Back-to-basics plan ‘a winner’
Campaign encourages good governance, quick response
CO- OPERATIVE Governance Minister Pravin Gordhan is upbeat about the impact the backto-basics programme has had on councils in terms of delivering services from water to pothole repairs “effectively and efficiently”.
“We are seeing good changes… I’m very optimistic, whilst there will be challenges of different kinds,” he said yesterday, adding almost 200 of the 278 councils already reported monthly on back-to-basic performance indicators. “We are having a rollicking time.”
Gordhan was unperturbed that with next year’s municipal election, local government could become a hotly contested terrain for would-be councillors. “Each political party must manage its own dynamics and keep governance of the municipality going… We are maturing,” he said.
The back- to- basics campaign was launched nine months ago and includes non-negotiable from good municipal governance, quick responsiveness to citizens and long-term planning for infrastructure and local economic development. As part of the campaign, the co-operative governance department is already enforcing compliance with minimum skills and qualifications for senior council administrative officials, including municipal managers and chief financial officers.
“Institutions are built over decades. But we must do what we can now to build these institutions, to get the systems running, the get the culture right of service, of responding to people the right way.”
Gordhan was speaking on the sidelines of a poverty and social impact analysis gathering, organised by the World Bank and the Southern African Labour and Develop- ment Research Unit, at UCT.
Premiers through the presidential coordinating council report on the state of local government in their provinces. Departmental capacity has been stepped up, and therefore officials can “more directly have a line of sight” on councils and, where and when necessary, intervene.
A result of the back-to-basics campaign is that many councils have implemented customer care and help lines, which log and track complaints. “If more could do that – and we do support that – we’ll make more progress,” Gordhan added.
The 2013/14 audit of local government released last month showed improvements, with 53 percent of the 268 audited municipalities receiving positive audits. Forty councils received a clean audit, up from 22 the previous financial year, while another 108 had unqualified audit opinions. Overall 90 councils improved, but 24 regressed and 10 of the country’s 273 councils failed to submit financial statements.