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Western Cape received the following draft documents regarding human
settlements for provincial inputs: Restructuring of Funding Flow for
Human Settlements Development and Gazetting of the Integrated
Housing and Human Settlements Development Grant Allocations to
Municipalities by Provincial Departments. The primary purpose of
these papers was to discuss and serve as a basis for the development
of a local government position on the obligation and responsibility of
provincial human settlements departments (with the exception of the
Western Cape) in complying with legislation by gazetting the Integrated
Housing and Human Settlements Development Grant allocations, as
well as to demonstrate the adverse impact of this contravention on
the municipal budgeting and planning of the delivery of sustainable
human settlements. In consultation with the Specialist of Human
Settlements, it was confirmed that the Western Cape is complying with
all necessary provisions and therefore did not need to input.
Representation of the interests of member municipalities
SALGA guided municipalities and produced a position paper on
bulk-water and electricity tariff adjustment proposals to protect
the interests of municipalities by ensuring that the department and
Parliament are sensitised to inappropriate price increases and guided
about reasonable increases that may be approved in the interest
of ensuring affordable bulk-water tariffs for municipalities. SALGA
Western Cape convened a working session to discuss the proposed
bulk-water tariffs by Overberg Water, with the aim of addressing issues
raised regarding the business plan of Overberg Water. It was resolved
that the Water Board would re-examine and rework the business plan
to reflect the correct figures in respect of the given motivation for the
proposed increases to bulk-water for the period 2011/2012. At the
conclusion of the municipal consultation process, the resolution was
that SALGA Western Cape would disseminate the revised submission
to SALGA National and the municipalities concerned and this was
done in January 2011.
Accelerating basic service delivery and waste
management programmes
Six municipalities from SALGA Mpumalanga workshopped on the
implementation of the Free Basic Sanitation strategy from 16 -18
November 2010 and on waste-management from 02-03 November
2010. Water was supported by 11 municipalities, electricity by 12
and six municipalities supported on the Municipal Infrastructure Grant
(MIG). Dr JS Moroka Municipality assisted on the development of
a water conservation and water demand management strategy and
the Municipal Infrastructure and Services (MIS) Working Group visited
Pixley Ka Seme, Mbombela and Mkhondo Municipalities and the
PM:MIS visited Chief Albert Luthuli, Govan Mbeki and Thembisile
Hani Municipalities on the implementation of MIG Projects. The
municipalities have gained an understanding of the implementation of
the Free Basic Sanitation strategy and a better overall understanding of
waste-management and related issues, and have shown improvement
in the rollout of electrification programmes and MIG projects.
Housing
On the 07 September 2010 municipalities were workshopped on
the development of housing chapters, resulting in an improved
understanding and planning of integrated and sustainable human
settlements Steve Tshwete Local Municipality from SALGA
Mpumalanga was assisted in applying for accreditation and was
granted provisional level one accreditation by the Member of the
Executive Council (MEC) for Human Settlements and, pending
the assessment process involved, is in a position to obtain full level
one accreditation.
Supporting municipalities in improving access to electricity and
alternative energy sources
SALGA North West held a provincial energy-efficiency initiative
conference at Mafikeng Local Municipality on 22 June 2010, in
order to obtain clarity on energy-efficiency and issues surrounding
the Electricity Distribution Industry Restructuring (EDIR) Bill. Thus,
municipalities were better informed of the processes and progress to
date on key issues raised by SALGA related to the negotiating position
of local government insofar as deal issues were concerned with regard
to regional electricity distribution and the Section 78 process, as well as
ring-fencing of the electricity infrastructure and refurbishment funding.
The energy-efficiency programme is committed to contributing to the
reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in South Africa through
energy-efficiency interventions at policy, monitoring, research, training
and implementation level and will be achieved through a partnership
with the Swiss Government. Rustenburg Municipality was chosen as a
pilot in the North West Province and, upon conclusion of the necessary
energy-efficiency research it will, by way of institutional arrangements,
provide knowledge-sharing opportunities for other municipalities.
Supporting municipalities in improving road access networks
SALGA North West conducted a one-day advisory and support
provincial working session on 31 August 2010 in order to involve role
players in an examination of the state of the municipal road network.
The aim of the working session was to identify means to address
identified issues through the efficient delivery and management
of cost-effective operations and maintenance. As such, informed
knowledge of the provincial statistics of roadworks, proclamations of
roadworks funding and the capacity-building of municipalities with
regards to roads was shared. South African National Roads Agency
Limited (SANRAL) assisted with 4% of the data collection for the North
West Province and informed municipalities of sources of funding for
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