WHEN THE SUN RISES WE WORK HARD TO DELIVER NCOP PROVINCIAL WEEK MEC’S OVERVIEW: PRESENTATION ON LEKWA LOCAL MUNICIPALITY 1 PURPOSE To present to state of Lekwa Local Municipality. 2 PILLAR 1: PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST 3 Ward Committees: MUNICIPALITY NUMBER OF WARD COMMITTEES NUMBER OF WARD NUMBER OF WARD COMMITTEES WARDS ESTABLISHED COMMITTEES THAT ARE THAT ARE NONE FUNCTIONAL FUNCTIONAL Lekwa Local Municipality 15 15 15 00 Community Development Workers (CDW) MUNICIPALITY NUMBER OF CDW APPOINTED NUMBER OF CDW POST VACANT NUMBER OF PROTESTS Lekwa Local Municipality 12 05 01 Operation Vuka Sisebenze (OVS) War Rooms MUNICIPALITY NO. OF ESTABLISHED WAR ROOMS FUNCTIONAL WAR ROOMS NOT FUNCTIONAL WAR ROOMS Lekwa Local Municipality 15 06 09 4 PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ANALYSIS • The Municipality doesn’t have an engagement programme with communities • All established ward committees are functional. • Over the past three years, the municipality has been marred by violent protests due to its poor service delivery record. • The municipality does not have a public participation strategy in place PILLAR: 2 BASIC SERVICES DELIVERY 6 ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES Services Total Number of Number of Percentage with Access No. of Households Percentage without House Holds Households with without Access Access Access Water 93.7% 23 47 6.3% 37 334 34 987 Sanitation 37 334 1 114 3% 36 220 97.0% Refuse removal 37 334 1 1388 30,5% 25 946 69.5% Electricity 37 334 2 993 8% 34 341 92.0% 7 ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES CHALLENGES INTERVENTIONS/ PROGRESS • Scourge of sewer spillages in almost • The Provincial Governmentthrough DHS had already appointed a Professional Service all wards and town of the municipality. Provider for designs and project management for sewer spillages in Standerton Ext 8 this will include the installation of Bulk Outfall Sewer Line, 2x New Pump Stations, Booster Pump and Elevated Tank at a budget of R30m • Currently the Standerton Waste Water • Extensive work still needs to be done for the Standerton Waste Water Treatment Works Treatment Works were designed for the refurbishment of the 11 ML WWTW. The Plant is operated in two parts. One part originally to purify 11 Ml/ Day however is an old technology of a bio-filter which is only 2 ML that was installed in the 1950’s currently a total of 18ML/ Day is whilst the other part is an activated sludge technology which is 9 ML that was installed in received by the Works. the 1970’s. • The 2 Ml Plant will be totally decommissioned whilst the 9ML/Day Plant shall be refurbished to bring it back to operation and later get upgraded to the required 30ML/day to cope with the demand. • A consulting engineer was appointed and is already working on the refurbishment of the Plant as Phase 1 of the intervention to fix cables, pumps, aerators etc, in order to bring it to functionality • As a result of a Court Order Issued • More than R70million has been spent by the Department of Water and Sanitation against the Municipality by October through it Water Services Infrastructure Grant to assist the Municipality to refurbish the 2018 for the Municipality to implement sewer network in Rooikopen. corrective measures to stop further sewer spillages. The applicant in this case was the Minister for Water and Sanitation. 8 ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES KEY DELIVERY ISSUE CHALLENGES INTERVENTIONS/ PROGRESS Sanitation: 86.6% (32 318) HH with The following sewer infrastructure Resourcing of the Intervention Plan through the access to flush toilets, is partially or totally dysfunctional Municipality and the District Municipality of Gert Sibande is 10.5% (3 902) HH with leading to sewer spillages: of priority. access to VIP and 3.0% Muller Pump Station,\ Deployment of additional expertise from MISA to provide (1 114) HH without Rooikopen 1 and 2 Pump Station; hands-on support eg resident Engineers. access Steijn Pump Station; Appointment of Technical staff and Maintenance Johan Pump Station; technicians is long overdue and must be prioritized for Wards with households Standerton Wastewater appointments before end of May 2019 without access: 1 ,3, 5 Treatment Works; Conduct immediate feasibility studies and designs for the to 7 & 9 & 11 to 15 Taljaard Pump Station; upgrading of the Waste Water Treatment Plant. Muller Pump Station Draw-up Technical reports and Business Plans for the installation of the Sewer Package Plant prioritized from MIG Heavy sewer flowing from the as a temporary measure to curb further spillages and residential areas down the overflows. streams making way into the Vaal Expedite the development of Master Plans and River Comprehensive Infrastructure Plans Minister of Water and Sanitation Four (4) Pump stations already refurbished issued a Court Order in October Work in progress with the refurbishment of Rooikopen 2018 against the Municipality to sewer network. DWS has already spent more than R70m. stop the sewer spillages. DHS is also installing 2 Pumps in Standerton Ext 8. 9 ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES CHALLENGES INTERVENTIONS/PROGRESS • Inconsistent supply of water to high lying areas and The municipality has projects that are currently underway and rural/farm areas due to ageing infrastructure and water planned to address some of the water challenges within infrastructure requiring upgrade. Lekwa LM. • Water leakages within water infrastructure mainly due to Replacement and upgrades old infrastructure. The ageing infrastructure which requires replacement and municipality must allocate sufficient budget to deal with upgrades as well as an insufficient budget to deal with operations and maintenance issues operation and maintenance issues. • Standerton WWTW not functional( i.e Sand filters, Plans in place to refurbish (ML activated sludge plant by valves, water pipelines, air blowers, clear water pumping October 2019) units) and design capacity no longer meeting demand. • Sewer spillages The municipality has appointed a consultant to implement the project to minimise the sewer blockages in Rooikopen. Minister of Water and Sanitation issued a Court Order in October 2018 against the Municipality to stop the sewer spillages. • Insufficient refuse collection vehicles to service all areas Municipality to budget for the acquisition of more refuse vehicles • Litter with the municipal area of jurisdiction The municipality must invest in skip bins and collect them at least once a week. 10 10 ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES Analysis • The MIG allocation for the financial year 2019/20 the amount of R28 844m was allocated and the revised allocation was 19 293 and they fully spent the amount by June 2020. • The municipal MIG Allocation for 2020/21 FY was R28 672m and R 615 000 (2.14%) has been spent as of end September 2020. • It is however of concern that some pumps had already been refurbished in the last two financial years but due to vandalism, they have also collapsed and no longer functional. • The Department of Human Settlements is also assisting with the installation of two Pumps within the new settlement of Standerton Ext 8. • COGTA and the Municipality are currently engaging the national Government and DBSA with the aim of getting further financial assistance especially for the refurbishment and the upgrading of the Standerton Waste Water Treatment Plant which is estimated at around R250m. • The department has also received a letter from South African Human Rights Commission(SAHRC) indicating that it has done an assessment of the deteriorating situation in Lekwa Local Municipality and is of the view that the municipality is not self sustainable, on the brink of collapse and incapable of discharging its constitutional obligations to its citizens. • The SAHRC has called on the department to intervene in terms of section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution of Republic Of South Africa in Lekwa Local Municipality. 11 LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 12 CHALLENGES INTERVENTION Lack of effective LED Strategy to respond to The Provincial Executive Council has already mandated Cogta and DEDT to unemployment, poverty and inequality assist the Municipality to develop and implement an effective LED Strategy especially among young people. through the District Development Model. The current LED Strategy of the Unemployment rate of 27.5% in 2019 (Stats Municipality is outdated and not relevant to the current economic climate. SA). Even though Lekwa LM had the 7th The Intervention by COGTA, DEDT and the District shall result in a product lowest unemployment rate relative to other that the Municipality together with its stakeholders can jointly work on to Municipalities in the Province, the grow the economy and create employment opportunities for the people of unemployment rate was 32.5% for females, Lekwa. 23.1% for males and overall youth LED Initiatives such as the Vlakfoontein Refurbishment Projects, the unemployment rate of 57.8% development of a new Mall, the proposed Truck Stop Project, and Social Labor Plan Projects from Eskom and New Denmark Mine all need to be supported to stimulate the economy and create employment for local people and business opportunities for small enterprises. COGTA to continue provide a safety net for the most impoverished in the Municipality through the implementation of the Community Works Programme which currently employs 1 151 participants within Lekwa. COGTA has also been working with the District, DEDT and SEDA to roll out municipal workshops for SMMEs and Cooperatives to apply for funding through TREP (Township and Rural Enterprise Programme). Workshop successfully held on the 13th October 2020 in Sakhile, Standerton Town Hall and Morgenzone Community Hall CHALLENGES INTERVENTION Minimal implementation of LED COGTA, DEDT and the District working on establishing a Strategy due to lack of funding and District Business Forum with the primary aim of packaging the inability of the municipality to and mobilizing resources from big business within the area initiate and establish partnerships and externally for the implementation of LED initiatives and with the private sector.