South Africa chief justice term end next month should the next chief justice be a woman?
September 16, 2021Rethinking national building and social cohesion amidst the pandemic: what needs to shift in our society?
September 17, 2021
On 15 September, DDP hosted the Civil Society Collaboration Forum. Our guest speakers included Mr Eric Apelgren, Ms Bonolo Makgale and Ms Evashnee Naidu. The Forum acted as an opportunity of analysing some of the recent trends in local government. This analysis had primary focus on unpacking the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of the looming postponement of the 2021 Local Government Elections. Our speakers engaged in riveting conversation about the impact of COVID-19 on municipal systems and accountability. They also opened up discussion on the importance of having the public understand available public participation mechanisms.
Mr Apelgren enlightened us with an idea of what avenues are available for civil society in the various channels that is connected through his work for the municipality. It because of this unique position that he was able to give us insight on factions within parties (especially the African National Congress); preparations for the local government elections; crisis of governance and ethical leadership – all centred by the cancer of corruption. Mr Apelgren also gave us insight on matters concerning service delivery, high unemployment and the effects of unrest and looting in our country. It was evident, throughout his presentation, that these matters call for platforms that would increase civic participation.
During its Annual Municipal Budget and Benchmark Engagement, with National Treasury (NT) held on 15 May 2020, the City of Cape Town brought home the stark reality that with COVID-19, higher levels of unemployment and lower real disposable income is likely to increase levels of indebtedness and defaulting on payments for municipal services. At this stage already, Cape Town estimated a shortfall in the collection of revenue of R800m. Over the May and June 2020 (2 month) period, Gauteng’s metro’s reported that in terms of uncollected revenue; The City of Johannesburg has lost at least R1.5bn, City of Tshwane lost approximately R1.2billion and Ekurhuleni lost about R800m . This trend may intensify over the peak of the pandemic, and will prevail for at least the foreseeable future. A number of businesses may close down, resulting in a shrinking commercial rates base. Some of the largest sectoral impacts are in the manufacturing sector, averaging close to a 30% reduction in non-food related manufacturing. This is likely to result in reduced electricity and water consumption and resulting revenue collection from commercial power and water users.
It was within this context that Ms Makgale went on to disucss the impact of COVID-19 on municipal accountability. Covid-19 impacted adversely on municipal revenue sources – intergovernmental grants (transfers) and own revenue. Prior to Covid-19, the growth in national transfers was already decreasing due to national government’s fiscal consolidation. Dr Ncube, of the Local Government Unit at the Financial and Fiscal Commission has argued that Covid-19 has added more pressure for government to tighten its fiscal consolidation measures. Some of the intergovernmental grants which were protected, such as the equitable share, are no longer as protected as before. In short, transfers are now under significant pressure. Own revenue sources – property tax and services charges – are also under pressure. Dr Ncube explained that the Covid-19 regulations impacted the sector in four areas namely governance, infrastructure, social and financial. On governance, Dr Ncube indicated that decision making was delayed at the detriment of service delivery, IDPs of many municipalities were “thrown off course” and public participation was disrupted. When it comes to infrastructure, he stated that the repairs and maintenance were often deferred and infrastructure projects postponed. The social impact was dire –inequalities, hunger and vulnerability intensified.
The initial presentations were then rounded off by presentation from Evashnee Naidu of Black Sash. According to her, the NDP recognizes that reducing the cost of living is essential for broadening economic participation and eliminating poverty.
Government contributes to reducing the cost of living in three ways:
- Investment in the social wage, comprising education, health services, social development, public transport, housing and local amenities.
- Support to vulnerable households through the old age grant, the child support grant and other social assistance grants.
- Contributory social security, including unemployment insurance, injury compensation and death or disability benefits.
Ms Naidu highlighted that while the policies are admirable, the implementation is lacking. The by-product of such is then the protests that plague our communities that show their dissatisfaction in accessing Local Government services.
Dr Paul Kariuki then rounded up the discussions by unpacking the need and role of a Local Government Action and Learning Network. The DDP Local Government Learning and Advocacy Network (LGLAN) is network for civil society organizations that work in the local governance sphere nationally. The network believes that civil society has a critical role to play in promoting good governance in the local government sphere and having a collective voice towards advocating for an effective and efficient local government.
ITS VISION:
A capacitated civil society network supported by an active citizenry working together as partners towards a pro-poor local governance in South Africa.
ITS MISSION:
This advocacy network champions the rights of citizens by promoting their inclusion of their views in policy relating to service delivery and public participation processes aimed at improving local governance and municipal performance.
To fulfil its mission, LGALN on is committed to:
- Providing engagement platforms for civil society to interact with municipalities and provincial departments responsible for public services delivery.
- Ongoing peer learning through exchange of ideas, sharing of information resources and joint reflection of work done by individual member organizations in the network in relation to local governance.
- Responding to policy statements, bills and development plans issued by local, provincial, and national departments in reference to public participation and other related aspects aimed at enabling effective citizen engagement in governance matters.
- Convening and coordinating activities between and among organizations in the network.
- Offering capacity building workshops, seminars, public education, and professional development activities to members of the network regularly.
- Raising awareness of democracy, political and human rights in society.
Here are the Presentations
Conversations on Civil Society Collaboration Black Sash
Pictures and video
