Background
Outcome 9 focuses on achieving a responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government system. The emphasis of the outcome is coordination and cooperation towards ensuring achievement of an effective local government that meets its mandate. Local government is all of government’s responsibility as a delivery point hence the pivotal role of coordination of government work that this outcome plays.
The agreement is a negotiated charter which reflects the commitment of the partners involved in the direct delivery process to working together to undertake activities effectively and on time to produce mutually agreed upon outputs which will contribute to achieving Outcome 9. The core departments in this agreement are DCOG are National Treasury, Water Affairs, Human Settlements, Energy, Rural Development and Land Reform, The Presidency and Environment. These departments have established working relationships to jointly tackle the following matters at the minimum:
- Coordination of infrastructure funding to unlock delivery of services;
- Coordinate human settlement planning and service delivery planning;
- Evaluate and coordinate capacity building initiatives to ensure greater impact;
- Rationalise municipal reporting requirements;
- Liaise with their sector and better organise intergovernmental support to municipalities, e.g. Department of Water Affairs working with their Regional Offices, Provinces, municipalities and Water Service Authorities regarding water access and management; and
- Work with their Provincial Sector Departments to support and monitor the interventions agreed upon.
This agreement ensures common focus by all provinces and all of government on government’s core agenda such as provision of basic services, infrastructure, job creation, economic empowerment, poverty eradication, health, education, creation of human settlements etc. All of government has a stake in the 12 Outcomes of which ours is one. A key characteristic of this agreement therefore is that it is intergovernmental and places emphasis on partnership, integrated planning and implementation; and overall coordination of government effort in providing for its citizens and ensuring an economically and socially stable country.
As an agreement that seeks to focus on key issues op cooperation towards achieving provincial and national outcomes, this agreement has specific outputs with targets, key indicators and activities to achieve the outcome. The outcomes apply to all of government and are long term. As with any agreement, this agreement will be monitored and evaluated annually. This review will allow for review with a view to improvements. The annual reviews are linked to the budget ting process naturally for linking any changes to the budget demands and confines.
Vision
This vision addresses 7 critical issues that seek to achieve the overarching goal or vision of a responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government system:
- Develop a more rigorous, data driven and detailed segmentation of municipalities that better reflect the varied and capacities and contexts within municipalities and lays the basis for a differentiated approach to municipal financing, planning and support
- Ensure improved access to essential services
- Initiate ward‐based programmes to sustain livelihoods
- Contribute to the achievement of sustainable human settlements and quality neighbourhoods
- Strengthen participatory governance
- Strengthen the administrative and financial capability of municipalities
- Address coordination problems and strengthen cross-departmental initiatives.
This vision was turned into outputs of which plans for implementation in the department and in municipalities were developed and are now being implemented.
Local Government Turn-Around Strategy
The outputs are also linked to provincial and departmental budget commitments, as well as taking into account the objectives of the LGTAS 10-point plan for a coherent approach to delivery. The over-arching aim of the LGTAS is to restore the confidence of the majority of our people in our municipalities as the primary delivery machine of the developmental state at a local level and to re-build and improve the basic requirements for a functional, responsive, effective, efficient and accountable developmental local government.
The LGTAS has five main strategic objectives, namely;
- Ensure that municipalities meet basic needs of communities.
- Build clean, effective, responsive and accountable local government
- Improve functionality, performance and professionalism in municipalities
- Improve national policy, oversight and support
- Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities and civil society
Reporting Framework
Progress on these is regulated monthly and quarterly, identifying challenges are addressing these in consultation meetings with relevant stakeholders such as sector departments that share in the delivery process for targeted Outcome 9 outputs.
The Delivery Agreement and the Local Government Turn-Around Strategy is available in the Resource Centre.