In this section:

This section looks at local government administrations. It identifies the need for changes to the existing administrative organisation and operations of municipalities, and outlines a set of principles and alternative options for more effective service delivery. It also asserts the need for sound labour relations to underpin developmental local government, and discusses the roles and responsibilities of national government in assisting municipalities to transform themselves.

1. The Need For Change
2. New Approaches to Service Delivery
3. Core Administrative Capacities to Support Development
4. The Training System
5. Labour Relations
6. The Role of Other Spheres of Government
7. Concluding Comment

Local government administrations have seen changes in recent years. However, these changes have not always been informed by a clear and coherent vision of the roles and responsibilities of municipalities in a new era. As a result, they have not always meant real transformation.

The process of amalgamating the old race-based municipal administrations, initiated by the Local Government Transition Act, proceeded very differently in different municipalities. In many cases the structures and systems of better established municipal administrations (usually former white municipalities) were adopted and extended to "absorb" staff from the smaller administrations (usually former black local authorities). While this approach minimised administrative disruption, it did not result in new, more effective or more equitable ways of working. Minimal changes were made to organisational structure. In many instances amalgamation disadvantaged the staff of former black local authorities as they were "slotted in" to job evaluation systems which weighted formal qualifications above job experience. The process reproduced inequity and made little attempt to enhance performance. All the inherited weaknesses of the old administrative system remained intact.

However, many municipalities did use the amalgamation process to initiate a more fundamental review of their administrative organisation. Some municipalities undertook participative processes which drew a cross-section of staff into the process of designing new organisations. Innovative approaches to strategic management were introduced. Processes of staff communication and cultural change were initiated. Functions were clustered together in ways which promote service integration between line functions. These approaches have resulted in some meaningful administrative changes. However, municipalities have experienced difficulty in consolidating these gains because of the high levels of uncertainty during the transition period.

The amalgamation process was largely concerned with addressing technical problems. Little attention has been paid to rethinking the basic principles on which the administration is organised. In particular, new administrative capacities have not been built and administrative operations have remained locked in traditional approaches to service delivery. The potential, skills and energies of the majority of the workforce have not been harnessed for transformation.

Transformation for developmental local government requires a further process of administrative reorganisation to gear municipalities to meet the considerable challenges of social, economic and material development in all communities. Such a process cannot hope to succeed unless management, organised labour and other stakeholders develop a common vision and work together to achieve it. This is not to say that there will not be conflict between stakeholders over the nature and process of administrative change. There are real differences of interest, and conflict is inevitable. However, conflict and difference can act as constructive forces in organisational transformation, provided that there is agreement on the objectives and vision which drive change.

If the shared vision is translated into measurable performance indicators, different municipal stakeholders can measure their contributions and those of others, towards realising common goals (see also Section B: Developmental Local Government, 3.2).

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2. NEW APPROACHES TO SERVICE DELIVERY

2.1. Principles for service delivery
2.2. Approaches to service delivery
2.3. Choosing service delivery options

Under apartheid there was systematic under-investment in municipal infrastructure in black areas. This deprived millions of people of access to basic services, including water, sanitation, refuse collection and roads. Developmental local government has to address this backlog. Its central mandate is to develop service delivery capacity to meet the basic needs of communities. Basic services enhance the quality of life of citizens, and increase their social and economic opportunities by promoting health and safety, facilitating access (to work, to education, to recreation) and stimulating new productive activities.

Municipalities have a range of delivery options to enhance service provision. They need to strategically assess and plan the most appropriate forms of service delivery for their areas. Their administrations need to be geared to implement the chosen delivery options in the most effective manner and so ensure maximum benefit to their communities.

2.1. Principles for service delivery

In choosing the delivery options for their areas, municipalities should be guided by the following principles:

• Accessibility of services: Municipalities must ensure that all citizens - regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation - have access to at least a minimum level of services. Imbalances in access to services must be addressed through the development of new infrastructure, and rehabilitation and upgrading of existing infrastructure. The Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Programme has been established to provide capital grants to assist municipalities in funding bulk and connector infrastructure for low-income households and so extend access to services.

Accessibility is not only about making services available, but also about making services easy and convenient to use. Municipalities should particularly aim to ensure that people with a disability are able to access municipal services and amenities.

• Affordability of services: Accessibility is closely linked to affordability. Even when service infrastructure is in place, services will remain beyond the reach of many unless they are financially affordable to the municipality. Municipalities can ensure affordability through:
  • Setting tariffs which balance the economic viability of continued service provision and the ability of the poor to access services.
  • Determining appropriate service levels. Services level which are too high may be economically unsustainable and jeopardise continued service provision. However, inadequate service levels may perpetuate stark spatial divisions between low, middle or high income users (particularly in urban areas) and jeopardise the socio-economic objectives of the Council.
  • Cross-subsidisation (between high and low-income users and commercial and residential users) within and between services. (See also Section G: Municipal Finance, under Point 1.3 "Equity and redistribution").
• Quality of products and services: The quality of services is difficult to define, but includes attributes such as suitability for purpose, timeliness, convenience, safety, continuity and responsiveness to service-users. It also includes a professional and respectful relationship between service-providers and service-users.
• Accountability for services: Whichever delivery mechanism is adopted, municipal Councils remain accountable for ensuring the provision of quality services which are affordable and accessible.
• Integrated development and services: Municipalities should adopt an integrated approach to planning and ensuring the provision of municipal services. This means taking into account the economic and social impacts of service provision in relation to municipal policy objectives such as poverty eradication, spatial integration and job creation through public works.
• Sustainability of services: Ongoing service provision depends on financial and organisation systems which support sustainability. Sustainability includes both financial viability and the environmentally sound and socially just use of resources.
• Value-for-money: Value in the public sector is both a matter of the cost of inputs, and of the quality and value of the outputs. The above principles require that the best possible use is made of public resources to ensure universal access to affordable and sustainable services.
• Ensuring and promoting competitiveness of local commerce and industry: The job-generating and competitive nature of commerce and industry must not be adversely affected by higher rates and service charges on industry and commerce in order to subsidise domestic users. Greater transparency is required to ensure that investors are aware of the full costs of doing business in a local area.
• Promoting democracy: Local government administration must also promote the democratic values and principles enshrined in the Constitution, including the principles provided by Section 195(1).

2.2. Approaches to service delivery

Municipalities will need to seek an appropriate mix of service delivery options. Choices about delivery options should be guided by clear criteria such as coverage, cost, quality and the socio-economic objectives of the municipality.

Delivery mechanisms which municipalities can consider include the following options:

• Building on existing capacity.
• Corporatisation.
• Public-public partnerships.
• Partnerships with community-based organisations and non-governmental organisations.
• Contracting out.
• Leases and concessions (public-private partnerships).
• Transfers of ownership (privatisation).

2.2.1. Building on existing capacity

Municipalities in South Africa have very different levels of administrative capacity. Approaches which build on existing capacity must be based on an evaluation of the skills, capacity and potential of the existing administration. In most instances the bulk of the workforce comprises semi or unskilled black workers, who have historically been denied access to training and personal development opportunities and alienated from the communities they serve. Management remains predominantly white, and historically schooled in rigid, authoritarian and outdated management practices. In this context, two approaches for improving internal efficiency are managerial reform and worker empowerment. Both imply wide-reaching changes in the way the administration is organised and operates.

Management reform involves building a culture and commitment to results and value-for-money. It also involves a service-orientation where labour is a partner in delivering services to the community. This stands in sharp contrast to the bureaucratic culture of budget maximisation, centralisation and control, and the emphasis on inputs which is prevalent in many municipal administrations. Management reform measures include (but are not limited to):

• The introduction of performance-based contracts for senior staff: Performance-based contracts can improve accountability and induce a focus on outputs. Municipalities should consider the introduction of performance-based contracts for the first two or three reporting levels of senior officials. These posts would remain professional appointments, but employment contracts would specify job outputs (results to be achieved) and performance standards. Contracts would be renewable based on an assessment of performance against specified targets. The introduction of performance contracts would need to be in accordance with fair labour practice.
• Revising or developing codes of conduct: Existing codes of conduct tend to emphasise the prohibition of certain actions, such as corruption or financial and ethical misconduct. While these prohibitions are important and must remain in force, codes of conduct should also bind employees to proactive action. For example, codes of conduct could oblige management to act in the interests of the community, to consult relevant stakeholders and to develop staff within their departments. Codes of conduct should also deal with sexual harassment, and provide for investigation, disciplinary and grievance procedures in this regard.
• Affirmative action: Municipalities need to proactively ensure that the gender and racial composition of management reflects the composition of South African society. Municipalities should develop affirmative action programmes in line with the National Labour Relations Forum framework, and develop mechanisms to support and monitor the implementation of their programmes.

Management reform goes hand in hand with worker empowerment. The central thrusts of worker empowerment are human resource development and the decentralisation of operational responsibility. In many municipal administrations hierarchical grading systems and narrow job definitions have deskilled jobs at the front-line level. Combined with inadequate training, the lack of opportunities to influence job content and organisation and poor management practices, the result is a demoralised and inefficient workforce.

Mechanisms to improve performance include (but are not limited to):

• Empowering and enhancing the skills of the front line: Front-line workers interact with the community and end-users of services on a daily basis. As such, they need to be empowered to provide information, services and advice to the community. The front line needs to be reskilled, and encouraged to play a more active role in building cooperative relations between municipalities and communities. If capacitated and empowered, front-line staff can utilise the considerable knowledge and expertise of those who actually perform delivery functions to enhance effective operations. Strategies to develop the skills of front-line staff should be included in the integrated human resource development strategies of municipalities, which should cover capacity building, training, staffing, and labour relations.
• Decentralisation of operational management responsibility: Within an organisational framework which specifies clear objectives, outputs and performance standards, the decentralisation of operational management responsibility encourages innovation and commitment. Decentralisation can take different forms, from increasing the discretion of operational management to the creation of self-managed work teams. Decentralisation of management responsibility should be accompanied by training, and should be situated within a programme of organisational development.
• Developing strategies together: Ongoing consultation and communication ensures that the workforce is informed about and contributes to the development of organisational strategies and vision. Mechanisms to facilitate consultation range from regular meetings between organised labour, management and councillors, to breakaways to discuss specific issues.

Training and capacity-building is an essential part of both management reform and worker empowerment. Joint training programmes for managers from different line functions, or for management and workers, can be particularly effective in building a common vocabulary; understanding of concepts, issues and problems; and approaches to service transformation.

Whichever combination of alternative service delivery mechanisms is adopted, municipalities will need to invest in restructuring and reorienting their existing administrative capacity and systems.

2.2.2. Corporatisation

Corporatisation refers to the separation of service delivery units from the Council (in the same way that an external service provider is separate from the municipality). Service units which are corporatised may be "ringfenced" or have their budgets separated from the rest of the municipal budget. They will be managed as operationally autonomous units. Corporatisation allows Council to set policy and service standards and hold the unit to account against those standards. It also offers greater autonomy and flexibility to the management of the service unit to introduce commercial management practices to the delivery system.

Corporatisation can take a number of forms, ranging from the establishment of public utilities similar to the Water Boards which exist in parts of the country, to joint-ventures between municipalities. Corporatisation may be particularly appropriate for municipalities with large areas of jurisdiction, such as Metropolitan Councils.

Where some municipal functions are corporatised, reporting requirements and accountability mechanisms must be clearly defined by the municipal Council. This is to ensure that lessons from policy implementation is fed back into policy development.

2.2.3. Public-public partnerships

Public-public partnerships or public joint ventures allow for horizontal cooperation between municipalities to exploit economies of scale. They also allow for vertical cooperation to improve coordination at the point of delivery. Public-public partnerships are common internationally in areas such as joint purchasing consortia, training initiatives, technical support and information services. Within South Africa, municipalities are beginning to explore innovative partnership agreements, such as partnering with the Post Office for the collection of municipal revenue. This makes it easier for citizens to pay their municipal bills and decreases the strain which revenue collection places on municipal capacity.

Substantial benefits can be derived from public-public partnerships, and municipalities are encouraged to explore the options as individual organisations and through organised local government associations.

2.2.4. Partnerships with community-based organisations and non-governmental organisations

Partnerships with community-based organisations and non-governmental organisations can be effective ways of gaining access to external expertise and experience. They can also stimulate local economic development. Community-based organisations and non-governmental organisations often have particular skills relating to facilitating development initiatives, developing small, medium and micro-sized enterprises, and capacity-building. Another advantage of these partnerships is that community-based organisations and non-governmental organisations often have close linkages with community groups and can act as effective intermediaries in development initiatives.

Municipalities should also consider including non-governmental organisations and community-based organisations in partnerships with other public or private institutions. For example, some municipalities have found three-way public-private- community-based organisation partnerships to be very effective with respect to maintenance projects such as sewer rodding. In such partnerships the municipality provides funding and project management capacity; the private sector contractor provides access to equipment and training; and the community-based organisation provides functions such as the recruitment and management of local labour and community liaison. This approach enables the transfer of skills, creates employment and provides an effective service without draining municipal capacity.

2.2.5. Contracting out

It is common practice for municipalities to contract with specialist private companies to provide services. Specialist companies can sometimes provide economies of scale and specialist expertise and experience more efficiently than in-house capacity. Contracting out can range from the contracting of specific aspects of a particular service, to the introduction of competitive tendering for the delivery of most aspects of a service. Where services are contracted out, municipalities should protect standards and promote quality through tender evaluation processes, contract specifications, and contract monitoring and compliance techniques.

In developing and assessing tender documents, municipalities should be aware that the lowest bidder is not always the best contractor. While price is an important factor, the financial standing of the contractor, their commitment to providing training and good employment conditions, willingness to use local labour, technical capacity to undertake the contract, environmental and health and safety record, and commitments regarding service tariffs, quality standards, quality control systems and customer relations are equally important. Municipalities can also use contracting out as a means of empowering local and emerging business.

Where a large number of functions associated with a service, or the management of an entire service, are contracted out, the allocation of risk* becomes a critical issue. Generally, where the contractor takes on higher risks it also demands a better deal, either in the form of more control and autonomy over the management of the service or increased financial rewards.

Contracting out is most effective when municipalities are both clear and specific about the nature of the service they are seeking from a contractor, and have the capacity to manage the process of tendering and contract development and monitoring in a manner which ensures that municipal objectives are met.

Instances may arise where national departments with constitutional mandates to regulate service provision within specific sectors, prescribe matters which must be regulated by contracting out instruments.

2.2.6. Leases and concessions

Leases and concessions are forms of public-private partnerships that are most common for services where large-scale capital investment is required. They typically differ from contracting out in three important respects:

• The duration of the contractual relationship between the municipality and the contractor is usually longer (often between 20 and 30 years).
• The contractor is usually required to take charge of the assets and infrastructure associated with the service for the duration of the contract, and to invest in them. The investment of the contractor in assets and infrastructure is usually the driving motivation for a municipality to enter into a lease or concession agreement.
• The risk implicit in the contractor's responsibility for infrastructure development is normally accompanied by the transfer of responsibility for revenue collection (user-charges) to the contractor.

A variety of mechanisms exists through which the contractor can take responsibility for the development of new infrastructure, or the rehabilitation of existing infrastructure. The contract period is typically long enough for the contractor to recover their investment in infrastructure through revenue generated from user-charges. The contractor will own the assets for the period of the contract. At the end of the contract, ownership of infrastructure and assets is transferred to the municipality.

The variety of types of concessions and leases is reflected in the names of the partnerships, including:

• Build-operate-transfer (the contractor builds the asset, operates it for a period, and then transfers it to the municipality).
• Build-own-operate-transfer.
• Build-operate-train-transfer.

Concessions and leases can provide an effective mechanism to maximise private sector investment in municipal infrastructure. Where this type of partnership is municipality-driven, and aims to harness the capacity of the private sector to meet public interests, substantive benefits can be derived.

However, if poorly managed and structured, the risks of these partnerships are high. For this reason national government is currently developing a regulatory framework for the development of public private partnerships to ensure public accountability and the protection of consumer and worker rights. Regulation is vital to guard against monopoly pricing, "cherry-picking" of high-income customers (and hence limited access for low-income groups), poor quality services and unfair labour practices. In contracting out or negotiating leases and concessions, the objective of black economic empowerment must also be promoted through better structuring of such deals. National government will develop a regulatory framework for municipal public-private-partnerships in 1998.

Regulation of public-private partnerships will address the following specific matters:

• Monitoring, oversight and consultative mechanisms: The development of a framework for monitoring the financial position of municipalities is particularly important to ensure greater clarity with respect to the security of loan investments.
• Tendering and procurement processes, including the issue of unsolicited proposals: Tendering and procurement processes need to be sensitive to black economic empowerment.
• Contractual arrangements, including mechanisms to ensure contract compliance and review.
• The regulation of tariff setting.
• The resolution of disputes.

2.2.7. Transfer of ownership

The transfer of ownership refers to the sale of municipal assets as well as responsibility for managing the complete delivery of the service to a private company. This is often called "privatisation" to distinguish it from other forms of private sector involvement in service delivery. In current South African circumstances, the transfer of ownership is not an option for core municipal services, particularly water, electricity and solid waste collection and disposal. Given the central role that these services play in meeting the material, social and economic needs of communities, it is undesirable that ownership of associated infrastructure and assets is removed from the public sphere.

However, the privatisation of assets which are not considered strategic to the core purpose and role of municipalities may boost municipal capacity and revenue to focus on the delivery of strategic and core services. Privatisation of "non-core" assets may remove the necessity for public subsidy of services which constitute a drain on municipal revenue, and generate capital which can be utilised for strategic and core activities. With the exception of services aimed at meeting basic needs, which are clearly "core" municipal activities, there is variation between municipalities regarding municipal assets which are "non-core" and therefore open to the option of privatisation. While national guidelines will be issued in this regard, each municipal Council will need to make its own assessment in relation to the strategic direction put forward in the municipal integrated development plan.

2.3. Choosing service delivery options

In assessing the appropriateness of different service delivery mechanisms, it is important to note that the choice is not between public and private provision. Rather, the real issue facing each municipality is to find an appropriate combination of options which most effectively achieves their policy objectives.

The adoption of any option should be based on a critical review of existing service delivery mechanisms, the requirements for service delivery put forward in the municipal IDP, and a comparative assessment of the performance of other municipalities or other service providers. An overall plan for the way in which the municipality will provide services (the "institutional plan" which forms part of the municipal integrated development plan) should be developed. The municipal Council should consult with all affected stakeholders in the development of their institutional plan, particularly consumers of the relevant service and the workers involved in providing the service.

National and provincial government will collaborate on the development of a major capacity-building initiative to assist municipalities in developing and implementing plans to improve service delivery systems. Municipalities will be able to access advice regarding different service delivery options, as well as their overall approach to transforming administrative systems. Plans to launch the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Unit (which will provide advice to municipalities on private sector investment in municipal infrastructure) are already at an advanced stage. Appropriate support for other (non-private-sector-led) approaches to transforming delivery systems will also be established.

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3. CORE ADMINISTRATIVE CAPACITIES TO SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT

To effectively play a developmental role and improve performance with respect to service delivery, municipalities will need to develop at least three sets of new capacities:

• Strategic capacity to assess, plan, and develop innovative programmes to meet local needs. If municipalities are to meet service demands and make a significant contribution to social and economic development, they will have to become far more strategic in orientation. Strategic capacity means developing the ability to be open and flexible to new demands (rather than simply ignoring them because they do not fit with established plans or patterns of supply), to prioritise carefully on the basis of a clear understanding of existing resources and medium to long-term objectives, and to move quickly and effectively to meet demands at the highest level of competence.
• Integrating capacity to coordinate and integrate inputs from inside and outside the administration to ensure developmental outcomes. Integrating capacity means directing capacity and resources from both inside and outside the municipality to common, directed programmes of action. The vertical integration of national and provincial programmes with municipal administrative systems may be a particularly effective way for rural municipalities to build their administrative capacity.
• A community orientation to inform a user-friendly, relevant and quality service to local communities. Municipalities need to develop mechanisms to interact with community groups to identify service needs and priorities as well as community resources that can be unlocked and channelled for development ends. Municipalities will need to develop mechanisms to ensure that their delivery systems are inclusive, and accommodate groups which tend to be marginalised or disadvantaged. Front-line workers who interact with communities on a daily basis will need to be capacitated to correctly assess, rapidly communicate and effectively respond to service needs.

Without the capacity to strategise, integrate and interface with non-municipal groups and interests, innovative new approaches to the traditional functions exercised by local government administrations are unlikely to be sustainable.

The development of new capacities and approaches should go hand in hand with measures to enhance the accountability of the administration and build relationships of mutual respect and confidence between councillors and the administration.

The chief executive officer and senior officials play a particularly important role in providing leadership for administrative transformation, promoting new attitudes and approaches, and managing the implementation of programmes and policies. It is therefore critical that the chief executive officer and the first three reporting levels of senior management have the full confidence of the Council. These appointments should therefore be made subject to the approval of the Council. Where performance contracts are introduced, the term of these contracts should be linked to the term of office of the Council. (For example, performance contracts could expire three to six months after local government elections, allowing the in-coming Council sufficient time to review and renew contracts before the termination date.)

The employment practices of all municipal Councils, with respect to both contract and permanent appointments, should be guided by the principles of the Labour Relations Act and the proposed Employment Equity Bill. No employee should be discriminated against on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation or disability.

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4. THE TRAINING SYSTEM

A national local government training system, able to capacitate municipal administrations to meet their developmental challenges, must be a key feature of the new system. The training system has until now been fragmented and inefficient, and unresponsive to the new training needs of local government. As a result, there has been no systematic programme to develop the high level management and new front-line worker capacities identified here as essential to effective municipal administrations.

Historically, the national local government training system has been coordinated by two separately functioning boards. The Local Government Education and Training Board was established in terms of the Manpower Training Act of 1989, and has been funded primarily by national government grants and a levy on municipalities. Operating separately in terms of the Local Government Training Act of 1985 was the Training Board for Local Government Bodies. It also imposed a levy on municipalities. The two Boards today have a common membership in an attempt to align their efforts, but they still operate separate networks of training centres throughout the country.

There is wide consensus that the current arrangements are not effective. The double system is simply wasteful and, more importantly, is unable to generate a common national vision of training objectives or a systematic human resource development strategy. The double network of training centres is unevenly distributed geographically, leading to duplication in some areas and an under-service in others where capacity-building needs are often greater. Teaching and learning in the centres is menu-driven rather than needs-driven and therefore is not geared to the needs of developmental local government. Furthermore, there is no process of ongoing assessment and quality control.

A complete overhaul of national local government training is clearly needed. A new system is being designed which is flexible, decentralised, demand-led, and structured to ensure continuous evaluation and improvement. The system will have three components:

• A regulator: A local government Sector Education and Training Authority will be established as a single coordinating body for local government training. This will be registered as an Education and Training Quality Assurance body in terms of the Skills Development Bill. It will be responsible for managing a local government Education and Training Fund built from the proceeds of the National Skills Fund as levied from local government. It will play a role in allocating these funds to provincial training structures, setting national training priorities, establishing standards, accrediting service providers, and providing trainee certification.
• Purchasers: Provincial training structures will be established in each province to undertake a systematic needs analysis and, with municipalities, to purchase the provision of training from a variety of agents. They will include representatives from organised labour and organised local government.

The provincial training structures will package local government proposals on their training needs and priorities in "invitations to tender" and then allocate funding to suitable tenders. They will also evaluate the quality of training programmes and assess their impact.

The advantages of provincial training structures include:

• The scope to recognise regional diversity within overall Sector Education and Training Authority policy, given their better understanding of the logistics of their different areas.
• The opportunity for each provincial government to have direct participation in training. This matches their constitutional role of promoting, supporting and monitoring the performance of municipalities in their area of authority.
• The opportunity for organised local government at provincial level to participate directly through the appropriate provincial Local Government Association.
• Providers: Training will be designed and delivered by a variety of contracted agents, in response to needs defined by the Sector Education and Training Authority and provincial training structures. Providers who may compete for training contracts tendered by provincial training structures include:
  • Non-governmental organisations.
  • Universities and technikons.
  • Provincial training centres.
  • Individual municipal training departments.
  • Private sector companies and centres.
  • Commercial training and development consultants.
  • Professional bodies.

Until such time as this system is operational, the two training boards will be merged into a single body which will act as an unofficial Sector Education and Training Authority / Education and Training Quality Assurance, and provincial Training Coordinating Committees will serve as interim provincial training structures.

The training of municipal councillors will not be the responsibility of the local government Sector Education and Training Authority. It is envisaged that Salga will play a major role in councillor training, and that an intensive councillor training programme will be required to coincide with the election of new municipal councillors.

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5. LABOUR RELATIONS

Correctly choosing, planning and effecting appropriate delivery options requires high level strategic and integrating capacity and a commitment to meeting community needs in a consultative manner. However, these capacities must be underpinned by a qualitatively different set of employer-employee relations within each municipality. Approaches to improving service delivery efficiency and quality which build on existing capacity are most likely to succeed if they are structured as a partnership between Council, management and labour. Other partnership approaches have implications for the position of workers in the administration, and no amount of capacity to plan, effect and administer them will bring success unless the real concerns of labour are recognised and addressed.

While the successful transformation of municipal administrations depends on recognising the particular interests of labour, labour's interests cannot stand in the way of transformation or delivery to communities. The South African Local Government Bargaining Council will become a critical forum for shaping the partnership between labour, management and Councils around new service delivery and development objectives. Such national negotiations must take into account the specific problems of individual municipalities, including the affordability of any municipality to enforce national or provincial agreements.

Key issues that need to be addressed by the South African Local Government Bargaining Council over the next year include:

• Ensuring greater flexibility in the retraining and re-deployment of staff, in order to enable a redistribution of administrative resources.
• Introducing a more customer and performance-oriented service system.
• Ensuring that wage negotiations and conditions of service support fair and equitable labour practices, and do not undermine the need to prioritise service delivery to communities and to sustain viable local government, particularly in smaller municipalities.
• Improving the level of accountability and commitment to delivery within municipal administrations.

In order to achieve this, the capacity of Salga as an employer's organisation and the capacity of municipal trade unions must be enhanced.

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6. THE ROLE OF OTHER SPHERES OF GOVERNMENT

National government, provincial governments, and the nation as a whole have an interest in ensuring that administrative transformation equips municipalities to better meet development challenges. Municipalities which continue to be organised on old models will not be effective in delivering basic needs, promoting human rights, and providing social and economic development. Specific support mechanisms must be introduced to help municipalities transform. In addition, however, national government has an obligation to intervene on behalf of communities where municipalities, through inefficiency or a lack of commitment to delivery and development goals, fail to provide affordable services.

In the first instance, national government, in partnership with provincial governments, is committed to providing support for municipal administrative transformation through training and capacity-building, making technical support for service delivery transformation available, and the development of systems and regulatory frameworks which support municipal delivery by providing guidance and certainty.

National government wishes to avoid prescriptive approaches, and encourage and support municipalities to develop innovative organisational arrangements geared to meet local needs. However, where municipalities fail to take the initiative to improve performance and develop efficient service delivery systems, a prescriptive approach will be taken. The Constitution allows both national and provincial governments to see to the effective performance by municipalities of their functions by regulating their executive authority. If required, this power will be used to ensure that steps are taken to enhance administrative performance and efficiency. Interventions could range from a directive to undertake specific internal reorganisation measures, through to the introduction of compulsory competition for certain services. These measures will be applied to individual municipalities and only in instances where municipalities fail to initiate and implement their own transformation programmes. The Constitution (section 215 and 216) provides for a role for national and provincial government in regulating and monitoring the finances of local governments, and ensuring more efficient and effective spending by local authorities. (See also Section C: Cooperative Government)

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7. CONCLUDING COMMENT

Municipal administrative systems need to be transformed to support improved service delivery. There are a range of approaches which municipalities can adopt, and each municipality should develop an institutional plan which outlines its own transformation programme.

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Contents | General | Section A | Section B | Section C | Section D | Section E | Section F | Section G | Section H | Annexure A | Annexure B | Annexure C | Annexure D | Glossary | Obituary