Your Worship, Honourable Mzwandile Masina (in absentia), councillors, dignitaries, ladies and gentlemen, and friends

Transcription

1 1 Your Worship, Honourable Mzwandile Masina (in absentia), councillors, dignitaries, ladies and gentlemen, and friends Good morning and thank you to Mbuso Mpungose from EK FM for inviting me here today to join you at the local government leadership breakfast to celebrate the incoming Mayoral Committee and Councillors of Ekurhuleni. Thank you Councillor Buitendacht for hosting us. My task, besides congratulating you, is to provide motivation by sharing some reflections on Effective and Efficient Governance at the local government level. To do this, I would like to go back in time, around 2396 years, to be as precise as possible. The year is 380 B.C.E. and the philosopher Plato is writing a book called The Republic. In it, his friend and teacher Socrates makes the assumption that a just city is always more successful or happy than an unjust city. If a ruler has a divided soul he - or she - becomes conflicted and at odds over the course of right action. Can one seek to be honourable or make money and do as one pleases? As Scripture says, No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. So for Socrates, if a ruler is truly to be a philosopher, they will require a careful and a proper education and an orderly social environment within which to operate. What becomes clear is that the best leader is one who is wise and governs for the benefit of the governed and not for themselves. In a city context, and let us bear in mind that we are here in a Metro municipality, governance becomes tricky because of the difference between popular values and those of the wise. Competing and conflicting interests can lead to chaos and civic unrest. The goal of politics, therefore, at least as Plato s book lays it out, is to create harmony and consensus about who ought to govern. But for such harmony to take root, justice, peace and the rule of law need to be championed and sustained. Thus it is that ethics, or the good, becomes intertwined with politics or the life of the city. So it is perhaps no coincidence that Ekurhuleni means Place of Peace in Tsonga and that I m here representing Good Governance Africa, a registered, independent not-for-profit organisation purely dedicated to improving governance across Africa through research programmes, publications and services. But more on that a little later. For now, let s get to business. How exactly might we think of Effective and Efficient Governance, and how can we unpack this at a local level? The word effective comes from the Latin stem efficere to accomplish and can have several meanings. The main one, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is to be successful in producing a desired or intended result. So we might ask, how can we govern in a way that successfully produces a positive result?

2 2 Effective can also mean to be or become operational, for example, effective tomorrow or even to refer to something that exists in actual fact or in reality, even if it isn t recognised explicitly. This too can be helpful, insofar as governance because it assists with the move from negotiation, talk, planning and design, through to implementation. To be effective, governance can t succeed based on appearances, but rather on actual facts. We shall return to the notion of fact-based and the slogan that Knowledge is Power in due course. Finally, when used as a noun effective refers to a soldier fit and available for service. This too, perhaps in a funny way, refers to the fact that governance involves a struggle, and that governors need to be fit and available for active service duty to fight the good fight. Where more so than in the trenches and on the front line at grassroots democracy level? Let s turn to efficient governance. Also from the Latin stem efficere to accomplish the word efficient refers to achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense, or to preventing the wasteful use of a particular resource. We can think of many practical examples of this in government, where conscious efforts are made to curb wasteful expenditure, for example. When it comes to the person, efficiency refers to working in a well-organised and competent way. This meaning too, holds sway for us when we reflect on governance and in particular on the role of human resources and personnel. Issues of organisation, workflow and competence clearly factor into the success, or failure, of various local and metro municipalities. I could wax on and on about technicalities and theories, but the practise is what is important. So in terms of the above notions of effective and efficient local governance, I would like to give you a snap-shot picture of Ekurhuleni, at least according to the research conducted by GGA as part of our Local Governance Programme. In order to do this, some background is necessary to frame the research for you. In August last year, we commissioned research into perceptions of national government in South Africa, in an honest, open, non-partisan attempt to understand the state of our nation just over two decades into our newborn democracy. The survey was a nationally representative sample of almost 2,300 participants and it found mixed results in terms of what the people really think. Back then, we found three factors holding the nation together: one was a sense of loyalty to the ruling party, albeit declining; the second was marginal success on pensions (50.5% overall and 65.3% for black South Africans); and finally, a deep appreciation for social grants (61.2% overall, and 70.6% amongst black South Africans). This last innovation is highly significant, especially for those in need. On the flipside, however, 78.7% of participants blamed incompetent and corrupt government officials for the poor state of the economy. Think back to Socrates and Plato, and to our definitions above. Only 16.5% gave a thumbs

3 3 up to Law and Order, with Health and Education only getting a thumbs up from 31.4% and 36.1% respectively. Of concern to us, in a country where the people shall govern was that 56.7% of participants had given up hope that the government would listen to them and only 14.3% found the government to be completely accountable. We then decided to zoom into local government and ranked all 234 local and metro municipalities on our Government Performance Index (GPI). We did this according to 15 indicators in three clusters: Administration, Economic Development and Service Delivery. Administration included Financial Soundness, Compliance and Municipal Capacity. Economic Development comprised Individual Income, Poverty, Work Opportunities and Unemployment, while Service Delivery included Access to Piped Water, Education, Electricity, Health facilities, Informal to Formal Housing, Police coverage, Refuse removal and Sanitation. All of our data was drawn from the Auditor-General s Report, National Treasury, the Extended Public Works Programme and Statistics South Africa. We found that the top municipality was a coalition government (ACDP, DA) in Swellendam and that of the top 20 municipalities, 15 were in the Western Cape (of which four are ANC-run, eight DA and three by opposition coalitions); three in the Northern Cape (two ANC and one opposition coalition); and two in the Free State (ANC). If we consider the bottom end of the spectrum, of the lowest 20 municipalities, 12 were located in the Eastern Cape and another six in KZN, with the remaining two from Limpopo and the North West respectively. All were governed by the ruling party and perhaps not surprisingly, all were located in former apartheid homelands. Shockingly, Mbizana, birthplace of Oliver Tambo, was the lowest performer in the country. In our attempt to contribute to the improvement of governance in the country, we have contacted the mayoral offices of each of the 234 municipalities in South Africa, to welcome the incumbent teams and also to provide support, in the form of our research in PDF format, along with governance principles and lessons learned and tips based on our research concerning Administrative, Economic Development and Service Delivery clusters. The rankings are available for both National and Provincial Levels. For example, Ekurhuleni scores eight out of 10 in Gauteng and 97 out of 234 nationally. We have offered to provide additional insights to all mayors on why their particular municipalities occupy the ranking that they do. They may be high-scoring on some indicators but low on others. To promote access to knowledge to all citizens, a summary of our findings made available in all eleven official South African languages and disseminated on radio as well. I would now like to share some analysis for Ekurhuleni to share the value of this knowledge, in the interest of assisting with more effective and efficient governance.

4 4 1. Administrative cluster 1. Financial soundness (1 st in GP, 1 st Nationally) UNQUALIFIED AUDIT top ranking only 28/234 or 12% obtained this. 2. Compliance of annual reports (1 st in GP, 1 st Nationally) FULL COMPLIANCE top ranking only 41/234 or 17.5%. 3. Municipal capacity (3 rd in GP and 55 th Nationally) In Progress 86/234 or 36.75% whereas Good = 54/234 or 23.1%. 2. Economic Development cluster 1. Work opportunities (3 rd in GP, 5 th Nationally) 2 GOOD (1 is best 4 Metros only, 1.7% ethekwini, CT, Tshwane, Jo burg. Nine Municipalities got 2, 3.85% NM Bay; King Dalindyebo; Buffalo City EC; Bushbuckridge; Mbombela MP; Mahikeng NW; Mangaung FS; and Umzimvubu EC). 2. Poverty (5 th in GP, 31 st Nationally) not poor. 3. Unemployment (8 th in GP, 67 th Nationally) just below halfway between Letsemeng FS and Oudtshoorn WC. 4. Individual Monthly income (8 th in GP and 210 th Nationally) between Imbabazane KZN and Matjhabeng FS. 3. Service Delivery cluster 1. Education (1 st in GP and 3 rd Nationally) supports Mayor s call for a University. 2. Weekly refuse removal (3 rd in GP and 14 th Nationally) good. 3. Water (4 th in GP and 38 th Nationally). 4. Electricity (8 th in GP and 145 th Nationally) between Ladysmith KZN and Siyancuma NC. 5. Ratio of formal to informal housing (5 th in GP and 181 st Nationally). 6. Sanitation (10 th lowest in GP and 199 th Nationally) below Musina LP and above Maphumulo KZN. 7. People per police station (3 rd in GP and 161 st Nationally) worst rank, i.e. one police station for more than 50,000 people. 8. People per medical facility (8 th in GP and 228 th Nationally) only above Mfolozi, Matubatuba, Ntambanana KZN and Matatiele EC; worst ranking over 20,000 people per facility. From the above analysis we can conclude the following: Ekurhuleni is strong administratively in the sense of having an unqualified audit and a fully compliant annual report. Municipal capacity is in progress and could do with some improvement. In terms of Economic Development, this Metro shows good work opportunities; it is not poor although its unemployment rate is middle of range and monthly income is significantly low. This merits attention.

5 5 As far as Service Delivery is concerned, electrification and the ratio of informal to formal housing are lower than average nationally, and sanitation is particularly dismal, the lowest in Gauteng and 199 th nationally. Health facilities and police coverage show the lowest values, of one health facility for over 20,000 people and one police station for more than 50,000 people. This indicates an urgent need for infrastructural development. On the bright side, the municipality shows an excellent level of Education, adding weight to the honourable Mayor s call for a University. It is very high up on the national rankings in terms of weekly refuse removal and access to piped water. Let us return to the word effective. To be effective, governance must work in a way that successfully produces an intended result. Hence, intentionality and systems and structures are critical. Effective governance also implies being operational and grounded in reality; actual, in fact, and not just a talkshop. It means being fit and available for active service. Likewise, efficient governance refers to achieving maximum productivity whilst preventing the wasteful use of any particular resource. In terms of HR and performance management, this translates to working in a well-organised and competent way. Although both words originate from the verb for accomplishment, they are not exactly the same. In other words, one could be effective but not efficient or efficient but not effective. The trick is in aligning both aspects of governance. In order to assist with this, as I indicated earlier, we have circulated a simple one-pager that helps us in our mission at Good Governance Africa. Our governance principles cover accessibility, empathy of response, broad and inclusive consultation, decisive action and providing feedback. We also have prompts to assist with cluster-specific areas of governance such as administration, economic development and service delivery, with the ultimate yardstick of whether governance is sound, effective and efficient being the dignity of the human person. I have some print-outs of these good governance guides for you, and they may also be found on the web: The honourable Mayor, Mr Masina, has already flagged his intentions in this regard at the outset of his term of office. In his acceptance speech on 31 August, he commenced his term of office by stating that, I wish to assure that standing here is a humble servant of the people who is driven by only one ambition to serve the communities of Ekurhuleni equally regardless of gender, race or creed [and] without fear or favour. Mr Masina stated his awareness of the concerns of the residents of Ekurhuleni, especially in terms of housing, roads and basic services and has indicated the move from less talk to more action with a focus on delivery. Whilst some of the targets are ambitious, they speak to many of the issues that we identified in our own research as unpacked with you above. I sincerely hope that they can be achieved to uplift the lives of those affected. I also trust that the necessary negotiations, compromises, and checks and balances that

6 6 characterise a multi-party coalitional government will help and not hinder the process. Putting party politics above the people doesn t help anyone to progress other than cadres themselves and spoilers are about as far away from good governors as is chalk from cheese. Taken as a whole, Ekurhuleni has reason to be upbeat and cautiously optimistic. As the fourth largest Metro in South Africa, and one of three housed in Gauteng and host to the country s biggest airport at ORT, there are clearly challenges in terms of population density and the management of associated challenges of urban influx and rapid development. Interestingly, the first thing that I heard on the news this morning was to do with Ekurhuleni, and that the world s number 3 golfer, Rory McIlroy, will be coming to play in the SA Open, to be hosted here next year. Opportunities abound for you, and with the principle of justice at the helm of the ship of effective and efficient governance in the best interest of the people, it is possible to nurture a happy city. For Socrates, this city would always be more successful than its unjust, disgruntled counterpart. Come forward 2396 years, and it remains the case that through ethical leadership and genuine political service, peace and harmony, and prosperity, are to be found. I thank you for your attention and wish you well on the journey ahead.