RURAL DEVELOPMENT

National Framework for LED (DPLG) Comments

Objectives Build a shared understanding of LED Stability of the municipal entity as well as management
capacity are key, to planning and prioritisation for Small Town
Regeneration. Partnerships with external stakeholders involve
sharing of technical capacity, addressing backlogs and
assessing future needs within the budget framework. This is
important as this mechanism can free up time for other
strategic aspects including application of LED projects, turn
around strategies and planning for regeneration

The measurement of the status quo assessment in all South

African small towns looks bleak as nearly all of them face the
same challenges of weak management, lack of staff , lack or
ability to access funding from various funds available.

All forms of partnerships be they private/public, public/ public

Move from failures where municipalities themselves try to manage a litany of non-viable
projects or start-ups, to a strategic approach making local communities active
participants
public/NGO etc will have spin offs in terms of regional
economic linkages and cross boundary options for opening up
markets
Municipalities often view LED as a separate component of the
IDP, this results in a disjointed outcome. The strength of small
town regeneration and LED implementation is a clear
understanding of the outcomes.

The framework and policies and funding allocation, by means

of both National and Provincial strategies will contribute to
small town regeneration if incorrectly applied or could result in
further confusion at a local level.

The IDP through its Spatial development plan should indicate

locality of most need to improve basic need services
Elevate the importance of effectively functioning local economies in the country implementation through focused funding .

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 Improve coordination of economic development planning and implementation across
government and non-governmental actors
Build greater awareness about important role of localities supported by national policies
Key principles “Powers & functions of local government should be exercised in way that has maximum
impact on social development of communities and on the growth of the local economy.”
Local government has key role to create conducive environment for investment through
provision of infrastructure and quality services rather than by dev eloping programmes
and attempting to create jobs directly
In implementing the White Paper on MSPs and the legislative
framework for MSPs, the Department works closely with the
MIIU, SALGA, other national departments and provincial
governments to ensure that municipalities are given the
necessary support and guidance on MSPs.(Pg 12)
As a culmination to this policy process and the local-
government transition, the Department and the National
Treasury have sponsored key statutes that regulate municipal
service partnerships. The two key legislative initiatives have
been the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of
2000 (the Systems Act) and its recent amendment – the Local
Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Act 44 of 2003
(the MSAA) - and the Local Government: Municipal Finance
Management Act 56 of 2003 (MFMA). The amended Systems
Act regulates the provision of services either through internal
mechanisms or external mechanisms, the latter being
municipal services partnerships. The amended Systems Act
sets out the decision-making process that must be followed
before a municipality enters into a service delivery agreement,
the tariff-setting process and its controls and also regulates
the procurement process in selecting the appropriate service
provider. The amending Act also deals with municipal entities
in some detail - the purposes for which they may be
established, the forms they may take and their governance.
The Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act
deals with the financial management of municipalities and
municipal entities. It has specific provisions relating to “public
private partnerships” in respect of feasibility, procurement,
contracting, security and debt, the amending Act to the
Municipal Systems Act and the Municipal Finance
Management Act will soon come into operation and complete
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 the legislative treatment of MSPs. In short, a policy that has
developed over several years has finally produced a rigorous
and mature legal framework for MSPs. .

Criteria for regeneration of small towns , include government

playing its role in creating an enabling environment, even if
this achieved by adding capacity to the municipality to do so.

Strategies Improve Good governance, service delivery, public and market confidence in White paper on MSP, provides a framework in order to
municipalities improve small town development through guiding the
implementation of public private partnerships in order to
supply basic services to all. This is through contractual
agreements By involving the public sector, there is more
market confidence. This attracts more private sector
involvement and funding,

Project Consolidate In small towns Projects Consolidate has been implemented

Municipal wide land-use management systems
Improved infrastructure investment and IG coordination
Spatial development analysis & planning exploiting comparative advantage and
competitiveness of 52 Municipal Regions
under the auspices of ’Siyenza Mandje’. This was an
intervention to add additional resources to municipalities by
placing technically or financially qualified persons within the
municipality to assist with difficult tasks.. As is true of LED and
additional skills and resources can be utilised to create an
enabling environment for regeneration. In terms of the MSP
the support is sourced to assist municipalities with basic
service delivery This is possible through the PPPs creating
inter PPP coordination. Spatial planning and budgeting should
ensure transversal and cross cutting linkages.
Can be achieved through implementation if correctly setup
incentivising development investment will have an impact on
Small town regeneration.

Planning and prioritising does not provide toilets etc in the

short run, but communities need to understand that this does
Build knowledge economy
not all happen at one.

Pg 5)Capacity building, communication and sharing

Continuing support for capacity enhancement is essential to

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 achieving sustainable improvement in municipal service
delivery. Whether municipal services are delivered directly by
municipalities, or through MSP arrangements, municipalities
require functional capacity to:
 determine appropriate service levels;
 prepare an IDP;
 plan for service delivery on a sector-by-sector basis;
 marshal management, human and financial resources
to ensure service delivery;
 determine tariffs and promote effective and efficient
tariff collection;
Innovative funding instruments
 monitor performance so that service delivery goals
Regulatory Impact Assessment and standards are achieved;
 manage and conduct stakeholder consultation;
Intensify Enterprise Support and business infrastructure development in local areas
 co-ordinate service delivery activity with other
New Small Business Development Strategy spheres of government; and

Improved access to finance  adjust service delivery activities over time.

 Municipal capacity in these areas requires many
Introduce Sustainable Development Community Investment Programming specialised skills, including:
 Governance skills
 Identifying community needs, setting priorities,
exercising political leadership, decision-making, and
making linkages between infrastructure delivery and
local economic development.
All the aspects listed in the left hand column are achievable
through partnership, alignment, innovative thinking and
implementation of growth interventions at any scale on which
it will have a direct or indirect small town impact.,

Expected By 2011: Small town regeneration through implementation of

outcomes
Comparative advantage and competitiveness of all District & Metro municipalities
identified LED strategies and exploited;
All District & Metro municipalities have credible LED programs effectively implemented
partnership projects will not necessarily have the same
outcome. More than one intervention is required to one define
potential, unlock potential as various scales of intervention will
depend on the size of the town and what resources it has.

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 by dedicated LED unit;
All municipalities have innovative spatial development strategies, land-use policies, by-
laws and implementation capacity to facilitate fast & effective business establishment
All municipalities have at least one PPP through which a major investment is being
implemented
Institutional “Communities expect local government to drive the process” – Sidney Mufamadi
arrangements
Government has a decisive and unapologetic role to play in shaping the economic
destiny of our country
Developmental local government to engage stakeholders in implementing strategies and
programmes
LED not just about what municipalities do, but more critically what rest of government
does together with municipalities
A Sustainable Development Community Investment Programme (SDCIP) is foreseen:
not to fund small community projects in the traditional sense, but linking communities into
the mainstream economy as critical players through their own organisation supported by
innovative redesign of methods delivering government expenditure.
Comments Towns in decline and smaller municipalities have bigger challenge concerning challenge
about Small of good governance and provision of services
Towns
The policy is narrow in its focus, it aims to achieve the
broader goal of sustainable development which comprises
institution, social, physical, environmental and economic
aspects. However only one tool to do so is provided while the
“ whole” toolbox is required do have that effect.
Once more partnership, partnership, partnership is required,
whether that is with business chapters , co-op’s etc. it will
include other drivers and focused investment to bring about
development of all types albeit, economic through business
development, linkage to markets, developing unique products
etc. Legal capacity is required to set up agreements for PPPs
it remains a fundamental challenge to municipalities which
will suffer as a result in terms of sufficient funds being
available for project level interventions and project
implementation .
“Everyone has to participate, everyone needs to understand
why.” Everyone in a small town needs to realise they have a
role to play in basic service transactions ie. Paying for
services they use. Not expecting everything to be free. Once
again a community/ public partnership based on information
sharing. Not every partnership needs to be undertaken from a
financial side, Social, participative, information sharing are all
partnerships.
While MSPs have not yet enjoyed widespread application or
acceptance. Moreover, while some MSPs are contributing to
desired improvements in service delivery, others – particularly
early transactions - have yielded only mixed results.
For Small Town Regeneration, creative thinking, assessment
of unique potentials, nodes, identification of economic viable
projects and forward thinking are important, as this
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contributes to improving economic opportunities to implement
LED and growth.