Local Government Review: Insights on Municipalities and Services
Explore a comprehensive review of local government over 25 years, covering divergences between municipalities, skills and capacity distribution, employment composition, infrastructure services, and metro performance. Gain valuable insights into tax income, poverty, population dependence, and more critical factors shaping local governance.
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Presentation Transcript
Workshop on 25 years of local government Crispian Olver 25thNovember 2020
Divergence between municipalities Categ. No. % of Taxable income 2017 Ave. spend per capita Grant Poverty head count 2016 4,12% 7,07% 7,43% 8,94% 17,28% 6,24% 12,82% population dependence A B1 B2 B3 B4 C1 C2 8 19 26 101 59 23 21 40% 15% 9% 15% 22% 27% 33% R985b R234b R92b R107b R87b R9 152 R5 975 R5 159 R3 974 R1 457 R298 R906 23,4% 24,3% 29,9% 41,3% 84,5% 73,5% 100% 2025/03/21 Local government 25 year review 2
Skills and capacity 140,000 120,000 100,000 80,000 60,000 40,000 20,000 0 A B1 B2 B3 B4 C1 C2 Other staff Professionals & technicians University degree A B1 B2 B3 B4 C1 C2 NQF 7 - 10 (University degree) 11,2% 6,0% 5,1% 5,0% 8,5% 17,6% 8,9% Professionals & technicians (OFO codes 1 & 2) 20,8% 12,9% 13,2% 13,2% 15,2% 25,4% 22,4% 3/21/2025 LOCAL GOVERNMENT 25 YEAR REVIEW 4
Employment composition 350,000 Section 56 managers Other managers 300,000 Water Waste Water Management 250,000 Waste Management Sport and Recreation 200,000 Road Transport Public Safety 150,000 Health 100,000 Environmental Protection Electricity 50,000 Finance and Administration Community and Social Services 0 Other 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2025/03/21 Local government 25 year review 5
Infrastructure services Households with access to piped water improved from 70% in 1996 to 88,8% in 2017 Households with at access to at least basic sanitation (VIP) improved from 48,8% in 1996 to 82.2% in 2017 By 2017, 84.4% (or 13.7 million) households were connected to mains electricity supply % of households with refuse removed once per week increased from 56,1% in 2002 to 65,9% in 2017 Category Sanitation Water Refuse Electricity Comp. Metro (A) 4,7 4,5 4,5 4,6 4,6 Secondary City (B1) 4,4 4,3 4,0 4,6 4,3 Large town (B2) 4,3 4,0 3,9 4,5 4,2 Small town (B3) 4,3 4,0 3,6 4,5 4,1 Rural (B4) 3,5 2,8 2,3 4,5 3,3 2025/03/21 Local government 25 year review 6
Metro performance 70 4.5 60 50 4 40 3.5 30 20 3 10 0 2.5 Cape Town NMBM Johannesburg Ekurhuleni eThekwini Tshwane Buffalo City Mangaung Citizen satisfaction Infrastructure quality
How well is government doing its job? National government Provincial Government 70 Scale change 67 65 65 Local government 64 64 65 62 62 61 61 60 58 58 60 57 57 57 56 55 55 54 54 55 54 57 53 55 52 52 52 53 51 51 51 49 50 Percentage 49 48 41 43 45 42 41 39 39 39 39 39 39 40 37 36 34 36 34 33 34 35 35 31 31 31 30 31 31 29 29 25 24 20 2025/03/21 Local government 25 year review 8
Satisfaction with delivery of basic services, especially water and electricity 80 79 74 74 73 73 70 60 65 64 59 58 56 55 53 50 52 51 48 46 40 20 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2025/03/21 Local government 25 year review 9
Conclusion 1 Profoundly asymmetric system of local government Mismatch of skills and capacity Wide-ranging financial crisis Very uneven quality of service delivery Declining level of public satisfaction What are drivers behind this?
Conclusion 2 State as locus for jobs, contracts and other forms of rent Political control over appointments and administrative functioning Use of state resources to finance political parties and drive class formation Parallel rise of factionalism within parties = battles over control of resources Criminal cliques able to capture local party and state structures Informal allocation systems undermine formal institutions Rents that are allocated are not productively utilised Weakness of local regimes lack of elite consensus, and narrow time horizon restricted to period faction expects to be in power
Some solutions Recognise asymmetry, differentiate regulatory system Regulate local public administration, varying from light touch oversight to more hands-on supervision Professionalise local government public service Value skills and experience rather than political considerations Protect senior managers from political victimisation Retain experienced managers is system and deploy to areas of need Independent oversight of public administration (e.g. a local government Public Service Commission)
