Working in partnership to strengthen communities in South Africa

Working in partnership to strengthen communities in South Africa

The Guardian

8 October 2014

Last week, Anglo American launched a capacity building programme in 11 municipalities, across five provinces in South Africa. Working in partnership with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) and the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF), the programme represents an investment of 120m Rand (£6.65m) for the first three years. It will help strengthen institutional capacity in the areas of personnel skills and administrative systems in order to promote municipal sustainability in the long term.

The programme’s key deliverables are to develop and implement plans and procedures to improve municipal billing systems and controls, and reduce electricity and water distribution losses at pilot municipal sites. The programme will also review municipal infrastructure plans, asset management and co-ordination of the sector policies that guide provision of municipal services and provide technical support to address any shortfalls in the infrastructure necessary for basic service delivery. The programme will focus too on attracting inward investment into the 11 municipalities.

Speaking at the launch, our executive director in South Africa, Khanyisile Kweyama, said: “Institutional incapacity and severe skills gaps continue to hinder the prospects of many municipalities across the country. As a result, these municipalities struggle to generate enough revenue to maintain basic service delivery to their local communities. When municipal operations don’t live up to community expectations, service delivery protests frequently occur, weakening municipal operations and impacting businesses which operate in these areas.”

Although provision of municipal services is constitutionally the responsibility of the local authority, our efforts to build capacity in communities in and around our mining operations often extend to working in partnership with local authorities. We identified the Municipal Capacity Development Programme as a very worthwhile investment, aligned to the focus of South Africa’s National Development Plan (NDP), which aims to develop partnerships with government to help strengthen the country.

The municipalities being supported are King Sabata Dalindyebo in the Eastern Cape; Ga-Sekgonyana, Gamagara, Joe Morolong and Tsantsabane local municipalities in the Northern Cape; Thabazimbi, Greater Tubatse and Mogalakwena local municipalities in Limpopo; Emalahleni local municipality in Mpumalanga; and the Moses Kotane and Rustenburg local municipalities in North West.

For the municipal capacity building programme, we are working with the ICF to providing funding, while the DBSA is the management partner and will provide governance and oversee procurement matters. This includes managing the service providers appointed to implement hands-on skills training at municipal level. The DBSA has highly regarded expertise in building the effectiveness of public institutions, while the ICF is well known for the work it does to improve the climate for investment in Africa by removing barriers to doing business.

ICF CEO William Asiko, commented: “ICF is pleased to be part of this important initiative that will help local municipalities in South Africa improve service delivery in their areas, and thereby improve the business environment of these municipalities.

“When services such as water, electricity, road maintenance, sanitation and waste management are provided in an efficient and reliable manner, businesses are attracted to invest, providing jobs and contributing to the local economy.

“The commitment of the Municipal Councils, through their financial contribution and their willingness to bring lasting change to their local communities, gives ICF assurance that the reforms being implemented will be sustainable.

“As partners, we anticipate that the stabilisation of the business climate at municipal level will also provide a foundation for entrepreneurship and new businesses, which could help achieve higher levels of local employment and local procurement.”

DBSA CEO Patrick Dlamini added: “The ability of many municipalities to render services to their communities, including access to financial resources for infrastructure programmes, is under increasing pressure. Support to municipalities as key delivery agents for social services remains an important focus area for DBSA”.

Other stakeholders involved in the programme are the provincial Departments of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the South African Local Government Association and Treasury Departments in the Northern Cape, Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga.