cities

The main challenges for aligning urban management plans are summarised in Table 6.5.
Table 6.5: Alignment challenges facing urban management plans
Category
Input
Key
considerations
Outputs
Challenge
Names and aims: Lack of coherence in the terminology and intent of the plan. The names of the plans (i.e. plan,
vision, strategy, framework, etc.) often do not correlate with the purpose or aim of the documents, and most cover
similar ground.
Time horizons: Very little consistency in the period covered by a long-range plans.
Methods employed: Local, provincial and national plans show very little consistency in methodologies employed.
Referencing of other plans: In general, provincial plans seldom reference other plans and so are not linked to plans
of other spheres.
Roles and responsibilities: The lack of assignment of responsibilities in long-range plans points to a clear lack of
discussion and consensus among the various groups.
Planned activities or clearly defined actions: A majority of the plans does not have clearly laid-out activities
with clear timelines and objectives.
The role of cities and spatial visions: Not all long-range plans translate their vision and strategies into a spatial
vision, especially the economic development plans. Municipalities do prepare spatial development frameworks (SDFs),
but these form part of the IDP, which is a five-year plan, not a long-term strategic plan.
Empirical targets and goals: The vast majority of plans speak in fairly general terms about their long-term aims
and goals. Few provided actual targets, and only two of the plans actually put figures to what needs to be achieved.
Monitoring and evaluation: Mechanisms for measuring progress are very scarce, and only the NDP and the New
Growth Plan indicate how progress would be measured over time.
Source: SACN (2013)
A city’s spatial development framework (SDF) presents future land-use potential and indicates priority
areas. However, it does not include a phased and integrated implementation plan that takes into
account population and economic growth, infrastructure capacities, readiness across municipal,
provincial and national departments, and agreements with developers on guaranteed take-up. Nor
does the SDF identify the costs and benefits of providing infrastructure to different areas, or define
areas for deep versus shallow investment (Musvoto and Mkhize, 2015).
6
The participation of communities in city planning is not optimum. As mentioned, the politicisation of
ward committees means that the dominant party acts as a gatekeeper between the society and the
local state. Instead of working with local communities to plan appropriate development, coalitions
direct resources to support patronage and political ambitions that favour the wealthy and omit or
side-line the poor. As a result, communities often turn to protest because they have lost faith in formal
governance institutions.
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