• To present to the Select Committee on Local Government and Administration the progress report detailing the achievements made in implementing the business plan since March 2005.

• To highlight challenges, constraints, and opportunities in order to maximise our impact in the sector.

BACKGROUND

• The primary focus of the administration has been to create an institutional framework that is aligned to the new strategic direction of SALGA.

• Process informed by:

• 2004 September National Conference Resolutions
• Action Plan from the January 2005 NEC strategic planning Lekgotla.
• Business plan approved by the National Member’s Assembly in March 2005

• This progress is measured against targets and milestones within the context of the new business plan.

ADMINISTRATIVE INTEGRATION

• SALGA is now a fully fledged Unitary Structure.

• Kwanaloga, Weclogo and GALA have signed Memorandums of Understanding.

• Mpumalanga Province is still to sign the MOU, despite complying with all administrative requirements of integration.

• Process of transfer of assets and liabilities in these three provinces(KZN, WC, and Gauteng),

• All payrolls, properties and cash resources have been transferred to the National Office , with the exception of the property of SALGA Gauteng, which is underway.

• SALGA is listed as a Schedule 3 Part A, public entity in terms of the Public Finance Management Act( Act1 of 1999) (PFMA).

• A resolution to explore the option of de-listing or favourable listing with the Minster of Provincial and Local government was adopted at previous National Member’s Assembly

• A meeting was held with the Ministry of Provincial and Local Government on the 28^th of July 2005 to consider a favourable listing for SALGA

• The meeting agreed to establish a technical task team to prepare a joint submission to the Minister of Finance who has delegated authority to list or de-list.

RESTRUCTURING

• Align our provincial structures and processes with those of national , and to en sure integrastion;

• Capacitate provincial offices by redeploying certain skills to provinces

• Reshuffle directorates to appropriately structure our organisation to be in line with our organisational strategy and introduce new functions to the organisation where appropriate

• And rectify any inefficiencies within the structure of the organisation that are hindering service delivery.

RESTRUCTURING OF NATIONAL OFFICE

• Office of the CEO
• Governance, Intergovernmental Relations & Municipal Services Directorates
• Municipal Labour & Human Resources Development Directorates
• Strategic Affairs Directorate
• Finance &Corporate Services Directorate

RESTRUCTURING OF PROVINCIAL OFFICE

REDEPLOYMENTS

• By the 30^th of March 2005, fourteen (14) staff members had been deployed to provinces, nine(9) of which are dealing with issues of HIV&AIDS, Communications, Skills Development , Gender, Youth and Disability.

• Staff still lacking training in other areas of skills that are part of their new portfolios

• Two provinces, i.e. NW and WC moved to new and larger premises

• A salary benchmarking process to remunerate positions accordingly will be completed by mid September 2005.

• Gender balance remains a challenge

[ PMG Note :GENDER DISTRIBUTION AT MANAGEMENT LEVELS is not available ]

OFFICE RELOCATION

• New office have been leased in Menlyn: Tshwane to cater for the following:

• Additional offices for staff members

• Additional space for meetings

• Conducive environment for organisational culture to develop

• The advantages of the new premises are: accessibility, adequate meeting space and significantly reduced hiring costs.

CHANGE MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

The senior management of SALGA had a Change Management workshop on the 21^st and 22^nd of April. The following key strategies were identified:

• a communications framework that lays out five(5) key communication structures for the organisation.

• a communications protocol in order to clarify the communication process, enhance business processes, contribute to the change management process, strengthen relationships colleagues, and promote an environment conducive for good learning amongst all SALGA employees and structures.

• a role and responsibilities’ framework that clarifies the roles of the CEO, DCEO’s and ED’s in order to clarify accountabilities

• a vertical and horizontal reporting guide to further facilitate communication, reporting and accounting as well as minimising confusion and conflict.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK

• SALGA has embarked on a performance management process.

• The CEO ‘s scorecard has been completed

• Provinces are in the process of completing their balanced scorecards.

• The rolling out of the performance management system will be completed by the end of December 2005

AUDITING MATTERS

• A quick risk audit to identify areas posing a major risk exposure to the organisation was done immediately after the appointment of the current CEO in November 2004.

• Risky contracts binding SALGA for extensive periods of time were discovered.

• Have managed to nullify some of these contracts and some are being managed through legal processes

• The internal audit function has been outsourced.

• Due diligence audits have been conducted for SALGA Gauteng, SALGA KZN and SALGA Western Cape. The internal audit of SALGA national office is currently being conducted.

• SALGA projected a deficit of more than R20m in January 2005 mainly in view of outstanding payments to be made to service to service providers which comprised large sums of money

• The projected deficit has been converted into a surplus of approximately R300 000 in actual terms.

• The SALGA NEC has approved the budget for 2005/6 and it has been ratified by the National Member’s Assembly recently convened on the 5^th of August 2005.

• SALGA has introduced a new interim levy collection system. Prior to it, the organisation struggled to collect levies from municipalities

• Consequent to the implementation of the interim membership levies formula the situation improved

• This improvement can be attributed to the fact that invoices were issued in February 2005 to ensure that when municipalities prepared their budgets, they would have received invoices indicating their dues to SALGA for the current financial year

• Levies are gradually starting to sustain the organisation as compared to a previous reliance on grants from DPLG

• A proposal for alternative revenue streams is being prepared and will be tabled at SALGA NEC before the end of December 2005.

[PMG Note: INCOME GROWTH 200-2005 GRAPH NOT INCLUDED]

1. SALGA, in partnership with the City of Tshwane hosted the UCLGA(United Cities for Local Governments in Africa)Founding Congress on 15-18 May

• The Congress was a success and managed to attract over 2000 delegates from Africa and beyond. South Africa was elected as President of the UCLGA.

• The City of Tshwane (R5m), City of Joburg (R5m), Ekurhuleni (R5m) and City of Cape Town(R2.5m) partnered with SALGA in organizing finances and other resources for the event.

2. The 2^nd World Summit of the Cities and Local Authorities on the information Society will be taking place in Bilbao in Spain.

• Have attended two preparatory meeting towards the conference , one in Cape Town and one in Dakar.

• SALGA is consulting all relevant stakeholders to consolidate the South African Local Government Position on this matter.

4. In line with the SALGA National Conference Resolution of 2004 to Mainstream gender equity and promote the full implementation of the resolution of Women ‘ conference held from the 19^th to the 21^st of June this year, SALGA, in partnership with DPLG, hosted a very successful Summit of Women IN Local Government

• The purpose of the summit was to bring together women in local government, to discuss strategies of improving their representation in local government structures, and how they can acquire the necessary skill in this field.

• A number of resolutions were taken , particularly focusing on elections, capacity building for women councillors as well as engendered service delivery.

5. SALGA participates, amongst others on the following IGR structures:

• Local Government MINMEC and Technical MINMEC

• Housing MINMEC

• Health MINMEC

• Tourism MINMEC

• Environment MINMEC

• Transport MINMEC

• Presidents Coordinating Council AND Technical PCC

• Budget Forum

• National Assembly Portfolio Committees

• NCOP and NCOP Select Committees

• SALGA’s representation model in these structures is the deployments of councillors that are skilled in the particular content area, supported by equally competent SALGA officials.

• With the promulgation of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act ,SALGA is entitled to participate in all National and Provincial IGR structures that it currently does not participate in . The organisation is therefore working on increasing its capacity to deploy its representation on these structures.

CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

1.The Commonwealth Local Government Forums has initiated a programme to create a database of local government practitioners and has sought the assistance and active participation of SALGA in this regard

• SALGA has requested to provide input on the framework for selecting practitioners that will be place on this database as well as to then assist in identifying South African practitioners for the database.

• This programme will assist us with the identification and creation of local knowledge base of practitioners that may be use to further strengthen our ability to support member municipalities through the use of local experts who understand our environment.

1. SALGA has entered into a partnership agreement with SALA IDA for a training programme targeted at politicians and managers in Local Government, envisaged to commence in September 2005. The memorandum of agreement which will be of a three year duration will be signed before the commencement of the programme.

3.On 4 April 2005, SALGA signed a letter of intent with VNG, based on existing and long term cooperation between the two Associations. The letter of intent outlines the agreement to establish a joint partnership that will focus on research and capacity building and further expand the current the current programs, on Social Housing and HIV&AIDS, being supported by VNG

4.In June 2002 SALGA hosted a Communication Conference –"Vukuzenzele"

• Tripartite Communication consisting of SALGA,DPLG and GCIS (Government Communication and Information Systems)

• A report detailing achievements will be submitted to the SALGA NEC, and also highlights the outcomes of a recent workshop held on the 28^th of July 2005 to discuss communication action plans for each province, and report on progress made to –date.

• We are increasing our efforts towards improving our systems of communication in Local Government in the wake of recent community protests.

• Nine(9) Communication Officers have been deployed to SALGA Provincial offices from National Office to work with municipalities in strengthening their communication efforts.

• A process has commenced to restructure the Marketing and Communication Unit with the view of repositioning it to reflect the current thinking in Local Government as contained in our business plan .

COUNCILLOR REMUNERATION

National Conferenc, 2004, resolved that SALGA actively pursue the review of the basis for remuneration of councillors with a view to achieving consistent approach across spheres of government.

A meeting was held on 28 July 2005, between the DPLG Ministry and SALGA National Office Bearers to review progress made i.r.o. this resolution and there was an agreement that this matter should be dealt with in an integrated manner by all role-players, i.e. SALGA, Treasury and the Presidency.

There is consensus on the critical role that municipal councillors play as the front line of government and therefore an urgent to finalise all aspects of Councillor Support.

• The March 2005, Members Assembly resolved that an Office Bearers Handbook should be developed , using the Mayoral Handbook as a guide.

• The Handbook should incorporate all new legislation that have a bearing on the role and functions on office bearers.

• A draft of the Municipal Office Bearers Handbook has been prepared and the project is viewed in such a serious light that a legal and technical task team has been established to review its content. This process was deemed necessary given the current review on role profiling of elected public office bearers in general which is being conducted by the Presidency. A second draft will be tabled at the NEC meeting of October for approval .

• With the intention of creating a semblance of conformity in terms of the functioning of elected public representatives across the spheres we are of the firm view that serious attention be accorded in creating synergies between the Office Bearers

1. SALGA through negotiations reached an agreement with IEC to establish Municipal Electoral Units, regulating the transfer process of electoral project coordinators

• This transfer ha been suspended pending the outcome of litigation launched by electoral project coordinators against the IEC.

2. Th majority of Municipal Managers perform the function of municipal electoral officers for the IEC.

• Whilst this may be financially and administratively convenient, the independence and neutrality of Municipal Managers has been questioned.

• SALGA is concerned that this matter has the potential to compromise the political integrity of the elections and hence an urgent meeting has been scheduled with the IEC.

• The Unions placed an obligation on SALGA to unilaterally implement the 60 % salary increase across the board for a 3 yr period at he point when they demonstrated their disregard to the mediation process.

• SALGA has unconditionally accepted the SALGBC Mediator’ proposals.

• SAMWU and IMATU have rejected the SALGBC Mediator’s proposals

• SALGA is assisting municipalities to quantify damages with a view of taking legal actions against the Unions.

• Why the Union demands are unreasonable:

• More than 136 out 284 municipalities are identified for Project Consolidate which is meant to provide hands on targeted support to ailing municipalities

• The demands of the unions are a scathing attack to the integrity of the effort by government through Project Consolidate to turn around service delivery challenges for the benefit of our people.

• Most municipalities have financial difficulties and are confronted by huge service delivery backlogs. The increase will mean 2.7 billion more on the salary and wage bill.

• The demands of the unions, if acceded to , will bring the local government sector into disarray rather than consolidate the gains made.

• The 6% increase, even on its own will generate a flood of exemption application as only the privileged can afford to pay the increase

• Subsequent to the National Executive Committee Strategic Planning Session of January 2005, SALGA started work on obtaining LG-specific data to determine the impact of HIV &AIDS on the Sector and ensuring the implementation of a policy framework for dealing HIV/AIDS in the municipal workplace.

• SALGA has engaged with various stakeholders in this regard, including Municipalities, SA Cities Network , DPLG, DPSA, Private Sector and Medical Research Council.
• From the information obtained, two(2) sets of guidelines have been developed. The first, dealing with a "process approach" to mitigate the impact of HIV/&AIDS in the workplace and second , providing an " institutional approach" to address HIV&AIDS in the municipal workplace.

• These two documents will be consolidated into a single framework guiding municipalities towards successful implementation of their HIV & AIDS workplace programmes. On 26 July 2005, subject matter experts attended a workshop to unpack the dynamics of dealing with HIV&AIDS at a Metro , District and Local Municipal Level.

• On 16 and 17 August 2005, a wider audience was invited to a consultation workshops where their inputs were incorporated into the draft the Framework.

CONCLUSION

• Great strides have been made towards achievement of our new business plan.

• Within a short space of time , we have managed to integrate the structure and operations of SALGA such that they are linked to our strategic objectives.

• We have successfully begun the new financial year and have implemented the basic processes that will lay the foundation for the year ahead.

• The budgeting process has been completed which has ensured that provinces are able to move ahead in implementing their plans.

• The performance management system , the provincial business plans, and operational planning are processed that are still being finalised in which significant milestone have been reached.

• With the CEO’s Balanced Scorecard, the direction is clear on the targets to be reached, and all staff members are geared towards realising their respective work goals.

• The challenge of capacitating our provincial offices and the entire staff compliment is a matter that remains a priority on the plans of the organisation.

• Our finances show a steady increase of levies from 2002-2005, with levies contributing the highest revenue compared to other income revenue streams.

• UCLGA will undoubtedly enable municipalities on the continent to speak with one voice when dealing with national governments and multilateral organisations as municipalities constitute the sphere of government that is considered closest to communities and best placed to undertake developmental initiatives.

• Several other partnerships and opportunities to achieve the same objectives are being pursued as reflected in the report: the 2^nd World Summit on the Information Society, the " Millenium Development Summit(MDGs + 5 Summit) and others.

• The crucial challenge ahead of us is that of the Local Government Elections.

• Women have already expressed their needs in the recently convened women’s summit regarding elections.

• Municipalities face many challenges both as we approach the elections and subsequently. The recently held National Members Assembly , clearly articulated, communicated these challenges and deliberated on specific plans of action and programs to be implemented by member municipalities.