Issued by: Ministry for Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Affairs
The Minister for Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development, Valli Moosa will launch a very important capacity building programme for local government in Mpumalanga and Northern Provinces on Friday 7 May 1999 at the Sanbonani resort near Hazyview in Mpumalanga.
In 1996 a financial proposal was made to the European Union for funding a programme called "Strengthening Local Government in Mpumalanga and Northern Province". This was a joint application for the two Provinces by the department of housing at the time. In 1998 government tasked the Department of Constitutional Development to spearhead this programme.
In August 1998 a financing agreement was signed between the European Union and the Department of Constitutional Development. A grant amount of ECU 17 900 has been allocated.
The launch on Friday the 7th May 1999 by Minister Valli Moosa will officially kickstart this programme and place it in the public domain. 20 Municipalities that are earmarked to benefit from this programme will be in attendance to create awareness in the community about its inception. Also present will be organized local government and representatives of both provinces.
Venue: Sanbonani Resort: next to Hazyview
Time: 11:00
Other Speakers will include the MEC Local Government, Housing and Land Administration in (Mpumalanga) Mr C N M Padayachee; Ambassador of The European Commission in SA Mr. M Laidler and the MEC Local Government and Traditional Affairs in the Northern Province, Mr N Mashabane.
Issued by the Ministry for Provincial Affairs and Constitutional Development 5 May 1999
For more information please contact Onkgopotse JJ Tabane on 082 465 6166 and Mlungisi Gonqga of the Department of Constitutional Development on 082 465 1093.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
STRENGTHENING LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN MPUMALANGA AND NORTHERN PROVINCE
AN OVERVIEW OF THE PROGRAMME
PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAMME
The purpose of the programme is to improve service delivery to poor communities through enhancement of kills, systems, planning, organization, administration, resources and service delivery.
OVERALL OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the programme is to improve the living conditions of the poor in South Africa through a policy that strengthens Local Government's delivery of infrastructure services. The objective is in line with one of the strategies to improve service delivery as provided in the White Paper on Local Government that was published in June 1998.
HOW THE OBJECTIVES WILL BE ACHIEVED
The programme has been designed to (i) use European Commission funds as a lever to attract funds from other programmes; (ii) use incentives and rewards to improve community capacity and own revenue collection efforts; (iii) use menu approach in designing capacity activities easily adaptable to diverse community needs; (iv) economize on European Commission-effort by making use of existing capacity building programmes; (v) devise equitable programme access through transparent criteria for participant selection and performance requirements; (vi) design a national programme from experiences drawn from the pilots; and (vii) include monitoring and evaluation of programme to generalize from its experience in the two provinces.
EXPECTED RESULTS/DELIVERIES
1. Framework to strengthen local government develop-ed and agreed upon. The outputs will include the following:
2. Provincial Capacity established to strengthen local government. The outputs will include the following:
3. Pilot areas selected and improvement programmes prepared and agreed to. This involves:
4. Training Programme designed and implemented. This include:
5. Municipal, administrative, technical and financial functions strengthened. In this it is expected that:
6. Pilot service infrastructures implemented. This will includes infrastructure in the areas of municipal responsibility, mainly in the area of roads, storm water drainage, street lighting, community facilities, water and sanitation, and solid waste collection and disposal.
5 May 1999