Johannesburg - A third of South Africa’s municipalities are dysfunctional, says Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Pravin Gordhan, blaming it mainly on the lack of political stability and institutional management.
In a written parliamentary reply released on Monday, Gordhan said the Back to Basics programme analysis of municipalities “concluded that approximately one-third of all municipalities were dysfunctional”.
Gordhan was responding to a question from EFF MP Abinaar Matlhoko, who wanted to know whether he had an immediate plan to assist ailing and poor rural municipalities.
Matlhoko said the municipalities do not have the capacity to expand their capital base by raising revenue and capital from property rates, electricity, water, waste management, refuse removal and other essential services.
Gordhan said the factors contributing to the functionality or dysfunctionality of a municipality included a combination of things, ranging from institutional management, political stability and service delivery to community satisfaction.
“In contemplating measures to be taken to address the challenges being experienced by municipalities around… sustainability and viability, a range of options were considered,” said Gordhan.
He said these included:
* Direct interventions where laws have been flouted and municipalities have not had the capacity to undertake their essential functions.
* Strengthening district municipalities so that key municipal functions could be located there to improve service delivery.
* Amalgamating some municipalities where that may improve governance and functionality.
“A request was made to the Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB) during December 2014 for the MDB to determine or redetermine the boundaries of various municipalities based on the above assessments that were conducted by the Department of Co-operative Governance,” Gordhan said.
“All the above options required serious consideration as the implications for implementing each of them could have differing degrees of consequences for municipalities.”
He said it was further noted that the sustainability or viability analysis that was conducted by the department was scientific and there could be other considerations that should be taken into account to provide a more comprehensive assessment of the state municipalities.
“After almost 15 years of local democracy, the outer boundaries of municipalities have largely remained the same except for instances where there have been minor technical adjustments to municipal boundaries.”
Gordhan said the request made to the MDB was to ensure the board was able to determine whether the identified municipalities met the objectives of demarcation, as well as the factors that had to be taken into account when the boundaries of municipalities were determined.
Delivering his maiden Budget last week, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said allocations to basic services provided by municipalities would be prioritised, despite budget constraints.
He said that over the longer term, progress in municipalities required local economic growth, property development and revenue capacity, alongside national support.
Nene said these were key elements in the Back to Basics municipal development strategy.
Political Bureau