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SALGA in a position to effectively and efficiently lobby and advocate
on issues concerning its member-municipalities. The Municipal
Infrastructure Services Directorate (MISD) facilitated municipal
consultations and submitted comprehensive inputs on various policy
development processes, including:
• Climate Change Response Policy.
• Electricity Integrated Resource Plan 2011 (IRP 2011).
• Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project Tolling Process.
• Free Basic Solid Waste Management Policy.
• Waste Management Strategy.
• South African Sanitation Policy.
• Bulk Water Tariffs: SALGA developed a submission to Parliament
and the Department of Water Affairs aimed at providing guidelines
to ensure that any approved increase to bulk water tariffs
applicable to member-municipalities were fair and reasonable
• NERSA Electricity Pricing Policy and its approach to the
implementation of inclining block tariffs in the electricity
distribution sector.
• Electricity Distribution Industry Restructuring (EDIR): SALGA
distilled 25 issues requiring resolution before restructuring in the
electricity distribution industry could be implemented. For
what may be the first time, the various role-players, including
government, garnered an appreciation of the damage to the
viability and effectiveness of local government if the restructuring
were to be pushed through without consideration of this impact.
it is fair to say that the improved understanding of this likely
impact of the proposed EDIR on local government led
to the abandoning of the restructuring process as was being
facilitated by EDI Holdings.
Along with the above successes, SALGA Western Cape met with
Dr Hildegard Fast from the Department of Provincial and Local
Government (DPLG) about the tariff tool developed by the P3 project.
The tool was well received and it was proposed that SALGA, the
Division of Local Government (DLG) and the Provincial Treasury take it
forward to initiate a buy-in process with municipal managers, mayors
and chief financial officers, as well as piloting the tool in a further six
municipalities in the province. The tool provides direct input into the
municipal budgeting processes and can be used to effectively enhance
municipal financial viability. Additionally, by way of participation in
the Western Cape Legislation Task Team on 18 and 19 November
2010, SALGA Western Cape discussed the standard draft Rules of
Order and by-laws in respect of the National Environmental Coastal
Management Act, Xenophobia, Disaster Management, Community
Libraries Bill, Transfer of Municipal Clinics, Rental Housing
Amendment Bill, Guidelines for First Meetings of Council and the
legality of terminating section 57 employment contracts in 2013, as a
result of non-compliance with minimum competency levels. Further,
SALGA Western Cape serves on the Liquor Task Team established
by the Provincial Department of Economic Development to advise
on proposed amendments to the Western Cape Liquor Act and was
involved in the update of the 2008 regulations by the requirement that
liquor licence applicants produce a zoning certificate permitting trade
in liquor for the property in question, thus enabling municipalities to
concentrate liquor-related uses into designated “economic zones” to
facilitate by-law enforcement.
IGR strategy
SALGA developed a draft Intergovernmental Relations (IGR)
strategy to ensure more effective representation of local government
in intergovernmental structures by positioning it at the centre of
cooperative governance, thereby optimising organized local government
participation in key national and provincial intergovernmental
structures.
Review of the ward participatory system
Local government performance will see improvement as a result
of the revision of the current ward participatory model. The paper
Governance Issues Arising From The LGTAS, dealing with this
issue, will be articulated in 2011-12 upon completion of the CoGTAdriven
review. Further, the research paper Benchmarking Public
Participation, identifying best/leading practices, was developed in
partnership with the Centre for Municipal Research and Advice
(CMRA) and German Technical (GIZ) and a code of conduct for ward
committee members was developed and submitted to the SALGA
National Working Group on 18 March 2011. Portfolio committees
from SALGA Limpopo undertook municipal engagements on the
definition of roles and responsibilities and the functionality of ward
committees and, on 19 November 2010, SALGA Mpumalanga
distributed guidelines on the code of conduct of ward committees to all
21 municipalities at a provincial workshop in Mbombela Municipality,
resulting in six municipalities developing policies in accordance with
the guidelines. Further, a model on ward committees was shared by
Mossel Bay Municipality of SALGA Western Cape with their speaker,
Ald Nicky Lodewyks, assisted by Mr Van Reenen van der Westhuizen
and Mr Kalla September, holding a presentation on ward committees
at the Speakers Forum in the interests of sharing good practises. On
04 February 2011, in order to improve its capacity to engage with
stakeholders and lobby and advocate them on issues in the interest
of member municipalities, SALGA Western Cape attended a research
finding dissemination workshop on the ward participatory system
for Western Cape Province, which was jointly convened by GFA
Consulting Group, Development Network Africa, the Department of
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