for the notion of inclusion to be analysed, by taking into account
the issue of representation (having representation structures in place) and the issue of
throughput (having adequate measures in place to ensure authorisation and
accountability).
Ensuring that the participation process leads to meaningful decisions and actions
requires a concerted effort on the part of the leadership component of the municipality.
According to Samson and lie (2010:143) "the nature and quality of leadership at the
community level has a direct relationship with the quality of community participation".
Therefore, just as a municipality cannot meaningfully function without a constructive
relationship between elected political representatives and appointed senior executives,
citizens cannot constructively contribute to municipal decision-making and activity
without the existence of a meaningful and constructive relationship with elected
representatives and municipal officials.
Samson and lie (2010:143) add that "leadership, especially in the political arena, should
not be patriarchal, prescriptive and authoritarian, but rather engaging local communities
in a mutual way towards positive results". This implies that the participatory processes
61
should not be embarked upon merely to satisfy the legislative requirements referred to
in Chapter Two, but should be a genuine attempt to legitimise municipal decisions and
actions. In addition to political leaders having to promote this, municipal officials who
work and engage with the public on a daily basis should contribute to encourage
community involvement.
In addition to the elected politicians, appointed executives/officials, and local
communities, a municipality exists within a system of cooperative governance. From a
people/organisational perspective, the relationship between municipalities and the
provincial and/or national governments should be borne in mind, and its importance
should not be underestimated.
3.3.2.1.4. Municipal human driver number four: provincial and national
spheres of government
Technically speaking, it is probably incorrect to refer to municipalities' relationship with
the other spheres of government as a "human" relationship as is done in the sub-
heading. For the purpose of this thesis, however, the relationship between
municipalities and the other spheres of government can be regarded as of similar
importance to that of the other role players, hence this reference. The issue of local
autonomy was discussed in the previous chapter, where it was concluded that local
government in South Africa cannot be viewed as wholly autonomous. It was
furthermore determined that the provincial and national spheres of government play an
important role in the existence of municipalities in the country for various reasons. It
was determined that municipalities have to function within a nationally determined
legislative and policy framework. Although Steytler (2005: 185) argues that legislative
direction in municipalities may only occur in a regulated manner, the mere existence of
national and/or provincial legislative involvement in local government makes these
spheres an important role-player in local government.
62
In addition, Steytler (2005:185) states, with regard to intergovernmental relations, that
provincial authority should not only monitor municipalities in their areas of jurisdiction,
but to intervene in instances where it is deemed necessary. This means that in
instances where the provincial government deems a particular municipality unfit to carry
out its mandate of service delivery and the promotion of development, whether from a
political and/or administrative point of view, a provincial government could intervene by
ensuring the execution of this mandate. The provincial government could, in extreme
cases, take over the administration of such a municipality for a temporary period of time
in terms of Section 139 (2) of the Constitution.
When assessing the role-players in local government, from a human resource
perspective, the broad function of each role-player is clear. Evidently none of these
role-players can fulfil their functions in isolation, and all actions should be executed
bearing in mind the impact thereof on the rest of the municipal and/or community
environment. It is this coordinated execution of individual roles that will finally lead to
municipalities executing their mandates in the best interest of local communities.
3.3.2.2. Municipal financial resource management as a key organisational
factor
From a financial resource management perspective, it was made evident in the previous
chapter that one of the factors impacting on a municipality's ability to independently
work towards achieving its mandate was the extent to which these municipalities
possessed financial independence. Furthermore, financial independence was
determined by access to funds, received in the form of grants and allocations mainly
from the national sphere of government, as well as the local communities. The latter
depends on the ability of individual municipalities to collect revenue owed to them. The
previous chapter also explored the way in which available resources were managed,
and discussed a degree of negligence by municipal role-players.
63
When examining statistics provided by the national treasury, it is evident that a
substantial number of South African municipalities depend on the grants received from
the national government for a substantial part of their revenue. This means that in
essence, these municipalities are not financially viable, and it can logically be
anticipated that they would struggle to provide basic services to their constituencies,
and mores so to promote local development. It is logical to conclude that, if the financial
resources of municipal organisations are limited, these municipalities must ensure that
the limited financial resources are utilised for the most possible interest of the
municipality, and the communities the municipality serve by implication.
According to Hussey (1999:188), the financial strategy of an organisation has three
main tasks, which are as follows:
• To ensure the organisation remains solvent.
• To ensure that it has no liquidity problems.
• To ensure that the available and allocated financial resources leads to growth in
the organisation.
3.3.2.2.1. Ensuring municipal solvency and liquidity
According to Scott (2008:20), the solvency of a municipality is "best expressed by the
debt ratio that compares the total assets with the total liabilities and illustrates the ability
of the municipality to meet its obligations in the long term". The total assets of an
organisation can be divided into fixed assets (e.g. buildings, vehicles equipment etc.),
and current assets (e.g. cash, debtors, stock etc.). Similarly, total liabilities can be
divided into long-term liabilities (e.g. long-term borrowing) and current liabilities (e.g.
cred itors).
64
In comparison to an organisation's solvency, its liquidity is determined by the ratio that
compares current assets (e.g. cash, debtors, stock etc.) to current liabilities (e.g.
creditors (www.investorglossary.com accessed 14 November 2011). Therefore, when
comparing the terms solvency and liquidity, the solvency of organisations (in the case of
this thesis, municipalities) revolves around the long-term right of existence in financial
terms, while liquidity revolves around the immediate or short-term right of existence in
financial terms. Solvency also refers to the continuous ability of municipalities to
function as a legal person, while liquidity refers to the ability of municipalities to honour
their immediate financial commitments on a day to day basis.
In the case of municipalities in the Free State, the issue of liquidity, or the immediate
financial health of municipalities, seems to be a challenge. In September 2006, the
Free State Provincial department responsible for local government reported to the
Parliamentary Select Committee on Local Government and Administration, that
municipalities in the province were facing financial problems due to the following inter
alia:
• Escalating consumer debt caused by the lack of an effective revenue collection
system.
• The failure of municipalities to implement the MFMA due to strained relations
between the council and administration (www.pmg.org.za accessed on 14
November 2011).
The above issues refer to an inability to ensure the current financial viability of the Free
State municipality, because by definition, revenue from outstanding debt belongs to a
municipality's current assets. It would therefore be difficult for municipalities to
sustainably "do business" on a day to day basis if the main source of day to day
revenue is neglected. The second, and perhaps the most significant, problem these
organisations are faced with is the failure by the Free State municipalities to implement
65
the provisions of the MFMA. This represents an issue of political conflict that involves
the power relations between politicians as policy makers, and executive officials as the
drivers of policy implementation.
The exact nature of the liquidity problems of Free State municipalities can be further
highlighted by examining the general report by the Auditor General regarding this matter
for the financial year 2009/2010. Figure 1 below explains the audit findings for the Free
State municipalities with regard to the main reasons municipalities receive qualified
audit reports. It specifically examines the material issues forming the basis for qualified/
adverse/disclaimed opinions on the financial statements of municipalities in the
province, including its assets and liabilities.
l00'X_f.t---=-:-:::-_~---"i~--~95'Kr-----------91%::----------'
90% 88% 86%
81%
80%
70%
60% 56%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Curr.nl aSMIs Uabilities bpenditure Unauthorised,
Irregular, and
fruitl.s and wolleNl
expenditure
Figure 1: Transversal material issues that form the basis for
qualified/adverse/disclaimed opinions on the financial statements of Free State
municipalities. Source: (Auditor General Report 2009/2010:39)
66
Fifteen of the sixteen municipalities under consideration by the Auditor General, thus
94%, received qualified outcomes with regard to capital assets, specifically with regard
to property, plant and equipment. According to the Auditor General Report for
2009/2010 (2011 :41), the qualification regarding these capital assets can be attributed
to the following reasons:
• Asset registers and asset management systems that were not adequate enough
to provide the required details regarding property, plant, equipment and,
infrastructure assets in particular.
• The complexity of measuring property, plant and equipment in terms of the
relevant accounting standards, which requires a high degree of expertise not
always available to municipalities.
In terms of current assets, fifteen of sixteen municipalities (94%) received qualified audit
findings with regard to receivables, seven of sixteen municipalities (44%) received
qualified audit findings regarding cash, and six of sixteen municipalities (38%) received
qualified findings with regard to inventory management. According to the Auditor
General (2011 :42), qualified audit opinions relating to current assets mainly appeared
for the following reasons:
• Management did not improve the archive and filing system.
• The failure of municipalities to perform daily and monthly reconciliations.
• A lack of knowledge to ensure that accounting is done properly, as per the
relevant accounting standards.
Finally, in terms of liabilities, the Auditor General's report indicates that eleven of sixteen
municipalities under consideration in the Free State (69%) received qualified audit
opinions with regard to accruals and borrowing, payables, provisions and guarantees,
as well as taxes, including long-term and current liabilities as per the earlier definitions
67
provided. The report (2011 :42) states that these opinions appear for the following
reasons:
• A lack of knowledge/understanding regarding the Generally Required Accounting
Practices (GRAP) exists.
• There is lack of supporting documentation.
• There is a failure to clear suspense accounts due to inadequate monitoring by
leadership.
Considering the above results from the Auditor General's report, it is clear that a high
percentage of municipalities adjudicated in the audit (not all municipalities in the
province received an opinion for various reasons) were struggling in terms of ensuring
solvency and liquidity. What should be of greater concern are the reasons provided for
this "struggle". Several reasons provided by the report represent elementary issues in
financial management. Once more, this raises serious doubts regarding the
appointments made in municipalities, as well as the value that these human resources
are able to add in the day to day operation of municipalities in the Free State province.
It can therefore be argued that, although ensuring the long-term solvency of municipal
organisations in South Africa has proven to be a challenge, keeping the liquidity and
day to day operations of municipalities intact is proving to be the real problem. Newly
and democratically elected municipalities had the unenviable task of rendering services
to an expanded client base, following the amalgamation of previously race-based
municipal structures into democratic and integrated municipalities. These newly formed
municipalities did not necessarily have their revenue generation ability expanded, and
considering the historical background of local government, race-based local authorities
were previously created for inter alia, white, black, coloured and Indian communities.
68
The white local authorities, who acted as the parent local authorities together with the
central government, determined the funding to be awarded to the other structures, and
the distribution of resources were not necessarily needs based (Fólscher and Cole
2006:2). In addition, it is important to recognise that the majority of local residents did
not contribute to the financial resources of municipalities. This was due to non-payment
for municipal services, caused by unwillingness to recognise the government at the time
as legitimate, as well as the inability to pay for these services due to poverty. This
"culture" of non-payment, for whatever reason it initialised, has become a major
drawback in terms of funding municipalities in a democratic political dispensation.
According Clark (2012:1) the figure for total consumer debt outstanding to municipalities
amounted to R??, 5 billion.
From the aforementioned it becomes clear that municipalities in the democratic South
Africa received dispensation, and undertook their task under difficult financial
conditions, as a result of factors stemming from the previous political dispensation. In
addition, the new system brought its own peculiar problems, many of which relate to the
complexity of the new system. However, many of the problems experienced in local
government could be avoided and/or addressed by means of sufficient political and
managerial leadership. The question is, how to ensure that the available financial
resources lead to the growth of the organisation, with in reference to the view of Hussey
(1999:188).
3.3.2.2.2. Ensuring organisational growth through financial resources
Hussey's reference to organisational growth revolved around the growth in profit. In
contrast to this, municipalities are not driven by profit, and therefore growth has to be
placed into a particular context in the case of local government. According to Atkinson
(2002:9), the new system of local government in South Africa required a new approach
to service delivery and development. It required strategies with regard to a number of
69
issues, including allocation of financial resources towards these strategies. These
strategies are discussed in the following paragraphs.
A customer-orientated approach - Much has been said and written about ensuring
that municipalities follow a customer-orientated approach in their daily existence.
According to Joseph (2002: 10-11), a customer orientated approach to service delivery
in local government has to do with more than merely making customers feel good
through pleasant interaction. Effective customer care could have a direct impact on
investment and economic growth, for example the ability/inability to approve the
rezoning of land for business purposes, which could see potential investors refraining
from conducting business in the municipal area. In addition to creating awareness
amongst employees, money should be utilised for training staff to meet customer
standards. In addition to changing the mindset of politicians and officials towards the
local government customer, it is also important to ensure that the physical environment
promotes good customer relations. In a municipal context this could be done by
allocating funds towards making buildings more accessible and user-friendly, as well as
bringing municipal pay-points closer to service users.
A strong emphasis on performance and the measurement of performance within
the organisation as well as against other municipalities and the private sector -
Every organisation exists to fulfil a particular function in society. The extent to which
those functions are fulfilled in a satisfactory manner depends on the satisfaction
expressed by the target group of the organisation. Municipalities' functions in society
revolve around service delivery and development, and as previously discussed, there
seems to be dissatisfaction with municipal service delivery considering service delivery
protests. Indeed, figure 2 below illustrates the occurrence of service delivery protests
for 2009, as reflected in the state of local government report of the Department of
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).
70
Service delivery protests January - July 2009: Breakdown
per Province
Westem Eastern
Northern Cape,12% Cape,5%
KwaZulu
% Natal,8%
Figure 2: Service delivery protests per province - January to June 2009. Source:
COGT A State of Local Government Report 2009
The fact that protests over service delivery occur at varying degrees in every South
African province, suggests that municipalities have a lot of work to do to fulfil their
societal mandate. This requires constant assessment of their performance, and a
workable system for measuring and managing performance. It is therefore logical to
deduce that, in order to grow the municipality as an organisation and growing service
provider, sufficient financial resources should be directed towards assessing municipal
performance. In this manner shortcomings could be identified, and money could be
directed towards addressing the shortcomings. It is of no use to recognise problem
areas without taking action to solve the problem.
Work in partnerships in service delivery with the broad community including the
private sector - inclusive governance is a constitutional prescription in the context of
local government, involving communities and community organisations, including the
71
business sector. According to Houston, Humphries and Liebenberg (2001 :216-217),
involving the community in service delivery decisions has the following benefits:
• It ensures that service to the local community is prioritised.
• It enhances the potential for municipalities to meet the expectations of the
community as end-users of municipal services.
• It enhances an understanding of the impact that policies and programmes have,
and promotes the development of priorities that are relevant.
• It enhances long-term democratic stability.
According to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (2005:3), local
government can benefit from involving the private sector in service delivery attempts for
the following reasons:
• It avoids the potential pitfalls of full privatisation. When service is fully privatised,
it often reduces the input that municipal councils can have over the quality of the
service. This can lead to increased conflict between the municipality and local
communities. It is therefore beneficial to promote cooperative initiatives between
the municipality and the business sector.
• It facilitates the utilisation of new technology and expertise. Municipalities are
often limited regarding access to new technology and expertise because of
limited funding. The private sector is often said to make use of more
revolutionary methods and technology. Involving the private sector in service
delivery could therefore improve operations, as well as the level of service
provided to the end-user.
• It paves the way for risks to be shared, and to gain access to increased capital in
order to improve operational efficiency. This will be particularly relevant if the
private sector can effectively facilitate the transfer of skills to municipal staff as
72
far as operational efficiency is concerned. The lack of capacity is a hotly debated
topic, and both the private sector and municipalities should use this reciprocal
business relationship to reduce the skills shortage in municipalities.
• It can ensure in the long term that municipalities are more responsive to
community needs. Municipalities should ensure that involving the private sector
in service delivery efforts leads to improved service delivery. Should this not be
the case it would make little sense to involve such an organisation. It will also
ensure that local communities get a sense that business is involved in the
process of service delivery, to promote responsiveness to their needs.
Allocation and utilisation of funds on the basis of measurable results and using
results as a basis for quality improvement - Money should solely be directed
towards satisfying community needs, and ensuring that municipalities function efficiently
in order to satisfy needs through satisfactory service delivery. In the absence of these
financial objectives, it could be argued that public money is wasted. It is therefore a
concern when reports on undesirable spending of municipal funds surface. The figure
below (figure 3), for example, shows the findings of the 2009/2010 Auditor General's
report (2011 :59) on unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure by
municipalities in the Free State.
73
2O()9.lO: R.53l m (200&09: R7l8m) 2O()9.lO: R83m (200&09: R.57m)
Rlm
Unauthorised Written off or Irregular Written off Fruitlessand Written oH
expenditure authorised expenditure wasteful
incurred (I I incurred (19 expenditure
municipalitiesl municipalities, incurred (15
2 municipal entilies] municipalities;
1 municipal entities]
Unauthorised expend ture Irregular expenditure Fruitlessand wasteful expenditure
Identified by audi .... Identified during audit
Figure 3: Unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure by Free State
municipalities for 2009/2010. Source: Auditor General (2011 :59).
Although figure 3 above shows a marginal improvement in comparison to the previous
financial year, it is clear that too much money is wasted, and that this obviously has a
negative impact on the ability of municipalities to utilise funds for their intended
purposes. It furthermore leads to the logical conclusion that more control, monitoring
and evaluation of current practices is necessary. This requires a strong political will,
and strong executive leadership.
When considering the aforementioned regarding the new issues in approaching local
government management, as highlighted by Atkinson, it becomes clear that in order for
municipalities to grow through these issues, money should be directed towards ensuring
action. Recognition that these practices are necessary should be combined with
74
allocation of the necessary funds in order to ensure that these actions materialise in
practice.
3.3.3. The core processes of product creation
According to Sanchez and Heene (2004:59), the third reason for organisational
existence, within the context of strategic thought, refers to stakeholder development and
organisational transformation through which the organisation attempts to create value
on a sustainable basis. The first two reasons theorised by Sanchez and Heene, and
discussed in the above paragraphs, namely the business concept and the organisation
concept, were contextualised for the purpose of discussing the South African local
government.
In the case of the South African local government, where a fundamental overhaul of the
previously existing system has taken place, the business and organisational concepts of
local government should lead to the core processes of product creation, namely
stakeholder development and organisational transformation. With new approaches to
the local government customer and its key activities (business concept), as well as the
securing and proper allocation of resources (organisation concept), it could be argued
that these new approaches represent stakeholder development and organisational
transformation. The challenge for all involved is to build a South African local
government system that works towards the benefit of all local communities.
3.4. THE INTEGRATED NATURE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRATEGIC
PLANNING
The word integrated suggests the absence of isolation, where constituent parts of an
organisation are concerned. This suggests that these constituent parts cannot be
independent from one another, and that the success of one depends on the correct
75
execution of the other. In the case of local government in South Africa, Chapter one
explained that the Systems Act provides for key municipal processes to be integrated.
Furthermore, for operational purposes, specific reference was made to the integration of
strategic plans, budgets and performance plans.
3.4.1. Aspects contributing to the integrated nature of lOP
According to Craythorne (2006:146-147), every municipality in South Africa must have a
comprehensive strategic plan (the IDP), which must reflect various interrelated aspects.
It is when contemplating these aspects that the integrated nature of strategic thought at
the local sphere of government can be better understood.
3.4.1.1. Long term development for municipalities
In this regard, particular emphasis should be placed on the most critical development
and internal transformation needs. South African towns and cities have been subjected
to unequal service delivery and development trends. It is therefore important that
councils, as the elected representatives of local communities, determine what the future
town or city should look like, bearing in mind the views and wishes of local communities.
The aforementioned is not merely from a physical perspective, but also refers to the
values that the local community and municipality should be striving towards.
Patel (2004:2), in this regard, states that the "IDP process should be used as an
opportunity for the municipality to debate and agree on a long-term vision and strategy
(20-25 years) that provides the basis for the shorter 5 year objectives and strategies".
Pate I (2004:2) continues to argue that the municipality should develop this long-term
vision through consultative processes with local residents and all other relevant
stakeholders in the municipal processes.
76
3.4.1.2. The existing level of development in the municipality
Although particular importance can, and should, be attached to the long term direction
that a municipality wishes to embark upon, it is important that there is a basis from
which such a long term vision emanates. In this regard, Section 26(b) of the Municipal
Systems Act, 32 of 2000 states that municipalities should make a thorough assessment
of the existing level of development in the municipality. It is impossible to plan for the
future if there is no accurate assessment of what happened in the past, and what is
happening in the present. This is especially significant for South African municipalities
when considering backlogs in terms of service delivery and development, as well as
newly created challenges. These include the challenge of new municipal structures,
resulting from municipal demarcation as well as a new and extensive legislative
framework for municipalities, which has transformed the manner in which municipalities
are to be managed. One of the most significant challenges involves resource
availability required to address all local needs as soon as possible. According to
Dlamini (2007: 10), an investigation into existing development and service delivery
practices should consider the following:
• Coordination - to what extent the service is properly coordinated in terms of
resource allocation and stakeholder involvement.
• Adaptive management - to what extent management (from a political and
executive management perspective) is able to adapt to changes in the
environment when considering a development or service delivery initiative.
• Long-term support - many development initiatives fail because of the withdrawal,
or total lack, of support from those in decision-making positions.
• Adequate financing - no long-term goal or short-term activity can be achieved in
the absence of adequate financial provisions.
77
• Participatory strategic management - the overall idea with IDP, that as many
relevant stakeholders in local government as possible be involved in the
development of plans for service delivery and local development.
3.4.1.3. A council's development priorities for its elected term
Municipal councils are elected for fixed terms of five years. In a democratic
dispensation these councils should be held accountable for their actions, as they are
conceiving, approving and implementing policies, by utilising local public resources for
the well-being of local communities. It is therefore imperative that, from a service
delivery and development perspective, elected councils clearly spell out their priorities
for the term that they are in office. There is specific reference to local economic
development, as the growth and promotion of local economies will ensure the creation
of local wealth, and will in turn address other aspects of local development, especially
the physical, human and social development of local communities.
The internal transformation of municipalities remains a challenge. In line with Section
195(1 )(i) of the Constitution that requires of public administration to be "broadly
representative of the South African people", municipalities are required to transform,
from a human resource perspective, the manner in which municipalities are functioning,
to comply with the new legislative and policy framework. According to Mamela,
Mautjane, Nzo and van Hoof (2008:7-8), a lack of political will to properly influence
processes towards the achievement of developmental priorities and internal
transformation has complicated matters for the following reasons:
• The information flow from municipal councils to citizens, such as council
resolutions, budgets and information on council performance, is very poor.
• Citizens and citizens' organisations often don't make use of mechanisms to hold
politicians accountable.
78
• In most municipalities there are no mechanisms in place for citizens to review
council resolutions, and where they are in place, they do not function properly.
3.4.1.4. Alignment of local development strategies with national and provincial
sector plans
As previously alluded to, local government does not exist in isolation, and strives to
achieve its goals in a cooperative relationship with the national and provincial
governments. Indeed, with regard to the status of municipalities, the Constitution, in
Section 151 (3) states that "a municipality has the right to govern, on its own initiative,
the local government affairs of its own community, subject to national and provincial
legislation". With regards to the developmental duties of municipalities, Section 153 (b)
of the Constitution, furthermore states that municipalities must "participate in national
and provincial development programmes". In addition to these constitutional provisions
for cooperation between municipalities and the other spheres of government,
municipalities relied on the other spheres of government for assistance, as previously
outlined from a resource perspective. It could therefore logically be deduced that, in
order for a properly coordinated effort on the part of the three spheres of government, it
is imperative that their efforts be aligned.
3.4.1.5. Spatial development framework
According to the White Paper on Spatial Planning and Land Use Management (2001),
the spatial planning, land use management, and land development function involves (i)
forward planning and (ii) development control. Municipalities thus have to ensure that
there is sufficient future planning, and proper control of current land use and
management practices by means of the following:
79
• Regulating land-use changes such as the rezoning of a property from residential
to commercial use.
• The regulating of "green fields" land development, i.e. the development of
previously undeveloped land.
• The regulation of the subdivision and consolidation of land parcels.
• Regulating the upgrading process of informal settlements and neglected city
centres.
• Facilitating land development through more active participation of the
municipality in the land development process.
Municipalities are thus responsible for ensuring that land use and management
practices for commercial and development initiatives and practices are facilitated, but
also that there is sufficient planning and development with regard to residential
planning.
3.4.1.6. Operational strategies
An organisation's operational strategy should be aimed at ensuring that it is able to
operate, not only towards achieving day to day efficiency, but also towards long term
objectives of the organisation. According to a submission by the Institute of Local
Government Management of South Africa (ILGM) to the Parliamentary Public Hearings
on coordinated Service Delivery (2009:5), efficient operational management in local
government is curtailed by incapacity, skills shortages, poor financial structures,
unfunded mandates, as well as a disregard for the legislation meant to enable service
delivery operations. It is therefore imperative that municipalities have a combination of
responsive and responsible political management, to ensure that the political mandate
is aimed at local citizens, while simultaneously ensuring that those in executive and
operational positions in municipalities possess the necessary skills and capacity to
perform their duties. Well trained officials will be wasted in a political environment that
is not conducive to the execution of their skills.
80
3.4.1.7. Financial management and performance plans
A financial management plan, including a budget projection for at least the next three
years, as well as the key performance indicators and performance targets, must be
prepared by each municipality. In as far as these aspects, namely the financial plan
and the key performance indicators, are concerned, Craythorne (2006: 153) states that
in order for the lOP to become operational, it (the lOP) must inform the municipalities
annual budget as well as the performance targets set by the municipality, and must also
be used to prepare action plans for the implementation of strategies identified by the
municipality.
It can therefore be deduced from the above that strategic planning should be an
extensive process from a municipal point of view in a South African context, in which all
aspects can be quantified in financial terms as well as performance targets, from the
long term vision of the municipal council for the area to the operational execution of
strategies to reach that vision. The plan must therefore be impiementabie, and Hussey
(1999:243) states in this regard that "an essential part of any strategic planning must be
a means of making the plans actually happen, and preventing them from becoming a
sterile exercise by forcing them to be used in the day to day running of the
organisation". Subban and Theron (2011:102) are of the view that, from a South African
perspective, the gap between the planned ideal of lOP and it's realisation lies in the
"wish list" approach to planning, aimed at providing reparation for the past, instead of
focusing on development as a key to improve the quality of life for all local citizens.
It is therefore clear that an organisational plan outlining what is required, and
encompassing all aspects from the long term vision to the individual projects to achieve
that vision is insufficient without ensuring that there is an environment within which the
plan can be made operational. For this reason the Service Oelivery and Budget
Implementation plan was introduced to ensure that the strategic plans of municipalities
were indeed executed practically.
81
3.5. CONCLUSION
The purpose of this chapter was to discuss integrated strategic planning with specific
reference to the local government context in South Africa. The discussion opened with
a number of broad academic definitions for strategic planning, with emphasis on which
elements of these definitions could be regarded as important. Of particular interest was
the definition provided by Sanchez and Heene. Their reference to having to identify the
business and organisation concepts as well as the stakeholder development and
organisational transformation to explain the right of existence of an organisation, for the
purpose of strategic thought, was discussed in the context of South African local
government.
This led to discussions on the major activities of municipalities as organisations, and on
the primary customers/clients for which municipalities were responsible. Furthermore,
the importance of securing resources (human and financial) was highlighted, and
specific dynamics regarding municipal resources were discussed in detail. All these
issues were discussed within the context of IDPs as the strategic plans of municipalities.
The human resource issue explored inter alia, the role each municipal role-player
should fulfil in the context of strategic planning. Challenges related to financial
resources were discussed. This included the scarcity of money as well as financial
management problems experienced by municipalities including, solvency, liquidity and
the allocation of funds towards the growth of municipalities.
The chapter concluded by examining the integrated nature of strategic planning in a
local government context. It was ascertained that the strategic planning process of the
municipality should consider the long term goals of the organisation. However, it was
highlighted that often these plans do not come to fruition, and remain mere plans. This
resulted in the need to link the allocation of funds with the plans (budgeting), and ensure
that there is periodic monitoring of the plans throughout performance management.
82
Without the strategic plans of municipalities being integrated with other key processes,
the long term vision of local councils would very likely not be achieved. The chapter
finally discussed specific problems encountered by municipalities, and how these
problems prevented many municipalities from achieving their intended outcomes. The
next chapter will therefore explore why there seems to be a constant struggle to
implement these policies, in spite of the clear policy framework for local government
strategic planning, as discussed specifically in Chapter Two.
83
CHAPTER FOUR
POLICY PROCESSES AS FACILITATION MECHANISMS FOR THE
IMPLEMANTATION OF MUNICIPAL STRATEGIC PLANS
4.1. INTRODUCTION
Any organisation, depending on the reason for its existence, relies on guidelines for
achieving its objectives. These guidelines aim to rationalise certain actions that need to
be taken, and provide a functional, operational and methodological blueprint for such
actions to be executed. This is necessary to ensure the orderly performance of any
organisation, and to ensure that there is consistency in the manner that activities occur.
In the public domain, governments and government organisations are dependent on the
existence of policies to steer their activities, in an attempt to ensure that goals and
objectives are met, and that the needs and expectations of the citizens, whom
governments serve, are met.
The policy process can therefore be seen as a key element in governments' efforts to
determine citizens' needs and expectations, as well as the course of action required to
satisfy such needs and expectations. It can be viewed as a holistic approach to
managing public organisations in that, from a customer perspective, it should be aimed
at determining what will improve the lives of people while, from an organisational
perspective, it should assist public organisations to achieve objectives in the best
possible manner with the available resources.
A frequently asked and debated question is whether the determination of a new policy,
or the availability of an existing policy, always leads to an intended outcome or purpose,
and if not, why this is the case. The municipal environment in South Africa is a case in
point in this regard. This is because all municipalities are, in terms of legislation as
84
discussed earlier in this thesis, obliged to develop certain policies aimed at promoting
service delivery and development. While this is the situation, there is increasing
dissatisfaction with the level and quality of municipal services among residents of towns
and cities. Furthermore, there are numerous opinions being expressed on the
perceived poor management of municipalities as organisations, and by implication on
the inability to implement the provisions of policy aimed at improving general
management in municipalities, as well as the quality of services provided to local
residents.
Based on the above, the aim of this chapter is to examine the policy process from a
public service point of view, and with special reference to local government, from a
theoretical perspective. Attention will be paid to the determination of policy, and an
effort will be made to address the significant question of what constitutes an
organisational environment, conducive to ensuring that a determined policy becomes an
impiementabie plan for the benefit of both the organisation, as well as the citizen.
4.2. DEFINING PUBLIC POLICY
According to Cloete, Wissink and de Coning (2006:3), public policy can be defined as "a
statement of intent that specifies the basic principles to be pursued in attaining specific
goals". This definition emphasises the expression of a public authority's intended
pursuit of a predetermined goal or goals. Easton (1953:129), in Fox, Schwella and
Wissink (2004:27) defines public policy as "the authoritative allocation of values through
the political process, to groups or individuals in society". This implies the existence of a
legitimate public authority that has been entrusted with power or authority, to represent
the interests and values of a specified constituency. For the purpose of this thesis, this
specified constituency refers to all inhabitants within the areas of jurisdiction for
municipalities who have, by voting for their respective municipal councils, entrusted
these councils with the authority to represent their values. Hanekom and Thornhill
(1996:63) refer to public policy as the "formal articulation, statement or publication of a
85
goal that the government intends to pursue with the community". Hanekom and
Thornhill's reference to the "formal articulation or publication of a governmental goal"
implies raising the expectations of the intended beneficiaries of a policy or policies by
the government that the issue for which the policy has been developed will be positively
addressed or solved. It could be argued that when expectations are raised, pressure on
the government to meet the raised expectations of a community increases. Failure to
do so could isolate such a government or institution from its supporters. The Public
Policy Website (www.profwork.org/pp/study/define.htmI2009:1 ) defines public policy as
"a purposive and consistent course of action produced as a response to a perceived
problem of a constituency, formulated by a specific political process, and adopted,
implemented, and enforced by a public agency". This definition emphasises the
reactive nature that could characterise public policy, when a particular policy is
developed, approved, and implemented in reaction to a problem or perceived problem.
The elements of these definitions regarding public policy, and how they apply to local
government and specifically policies around strategic planning, could be examined in
further detail.
4.2.1. Public policy - expressing local government's intended pursuit of
predetermined goals
Consideration of local government's predetermined goals from a South African
perspective cannot be attempted without reference to the Constitution. The
Constitution, Section 152 attaches the following responsibilities to municipalities with
regard to their objectives:
• Providing democratic and accountable government for local communities.
• Ensuring the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner.
• Promoting social and economic development.
86
• Promoting a safe and healthy environment.
• Encouraging the involvement of communities and community organisations in the
matters of local government.
It can be argued that the dawn of democracy, and the subsequent guarantee of local
government's status through the Constitution, has caused most local government
policies to pursue the above objectives. Various aspects pertaining to the objectives
are discussed in the paragraphs that follow to illustrate this argument.
4.2.1.1. Facilitating democratic and accountable local government through
policy determination
It has already been established that fundamental changes took place regarding the local
government environment in South Africa. Whatever the nature of these changes may
have been, it is clear that these changes have been effected in line with South Africa's
transition to a fully-fledged democracy.
According to Van Parys, Beuslinck and Brans (2009:47-48), there have been numerous
initiatives to increase the democratic legitimacy of local government in South Africa, due
to the limited inclusion of citizens in the past. Van Parys et al. (2009:48) hold that these
initiatives, primarily including increased efforts to promote citizens' participation in local
governance, are aimed at "giving more citizens more influence in local government
policy decisions in between elections". This is an indication of a concerted effort to
extend local democracy beyond the basic form of participatory democracy, to that of
participating in elections towards a more deliberative form of democracy. In addition,
Govender, Reddy and Pillay (2011: 184-185) argue that "deliberative democracy theory
turns away from economic understandings of democracy towards ideas of accountability
and discussion and essentially, talk-centric replaces voting- centric democracy theory
with discussion being the focal point". Thus, democracy should no longer focus on the
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number of votes for a particular political party, and the decisions this party takes
towards satisfying the needs of voters, but should focus on ensuring accountability to
local communities, and in so doing promote the notion of good governance. In this
regard, Ergun (2011 :136) is of the view that the new governance paradigm includes eo-
administration and multiple societal actors, who are involved in this co-administration
process. Govender, Reddy and Pillay (2011 :190) add that good governance essentially
consists of:
• An effective state.
• Representation of civil society and citizens in policy-making processes.
• Contribution to the local economy by allowing the private sector and other civil
society actors to play an independent and productive role in the contribution.
In effect, democratic and accountable local government could denote more involvement
by the citizens and citizen groups in the affairs of local government. However,
Govender et al. (2011 :190) are of the opinion that, while participation of citizens in local
affairs remains high on government's agenda, there is evidence to suggest that
marginalised communities have increasingly been "crowded out from participatory
processes due either to lack of capacity or to participatory processes which simply do
not reach people". Promoting democratic and accountable local government therefore
remains a work in progress, which all local governments, particularly in South Africa,
should note.
4.2.1.2. Rendering sustainable services to local communities
The importance of the constitutional objective to render sustainable municipal services
is further emphasised by Sections 73 to 94 of the Systems Act, which are entirely
dedicated to various aspects of local government service rendering. These vary from
service tariffs to mechanisms for enhancing municipal services. It is clear what
importance the government attaches to service delivery, from a policy perspective.
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Furthermore, according to Pretorius and Schurink (2007: 19) "one of the most important
indicators in assessing the transformation of local government is the experiences and
perceptions people have of service delivery in their day-to-day lives, more specifically
whether they perceive an improvement in the services delivered to them". Thus, as
time progresses, the mere transition to a democratic system of government may not be
deemed sufficient by citizens. Rather, their satisfaction increasingly depends on their
levels of satisfaction with basic service delivery, and the quality thereof. Against this
background, the constitutional reference to "sustainable" municipal services could
therefore be interpreted to mean that service delivery should contain the following two
elements:
• Consistency in terms of the availability of services.
• Standards in terms of the quality of available services.
According to Carrim (2011 :2), efforts by the Department of Cooperative Governance to
accelerate service delivery should aim to:
• Support comprehensive infrastructure planning at municipal level.
• Support municipal infrastructure development, maintenance, operations and
service provision in low capacity municipalities, by means of procuring the
relevant service providers and ensuring performance as contracted.
• Coordinate a focused technical support programme with existing support
partners.
• Monitor the quality of infrastructure provided.
• Develop and coordinate the implementation of an appropriate sector-wide
capacity development initiative, and assist municipalities to develop a capacity
development plan to strengthen their institutions over the long term.
According to Hemson (2004:18), the realisation of sustainability in service delivery
depends essentially on the following factors:
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• The provision of sufficient funds from the national treasury to support the
operations and maintenance of projects in communities, which are some of the
poorest in the country.
• Training and support to encourage the best public management of projects.
• Sufficient public participation in the management of projects.
While the importance of rendering sustainable local government services is justifiable,
as provided for in the Constitution, the reference to service delivery protests in the
previous chapter of this thesis, and dissatisfaction on the part of local communities with
the quality of services, suggests that service rendering also remains a work in progress.
Therefore, avenues to improve the level and quality of services, thereby increasing
citizen satisfaction, should continuously be explored.
4.2.1.3. Promoting social and economic development in local government
The developmental nature of South African local government was previously discussed
within the context of establishing an integrated strategic planning framework, to ensure
service delivery and medium to long term social and economic local development.
According to De Visser (2001 :2-3), the term development is characterised by three
elements, namely:
• A material element - this involves promoting the material well-being of
communities, and reduction of absolute poverty. It could be argued that since
the dawn of democracy in South Africa, the majority of the government's efforts
have been directed towards improving the material conditions of people, thereby
freeing these communities of absolute poverty. Examples include the emphasis
on providing access to basic amenities such as water, sanitation and electricity
provision, as well as the improvement of infrastructure. The serious nature of,
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and need to address, these basic services, is illustrated in figures provided by
Hollands and Mageza (2010:5),which reveal the following in 2004:
o In 182 municipalities (out of 283 municipalities at that stage), less than
60% of households had access to refuse removal.
o In 203 municipalities, less than 60% of households had access to
sanitation.
o In 122 municipalities, less than 60% of households had access to
electricity.
o In 155 municipalities, less than 60% of households had access to clean
water.
o In 116 municipalities, more than 60% of households lived in shacks.
In addition, Hollands and Magez (2010:5) indicate that, at that stage, it was estimated
that municipalities would collectively require R14, 5 billion in order to install the
infrastructure needed for the provision of free basic services to poor households. When
considering these figures, it is clear why government had to place such a high priority
on basic service delivery to local communities. De Visser (2001 :2) however, continues
to argue that development cannot only revolve around the provision of material goods
and services, by stating that "the missing link between a narrow intervention from the
outside which improves certain aspects of people's lives and true development is
empowerment: placing people in a position to make choices and determine outcomes
independently."
Therefore, the dignity to make choices about communities' well-being is regarded as
the second element of development by De Visser (2001 :3). This implies the availability
of choice in services delivered and initiatives embarked upon, in aiming to improve the
well-being of local communities. It therefore implies that local communities have to be
heard with regard to services provided and development initiatives initiated.
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According to a report for the Office of Fair Trading (2010:20), there are various
motivations for encouraging choice in public services, including:
• The intrinsic value of choice - people attach internal value to the fact that there
are choices available regarding public services, even if it does not necessarily
mean a cheaper or better service.
• Choice, if properly managed, serves as a fair mechanism for the allocation of
scarce resources
• Finally, choice can be used as a means to drive improved efficiency and better
outcomes.
According to the 2020 Public Services Trust (2010: 21), "choice can be viewed as a
driver of improvements by giving the user control over resources (e.g. choices can be
made on issues of importance to the individual)". Kakaza and Ntonzima (2012: 6-63)
are of the view that community development projects implemented by the government
seldom met the expectations of its intended recipients, and that one contributory factor
to this was involvement of such communities, or rather the lack thereof.
From the aforementioned, it becomes clear that there are fundamental challenges for
municipalities is the provision of basic services to local communities, as well as the
promotion of initiatives that will contribute to the social and economic well-being of such
communities. Furthermore, it is apparent that in order to successfully render services
and promote development, local communities have to become active participants in this
process, and the primary role of the municipality is to create an environment in which
communities can take combined responsibility. Collective rather than isolated decision-
making regarding the types of and levels of services to be provided is also of critical
importance, to ensure that the expectations of those receiving services are met.
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4.2.1.4. Promoting a safe and healthy environment
The constitutional requirement that local government promote a safe and healthy
environment implies the physical protection of local inhabitants, as well as the protection
of the environment.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in Balfour (date unknown: 2),
environmental health is described as "those aspects of human health, including quality
of life, that are determined by physical, chemical, biological, social and psychosocial
factors in the environment and the theory and practice of assessing, correcting,
controlling and preventing those factors to the benefit of present and future
generations". Balfour (date unknown: 3) adds that general factors under environmental
health include:
• Adequate and safe water supply.
• Basic sanitation.
• Disposal of solid, toxic and hazardous waste.
• Control of air and water pollution.
• Chemical safety.
• Food hygiene and safety.
• Radiation.
• Noise control.
• Vector and vermin control.
• Environmental public health disease control.
• Human habitat.
• Port health.
• Occupational health.
• Accident and disaster prevention and control.
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Given the above aspects, it becomes apparent that municipalities have a crucial role to
play in establishing and maintaining policy and operational infrastructure, to ensure the
environmental health and safety of the residents in their areas of jurisdiction. This
implies that the necessary policy measures required to deal with each of these aspects
have to be carefully considered and decided upon. This also implies that resources
should be directed towards ensuring that policies are implemented for the benefit of the
community.
In addition to the "traditional" health and safety functions of municipalities, local
government is expected to play an increasing role in the area of crime prevention, as a
means of promoting the physical safety of local communities. The increased rate of
various types of criminal activity has resulted in the creation of cross-sections of South
Africa in an attempt to curb crime and the effects thereof, which also affected local
government. According to Seti (2006: 1), local government in South Africa has three
important roles to play in crime prevention, which are as follows:
• Establishing metropolitan and municipal police services.
• Aligning resources and objectives within a crime prevention framework.
• Initiating targeted crime prevention programmes that can either be financially
supported by the local government itself or through business, donor or national
funding.
According to Raueh, Shaw and Louw (2011: 11), the concept of municipal policing has
become attractive for the following reasons:
• Increasing pressure to respond to the safety needs as expressed by local
constituencies.
• The inability of municipalities to influence the priorities, resource allocation and
the activities of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in their areas of
jurisdiction.
• The lack of ideas regarding how local government can respond to crime in their
areas, other than by the traditional means as provided by the SAPS.
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Rauch et al. (2011: 13) add that provision for the creation of municipal police services is
contained in the South African Police Service Amendment Act, (Act 83 of 1998). In
terms of this Act, municipal police services who act independently from the SAPS are
created. These municipal police services are funded by, and are accountable to, local
governments, and serve the following purposes:
• Ensuring traffic policing.
• Ensuring the policing of municipal by-laws and regulations.
• Preventing crime, although according to Seti (2006: 2) it should be clearly
understood that the task of investigating crime has always fallen to the South
African Police Service.
The provision that these police services be created independently, and that they be
funded by the municipalities themselves, further implies a financial consideration for
local governments, which could explain why the number of municipal police services are
currently limited to the metropolitan municipalities. It is simply too expensive an addition
to the already financially burdened municipal sector in South Africa.
It can nevertheless be concluded that, in terms of the health and safety requirements as
provided for in the Constitution, municipalities have a dual role to play. Municipalities
must establish and implement policies that ensure the promotion of environmental
health and safety, and simultaneously ensure the physical safety of inhabitants by
collective crime prevention efforts, using either municipal policing services or
cooperation with the SAPS and local communities.
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4.2.1.5. Encouraging the involvement of communities and community
organisations in the matters of local government
The issue of citizen participation as an important facet of managing South African
municipalities was discussed in Chapter Two of this thesis. It is therefore unnecessary
to discuss the rationale for citizen participation. What is of importance however, with
regard to citizen participation in policy making, is ensuring that there are sufficient
platforms for local communities to participate, and ensuring that the results of their
participation are translated into policy proposals/action.
As far as creating platforms for participation is concerned, Carrim (2011: 1-2) notes that
municipal residents are encouraged to participate in the following activities:
• The preparation, adoption, implementation and review of Integrated Development
Plans (lOP).
• The preparation of the municipality's budget.
• The establishment, implementation and review of a municipality's performance
management system.
• Monitoring and review of a municipality's performance.
• Decisions about the provision of municipal services.
According to the South African Public Service Commission Report on the assessment of
Public Participation Practices (2008:10), the core values and principles for public
participation should be centred on the following:
• The belief that those affected by a decision have the right to be involved in the
decision-making process.
• The promise that the public's contribution will have an influence on the decision.
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• The promotion of sustainable decisions through the recognition and
communication of the needs and interests of all participants.
• Seeking inputs from participants regarding how participation will take place, i.e.
the mechanisms for participation.
• Providing participants with the information they need to participate in a
meaningful way.
• Communicating to participants how their inputs affect decisions.
The said Public Service Commission report (2008: 15) refers to the following initiatives
that have been implemented in local government to create platforms for community
involvement:
• Imbizos - in which political leaders, including inter alia municipal mayors and
councillors accompanied by senior officials, hold public meetings to engage with
communities on issues of government policies and service delivery.
• Ward committees - as statutory bodies created in terms of the Municipal
Structures Act, 1998, ward committees are advisory bodies with the purpose of
supporting democratically elected ward councillors in carrying out their mandate
of generating proposals for satisfying community needs within the ward.
• Community development workers (COWs) - who act as community based
resource persons with the primary function of facilitating community participation,
by assisting communities to access information and services from municipalities
and/or government departments.
• Citizen satisfaction surveys - which aim to engage with citizens to establish
their views and expectations on service delivery. This allows for testing of
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perceived opinions regarding quality and adequacy of services against opinions
expressed by the users of the services.
The following is vital for community involvement in local government irrespective of the
processes in which citizens are encouraged to participate, the principles and values of
participation, or the platforms that have been attempted to promote citizen participation
thus far:
• The capacity of citizens to make meaningful contributions to the local cause
through a thorough understanding of the processes.
• The sustained willingness of councillors and officials to seek the views of local
communities without fear or bias, and to do so not only when it suits their own
interests.
• The inclusion of participatory proposals in policies and plans to ensure that
participation is not rendered meaningless to communities and diminish.
4.2.2. Public policy - authoritative representation of constituency values
It should be logical to argue that any policy is formulated in order to address a need or
deficiency in a society at a particular time. According to Cloete (2012:124) human
beings are no longer self-sufficient as soon as they live as part of communities and they
therefore need institutions to:
• Provide goods and services to make living together in closer settlements
possible; and
• Reconcile conflicting interests of individuals and groups.
This is necessary as it is virtually impossible for human-beings to be in constant
agreement as to the satisfaction of individual and group needs, because the resources
necessary to satisfy unlimited needs remain limited. It is therefore necessary for
democratically elected authorities (governments) to make these decisions (policies) on
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behalf of the communities they serve. This is done by taking into consideration the
values that can be ascribed to societies and/or communities.
Holtzhausen (2010:267) describes the term values as "a human being's idea of what is
acceptable or unacceptable". Cloete (2012:144) adds that values can be placed into
two groups namely, the abstract values such as the principles of democracy, and the
concrete values related to the economic use of labour and material in order to provide
services to communities optimally. In the South African context, Section 195 of the
Constitution, 1996 outlines these two groups by describing the public administration
values to be pursued by public institutions in the country. These values can represent a
reflection of what is in the best interest of the South African society (constituency) at
large, as determined by their public representatives, and include the following:
• Promoting and maintaining high standards of professional ethics.
• Promoting the efficient, economic and effective use of resources.
• Ensuring that public administration is development oriented.
• Providing services impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias.
• Responding to the needs of people, and encouraging the public to participate in
policy-making.
• Ensuring public administration that is accountable.
• Fostering transparency by providing the public with timely, accessible and
accurate information.
• Cultivating good human-resource management and career development
practices to maximise human potential.
• Ensuring that public administration is broadly representative of the South African
people with personnel management practices based on ability, objectivity,
fairness, and the need to redress the imbalances of the past so as to achieve
broad representation.
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It is therefore imperative that the democratically elected government govern in a manner
that will ensure that it, as an authoritative body gives effect to the values underpinned
by the Constitution, with the ultimate aim of satisfying the needs and expectations of the
society it serves.
It could therefore be argued that, if an lOP is to be seen as the most important policy of
a municipality in South Africa, it should be seen to be an authoritative representation of
constituency values, thus the values of a particular community in the case of
municipalities. In discussing the core components of an lOP, Section 26(a) of the
Systems Act states that an lOP must reflect the council's vision for the long term
development of the municipal area. It can therefore be deduced that it is important for
councils, as the elected representatives of local communities to determine what the
future town or city should look like, bearing in mind the views and wishes of local
communities. This refers not only to the physical perspective, but also the values that
the local community, and therefore the municipality, should strive towards. In this
regard Patel (2004:2) states that the "lOP process should be used as an opportunity for
the municipality to debate and agree on the long term vision and strategy (20-25 years)
that provides the basis for the shorter (5 year) objectives and strategies". Patel (2004:2)
adds that the municipality should develop this long term vision, through consultative
processes with local residents and all other relevant stakeholders in the municipal
processes.
4.2.3. Public policy - raising societal expectations
According to Brown (2008:5) "a fair society is built on a shared understanding of what
each of us can expect from the other". When considering this statement in the context
of public policy, it could be argued that the process of determining policy should involve
not only the policy-makers, i.e. political office-bearers as well as government executive
officials, but also the beneficiaries of a particular policy. Therefore, in the case of policy
at the municipal/local sphere of government, the local communities should play a central
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role in the determination of policy. This has indeed been emphasised in the earlier
discussions of this thesis on the importance of citizen participation in South African local
government.
Taking the aforementioned into consideration, it follows that a policy should provide
beneficiaries with a reasonable expectation of tangible outcomes to be achieved within
a particular time-frame. In line with this, the Municipal Systems Act, 32 of 2000 in
Section 26(c) states that a municipality's IDP should outline the council's development
priorities for its elected term, i.e. five years including social and economic development
aims, as well as internal transformational needs.
As democratically elected councils are conceiving, approving and implementing policies
that utilise local public resources in pursuit of the well-being of local communities, during
their term of office for five years, , they should be held accountable for their actions. It
is therefore imperative that, from a service delivery and development perspective,
elected councils clearly spell out their priorities for the term that they are in office. This
will ensure that there is a timeframe connected to priorities set, and should encourage
councils and their officials to attempt to provide the promised services within the
predetermined timeframes. There is specific reference to local economic development,
as the growth and promotion of local economies are supposed to ensure the creation of
local wealth, and in turn address other aspects of local development, especially the
physical, human and social development of local communities.
The internal transformation of municipalities remains a challenge. In line with Section
195 (1)(i) of the Constitution that requires public administration to be "broadly
representative of the South African people", municipalities are required to transform
themselves from a human resource perspective, as well as the manner in which they
function to comply with the new legislative and policy framework. According to Mamela,
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Mautjane, Nzo and van Hoof (2008:7-8), a lack of political will to properly influence
processes to achieve development priorities and internal transformation, has
complicated matters in the following ways:
• The information flow from municipal councils to citizens, such as council
resolutions, budgets and information on council performance, is poor.
• Citizens and citizens' organisations often don't make use of the mechanisms to
hold politicians accountable.
• In most municipalities, there are no mechanisms in place for citizens to review
council resolutions, and where they are in place, they do not function properly.
In addition to set targets for councils to achieve during their five year term of office, it is
imperative that these targets are also aligned with national and provincial plans. In this
regard, Section 26(d) of the Municipal Systems Act, 32 of 2000 states that municipal
councils' development strategies "must be aligned with any national and provincial
sector plans and planning requirements". As previously stated in this thesis, local
government does not exist in isolation, and is supposed to strive towards its goals in a
cooperative relationship with the national and provincial spheres of government.
Indeed, in referring to the status of municipalities, the Constitution, Section 151(3)
states that "a municipality has the right to govern, on its own initiative, the local
government affairs of its own community, subject to national and provincial legislation".
Furthermore, Section 153(b) of the Constitution, states with regard to the developmental
duties of municipalities that they must "participate in national and provincial
development programmes". In addition to these constitutional provisions for
cooperation between municipalities and the other spheres of government, municipalities
relied on the other spheres of government for assistance from a resource point of view,
as outlined in chapter two of this thesis. It could therefore logically be deduced that, for
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a properly coordinated effort on the part of the three spheres of government it was
imperative for their efforts to be aligned.
4.2.4. Public Policy - reacting to societal shortcomings
From service delivery and development perspectives, societal shortcomings provide the
primary challenge for municipalities in South Africa. Municipalities are faced with a
variety of wide ranging issues, from providing developmental and service delivery needs
for the poorest sections of local communities, to rendering the most basic services to
their towns and cities as a whole. Therefore, in addition to developing long and medium
term visions and plans, they have to be executed operationally in order for local
communities to see tangible results. In this regard, the SALGA municipal handbook
(2009:20) states that policies must assist municipalities with the following:
• Reflect a response to current situations and challenges that confront local
communities and local governments.
• Serve as an agreement to work towards certain aims between councillors,
officials and residents.
• Set guidelines that provide direction for development plans and other matters.
In addition to the aforementioned, Section 26(f) of the Systems Act states that the lOP
of a municipality should reflect the council's operational strategies. An organisation's
operational strategy should aim to ensure that it is able to operate, not only by achieving
day to day efficiency, but also by ensuring that such efficiency contributes to the long
term objectives of the organisation. According to a submission by the Institute of Local
Government Management of South Africa (ILGM) to the Parliamentary Public Hearings
on coordinated Service Delivery (2009:5), efficient operational management in local
government is curtailed by incapacity, skills shortages, poor financial structures
unfunded mandates, as well as a disregard for the legislation meant to enable service
delivery operations. It is therefore imperative that municipalities have a responsive and
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responsible political management, to ensure that the political mandate is aimed at local
citizens, while simultaneously ensuring that those in executive and operational positions
in municipalities possess the necessary skills and capacity to perform their duties. Well
trained officials will be wasted in a political environment that is not conducive to the
execution of their skills.
It should however be borne in mind that any operational plan can only be executed,
provided that sufficient financial resources are available. Therefore, Section 26(g) of
the Systems Act states that financial management and performance plans should form
key components of a municipality's lOP. A financial management plan must be
prepared and approved by each municipality, including a budget projection for at least
three years, as well as the key performance indicators and performance targets. In as
far as the financial plan and key performance indicators are concerned, Craythorne
(2006:153) states that in order for the lOP to become operational, it (the lOP) must
inform the municipality's annual budget and performance targets, and also be used to
prepare action plans for the implementation of strategies identified by the municipality.
It can be deduced from the above that, given a municipal point of view in a South
African context, strategic planning should be an extensive process in which all aspects
can be quantified in financial terms as well as performance targets, from the long term
vision of the municipal council for the area, up to the operational execution of strategies
in order to provide tangible benefits for local communities. The plan must therefore be
impiementabie, and in this regard Hussey (1999:243)states that "an essential part of
any strategic planning must be a means of making the plans actually happen, and
prev.enting them from becoming a sterile exercise by forcing them to be used in the day
to day running of the organisation". Subban and Theron (2011:102) are of the view that,
from a South African perspective, the gap between the planned ideal of lOP and reality
results from the "wish list" approach to planning towards reparation for the past, instead
of focusing on development as a key to improve the quality of life for all local citizens.
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It is therefore clear that an organisational plan outlining what is required and
encompassing all aspects, from the long term vision to the individual projects to achieve
that vision, is insufficient without ensuring that there is an environment within which the
plan can be made operational. For this reason, the development of Service Delivery
and Budget Implementation plans has been introduced, to ensure that the strategic
plans of municipalities are indeed executed practically.
4.3. SERVICE DELIVERY AND BUDGET IMPLEMENTATION PLANS
According to MFMA circular 13, (2005:1) the SDBIP "gives effect to the strategic
priorities of the municipality and serves a s a contract between the council,
administration and the community expressing the goals and objectives set by the
council as quantifiable outcomes that can be implemented by the administration over
the next twelve months". The importance of the SDBIP therefore lies in the fact that it
sets targets for a specific financial cycle, in order to ensure that the long term vision of
the municipality is broken into smaller and more manageable chunks. It further provides
for the allocation of funds to specific outcomes for the twelve month period, and should
improve the process of monitoring implementation, and thus the performance of the
municipality.
According to the Departmental SDBIP of the Department of Finance of the Ga-
Segonyana Local Municipality (2009:5), the SDBIPs of each Department of a
municipality must relate to the IDP of the municipality. Furthermore, the intention of
each departmental SDBIP should be to indicate what each manager, reporting directly
to the municipal manager (section 57 managers), is going to do to implement the IDP.
According to Fourie and Opperman (2007:133) the SDBIP must indicate the following:
• Projections for each month of revenue to be collected, by source, and operational
and capital expenses, by vote. This means that the SDBIP must indicate the
municipality's monthly income as well as where it comes from as well as the day
lOS
to day (operational) and long-term (capital expenses per item (vote). This implies
that it should be easy for a municipality to monitor and exercise control over
whether its primary source of revenue is external or internal to the municipality. It
had been discussed earlier that many South African municipalities are struggling
to collect revenue owed to them and this is one area in terms of which the SOBIP
can assist in addressing.
• Service delivery targets and performance indicators for each quarter. There
should this be quarterly evaluation of municipalities, with the financial and other
resources allocated, are achieving its service delivery targets as indicated in the
lOP.
From the above discussion there should be very little uncertainty about the alignment
between the municipal strategic plan (lOP), the financial plan (budget), and the
performance management system. Without the lOP there is no clear indication of the
service and development needs while, without funds (budget) to address these needs
they cannot be satisfied, and without a system for monitoring and evaluating
implementation (performance management system) there can be no concrete indication
of whether municipalities are on the right track. All these efforts, as discussed, require
the involvement of all, or at least as many as possible, stakeholders in local
government.
4.4. THE LINK BETWEEN PUBLIC POLICY AND STRATEGIC PLANNING
The above discussion focused on the importance of public policy in a municipal context,
with the view to promoting an environment in which municipal services can be rendered,
development and promoted in order to satisfy the needs and expectations of local
communities. In the previous chapter of this thesis, strategic planning was discussed
with special reference to a municipal context. Considering these discussions, one
should reflect on the link between strategic planning and public policy in order to
understand how these important concepts and processes are interlinked, while
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emphasizing the importance of each in contributing to the success of local government
in South Africa.
According to Sandford (1987), a policy is like a decision in that "we make and
implement a policy just as we do with decisions". Sandford (1987) adds that a policy
differs from a decision in that "the term policy usually implies some long-term purpose in
a broad subject field, not a series of ad-hoc judgements", as is the case with decisions.
The development of a broad and all encompassing policy framework for local
government in South Africa after democratisation, commenced with the various
constitutional provisions for local government. This policy framework was further
pursued by the adoption of the White Paper on Local Government 1998, and the
various other pieces of enabling legislation, as earlier discussed in Chapter two of this
thesis. Although the policy and legislative provisions have to be implemented in
municipalities across South Africa on a daily basis, they propose to transform the
management of municipalities in the country, and to have a long term positive impact on
the lives of local communities, thus giving effect to the view of policy held by Sandford
as discussed earlier.
While the noble idea of positively transforming local government, and therefore the well-
being of local communities based on a solid policy platform, remains of importance, it is
imperative that the policy provisions be translated into action on a day to day basis, in
order to promote long-term well-being. When considering earlier discussions on lOPs
as a strategic planning instrument in Chapter three, as well as SOBIPs as operational
planning instruments discussed earlier in this chapter, it is evident that strategic
planning has an integral role of ensuring the systematic pursuit of the state's long term
policy vision for local government. To this effect, Oess, Lumpkin and Taylor (2004:2)
state that "strategic planning consists of the analysis, decisions, and actions an
organisation undertakes in order to create and sustain competitive advantages".
107
While the above statement by Dess et al. (2004:2) might reflect strategic planning in a
private sector environment, the elements referred to, namely analysis, decisions and
actions, closely resemble what is expected from South African municipalities on an
ongoing basis to gain a "competitive advantage" in terms of satisfying the needs of, and
promoting development within local communities. This should not however be
construed as a comparison between strategic planning and operational plans and
activities, as the strategic focus of organisations requires long term planning, even
though the relationship between policy and strategy could be defined as determination
of policy (what to achieve) and strategy (how to achieve it). In this regard, Porter, in
Dess et al. (2004:2) emphasises the idea that successful strategic planning and
management is about "being different from anyone else or from performing similar
activities in different ways.
4.4.1 Strategic leadership - taking South African municipalities into a new
management environment
The aforementioned discussion leads to the conclusion that a special brand of executive
leadership will be required to facilitate municipalities in becoming innovative, future
oriented in thinking, and operationally effective as organisations. In this regard, Naidoo
(2011 :52) promotes the idea of contemplating "strategic leadership" as an approach to
leading public organisations. In this regard Baal and Hooijberg (2000:534) argue that
an integrative organisational leadership model, where elements of "new" leadership
theories, such as visionary, transformational and charismatic leadership, are utilised
would lead to increased strategic leadership effectiveness and ultimately to increased
operational effectiveness. Such "new" leadership theories could be used to lead to an
increased capacity to change and to deal with change, as well as managerial wisdom.
According to Baal and Schultz, in Naidoo (2011 :53) "strategic leaders play a more
active role in developing ideas and vision, while more traditional management roles
work toward implementing the in the structures and processes of the organisation".
108
In attempting to apply strategic leadership in South African municipalities, it could be
argued that, in pursuit of positioning the municipality strategically, municipal executives
(municipal managers and those reporting to them) should be allowed to think
innovatively and seek innovative and unique solutions to local problems, rather than
merely fulfilling the role of lOP implementers, with regard to the lOP (strategic planning)
process. It is the contention of the researcher, based on the literature referred to, that if
this is the case, more municipal management teams would take additional responsibility
and ownership of the lOP process than is currently the case. The major challenge in
achieving this would obviously be in creating an environment in which such executive
managerial "freedom" is afforded to municipal managers by their respective elected
councils. Given the possibility that this would transpire, it is worth exploring the
characteristics of strategic leaders.
4.4.1.1. Characteristics of strategic leaders
According to Beatty (2010:1), strategic leaders have to lead in a way that will position
their organisations for the future, while meeting current demands. Beatty (2010:1)
furthermore suggests that "strategic leadership requires us to think, act and influence
others in ways that promote the enduring success of the organisation". Municipal
managers in South Africa are confronted, on a daily basis, with meeting pressing day to
day service delivery needs while simultaneously ensuring that future planning is at the
forefront of their agendas.
According to Boal and Hooijberg (2000), the role of a strategic leader includes the
following inter alia:
• Making strategic decisions. Without decisions there is no basis for action, and
it is therefore imperative that municipal executives decide on an appropriate path
for addressing the issues related to local communities.
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• Creating and communicating a vision of the future. The basis for the
successful translation of decisions into action is highly dependent on the
knowledge, and buy-in, of such decisions by all levels of employees. Therefore,
it can be argued that the future vision of any municipality will not be translated
into action unless employees are informed, and their ideas are incorporated in
such a vision.
• Developing key competencies and capabilities. Broad policies can only be
translated into meaningful strategies, and ultimately impiementabie plans, if the
human capital of the organisation possesses the necessary competencies and
capabilities. This requires that municipalities ensure that the right people are
appointed, and that those in the organisation are exposed to adequate training
and development opportunities, in order to successfully fulfil their respective
roles.
• Developing organisational structures, processes and controls. It is
imperative that adequate structures, processes and controls exist in
municipalities, in order for the organisational mandate to be achieved in a
transparent and accountable manner. It is the responsibility of municipal
executives to ensure this.
• Managing multiple constituencies. Strategic leaders in a municipal context in
South Africa deal with various role-players (constituencies). These include
elected politicians (councillors), the community, as well as the staff of the
municipalities they have to lead. It is therefore of vital importance that these
leaders are able to relate to each of these role-players in the appropriate manner.
• Sustaining an effective organisational culture and infusing ethical values
into the organisation. Ensuring that a cohesive organisational culture exists, in
which all organisational members work towards a common purpose, is vital if
municipal goals and objectives are to be achieved. In addition, it is of
importance, in an environment often characterised by the prevalence and
accusations of unethical conduct, to ensure that high ethical standards are
introduced and upheld.
110
Thus, it can be deduced that an undeniable link exists between the policy framework for
achieving broad and long term community satisfaction and the required strategies to
ensure the achievement of policy directives, in a South African municipal context. This
can only be achieved if municipal executives possess the qualities needed to
strategically lead municipalities to achieve their goals.
4.5. CONCLUSION
The purpose of this chapter was to discuss the Integrated Development Plan (lOP) as
the primary policy framework for local government in South Africa, in addition to its
being the primary strategic framework. The discussion commenced with definitions of a
policy for the purpose of public sector organisations. Public policy was firstly defined
within the context public organisations' pursuits towards achieving predetermined goals.
In addition, an attempt was made to identify the predetermined goals of local
government by discussing the possible policy requirements, in order to ensure that the
objectives of South African local government can be achieved as outlined in Section
152.
Following this, public policy was discussed in the context of local government, as an
authoritative representation of constituency values. The municipalities' lOPs thus have
to illustrate what is acceptable to specific local communities, by being an accurate
reflection of its societal values. However, these values are of no use if they do not raise
specific expectations in residents as to what tangible services are to be rendered.
These have to be in response to particular societal shortcomings, and have to be
reflected in the operational strategies, as well as the financial and performance plans of
municipalities, as part of the lOP.
All these provisions have to be made operational by means of the municipalities' annual
Service Delivery and Budget Implementation plans, which spell out how the provisions
of a municipality's lOP are to be broken down into achievable and measurable activities
111
that could ultimately be regarded as "performance" on the part of the municipality.
Finally, the link between policy and strategy was discussed in order to ascertain how the
theory and practice of these processes were required to contribute to the success of
municipalities in South Africa.
Since this study is applicable to the Free State province, and specifically to
municipalities in the Free State, the next chapter of this thesis will involve an empirical
investigation into the implementation of integrated strategic plans in the province. It will
commence with a detailed profile of the province, so as to explain the nature of the
municipalities, and will conclude with a discussion of responses received from
municipalities regarding the specific implementation factors/challenges experienced by
individual municipalities.
112
CHAPTER FIVE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND FINDINGS REGARDING THE
IMPLEMENTATION OF INTEGRATED STRATEGIC PLANS IN FREE STATE
MUNICIPALITIES
5.1. INTRODUCTION
The purpose of academic research is to generate new knowledge by, inter alia,
comparing existing academic literature to current occurrences in a specific field. For the
purpose of this thesis the aim was to develop constructive recommendations for the
improved implementation of integrated strategic plans in Free State municipalities in
order to improve service delivery to local communities. In the preceding chapters, the
theoretical framework and rationale for integrated strategic planning in organisations
and specifically South African local government was provided.
This chapter will focus on gathering empirical information regarding the state of affairs
with regard to the implementation of integrated strategic plans in municipalities in the
Free State Province. A detailed discussion of the research methodology employed, is
provided. Finally the results from the study will be discussed and interpreted.
5.2. RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design utilised for the study comprised a mixed-method approach.
According to Bryman and Bell (2011 :628) a mixed method approach emphasises the
fact that "in many cases, using both quantitative and qualitative research should involve
a mixing of the research methods involved and not just using them in tandem." This
could be interpreted to imply that results derived from either qualitative or quantitative
research or vice versa should be used to compliment and/or strengthen the argumenUs
of one another.
113
According to Mcmillan and Schumacher (2006:401) the development and use of mixed-
method research designs have increased, because it is useful in determining what the
existing situation is in terms of a particular research question through non-experimental
quantitative studies, while on a deeper level determining why this existing situation
exists. For the purpose of this study it was determined that although significant
information could be accessed through quantitative methods in regard to what is
currently the status quo in municipalities in the Free State, it was important to, through
qualitative methods try and determine the deeper reasons behind the current state of
affairs.
Bryman and Bell (2011 :631) are further of the view that mixed-methods research
approaches often helps to overcome practical constraints in the research and data
collection strategy. In this study, the use of interviews and document analysis as data
collection strategies had to replace the use of questionnaires for gathering data from
municipal managers and political executives in Free State municipalities. Although
participation in the study by these role-players would have been preferred, it was
practically almost impossible to secure their participation and after numerous attempts,
it was decided to attempt to access the required information through other means which
will be discussed under the data collection strategy.
5.3. SELECTION OF THE SAMPLE FOR THE STUDY
Maree (2007:79) defines sampling as "the process used to select a portion of the
population for study". This implies the selection, by the researcher, of participants for a
particular study he/she deems in the best position to provide the relevant information
needed for such study. For the purpose of this study, the idea was to access
information about the experience of various categories of municipal managers in regard
to the implementation of integrated strategic plans, i.e. the Integrated Development Plan
and the link thereof with related municipal strategic documents such as the performance
management system and the municipal budget. Instead of focusing on the specifics of
114
such documents, the study instead focused on the conditions required for the
successful implementation of such strategies.
In the light of the above, the initial plan was to include the IDP managers, Municipal
Managers and all managers reporting to municipal managers in terms of Section 56 of
the Municipal Systems Act, 2000 as participants in the study. It proved very difficult to
get the necessary cooperation from municipal managers and those reporting to them
and therefore the strategy was revised. In terms of the mixed method approach, the
sample for the study therefore consisted of the following participants listed in the
paragraphs that follow.
A questionnaire (Appendix 2) was distributed to the IDP managers of all 24
municipalities in the province. A total of 16 questionnaires were returned, a response
rate of 66, 66%. The questionnaire contained quantitative questions in the form of a 4
point Likert scale where 1 indicated "totally disagree" with a statement, 2 "disagree", 3
"agree partly" and 4 "totally agree" as well as open ended qualitative questions where
participants could raise their opinions. The questions were categorised on the basis of
the literature study that was undertaken on the topic of integrated strategic planning for
the purpose of local government.
According to Maree (2007:216) it is necessary that when a number of items are
formulated to measure a certain construct, as was the case with this questionnaire,
there should be a high level of similarity between such items in order to ensure internal
consistency or reliability. Maree (2007:216) continues to state that the coefficient used
for measuring internal reliability is Cronbach's alpha coefficient and that it is based on
inter-item correlations. There are varying notions of what is regarded as high internal
validity with Maree (2007:216) stating that a reliability figure of 0.8 is can be regarded as
acceptable while a figure of below 0,6 can be regarded as unacceptable. Table1 below
115
provides the Cronbach coefficient for the various question categories for the purpose of
this study.
The extent of local autonomy: Constitutional and legislative factors and the
functioning of the municipality 0.6
The extent of local autonomy: financial and economic factors influencing the
municipal environment 0.6
Community Participation in the municipality 0.5
Defining local communities as municipal customers 0.9
Role-player contribution to lOP as municipal strategic plan 0.7
Translating lOP as part of the overall local government policy framework into
action 0.8
Leadership competencies for implementing lOP - Municipal Managers and other
Managers responsible for lOP 0.8
Table 1: Reliability Statistics: Cronbach's Alpha (Source: Dlodlo 2012)
On the basis of the above information it can therefore be argued that the question
categories used in the questionnaire can largely be regarded as reliable and while the
one construct on community participation had a Cronbach measurement of below 0,6, it
does not necessarily deem the study not reliable especially since there were open
ended questions that complemented the scale questions.
In addition to the questionnaire, structured interviews (Interview schedule - Appendix 3)
were conducted with the following persons:
• The Acting Director for Integrated Development Planning in the Free State
Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).
• The Director for Municipal Intergovernmental Relations in the Free State
Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).
• An independent consultant who has been involved in the development and
compilation of Integrated Development Plans and related strategic documents in
various municipalities in the Free State and Northern Cape Provinces.
116
These participants were selected for the purpose of gaining further insight as to the
status quo in terms of the conditions for and implementation of integrated strategic
plans in Free State municipalities, especially in the absence of participation by
municipal managers. It was deemed that since these participants, as part of their
duties, liaise directly with senior political as well as managerial executives for the
purpose of managing strategic planning, they would be able to provide invaluable
information in addition to the information gathered from the lOP managers.
Finally, document analysis as a means of further enhancing the study was utilised by
considering various Integrated Development Plans of municipalities in the Free State,
Auditor General Reports as well as reports provided by the Free State Department of
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).
In the paragraphs that follow, the various question categories, the responses from the
various participants in the study as well as an attempt to provide interpretations of these
responses, will follow.
5.4. ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND/OR ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS
AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INTEGRATED
STRATEGIC PLANNING
In the paragraphs that follow, the responses of the participants in the study, earlier
mentioned in the 24 municipalities of the Free State as well as the three external
participants is analysed.
117
5.4.1. Location of Participants
The Free State province consists of one Metropolitan Municipality and four District
Municipalities under which a number of local municipalities resort. For the purpose of
the study participants (lOP Managers) in the questionnaire survey were merely asked in
which district they were employed. Figure 4 below illustrates the location of the
participants per district as well as the one Metropolitan municipality in the province
namely Mangaung. The figure (figure 4) indicates that all districts of the province were
represented in the survey.
Location of Participants
• Frequency • Percent
100.0
4
:.0 nl
nl ;:
nl
c:
Cl .I.J".). nl
~ :::J
o >-
a. .0 c:ro ro
N (lj
(lj s: ~
LI.. Qi f- :::J;: '+
.(ij' o
-
....J ~
Valid
Figure 4: Location of Participants
5.4.2. Responses to the various question categories
In the paragraphs that follow the responses to the various question categories are
discussed.
118
5.4.2.1. The extent of local autonomy: constitutional and legislative factors
and the functioning of municipalities
The issue of autonomous municipalities was discussed against the background of the
constitutional provision for more powers to the local sphere of government. In the
literature study on the topic of local autonomy, it was debated that local autonomy, and
in the case of South African local government, more independent local government,
was, inter alia, influenced by the degree to which legislative provisions guided local
government and their functional units, namely municipalities. The following specific
questions in this category were asked.
5.4.2.1.1. The extent to which Free State municipalities exercised its
constitutional right of governing without undue interference by the
other spheres of government
Figure 5 below indicates that 69% of IDP managers are in agreement that provincial
and national government do not interfere in the business of municipalities in an undue
manner. Although this represents a fair majority, the 31% who are not in agreement
should not be discarded.
Q 1.1. Exercising of Constitutional
governing right
6%
Figure 5
119
In responding to the question local autonomy, the interviewees were unanimous in their
view that it was practically impossible to leave municipalities to function on their own.
Section 139 of the Constitution, 1996, which describes the supervision of provincial
government over local government was cited as, from a constitutional and legislative
point of view, making it impossible for total local autonomy. In addition it was argued
that there were good reasons for intervention in the affairs of municipalities, because in
many cases, municipalities simply did not possess the capacity to facilitate the
implementation of constitutional and enabling legislative provisions.
5.4.2.1.2. The availability of financial and administrative capacity to act more
independently/autonomously
56% of the lOP managers (figure 6) were of the view that Free State municipalities did
not possess the financial and administrative capacity to function independently.
Q 1.2. Financial and administrative
capacity to act independently
0%
Figure 6
120
The interviewee participants were in agreement with this sentiment, arguing that most
municipalities simply did not possess a sufficient revenue base to raise enough funds
for operational efficiency. It is for this reason that some municipalities have to revert to
utilising grants for keeping their operations afloat. This issue will be discussed later, but
two of the three participants stated that it was not as if municipal executives were
"corrupt on purpose" in this regard it was simply that they did not have any other option.
Another factor in inhibiting financial and administrative efficiency was the lack of
especially financial management skills according to the interviewees. In many
instances, you have chief financial officers (CFOs) with low levels of capacity and in
instances where they did have the necessary skills and competencies, their
subordinates were not sufficiently equipped. Furthermore, the view was expressed that
processes were complicated with planning seen as a system instead of a process and
that quantity was emphasised and quality neglected. This created a highly difficult
environment for responsible officials to operate within.
Finally, the 2011/2012 Integrated Development Planning Report of the Free State
Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) states that, in
terms of financial management, some of the typical problems experienced in Free State
municipalities include:
• Budget principles not being followed.
• Low rates of revenue collection and dependency on grants.
• Continued problems in terms of aligning municipallDP and budgets.
All the above information provides enough evidence that municipal financial and
administrative capacity represents a fundamental problem in municipalities in the
province. This needs to be addressed in order for the existing situation in municipalities
to improve.
121
5.4.2.1.3. The existence of sufficient national and provincial support in
strengthening municipal capacity
Even if the majority suggests partial agreement (69%), there is overall (94%) agreement
that there are attempts from national and provincial government to support
municipalities in strengthening their capacity to operate as efficiently as possible (figure
7).
Q 1.3. National and provincial
support for municipalities
6% 0%
Figure 7
The interviewee participants held varying views on especially provincial as well as
national support for municipalities. One participant was of the opinion that the two
major contributors in terms of support for municipalities were COGTA and the provincial
and national treasuries. This participant expressed the view that other sector
departments had failed to support municipalities in the same manner and that this
represented a major obstacle for mobilizing sufficient resources to compile realistic
plans as well as executing such plans. In addition the view was expressed (similar to
the previous participant) that COGTA Free State had made concerted efforts to support
municipalities in facilitating the compilation and implementation of lOPs as strategic
plans and the implementation thereof in line with other related municipal processes. An
122
additional area of focus in regard to municipal support relate to inter-municipal support.
The lOP of the Xhariep District Municipality 2012 to 2017 (2012:8) expresses the view
that interaction in this regard between the District Municipality and the Local
Municipalities under its area of jurisdiction remains limited and that such interaction is
critical for the alignment of lOPs.
Finally, a significant view was that the promotion of intergovernmental relations was
voluntary by nature in terms of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005,
and that limited scope existed to enforce such provisions. This meant that if you had
varying levels of commitment to the process, you would automatically have varying
levels of success in achieving objectives.
5.4.2.1.4. The functioning of municipal structures in promoting operational
competence
When considering figure 8 below, it is clear that lOP managers in the Free State are in
the majority satisfied that municipal structures are operating to the extent that ensures
operational efficiency.
123
Q 1.4. Municipal structures in
promoting operational competence
Figure 8
The interviewee participants, although not doubting the commitment of officials and
political leaders at municipal level to make the structures, do not entirely agree with the
overall positive endorsement for the functioning of municipal structures. There is the
view that the understanding and application of organisational arrangements are often
insufficient. In addition, many vacancies exist in municipalities meaning that many
municipalities do not possess the human capacity to execute their duties. This situation
is ascribed to a degree to younger persons and qualified professionals such as
engineers and accountants not wanting to settle in rural locations of the province. In
addition it is argued that many municipalities do not have suitable and reliable
management information systems and they therefore do not have accurate information
available on which to base managerial decisions.
5.4.2.1.5. Role clarification between political office bearers and officials
Although it does not represent the majority of IDP managers, 31% in figure 9 are of the
view that role clarification between politicians and officials needs more attention.
124
Q 1.5. Role clarification between
political office bearers and officials
0%
Figure 9
Interviewees in this regard were of the view that the relationship between politicians and
officials varied from a functional and even good relationship on the one hand to
relationships characterized by conflict on the other hand. Such relations were obviously
to the detriment of the municipality in that meaningful decision-making for the benefit of
the communities would often be neglected because of this. It was argued that the party
political dynamics in which senior officials of municipalities often held more senior party
positions than the councilors as their employers in the same municipality often meant
that it was difficult to ensure each role player execute his/her role as expected. This
leads to challenges in terms of the overall governance of municipalities that, if left
unattended, is ultimately to the disadvantage of the community.
The ProvinciallDP Planning Report 2011/2012 of the Free State Department of COGTA
further revealed that in terms of institutional arrangements and governance the following
were problematic:
125
• Governance structures such as Audit committees were not well established and
functioning.
• IDPs in many instances represented copy and paste exercises and therefore did
not necessarily include governance mechanisms tailor made for their
circumstances.
This issue thus needs attention for integrated strategic planning practices to be
improved.
5.4.2.1.6. Obstacles to institutional efficiency
Open ended questions were asked in the questionnaire regarding the obstacles to
institutional efficiency as well as how they could possibly be overcome. The majority of
participants cited the following as obstacles to institutional efficiency:
• Lack of financial resources/financial viability.
• Lack of skills and/capacity on the part of senior managers to lead and manage
municipalities.
• Political interference in municipal administration.
In dealing with these obstacles the following suggestions were made:
• Improved strategies for revenue generation and sustained implementation of
proper financial management measures.
• Appointment of competent and suitably qualified managers and staff.
• Information sharing with councilors as well as role clarification in order to
neutralize the negative impact of political interference.
126
5.4.2.2. The extent of local autonomy: financial and economic factors
influencing the municipal environment
In the second category of questions there was specific focus on the influence of
financial and economic factors on the municipal environment. The importance of this
topic can be seen in the fact that even under constitutional and legislative factors the
issue of financial resources came under discussion. In this category specific questions
on financial dependence and/or independence were posed to the participants.
5.4.2.2.1. The contribution of equitable share (ES) to basic services
The majority of the lOP managers (figure 10) held the view that ES contributed to the
provision of basic services to those who could not afford them. This view contradicts
earlier views by the interviewed participants that many municipalities had to revert to
using these ES allocations for operational purposes. There thus seems to be differing
views on this issue.
Q 2.1. The contribution of equitable
share (ES)to basic services
0%
Figure 10
127
When posing this question specifically to the interviewed participants (i.e. the COGTA
representatives and the independent consultant), the view was unanimous that
operational cost were often covered with these funds and there was specific reference
to the payment of salaries. It must once again be emphasized that it was the view of
those interviewed that these practices occurred mostly because municipalities felt they
had no other choice.
5.4.2.2.2. Participation in or benefits from conditional grant schemes
In terms of the participation in conditional grant schemes the majority of participants (the
lOP managers [figure 11] as well as those interviewed) were in agreement on
municipalities' participation in conditional grant schemes.
Q 2.2. Participation in or benefits
from conditional grant schemes
0%
Figure 11
An issue of concern that was raised in this regard was that conditional grants were
sometimes too little for the purpose it was needed for and secondly that the funds often
reached municipalities late in their financial cycles and therefore delaying the
operational implementation of projects. The draft IDP of the Fezile Dabi District
128
Municipality 2012 - 2017 (2012:162) for example states that the Municipal Infrastructure
Grant (MIG) allocation for water in one of its constituent local municipalities, Mafube, did
not enable them to provide the service according to the same pre-determined plan as
was intended.
5.4.2.2.3. Conditional grants are used for the purpose they were allocated for
to the municipality
While the majority of IDP managers (69%) agree that conditional grants are used for
their intended purpose there is 38% who totally disagree and a 6% no response (figure
12).
Q 2.3. Use of conditional grants for
purpose they are allocated
6% 0%
Figure 12
The interviewed participants were in agreement that it was more difficult to redirect the
utilisation of conditional grants, although it was not impossible. The extent to which this
was possible obviously depended on the application of control and accountability
measures by the grant provider.
129
5.4.2.2.4. Municipalities do not depend on conditional grant allocations to
sustain operational requirements
It could be argued that the response to this question had already been addressed.
While nobody disputes that, at least partially, the funds from conditional grants are
utilized for its intended purpose there is also recognition that operational rightly or
wrongly, these funds are utilized to fund operational expenses. Figure 13 therefore
states that 63% of lOP managers reckon that, at least to a degree, conditional grants
are utilized for operational expenditure, in line with what the interviewed participants had
earlier indicated.
Q 2.4. Dependence on conditional
grants to sustain operations
6%
Figure 13
5.4.2.2.5. Quality standards as a means of promoting value for money
Open ended questions were asked about whether municipalities have mechanisms in
place to ensure quality standards and whether the views of citizens were tested in
regard to service quality.
130
Both the lOP managers as well as the interviewed participants were of the view that
there were limited efforts in terms of service quality. lOP project plans' specifications
were to an extent regarded as criteria for executing projects at a certain level but in
general no measurable service quality tools were in place. Additionally it was argued
that especially in rural municipalities, service quality models were complicated and
costly and therefore almost impossible to acquire.
As far as including citizens, it was recognized that it was important and one suggestion
that regularly surfaced, was for municipalities to ensure that they conducted regular
customer satisfaction surveys.
5.4.2.3. Community participation in municipalities
Consultative governance at all spheres of government had been emphasized as the
cornerstone of a new South African democracy. Local government was, in this regard,
emphasized as it was viewed as the government agency closest to local communities.
In the literature review, it became apparent that there were legislative and regulatory
measures in place to ensure that communities were consulted in the processes of
compiling and, ultimately implementing municipal strategic plans. This question
category therefore aimed at determining the extent to which community participation
contributed to the establishment and implementation of integrated municipal strategies.
5.4.2.3.1. Implementing legislative requirements regarding community
participation
There was 100% agreement (figure 14) on the part of lOP managers as well as those
interviewed that Free State municipalities attempted to comply with legislative
requirements for community participation.
131
Q 3.1. Legislative requirements
regarding community participation
0%--0%
Figure 14
5.4.2.3.2. Involving communities in municipal affairs other than those
prescribed by legislation
The purpose of this question was to determine whether there were efforts to involve
citizens in municipal affairs outside of the processes that were legislated such as the
lOP process, budget and performance management. The idea was to ascertain
whether municipalities are committed to establish an overall culture of community
involvement. 81% of the lOP managers (figure 15) were satisfied that it was indeed the
case, but in contrast with the 100% agreement in regard to upholding legislative
prescriptions, 19% of the lOP managers were of the view that community participation
does not necessarily extend beyond legislative requirements.
132
Q.3.2.lnvolving communities in
affairs other than legislated
0%
Figure 15
In general those interviewed were also satisfied that communities were being involved
in municipal affairs through structures such as ward committees and other forums.
There were however question marks over the real impact of community involvement..
The argument was that instead of facilitating constructive contribution to decision-
making processes on the part of communities, consultative processes amounted to
mere information dissemination sessions. This was because communities did not really
understand municipal processes on the one hand, and secondly, because municipal
executives conducted these sessions merely for compliance purposes.
5.4.2.3.3. Integrating community inputs into municipal plans
Having people participating is one issue, integrating their views in decision-making a
different thing. 81% of the lOP managers (figure 16) were of the view that community
inputs were integrated in municipal plans.
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Q 3.3. Integrating community inputs
into municipal plans
0%
Figure 16
Those interviewed on the other hand argued that although this might be the case, there
were serious question marks over how realistic the inclusion of community inputs was
really and how impiementabie they were. The interviewees were of the view that inputs
on services and developments required often resulted in "wish lists" to be compiled
merely to "satisfy" community members without considering whether such services or
developments could realistically be financed or executed. This resulted in items being
included in service priority lists, but not executed and leaving communities dissatisfied,
frustrated and disillusioned with their municipalities.
5.4.2.3.4. Commitment of councilors and officials to community participation
Few of the lOP managers questioned the commitment of councilors and officials to the
philosophy of community engagement and participation as can be seen in figure 17.
134
Q 3.4. Commitment of councillors
and officials to participation
0%
Figure 17
Similar views were held by those interviewed although the issue of the capacity of
communities to make meaningful inputs as well as the ability of municipalities to really
execute everything suggested by communities was once again questioned. The
commitment to community participation can also be seen to be reflected in the fact that
all the District Municipalities as well as the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipalities, where
lOPs were scrutinized in this regard, had a specific reference to promoting community
or public participation.
5.4.2.3.5. Community participation free from political bias
In the theoretical discussions on community participation in Chapter Two of this thesis
one of the issues that was raised was the perception of party political bias in the
participatory processes. Although not in the majority, 38% of the lOP managers (figure
18) disagreed that community participation was free from political bias.
135
Q 3.5. Community participation free
from political bias
Figure 18
Although those interviewed conceded that participatory could be interpreted to be
mainly centred on those belonging to/supporting the majority party in council, they did
argue that these processes were in fact open to anyone. Furthermore judgment was
seen to be rather subjective and it was pointed out that one could not necessarily steer
away totally from councils executing its political mandate.
5.4.2.3.6. Commitment and challenges to and mechanisms to improve
community participation
Open ended questions were posed to the lOP mangers to illustrate examples of
councilor and officials' commitment to community participation, challenges to the
process and what can be done to improve participation by communities.
In terms of commitment of councilors and officials commitment could be seen to be
reflected in:
• Vibrant ward committees.
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• Open budget and lOP processes
• Councillor visibility in wards
As far as the challenges were concerned, the following issues were raised:
• Party political barriers in structures such as ward committees.
• A lack of trust by communities towards municipalities.
• Lack of commitment to constructive participation.
• Dysfunctional ward committees (contradicting the view of vibrant ward
committees under examples of commitment).
Finally in terms of what can be done to improve participation, the majority of participants
suggested:
• Increased commitment by all stakeholders including communities themselves.
• Use relevant media to inform people timeously of participatory processes.
• More open and transparent communication on the part of councilors and officials.
• Allocation of sufficient funds to execute participatory processes.
• Using modern technology such as social media to reach relevant parts of
communities such as the youth.
5.4.2.4. Defining local communities as municipal customers
In discussing the rationale for strategic planning in Chapter 3 of this thesis, it was
highlighted that organizations needed to identify their customers and be
knowledgeable about the issues that satisfy customers. In the municipal context it
was therefore argued that instead of merely viewing local residents as service users
needing to pay for the municipal services they utilized, the question was what can be
done to foster a more customer oriented relationship between municipalities and
local residents.
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5.4.2.4.1. Instilling the idea of communities as customers
Although 69% agree that there are conscious efforts to instill the idea of
communities as customers, 31% of the IDP managers who disagree represent a fair
number of those not in agreement (figure 19). This suggests that there is obviously
room for improvement.
Q 4.1. Instilling the idea of
communities as customers
0%
Figure 19
5.4.2.4.2. Promoting a customer focused approach amongst councilors
44% of the IDP managers (figure 20) are of the view that councilors are not sensitized
sufficiently regarding the resident as a customer. This represents a relatively high
figure and perhaps indicates the need for more collaborative efforts in this regard
between councillors and officials.
138
Q 4.2. Promoting customer focused
approach amongst councillors
6%
Figure 20
5.4.2.4.3. Reflecting customer care in municipal strategies
81% of the lOP managers (figure 21) participating in the study were satisfied that
customer care represented an integral part of municipal strategies.
Q 4.3. Reflecting customer care in
municipal strategies
0%
Figure 21
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5.4.2.4.4. Citizens' feedback on the nature and quality of services
75% of the lOP managers (figure 22) agree that citizens as customers are afforded the
opportunity to air their views on the nature and quality of municipal services.
Q 4.4. Citizens' feedback on the
nature and quality of services
6% 6%
Figure 22
5.4.2.4.5. Incorporating citizens' feedback in quality improvement efforts
75% of the lOP managers (figure 23) were of the view that citizens' feedback was
indeed incorporated into efforts to improve the quality of municipal services.
140
Q 4.5. Incorporating citizens'
feedback in quality improvement
0%
Figure 23
5.4.2.4.6. Improving the relationship between municipalities and their
customers
An open-ended question on what can be done to improve the relationship between
municipalities and residents as their customers was asked to the lOP managers and the
majority of responses included:
• Commitment of councilors.
• Regular progress report mechanisms such as meetings.
• Information sharing between municipalities and their customers.
• More emphasis on community based planning.
• Establishing customer care units.
• Effective implementation of the Batho Pele principles.
In regard to customer relations the three interviewed participants held the view that it
was an important issue of most municipalities in the Free State were aware, but that
they struggled to successfully implement. This was because customer care
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mechanisms were often complicated beyond the capacity levels especially in rural
municipalities as well as being too costly when considering financial constraints.
Therefore efforts to improve customer relations were often commendable but limited in
that the most suitable capacity and mechanisms were just not available.
5.4.2.5. Role-player contribution to lOP as municipal strategic plan
For any organizational plan to be compiled in a manner that will lead to the achievement
of organizational goals and objectives, it is essential that all the relevant role-players are
involved and play their relevant roles in the process. The purpose of this section of the
questionnaire was therefore to ascertain the extent to which each role-player
contributed to the process of compiling and implementing integrated strategic plans.
5.4.2.5.1. Role clarification between politicians, officials and communities
All the IDP managers (Figure 24) participating in the study agreed that there was
sufficient role clarification regarding their respective roles in the IDP process.
Q S.l.Role clarification between
politicians, officials and communities
O~O%
Figure 24
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This represents a significant difference from the COGTA representatives and the
independent consultant interviewed who were of the view that even in cases where role-
players understood their roles, it was questionable whether they at all times acted within
those role limits. Political motives in this regard played a major role and as was
mentioned earlier, communities tended to become mere bystanders in these processes.
5.4.2.5.2. Role-players understanding their contribution to the lOP process
It is significant that lOP managers are of the opinion that all role-players understand
their roles, but when asked about the clarity on their contribution to the process, 31% of
the participants (figure 25) were of the view that it was not clear to everyone.
Q 5.2. Role players understanding
their contribution in lOPs
0%
Figure 25
The interviewed COGTA representatives and independent consultant were of the
unanimous view that the process was in a significant number of instances merely too
complicated for a significant number of role-players. In addition they also referred to the
need for sector departments to play a more significant role in addressing specific
functional needs for which they are responsible.
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5.4.2.5.3. Councillors representing the needs of local residents equally
31% of lOP managers (figure 26) were of the view that the councilors die not represent
the needs of all the residents equally.
Q 5.3. Councillors representing the
needs of residents equally
0%
Figure 26
The interviewed participants agreed with the 69% of lOP managers and argued that in
their experience all councilors to the best of their ability attempted to address
community needs as equally as possible within the framework of the available
resources.
5.4.2.5.4. Functional relationship between councillors and officials
87% of the lOP managers (figure 27) reckoned that the relationship between councilors
and officials were functional to the extent that it contributed to the collective pursuit of
community satisfaction in terms of strategic planning.
144
Q 5.4. Functional relationship
between councillors and officials
0%
Figure27
The topic of councilor/official relations was discussed earlier and the interviewed
participants once again argued that a dysfunctional relationship between these two role-
players, for whatever reason, could be very disadvantageous for local communities. It
was once again stated that this relationship varied from one municipality to the other
and that it, to a degree also depended on the personalities involved and their attitudes.
5.4.2.5.5. Local residents' involvement in the lOP process
Despite a 13% non-response rate (figure 28), the remaining 87% of IDP managers were
of the view that local residents were informed about and involved in the IDP process.
145
Q 5.5. Local residents' involvement in
lOP process
Figure 28
In line with the earlier discussion on community participation the COGTA
representatives as well as the independent consultant agreed about the efforts to
involve communities, but were less positive about the actual impact of such
involvement. Emphasis was placed on educating communities as to the workings of the
process so as to ensure that realistic goals and targets could be set. In this discussion
it was also emphasized that municipalities should guard against external consultants
merely performing "cut and paste" exercises in compiling lOPs as it was also a primary
contributor to unrealistic lOPs.
5.4.2.5.6. Cooperation in terms of lOP between municipalities and other
spheres of government
88% of the lOP managers (figure 29) are satisfied that the level of cooperation between
the municipalities and other spheres of government in regard to the lOP process is
sufficient.
146
Q 5.6. Cooperation between
municipalities and other government
spheres
6%
Figure 29
The interviewed participants were more concerned about the level of cooperation. The
independent consultant held the view that the two departments mostly contributing to
municipalities in terms of lOP cooperation were COGTA and treasury. His view was
that the sector departments could and should play a more significant role if functional
service issues were to be addressed. The COGTA representatives also felt that more
could be done in terms of engaging the sector departments, but once again emphasized
that constructive cooperation could only take place in a climate that is conducive
politically and from an organizational point of view.
5.4.2.5.7. General obstacles to and the involvement of communities in the lOP
process
Open ended questions on the obstacles to and involvement of communities in the lOP
processes were posed to the lOP managers.
147
In terms of the obstacles the following were cited by the majority of participants:
• Limited financial resources.
• Lack of commitment.
• Political interference.
• Lack of understanding of the process.
In terms of how the obstacles could be overcome and communities be involved the
participants highlighted more emphasis on community based planning, allocation of
funding to the lOP processes and more open and transparent communication.
5.4.2.6. Translating lOP as part of the overall local government policy
framework into action
The lOP as part of the integrated strategic planning framework forms part of
government overall policy framework to, through local government, transform
government services to such an extent that community needs and expectations are met.
In Chapter 4 of this thesis it was highlighted that in order for any government policy to
be of value there were certain requirements in terms of formulating, implementing and
evaluating the policy. This part of the questionnaire therefore dealt with the issue of
translating the lOP as part of the overall policy framework of government into action that
would ultimately be to the benefit of local communities.
5.4.2.6.1. Understanding the lOP as part of the overall local government policy
framework
76% of the lOP managers (figure 30) in the Free State who participated in the study
were of the view that there was a clear understanding amongst all role players about the
contribution of the lOP process to the overall policy framework of local government.
148
While the outstanding 24% who disagree does not represent a large figure
comparatively, it indicates that there is some doubt among the lOP managers if the
overwhelming agreement with certain aspects in this questionnaire is considered.
Q 6.1. lOP as part of the overall local
government policy framework
Figure 30
The interviewed participants, as has been the trend, do not same overwhelming
optimism although they emphasise the fact that their view is not necessarily a criticism
of the commitment of municipal role-players. Once again the capacity of an
understanding how the various municipal process work was cited, but significantly in
this regard was reference to the fact that municipal departments often work in silos. An
example of this was the reference to the fact that lOPs were often compiled with limited
inputs from the financial department or directorate of the municipality and that this was
unthinkable when the supposed link to lOP and the budget was considered. This
therefore needed specific attention to improve implementing the integrated nature of
strategic planning.
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5.4.2.6.2. lOP targets as a direct response to expressed community needs
In discussing the theoretical rationalization for public policy, it was emphasized that one
of the main reason for developing policy, was to respond to the needs of communities
as expressed by those communities, therefore this question. 81% of the lOP managers
(figure 31)were satisfied that the targets expressed in lOPs reflected the needs as
expressed by communities.
Q 6.2. lOP targets as direct response
to expressed community needs
0%
Figure 31
The interviewees were not necessarily in disagreement, but argued that many targets
included in lOPs were often unrealistic and therefore not achievable. A further issue of
concern was that many municipal councils easily amended their targets within current
lOP cycles making the management of pursuing targets extremely challenging for
municipal executive managers.
150
5.4.2.6.3. lOPs reflecting a fair representation of the expectations of all
residents
87% of the lOP managers (figure 32) were of the view that lOPs were a fair reflection of
the needs of all residents and the interviewed participants in the study mostly agreed.
They did emphasise the need to ensure that the lOP is practically implemented and also
the need for constant communication with communities to stay abreast of community
views.
Q 6.3. lOPs reflecting a fair
representation of residents'
expectations
0% 13%
Figure 32
5.4.2.6.4. Resource allocation in line with achieving strategic objectives
No policy and its subsequent strategies will translate into any action without resources.
75% of the lOP managers (figure 33) were of the view that the resource allocation was
in line with achieving the strategic objectives.
151
Q 6.4. Resource allocation in line with
achieving strategic objectives
6%
Figure 33
The interviewees once again referred to poor financial management practices as one of
the major threats to implementing strategic plans. While the money for projects was
generally available, it was imperative in their view to have the proper financial
management practices and good corporate governance in place. An additional
resource issue revolved around the human resource capacity where participants
emphasized the need to appoint the right people at the right times as well as addressing
the issue of vacant posts in many municipalities that are not filled.
5.4.2.6.5. SDBIPs as sufficient operational plans
Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plans (SDBIPs) were discussed in
Chapter four as the operational plans for ensuring the practical implementation of IDPs.
88% of the IDP managers (figure 34) were satisfied that the SDBIPs were sufficient to
make IDPs operational.
152
Q 6.5. SDBIPsas sufficient
operational plans
0%
Figure 34
The interviewees were satisfied with the concept of the SOBIP to operationalise lOPs.
They however pointed to a number of factors necessary for it to succeed including the
capacity, commitment and political will on the part of municipal and political executives.
In the absence thereof, SOBIPs would not be effective. They further emphasized in this
regard the link between the lOPs, budgets and performance systems of the
municipalities and stressed that these processes cannot be treated in isolation in order
for tangible results to become visible for local communities.
5.4.2.6.6. SDBIPs as monitoring and evaluation mechanisms
The majority of lOP managers (81%, figure 35) regarded SOBIPs as sufficient
monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
153
Q 6.6. SDBIPs as monitoring and
evaluation mechanisms
0%
Figure 35
The interviewed participants' view on SOBIPs as monitoring and evaluation was once
again based on the extent to which it was successfully implemented and whether it
integrated other strategic processes.
5.4.2.6.7. The impact of lOP on community well-being
An open-ended question on whether lOP will have the necessary tangible impact on
local communities in terms of services and development. The majority of the lOP
managers thought that lOP could lead to improved development and service delivery
only if all the role-players were committed and the process was therefore implemented
as intended.
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5.4.2.7. Leadership competencies for implementing IOP- municipal managers
and other managers responsible for lOP
From an organisational perspective it is imperative for the leadership team to have the
skills, capacity, but moreover the standing in the organization to lead municipalities to
the successful implementation of integrated strategic plans.
5.4.2.7.1. The authority and influence of municipal managers to facilitate the
formulation and implementation of the process
81% of the lOP managers (figure 36) were of the view that municipal managers possess
the authority and influence to lead the formulation and implementation of lOPs.
Q 7.1. Authority and influence of
municipal managers - formulating
and implementing lOPs
0%
Figure 36
The interviewed participants recognized the legislative authority that municipal
managers enjoyed in terms of executing their duties regarding lOPs. They cautioned
that this did not automatically translate to the effective and efficient exercising of such
authority and that the political environment, leadership personality traits as well as skills
155
and capacity once again were prerequisites for municipal mangers playing their rightful
roles.
5.4.2.7.2. Municipal managers and decision making discretion
The context within which this question was asked related to the organizational
environment and not necessarily discretion in terms of legislation. 94% of the lOP
managers (Figure 37) were of the view that municipal managers possessed sufficient
decision making discretion towards achieving strategic objectives.
Q 7.2. Municipal managers and
decision-making discretion
0% 6%
Figure 37
The interviewed participants once again emphasized the importance of personality,
knowledge and the political environment in this regard. If there was a dysfunctional
relationship between managers and their political counterparts, decision-making
discretion was likely to be negatively influenced.
156
5.4.2.7.3. Municipal managers establishing an organisational culture around
lOP
69% of the lOP managers (figure 38) were of the view that municipal managers
succeeded in establishing an organizational culture in which the lOP is known to all
employees as the primary municipal strategy and philosophy. This represents a
relatively low positive response in comparison to the rest of the questionnaire.
Q 7.3. Organisational culture and lOP
Figure 38
The interviewees, perhaps in line with the thoughts of the lOP managers, argued that
very seldom was lOP cascaded down to the lowest levels in the organization. This
prevented the very people who had to implement the lOP from taking ownership of the
process. Work therefore needed to be done to ensure that all employees recognized
and subsequently executed their duties with a view of achieving the overall municipal
strategy.
157
5.4.2.7.4. Municipal managers infusing ethical values into municipalities in
order to strive towards continuous overall organisational
improvement
38% of the IDP managers (figure 39) were concerned with the presence of ethical
values as a means of ensuring continuous organizational performance.
Q 7.4. Promoting ethical values
Figure 39
Interviewees in regard to ethics referred to the importance of implementing existing
organizational mechanisms such as the codes of conduct for municipal councilors and
officials. They furthermore stressed the importance of a culture of ethics through
information sharing and open and transparent processes.
5.4.2.7.5. Most important leadership challenges for municipalities
An open-ended question in which participants had to cite the most important leadership
challenges for municipalities was asked.
158
The majority of IDP managers referred to:
• Shortages of financial and human resources.
• Appointment of the wrong human resources.
• Undue delegation of the IDP function and low interest in and commitment to IDP
at political and managerial executive level.
• Political interference in municipal administration.
A final question to the interviewees on the question of credible IDPs was posed. They
were of the view that the credibility framework as provided by the national department of
Cooperative Governance and Traditional affairs had a noble intention, but that there
needed to be consistency because the framework had been altered on too many
occasions. It was also suggested that for many of the small rural municipalities in the
province the framework was too complicated.
5.5. CONCLUSION
In this chapter, the methodology for conducting the research for this thesis was
explained. A mixed method approach was followed in which quantitative and qualitative
data collection techniques were utilized to access information from various sources for
the purpose of the study.
lOP managers in the Free State, representatives from the Free State Department of
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and an independent consultant on local
government affairs participated in the research. A questionnaire and interviews as data
collection tools were employed to gain insight into a variety of aspects regarding IDP
and related process in order to establish the conditions that were necessary for
implementing integrated strategic planning.
159
An interesting observation in regard to the responses received was that there seemed
to be a consistent support for and positive reaction to lOP managers' experience when
they answered the Likert scale questions, but in various instances their responses to the
open ended questions to a degree contradicted their responses to the scale questions.
Many of the open-ended question responses were in line with the responses of the
COGTA representatives and the independent consultants.
A general conclusion to the responses received could be summarized to include the
following:
• The lOP as part of the integrated strategic planning process is generally
regarded as a positive mechanism.
• Participants believe that the process of integrated strategic planning can lead to
improved service delivery and development.
• Participants are concerned about the collective understanding of and
commitment towards lOP.
• Participants view political meddling and interference as a serious threat to the
successful implementation of lOP as strategic plan.
• Participants were concerned about the lack of financial and human resources for
the purpose of driving integrated strategic planning.
In the final chapter these issues will be discussed when potential recommendations are
suggested for improving on the current status quo in regard to lOP and the integrated
strategic planning process in order to ensure that municipalities fuifiII their constitutional
mandate in society.
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CHAPTER SIX
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1. INTRODUCTION
The final chapter of this thesis is devoted to attaining the initial aim of the study as well
as providing an overview of the most important findings. These findings include those
that emanate from the literature review as well as the empirical component of the study.
In addition, this chapter will provide some recommendations, based on the findings of
the study that will potentially assist in improving the status quo in regard to the topic
under discussion.
6.2. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
The aim of the study, discussed in Chapter One, was to investigate the implementation
of and provide recommendations on improving integrated strategic plans in Free State
municipalities. This was because municipalities are, firstly, primarily responsible for the
provision of basic services to communities as well as facilitating development in such
communities. Secondly, the concept of integrated strategic planning was, from a
legislative and regulatory framework, identified as the tool primarily to be utilized by
municipalities to achieve their service delivery and development objectives.
The hypothesis of the study was that improving the implementation of integrated
strategic plans would enhance the quality of municipal services and development in
Free State municipalities, because, in terms of the problem statement there was initial
161
evidence that local communities in South Africa, including the Free State province, were
not entirely satisfied with the level and quality of services rendered to them by their
municipalities. It was envisaged that the results of the study would provide a basis for
suggesting interventions to improve the existing situation in local government in the
Free State and which would ultimately also be applicable to municipalities in South
Africa as a whole.
In Chapter Two, important dimensions of local government in a South African context
were discussed. The rationale for this was to establish the place of local government in
the overall function of the South African system of government towards promoting the
general welfare of its citizens. Service delivery and development was emphasized as
an important aspect of governance in a South African context when considering the
discrepancies in the level and quality of services to citizens.
The importance of local autonomy was discussed as an important prerequisite for local
communities to, together with their municipalities, take ownership of governing their
local areas. From a theoretical point of view it was ascertained that local government in
South Africa could not be defined to be wholly autonomous. This was because the
South African constitution effectively renders South Africa to possess characteristics of
a federal state on the one hand as well as characteristics of a unitary state on the other.
In terms of federal characteristics the Constitution emphasizes increased responsibility
on the traditionally "lower tiers" of government, namely provincial and especially local
government to play an active role in satisfying the needs and expectations of South
African citizens .. Local government is particularly highlighted because of its location, i.e.
it is the first point of contact of citizens with government and in terms of powers and
functions, local government is responsible for basic amenities that communities need.
The Constitution, for the first time in South Africa's constitutional history, guarantees
certain functions and powers to local government which increases the notion of
autonomous local government. However, it was established that, in spite of reference
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to local government functions and powers, local government remained bound to the
other spheres of government for various reasons. The Constitution, in Section 40 (3)
refers to the three spheres of government, namely national, provincial and local, being
distinctive, but importantly, interrelated and interdependent, thus negating the notion of
total autonomy. In addition it was found that, from a theoretical point of view, there were
two main characteristics upon which local autonomy rested. Firstly there was the extent
to which legislative regulation determined the agenda of local government. From a
South African point of view, it soon became clear that from a legislative point of view,
there was overwhelming central regulation. Secondly it was established that local
autonomy would be determined by the extent to which municipalities are financially
viable and self-sustainable. Once again, it became apparent that there was significant
dependence on national government especially, for the financial sustainability of South
African local government.
The literature review on the interdependent and interrelated nature of governance in
South Africa has proven that from a regulatory perspective, one could not possible think
of local government in South Africa being autonomous in the true meaning of the term.
In addition, in the empirical investigation, the majority of the participants who completed
questionnaires as well as those interviewed, referred to the scarcity of, as well as
problems regarding the management of financial resources. The literature as well as
the empirical findings therefore clearly dispels the notion of autonomous local
government in South Africa.
Economic development was identified as an additional functional dimension to the
traditional basic service delivery roles of a municipality. It was argued that in order for
municipalities being able to fuifiII its constitutional mandate of promoting economic
development, it needed expert human resources to do so and secondly, create realistic
conditions to optimally utilize potential economic development opportunities in the area
of municipalities. The empirical research conducted for this thesis suggests that as far
163
as economic development is concerned, municipalities tend to set unrealistic targets. In
addition, it remains a fact that the financial resources especially as well as human
expertise, remains scarce in efforts to realise potential opportunities.
The importance of community participation in municipal processes to ensure inclusive
decision-making and ultimately service provision to the satisfaction of municipal
customers was furthermore discussed in this chapter. Although there were
constitutional and legislative obligations on municipalities to involve citizens more
regularly in municipal processes, it was imperative that this philosophy became a
natural part of the organizational existence of municipalities and not one necessitated
by law only. A number of challenges to effective community participation were finally
identifies and it was argued that these challenges needed to be neutralized for the
process of community participation to become an effective tool in the municipal
management process.
Finally in this chapter it was argued that for all these dimensions of local government to
be effectively addressed, it was necessary for municipalities as organizations to
undergo the necessary institutional development and transformation in order for each
and every municipal political representative as well as employee to understand the
direction the municipality wants to embark upon and their respective roles in that
journey.
Chapter Three examined the concept of integrated strategic planning with specific
reference to local government in South Africa. This was because from a legislative
perspective, an integrated strategic planning approach in terms of which municipal
Integrated Development Plans (lOPs) as strategic plans, budgets and performance
management systems were portrayed as the cornerstone for managing municipalities in
the country. Therefore managing a municipality from this angle was of great importance
164
to ensure that the dimensions of local government as discussed in Chapter Two would
be adequately addressed.
Particular emphasis was placed on the right of existence of organizations and within this
context the need for strategic thought to identify the business and organization concepts
as well as the stakeholder development and organizational transformation to explain the
right of existence of local government (therefore municipalities) in South Africa. This led
to an extensive discussion on the major activities of municipalities as organizations as
well as the primary customers or clients for which municipalities were responsible.
In order to develop and implement any strategy and translate it into meaningful activities
requires the availability of essential resources. With this in mind the importance of
securing sufficient resources (human, financial and other applicable resources) was
highlighted. The issue of human resources inter alia explored the role of each municipal
role-player with specific reference to the strategic planning framework. Challenges
pertaining to financial resources were discussed and included the scarcity of money as
well as financial management problems experienced by municipalities including
solvency, liquidity and the allocation of funds towards the growth of municipalities.
Finally, in terms of the integrated nature of strategic planning in a local government
context, it was ascertained that although the strategic planning process should consider
the long term goals of the organization, the link between the lOP as strategic plan and
the budget and performance management system as operational management tools
was essential in ensuring that plans were translated into meaningful action.
The purpose of Chapter Four was to discuss Integrated Development Planning as an
essential part of the overall policy framework for South African local government in
165
addition to it being the primary strategic framework for municipalities in the country. The
discussion commenced with a discussion of policy for the purpose of public
organizations and more specifically municipalities.
Public policy from a local government perspective was discussed within the following
contextual frameworks:
• Public policy as a means to achieve predetermined objectives.
• Public policy as an authoritative representation of constituency values.
• Public policy as a response to societal shortcomings.
The empirical information collected indicates that the integrated strategic planning
approach to local governance is regarded as suitable in terms of determining objectives
to address societal values and shortcomings. It was made clear by the participants
however, that the extent to which integrated strategic planning would succeed, would
depend on the setting of realistic objectives as well as the sensible utilisation and
management of resources, especially money. The chapter concluded with a discussion
on the link between public policy and strategy in order to ascertain how the theory and
practice of these processes were required to contribute to the success of municipalities
in South Africa.
In Chapter Five an outline of the research methodology for administering the empirical
component of the thesis was firstly provided. A mixed method approach, in which
qualitative and quantitative techniques were used in the research design, was followed.
Data collection techniques included a questionnaire that was sent out to all lOP
managers in the twenty four Free State municipalities as well as interviews conducted
with senior managers from the provincial department of Cooperative Governance and
166
Traditional Affairs as well as an independent consultant involved in the compilation of
municipal lOPs.
From the feedback of the participants in the empirical research it was evident that the
majority regarded lOP as a necessary and suitable intervention to facilitate service
delivery and the development of local communities. They did however express
reservations about the compilation and implementation phases in the lOP process
which they believed largely contributed to the problems experienced in the successful
utilization of the lOP as part of the integrated strategic planning process. Reasons for
these reservations included:
• Concern about the collective understanding of the process by all role-players, i.e.
a perceived lack of a common understanding of the process by elected
councilors, appointed officials and local citizens in municipal areas.
• In the light of the above, participants were of the view that many targets set in the
strategic plans of municipalities were unrealistic as they were unattainable due to
a variety of factors.
• The party political nature that characterizes the process and thus prevents
decisions that are objective and neutral and are in the best interests of the
community.
• A lack of ownership of the process due to the fact that consultants were in many
cases responsible for drafting strategic plans thus excluding the municipal role-
players from owning the process. This especially applied to local communities
where the process of community participation was often regarded to be
superficial.
• Financial and human resources were regarded as scarce commodities due to
inter alia a general lack of funds, poor financial management and corruption as
well as an inability to appoint the most suitable human resources do drive the
process.
167
• Generally, the process of integrated strategic planning was regarded as
complicated and that although many municipalities complied with having their
plans in place, it did not necessarily translate into tangible benefits to the local
communities.
6.3. RECOMMENDATIONS
On the basis of the findings in Chapter Five and this summary of the study in the
previous section, the following recommendations are suggested for improving the status
quo and ensuring that integrated strategic plans have the desired effect in local
communities.
• It is imperative for each role-player in a municipality to understand the potential
advantages of integrated strategic planning for the municipality. The empirical
research provides sufficient evidence that some municipalities in the Free State
miss obvious opportunities of optimally utilising the strategic planning process to
the benefit of their organisations as well as communities merely because role-
player synergy is insufficient. Therefore elected councillors and appointed
officials should view the process as more than merely a compliance exercise and
rather as a sincere effort to improve the living conditions of local communities
and creating an environment in which such communities can become partners in
such efforts.
Efforts to educate and train the various role-players should be continuous, but is
important to regularly monitor the impact of such education and training
interventions. This can be done through after-care programmes as part of the
education and training process in which the nature of participation in the
integrated strategic planning process as well as decisions taken can be
measured against the knowledge gained in education and training initiatives. It
168
should furthermore be integrated, meaning that it is imperative that there is
correlation between the content of education and training efforts for elected
councillors, appointed officials and local communities. The important issue is
ensuring that the various role-players fulfil their designated roles as sufficiently as
possible by participating in the integrated strategic planning process as informed
and competent participants.
• Local communities are frustrated when a municipal plan promises something and
it is ultimately not delivered. Non-delivery can occur for a variety of reasons one
of which includes the setting of targets that are over-ambitious. Municipalities, in
their decision-making processes should therefore guard against this pitfall and
carefully consider what is achievable or not. In this manner municipalities may
satisfy fewer needs or a particular need to a limited extent, but will ensure that
they are able to honour their initial commitment.
It is furthermore vital that, for a particular lOP/financial/performance cycle,
municipalities implement items prioritised for that particular cycle. It would be
understandable to amend priorities and therefore activities mid-cycle due to
unforeseen emergency situations, but that should be the only reason for such
changes. Mid-cycle changes for any other reason is often a major contributing
factor in alienating communities from their municipalities and should therefore be
avoided.
• Expecting a party-political free environment in local government would not only
be unrealistic, but also virtually impossible. The electoral system used in local
government ensures that party political activity is and will for time to come remain
an integral part of the system. It is however possible for municipal councils and
their officials to make communities more tolerant toward party political activity by
169
ensuring objective decision making and where the integrity of decisions is above
reproach.
Councils do have a political mandate, but acts and decisions in which subjective
party political considerations cloud sound and objective decision-making not only
frustrates the would-be receivers of services, but also seriously jeopardise the
integrity of the municipality as an organisation. It leads to the lack of trust to
which the participants in the empirical part of this study referred to.
With regard to ensuring that party politics do not become a stumbling block in
municipalities, it is imperative that political parties themselves take responsibility
for their representatives. It is not uncommon, but extremely unfair to expect of
appointed officials to try and explain to elected political representatives, the limits
of their powers and decision-making authority. It often leads to a serious
breakdown in the working relationship between these two role-players. On the
other hand it should always be remembered that a functional relationship
between politicians on the one hand and officials and communities on the other
hand can only enhance the trust relationship and decision-making process in
local government. It is therefore of vital importance that political parties
sufficiently train their representatives, but more importantly, that they
continuously monitor their activities in municipal councils.
• Municipal ownership of the integrated strategic planning process is non-
negotiable for the process to be acceptable to all concerned and in the context of
this discussion this ownership relies heavily on the following factors. Firstly, it is
not necessarily wrong to involve external consultants in the process of drafting
IDPs, municipal budgets, performance management plans or any other plan.
However, the involvement of consultants becomes problematic where there is no
170
skills transfer in the process. Question is therefore whether in the process
assisting municipalities (at a tariff) there is a transfer of skills to municipal
employees in order for them to perform the same function in the future at a much
lower cost to the municipality. The involvement of consultants is furthermore
problematic where such a consultant uses a standardised methodology for
drafting municipal plans without taking into consideration the peculiar situational
characteristics of that particular area. Municipal areas in South Africa differ from
one another in various aspects such as geographically, politically, financially and
socially and it is important for these factors to be considered in the drafting of
municipal plans.
Secondly, an important part of owning the integrated strategic planning process
revolves around or should revolve around the extent to which the local
community has influenced discussion, consideration and finally deciding on the
process and/or parts thereof. The importance of community participation had
been discussed at length in various parts of this thesis. A danger in consultant
involvement in local government is that, in many instances, the consultants'
interaction with municipal councillors and officials is equalled to being interaction
with the entire community. The consultants together with councillors and officials
therefore assume what the needs and views of the local populace are.
Assumptions in this context are dangerous and should be avoided at all cost by
ensuring that participatory processes for communities take place, but more
importantly that the views as expressed by local communities are genuinely
considered and not only invited for the sake of complying with legislative
requirements. Only paying lip-service to the notion of consultative governance is
another factor that will alienate the municipality from its inhabitants. In the
theoretical discussion on community participation in Chapter Two, Nyalunga
emphasised the fact that, in spite of community participation being compulsory in
terms of legislation, the process often fails due to the party-political nature of the
171
process as well as residents not seeing the impact of their "contributions in
council decisions. These pitfalls should be avoided at all cost.
• No organisation can achieve its objectives without resources. For the purpose of
this thesis financial and human resources were emphasised. Money in a South
African municipal context is important at two levels, namely the availability
thereof and furthermore the management thereof.
The availability of money is of great importance when considering the
responsibility of municipalities in regard to rendering basic services and, in
addition, facilitating development at various societal levels. It is of even greater
importance when considering the discrepancies in terms of availability and
quality in a South African context. In terms of the sources of revenue,
municipalities rely on the intergovernmental fiscal relationship with the provincial
and national spheres of government for money on the one hand and on
generating income themselves through collecting service fees on the other.
In terms of the intergovernmental fiscal relationships it is necessary to build a
sound relationship between a municipality and provincial and national
departments. This means that municipalities must, in their planning, ensure that
they accurately determine their financial needs and also consider the
arrangements of the sector departments from which they wish to access funds.
A lack of coordination between funding sector departments and municipalities
can lead to delays in the transfer of funds and therefore lead to delays in services
being provided. The relationship between municipalities and the other spheres of
government in terms of funding can therefore not be overemphasised and needs
to be constantly nurtured.
172
In addition to the intergovernmental fiscal relationship, municipalities need to take
greater responsibility to recover outstanding funds from local communities. Non-
payment for services continues to impede municipalities in their efforts to
manage themselves effectively. No organisation can be kept operational without
recovering basic operational expenses. Municipalities should therefore establish
a culture of payment for services by continuously making communities aware of
the benefits for themselves of paying for services and, in addition, implement
relevant credit control and debt collection procedures consistently if they want to
effectively recover all outstanding debt.
Apart from accessing money, the effective management of financial resources
has been indicated in this empirical study as well as in literature to be one of the
primary challenges for municipalities. Municipal financial divisions firstly need to
be staffed with the most suitable people. This means at management level as
well as operational level. In addition to having suitable staff, any deviation from
sound financial management practices should be avoided and in the case of its
occurrence, be addressed as a matter of urgency.
The issue of human resources is critical to the success of managing
municipalities effectively. The issue of cadre deployment has been raised as a
pitfall in appointing suitable candidates in key positions in municipalities. While
the appointment of politically loyal personnel in key managerial positions is hard
to avoid, it is imperative for decision-makers to start objectively considering
whether these appointees can actually perform the key responsibilities attached
to a particular positions. It is hard to see the status quo in terms of limited ability
to implement integrated strategic plans, the occurrence of corruption and
dissatisfied local communities changed unless people with suitable qualifications
and skills are appointed in municipalities.
173
• The complicated nature of the overall process of integrated strategic planning at
this stage in the development of South African local government should be
analysed at two levels. It is firstly important to lessen the impact of the
complication by ensuring that suitably qualified people manage municipalities,
politically and strategically as was mentioned in the previous paragraphs.
Finally it is important for municipalities to engage lawmakers at provincial and
national level and ensure that there is a continuous evaluation of the current
system. This can be done through structures such as the South African Local
Government Association (SALGA) that exists for facilitating sound relationships
between municipalities and relevant role-players in the governance process. If,
in the final analysis, the existing policy framework, does not have the desired
effect in terms of satisfying community needs and expectations then changes to it
or components thereof have to be considered.
6.4. CONCLUSION
This study has attempted to facilitate improvement in the management of municipalities
in the Free State and, ultimately, the rest of South Africa by considering key questions
in relation to integrated strategic planning. It is hoped that the with the literature
consulted and exhausted as well as the findings of the empirical component of the
study, a basis has been laid that can facilitated in the improvement of managing South
African municipalities. Only through consistent improvement can the constitutional
mandate of local government as a key government sphere be achieved.
174
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192
APPENDIX A
STATUTES OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA-CONSTITUTION
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Acl,
Schs. 4 - 5 No. 108 of 1996 Schs. 4 - 5
SCHEDULE 4
FUNCTIONAL AREAS OF CONCURRENT NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL LEGISLATIVE COMPETENCE
PART A
Administration of indigenous forests
Agriculture
Airports other than international and national airports
Animal control and diseases
Casinos, racing, gambling and wagering, excluding lotteries and sports pools
Consumer protection
Cultural matters
Disaster management
Education at all levels, excluding tertiary education
Environment
Health services
Housing
Indigenous law and customary law, subject to Chapter 12 of the Constitution
Industrial promotion
Language policy and the regulation of official languages to the extent that the provisions of section 6 of the Constitution
expressly confer upon the provincial legislatures legislative competence
Media services directly controlled or provided by the provincial government, subject to section 192
Nature conservation, excluding national parks, national botanical gardens and marine resources
(Issue No 38) 1331 (36)
Police to the extent that the provisions of Chapter II of the Constitution confer upon the provinciallegislatul-es
legislative competence
Pollution control
Population development
Property transfer fees
Provincial public enterprises in respect of the functional areas in this Schedule and Schedule 5
Public transport
Public works only in respect of the needs of provincial government departments in the discharge of their responsibilities
to administer functions specifically assigned to them in terms of the Constitution or any other law
Regional planning and development
Road traffic regulation
Soil conservation
Tourism
Trade
Vehicle licensing
Welfare services
PARTB
The following local government matters to the extent set out in section 15.5 (6) (a) and (7):
Air pollution
Building regulations
Child care facilities
Electricity and gas reticulation
Firefighting services
Local tourism
Municipal airports
Municipal planning
Municipal health services
Municipal public transport
Municipal public works only in respect of the needs of municipalities in the discharge of their responsibilities to
administer functions specifically assigned to them under this Constitution or any other law
Pontoons, ferries, jetties, piers and harbours, excluding the regulation of international and national shipping and
Stormwater management systems in built areas
Trading regulations
Water and sanitation services limited to potable water supply systems and domestic waste-water and sewage disposal
matters related thereto
systems
193
Schedule 5
FUNCTIONAL AREAS OF EXCLUSIVE PROVINCIAL LEGISLATIVE COMPETENCE
Abattoirs
.41 nbulance services
Archives other than national archives
Libraries other than national libraries
Liquor licences
Museums other than national museums
(Issue No 33)
PART'4
133 1 (37)
STA TUTEoSF THE REPUBLIoCF SOUTHA FRICA-CONSTITWIONAL LAW
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa,
5 C -5. - 6 No. 108 of 1996 SchS. 5 - 6
Provincial planning
Provincial cultural matters
Provincial recreation and amenities
Provincial sport
Provincial roads and traffic
Veterinary services, excluding regulation of the profession
PARTB
The following local government matters to the extent set out for provinces in section 155 (6) (0) and (7):
Beaches and amusement facilities
Billboards and the display of advertisements in public places
Cemeteries, funeral parlours and crematoria
Cleansing
Control of public nuisances
Control of undertakings that sell liquor to the public
Facilities for the accommodation -are and burial of animals
Fencing and fences
Licensing of dogs
Licensing and control of undertakings that sell food to the public
Local amenities
Local sport facilities
Markets
Municipal abattoirs
Municipal parks and recreation
Municipal roads
Noise pollution
Pounds
Public places
Refuse removal, refuse dumps and solid waste disposal
Street trading
Street lighting
'Traffic and parking
194
APPENDIX B
QUESTIONNAIRE FOR Ph.D. THESIS: IMPLEMENTING INTEGATED STRATEGIC PLANS IN
FREESTATEMUNICIPALITIES
The purpose of the questionnaire is to test your opinion concerning various aspects relating to the
implementation of integrated strategic plans in your municipality. Specific attention will be paid to
those aspects that you perceive as positive/negative as well as suggestions for improving the current
state of affairs. Pleasenote that all information provided will be treated with strict confidentiality.
It should not take more than 45 minutes for you to complete the questionnaire. If you wish to
complete the questionnaire electronically, you may return it to Lyndon du Plessis:
dplesslm@ufs.ac.za. If you have any enquiries, you may contact me at (051) 401 2284. It would be
highly appreciated if the completed questionnaire could be returned by 15 NOVEMBER 2012.
Title, name and surname {optional}?
Current designation {e.g. Municipal
Manager IMayor}?
Experience in current position?
Please indicate the District in which
your municipality is situated
Except for where stated otherwise, please answer the questions on a scale from 1 to 4. The
following meanings are attached to various values:
l=Totally Disagree
2=Disagree
3=Agree Partly
4=Totally Agree
(a column for recording no answers [for the researcher] was also provided)
Please indicate your answer with an X in the appropriate column.
1. The extent of local autonomy: Constitutional and legislative factors and the
functioning of the municipality
1.1. The municipality exercises its constitutional 1 2 3 4
right of governing the local area without undue
interference by other spheres of government.
1.2. The municipality has sufficient financial and 1 2 3 4
administrative capacity at its disposal to achieve its
objectives with relative independenceas prescribed in
the Constitution.
1.3. There is sufficient national and provincial support 1 2 3 4
to strengthen the capacity of the municipality to
execute its functions.
1.4. Municipal structures e.g. municipal committees, as 1 2 3 4
provided for in the Municipal Structures Act, 117 of
1998, function effectively and efficiently in contributing
to operational competence of the municipality.
1.5. Sufficient role clarification exists and these roles 1 2 3 4
are adhered to by political office bearers as well as
officials.
1.6. What, in your opinion, is the biggest practical obstacle institutional efficiency in the
municipality? Please motivate your answer.
1.7. What suggestions can you make to overcome the obstacle referred to in 1.6?
2. The extent of local autonomy: financial and economic factors influencing the
municipal environment
2.1. The Equitable Share allocation to the municipality
contributes to the provision of basic services to those
inhabitants who cannot afford such services.
1 2 3 4
2.2. The municipality participates in and/or benefits 1 2 3 4
from one or more national government conditional
grant schemes (e.g. Municipal Infrastructure Grant) in
order to facilitate the rendering of specific services to
local communities.
2.3. The conditional grants are utilized for the purpose 1 2 3 4
they were allocated for to the municipality.
2.4. The municipality does not depend on conditional 1 2 3 4
grant allocations to sustain the operational
requirements of managing the municipality.
2
2.5. How does your municipality ensure that services rendered comply with quality
requirements? Please explain.
2.6. Are there efforts to test the views of citizens regarding the quality of service rendering?
If so, please explain shortly.
3. Community Participation in the municipality
3.1. There are purposeful efforts to implement 1 2 3 4
legislative requirements regarding community
participation.
3.2. There are efforts to involve the community in 1 2 3 4
municipal affairs other than those prescribed by
legislation such as the Budget or IDP.
3.3. The inputs provided by the community are 1 2 3 4
seriously considered and integrated into final
municipal plans.
3.4. There is a genuine commitment on the part of 1 2 3 4
councilors and officials to constructive community
partici pation .
3.5. Community participation is free from political 1 2 3 4
bias and each citizen's input is treated equally.
3
3.6. Please provide examples of the commitment displayed by councilors and
officials to promote community participation.
3.7. What are, in your view, the greatest challenges to constructive community
participation?
3.8. What can be done to improve the process of community participation in your
municipality?
4.Defining local communities as municipal customers
4.1. There are conscious efforts to instill the idea of 1 2 3 4
local communities as customers of the municipality.
4.2. In addition to municipal staff, the idea of a 1 2 3 4
customer focused approach is also promoted
amongst councilors.
4.3. The municipality's commitment to citizens as 1 2 3 4
their customers is reflected in the relevant plans or
operational strategies of the municipalities.
4.4. Citizens are afforded the opportunity to provide 1 2 3 4
feedback to the municipality regarding the nature
and quality of services provided by the municipality.
4
4.5. The municipality attempts to incorporate citizen 1 2 3 4
feedback into efforts to improve the quality of
services.
4.6. What, in your view, can be done to improve the relationship between the
municipality as service provider and the community as customers?
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5.Role-player contribution to lOP as municipal strategic plan
5.1. There is sufficient role clarification between 1 2 3 4
elected councilors, appointed officials and local
residents in your municipality regarding the role of
each in the lOP process.
5.2. Each role-player understands his/her contribution 1 2 3 4
to and role in the compilation, implementation and
evaluation of the lOP.
5.3. Elected councilors represent the needs of all local 1 2 3 4
residents in an equal and unbiased manner.
5.4. There is a functional relationship between
councilors and appointed officials in order to 1 2 3 4
collectively pursue local community needs.
5.5. The local residents are informed about and
involved in the lOP process.
5.6. There is a sound cooperative relationsh ip 1 2 3 4
between the municipality and the other government
spheres in terms of the lOP process.
5
5.7. What are, according to you, primary obstacles to the lOP process?
5.8. How can these obstacles be overcome?
5.9. Explain briefly how communities are involved in the formulation and
implementation of your lOP.
6.Translating IDP as part of the overall local government policy
framework into action
6.1. There is a common understanding among all 1 2 3 4
role-players as to how lOP as municipal strategy is
aimed at contributing to the overall policy framework
for local government.
6.2. The issues targeted in the lOP reflect a direct 1 2 3 4
response to the needs experienced by and expressed
by the local community.
6.3. The lOP reflects a fair representation of the 1 2 3 4
expectations of all the residents in the municipality.
6
18. Do you think that, in most cases, the issues included in lOPs reflect a direct
response to community needs and expectations?
19. Do you think that municipal resources are allocated in line with achieving the
strategic objectives of the municipality?
20. Do you think that SDBIPS are succeeding in operationalising lOPs and provides
a good mechanism for monitoring and evaluating municipal performance?
21. What do you regard as the most important leadership challenges in terms of the
lOP process?
22. Do you think that municipal managers possess sufficient decision making
discretion to steer municipalities towards achieving strategic objectives?
23. Do you think municipal managers are able to communicate and establish an
organisational culture that promotes the lOP as primary municipal strategy?
24. Do you think that there is sufficient integration in implementing lOPs and
performance management in line with budgetary provisions and constraints?
25. What do you think are necessary requirements for ensuring credible integrated
strategic plans?
3
6.4. Resources, (financial and other) are allocated in 1 2 3 4
line with achieving the strategic objectives of the
municipality.
6.5. The SDBIP of the municipality serves as a 1 2 3 4
sufficient operational plan to give effect to the IDP.
6.6. The SDBIP serves as a monitoring and evaluation 1 2 3 4
mechanism in terms of the IDP.
6.7. Do you think that the IDP will make the required impact on the well-being of
the community?
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7.Leadership competencies for implementing lOP - Municipal Managers
and other Managers responsible for lOP
7.1Municipal managers responsible for IDP have 1 2 3 4
enough authority and influence to ensure the
successful formulation and implementation of the
process.
7.2. Municipal managers possess sufficient decision- 1 2 3 4
making discretion to steer the municipality towards
achieving strategic objectives.
7.3. Municipal managers are able to communicate 1 2 3 4
and establish an organizational culture that promotes
the IDP as primary municipal strategy.
7.4. Municipal managers are able to infuse ethical 1 2 3 4
values to the extent that ali role-players adhere to it.
7
7.5. What do you regard as the most important leadership challenge for municipal
managers responsible for the strategic plans of municipalities?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION .
8
APPENDIX C
PhD List of Interview Questions
1. In terms of the constitutional reference to the three spheres of government, more
autonomous local government is highlighted. Do you think provincial and
national government allows municipalities to exercise this autonomy without
undue interference?
2. Do you think municipalities have sufficient financial and administrative capacity to
achieve objectives with relative independence?
3. Do you think that municipal structures function effectively and there is sufficient
role clarification?
4. What is the biggest obstacle to institutional efficiency and what can be done to
overcome it?
5. In your experience, do you think grants to municipalities are utilised for their
intended purpose?
6. Do you think municipalities purposefully attempts to ensure predetermined quality
standards in terms of service provision and that communities are consulted
regarding such quality standards?
7. Are municipalities successful in achieving legislative objectives regarding
community participation and are the views of communities seriously considered
and integrated in decision-making?
1
8. Do you think there is a genuine commitment on the part of municipal councillors
and officials towards community participation and that the process is free from
party political bias?
9. What are the greatest challenges to community participation and what do you
think can be done to overcome these challenges?
10. Do you think there is a sufficient realisation on the part of municipalities of the
customer focused approach that could be followed towards local communities?
11.What, in your view can be done to improve the relationship between
municipalities as service providers and communities as customers?
12. Do you think each role player in the IDP process understands their roles
sufficiently?
13. Do you think there is an effort on the part of councillors to represent the needs of
all citizens equally and that local residents are informed about, and involved in
the IDP process?
14. Do you think that the relationship between councillors and officials is functional to
the extent that it contributes to addressing community needs?
15.ls there a cooperative relationship between municipalities and the other spheres
of government in terms of facilitating the compilation of and implementation of the
IDP process?
16.What are the primary obstacles in the IDP process and how can they be
overcome?
17.ls there a common understanding on the part of all role-players as to how the
IDP as municipal strategy is aimed at contributing to the overall policy framework
for local government?
2