Policy Process on the System of Provincial and Local
Government: A
Presentation on the Background to Policy Questions, Process and
Participation[1] By Ms Lindiwe Msengana-Ndlela,
Director-General: Provincial & Local Government Pretoria, 31st
July 2007
SUMMARY
Decentralized
local government has played a valuable role in supporting the implementation of
national and provincial programmes and in discharging
its own assigned duties. But there are policy aspects that have to be improved.
At a provincial level, many provinces have displayed the ability and potential
to perform a valuable and innovative role in discharging their powers and
functions, and mediating a positive relationship between national and local
government. However, challenges remain.
National government will need to re-assess its support role to provinces and
municipalities and some of the functions that it currently discharges, as they
relate to provincial and local government.
CONTEXT
The
advent of democracy in 1994 saw
Rationale for policy process
Local government underwent a lengthy process of transition that
eventually resulted in the establishment of the new system of local government.
Provincial government, by contrast, was established as a result of a negotiated
settlement. Whilst the Constitution created the provincial sphere of
government, with particular powers and functions, there was no coherent policy
or framework to guide its evolution.
It is within this context that Cabinet mandated the Department of Provincial
and Local Government to initiate a process of developing a White Paper on
Provincial Government and reviewing the White Paper on Local Government.
This review process is by no means an indication of failure by any of the
spheres of government nor does it question their existence. Many countries,
within the developed and developing world, undertake similar processes in order
to balance the governance systems with the demands of the electorate.
Notwithstanding the review process, our Government has, in the past 13 years as
a fledgling democracy, achieved significant successes, particularly with regard
to the provision of basic services to the majority of the previously deprived
communities. Having regard to the above, government now seeks to refine this
system so that it can accelerate the pace and quality of development to higher
levels.
Also, we have learnt useful lessons from specific programmes
and interventions, such as Project Consolidate in 2004. At that point, we
indicated that our interventions are two-fold. Firstly, we continue to engage
the whole of government, the private sector and other development agencies to
develop the capacity of municipalities to perform their mandate. We also
indicated that, in addition to this, we will undertake a process of refining
policy, fiscal and institutional matters to enable the consolidation of the
local government system in the medium to long-term.
Improving Local Government
Since the introduction of the local system of government in 2000, many pieces
of local government legislation, guided by the Constitution (1996) and the
White Paper on Local Government (1998), were developed, such as :-
There is no doubt that some in-roads have been made by government in the
fight against poverty. For example, with regard to basic local services, the
following achievements have been recorded:
Some of the emerging policy questions and proposals focus on the
following:
Provincial Government
National Government
As we may all know, the economic outlook for the country is positive,
with the real GDP growth showing an increase from 3.12% (2003) to 5% (2006),
and forecasted to reach 5.4% in 2009. The national efforts to also share this
growth are espoused by the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative-South
Africa (ASGI-SA). Some of the emerging policy questions and proposals are
focused on:
Some of the emerging questions and policy proposals in this area of
focus on powers and functions allocated to the three spheres of government are
based on:
Some of the
emerging questions and policy proposals focus on:
Policy Process
Following public inputs from August
until 31 October, and further extensive research, a Green Paper on Provincial
Government and a discussion document on Local Government will be published by
December 2007. After the Green Paper has been commented on and inputs received
from the public, work will commence on the final White Paper by mid 2008.