Main Findings on Free Basic Services from National Treasury Fiscal Incidence Report

This study analyses the extent to which the poor benefit from Free Basic Services (FBS), which include free basic water, free basic electricity, free basic sanitation and free basic solid waste removal. Unfortunately, none of the data sets analysed could be used to conduct fiscal incidence analysis because none of the surveys asked appropriate questions with regard to consumption/usage or tariffs/costs of FBS, the non-survey data from DWAF and NT were self-reported from municipalities, with several municipalities and district municipalities not providing any information at all, and the main data set provided by National Treasury was found to be riddled with inconsistencies and errors. The easiest and ideal solution to the data problem would be to have municipalities report household consumption data at monthly intervals throughout.Publicly provided goods, National government expenditures

The role of intergovernmental relations in municipal integrated development planning: case of Buffalo City Metropolitan municipality, Eastern Cape

The primary aim of this study was to assess the role of intergovernmental relations structures in municipal integrated development planning in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. There are three spheres of government in South Africa, which include the national, provincial and local governments. These spheres are modelled to co-operate and support each other through the structures of intergovernmental relations (hereafter referred to as “IGR”). The IGR structures were given an institutional and statutory expression through the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act 13 of 2005. The IGR structures are a set of formal and informal processes through which bilateral and multi-lateral co-operation can be achieved, thereby ensuring the existence of the three spheres of government. The study asserts that the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality lacks the co-ordination of integrated development planning (IDP) activities to promote proper and efficient service delivery. Section 41 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) (as amended), states that co-operation must establish or provide structures and institutions to promote and facilitate intergovernmental relations, and to provide for appropriate mechanisms and procedures to facilitate the settlement of intergovernmental disputes. The study adopted a mixed-method of research paradigms, in which both qualitative and quantitative research paradigms were utilized to assess the challenges facing the IGR structures at Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (hereafter referred to as “the municipality and BCMM”). The data were collected from a sample of 30 respondents – by carefully using judgmental and snowball sampling. Questionnaires, interviews, and documentary analysis were used as the sources of the data collection. The findings were analyzed, according to the same data collection techniques. The study found that there is legislation and structures to assist the municipality in directing integrated development planning (IDP) activities within the BCMM. The IDP involves a wide range of role players – from both inside and outside the municipality. The IGR structures are in existence; but they are non-performing, according to Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act 13 (2005) (hereafter referred to as “IGRFA”). There is a lack of political commitment in establishing the IGR structures, and a lack of information-sharing, and so forth. The study thus recommends that the BCMM should establish permanent and contractual positions; improve communication and information flow; establish a hierarchy of monitoring and evaluation systems and processes; and forge a strong partnership with the community-based organizations (hereafter referred to as “CBOs”) and the non-governmental organizations (hereafter referred to as “NGOs”). This would ensure that the IDP processes are linked to the councillors’ wards, and that the actions of programmes are known by the role players; thus this would focus on the participation and the co-ordination of the IGR structures

A STUDENT’S EXPERIENCE OF GAINING ACCESS FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Listening to lecturers and reading text books, students may think that planning a research project, gaining access to a site and finding willing participants is a straightforward process. On the ground, however, they are confronted with a much messier situation. To deal with the practical realities and the often unforeseen challenges of the particular project, they have to apply their classroom knowledge, develop a range of research skills and learn new attitudes. Gaining access is critical. The success of data gathering depends directly on how easy or difficult it is to access the site and how well the student can build and maintain relationships with the participants and hold them to agreements (De Vos, Strydom, Schulze & Patel, 2011). It is a process with many potential pitfalls (Johl & Renganathan, 2010). Failure to access the study site successfully can put paid to the whole project

A century of contested ownership: Land tenure in Alexandra, South Africa 1912 - 2011

Purpose of the paper: Alexandra was proclaimed in 1912 as the first formal township in South Africa where blacks could obtain ownership. Over the past century, a number of watershed changes in layout and ownership have taken place, most notably the promulgation of the 1913 Land Act that prohibited the proclamation of land for black ownership and a series of expropriations, resulting from apartheid policies that took place from 1950 onwards, culminating in a consolidation in 1985 that led to further expropriations. In 2011, former land owners established land claims.  These claims were complicated by the fact that a number of residents had received legal right of ownership.Investigation of the validity of the claims required a comprehensive study of the change of ownership from the original proclamation (1912) to the situation in 2011. Methodology. An analysis of current and historical development and management of Alexandra is provided, supplemented by a visual overview of the changing patterns of ownership and densification. The present status of land claims and their legal implications is summarized and a reliable estimate of the present population of Alexandra is provided.Findings: The total population as determined by this study is more than 60 per cent more than the formal 2011 census estimate, resulting in a density of more than 44 400 persons per hectare. It was also found that Occupiers on one stand can have different kind of rights.  However, adequate documentation has been assembled to drive the process of land tenure upgrading.Practical implications: The higher than previously estimated population density has severe implications - physical as well as political - for future planning of this vibrant area. The importance of a reliable estimate of the ownership of property in Alexandra becomes even more apparent when the implications of the Restitution Act are considered.

Local Democracy in Action: A Civil Society Perspective on Local Governance in South Africa

Evaluates South Africa's municipal governments on democracy, responsiveness, and accountability; planning and budgeting; and equitable service delivery and poverty reduction. Discusses priorities and limitations, and offers alternatives and interventions

A successful local economic development-urban renewal initiative: A case study of the Mandela Bay Development Agency

Despite the urgent need for local economic development in South Africa, Local Economic Development (LED) as area of professional endeavour/activity has largely failed to live up to this need. In this article, an alternative approach to local economic development, which involved a ‘bottom-up’ approach to urban renewal is explored. The urban renewal work of the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality is used as a case study of a ‘successful example of an LED-initiative’. By taking into account the needs of the customer (or local community), a respect for difference, a conscious drive to ensure participation of, and benefit for all affected parties, keeping the eye on the ball, a desire to learn and innovate, and a pragmatic action-orientation, the MBDA achieved success in its local economic development initiatives. The value of this article lies in the experience of lessons learned, the overall understanding of urban planning, and the necessity for urban planning to respond to the local economy of a particular city

Creating Enhanced Capacity for Local Economic Development (LED) through Collaborative Governance in South Africa

The complexities of the twenty-first century have paved way for the emergence and proliferation of cross boundary collaboration in the lexicon of localised and territorial development. Collaborative governance is increasingly playing a vital role in addressing the multi-dimensional challenges of the contemporary era. This paper seeks to contextualise collaborative governance as a possible remedy that could help to salvage the incapacitated municipalities and be more resourceful in their developmental mandate of fostering localised territorial development. In addition, the article discusses some of the contextual limitations of commonly applied state-led and civilpowered approaches to address socio-economic problems in municipalities. To constitute a resilient collaborative governance capable of improving system management and responsiveness to socio-economic issues in municipalities, the paper tends to shed light on the emergence of another type of approach, the hybridcentric collaborative approach. Given this scenario, what would be the specific roles and relationship between the state and non-state

Too dependent to participate: ward committees and local democratisation in South Africa

Will participatory local government structures help deepen democracy in South Africa? That is the proclaimed purpose of the ward committee system, the centre- piece of post-apartheid local government reform, intended to facilitate deliberative democratic decision making. Drawing on a case study of the Msunduzi municipality, it is argued here that ward committees, as yet barely functional seven years since first being established, have from the outset been caught up in relations of dependency with ward councillors, political parties and the municipality itself, and that these relations threaten to undermine the democratic dividends that the committees are expected to yield.Web of Scienc

A study of local economic development in the town of Stutterheim

Local economic development (LED) is progressively being implemented by developing countries and has shifted from being a development approach pursued only by industrialised nations. Academic interpretation of LED prioritises strategies based on ideas of grassroots and bottom-up development. These ideas are centred on the self-reliance of communities as well as on highlighting the benefits of creating partnerships with different actors for local development. This approach to development is encouraged in South Africa's post-apartheid local government system and is outlined in the sphere's constitutional philosophies of participatory democracy and developmental local government. As such, from the mid-1990's, LED has been embedded in legislation in South Africa, and local governments have been instructed to support LED projects and to assist in their implementation. The consensus is that the implementation of LED by South Africa's local governments has generally not been a success, and poor rural municipalities have been the most negatively impacted by these results. This dissertation looks at the evolution of LED implementation in the small rural town of Stutterheim. The first LED initiative in the town took place in the early 1990's in line with the national political transformation of South Africa from apartheid to democratic governance. This initiative has been heralded as one of the most successful cases of LED in the country. What is most noteworthy about the case is that it pre-dates the establishment of a formal post-1994 local government system and LED policy in South Africa. The LED initiative in the town has survived this formalisation but with significant revisions and reduction in its LED role in the town. This paper is primarily concerned with such revisions and the extent to which they have been a consequence of the relationship between the town's initial LED coordinator, the Stutterheim Development Foundation, and the new local government constitutionally mandated with LED. The paper further interrogates the implementation of LED in Stutterheim after 2000 and post-Stutterheim Development Foundation