Reimagining the future of local government
Without effective service delivery at grassroots level, government's National Development Plan to reduce inequality and eliminate poverty will remain hobbled.
Failings in the country's third tier of government have long been evident – from damning Auditor-General reports to frequent service delivery protests.
Last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a comprehensive plan to better align local government with provincial and national thinking and overcome the tendency to operate in silos.
Called the District Development Model (DDM), the plan was approved by Cabinet in August
2019 and late last year, three pilot programmes were launched. These were in the Waterberg District Municipality, eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality in KwaZuluNatal and the OR Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape.
Inspired by the Khawuleza (hurry up) call to action, the DDM aims to accelerate, align and integrate service delivery under a single development plan per district or metro. These development plans are drawn up jointly by national, provincial and local government, as well as business, labour and the community in each district.
It is a year later and government has announced that the model will now be rolled out in all of South Africa's 44 municipal districts and eight metropolitan municipalities.
Each district plan must ensure that national priorities such as economic growth and employment; improvements to living conditions; the fight against crime and corruption and better education outcomes are met.
In addition, each district's competitive advantage will be identified and developed and district hubs will be created to provide shared critical skills in regions where they are lacking. Hubs will make experts such as engineers, planners, ICT specialists and administrators available to the district and local municipalities.
During the establishment phase of the plan, profiles of all 52 municipalities were completed, giving national government a better understanding of the major development issues in each district.
Ministers and Deputy Ministers have been appointed as district champions for specific metros and districts.They are tasked with assisting the President and Deputy President to manage the implementation of the DDM and to enhance the capacity of the State across the country.
Another positive government initiative – especially relevant now as we celebrate Transport Month in October – is the convening of a National Taxi Lekgotla that will help shape the regulation, formalisation and empowerment of this R40 billion industry, and result in the empowerment of taxi operators, rather than just industry bosses.
The Department of Transport has been engaging with stakeholders and civil society to gather various views about the future of the taxi industry prior to the lekgotla, which is set to take place this month.