DEPARTMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT HESSEQUA MUNICIPALITY REGIONAL MONITORING TEAMS MUNICIPAL GOVERNANCE REPORTS FOR THE PERIOD ENDED JUNE 2012 Table of Contents Table of Contents .................................................................................................................................... 2 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 3 2. Departmental Diagnostic Report .................................................................................................... 3 3. Municipal Governance .................................................................................................................... 3 4. Public Participation ......................................................................................................................... 3 5. Municipal Communications ............................................................................................................ 4 6. Municipal Support ........................................................................................................................... 5 7. Specialised Support ......................................................................................................................... 6 8. Integrated Development Planning .................................................................................................. 7 9. Municipal Infrastructure ................................................................................................................. 9 10. District and Local Performance Monitoring .............................................................................. 15 11. Service Delivery Integration ...................................................................................................... 15 12. Community Development Workers .......................................................................................... 18 13. Disaster Management Fire Services .......................................................................................... 18 1. Introduction The key objective of this report is to maintain a central source of information centred on the municipalities’ operations across directorates and to make that information readily accessible on an on-going basis. In addition it should be used as a tool to encourage, facilitate and structure interactions between Directorates on qualitative issues that are related to the municipality. 2. Departmental Diagnostic Report This section contains the review of the overall municipal governance performance of the Municipality from the Department of Local Governments perspective. Each directorate has provided context to their identified indicators followed by findings and appropriate support or recommendations. 3. Municipal Governance In light of governance of the Council being susceptible to coalitions between political parties, political stability is vulnerable to change. The council seats are distributed as follows: DA – 7, ANC – 6, COPE – 1and CIVIC IND - 1. There is a currently a coalition between the DA and COPE. During the period under review, the Municipality had three Council meetings: 21 May 2012, 29 May 2012 and 21 June 2012. All councillors submitted their declaration of interest as required. There are no councillors that are in arrears with rates and service charges for longer than three months. There were four reported investigations of breaches of Code of Conduct. The Municipality does have a System of Delegation, which was last reviewed on 22 September 2011. The Municipality is not in compliance with section 53 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000, as its Council has not adopted a Roles and Responsibilities Framework as required. The Municipality indicated that it does not have any litigation matters and that no cases were reported to the SAPS in terms of section 32(6) of the MFMA. Key Challenges / Additional Relevant information None Support Initiatives None 4. Public Participation 4.1 Performance Management In the Hessequa Municipality, public participation is a key performance area of the municipality and is included in the performance agreement of the Municipal Manager. The municipality has no dedicated public participation official responsible for ward committees and public participation. 4.2 Ward Committee Budget and Expenditure The municipality reported that they have not budgeted for public participation from their own revenue. The municipality received an amount of R50 000 from the MSIG and to date R40 000 has spent to support ward committees and public participation. 4.3 Status of Policies It was reported that the Ward Committee and Out-of-Pocket Expenses Policy was adopted in September 2011 and the Ward Committee Policy is being implemented. It was however indicated that the policy for the payment of out-of-pocket expenses is not being implemented. 4.4 Ward Committee Functionality The municipality reported that all eight ward committees are functional in line with the provincial ward committee functionality indicators. Each ward committee has six ward committee members. The municipality reported that ward committee meetings take place monthly and in total, 16 ward committee meetings were held. Administrative support is offered to the ward committees and agenda are compiled and minutes are recorded at ward committee meetings by officials. Minutes are available from the committee clerks. The municipality did not report if the accountability and communication model is being implemented and that no community report back meetings were held in the last quarter. Key Challenges/Additional relevant information It was reported that currently there are no challenges to ward committee functionality. Support initiatives provided to municipality A two day ward committee induction training programmes was rolled out in this municipality in June 2012. Recommendations It is recommended that the municipality review its Ward Committee and Out-of- Pocket Expenses Policy to align with the DORA special grant paid to this municipality from 1 July 2012. In the light of this, it is furthermore recommended that the municipality implement the policy for the payment of out-of-pocket expenses and ensure payment to ward committee members, increase their ward committee membership from 6 for 10 members per ward committee and develop ward operational plans. 5. Municipal Communications The Municipality has no dedicated Communication Official as yet and the Manager for HR, IT and Administration is responsible for the Communication Portfolio, both as official and a Supervisor of the Portfolio. A Web and Graphic designer performs the overall communication functions and a communications post has been created and is expected to be filled in this financial year 2012/13. The Municipality has recently approved and adopted its Communication Strategy and Language Policy. The Municipality has no dedicated communication budget. The Municipality has complied with the submission of quarterly Municipal Communication Reporting Templates and is an active participant in the District Forum. Key Challenges / Additional information The municipality has a fully-fledged communication programme as indicated its Communication Strategy and has made incredible progress thus far, such as the development and adoption of the Communication Strategy and the creation of the new communication post which will be funded in this financial year 2012/13. Support initiatives The Department has held a communication consultation with municipality to discuss the finalisation of the Communication Strategy. Furthermore, the department provided communication guidelines for the development of the strategy. Furthermore, the Communication Strategy has been submitted to the department for possible review and amendments. Way forward /Recommendations The Department will review the Communication Strategy to see if any amendments are required as per the undertaking made. The municipality has also approved an unprecedented Afrikaans Language policy, the concerned regarding this policy will be elevated high up as the policy goes against the provincial language policy which recognises three official languages in the province. 6. Municipal Support 6.1 Organisational Design The Municipal Manager’s contract commenced on 01 July 2006 and expired on 31 December 2011. The Municipal Manager’s position was advertised in January 2012. A Municipal Manager has been appointed and assumed duty on 1 April 2012 and his contract expires on 31 March 2017. After the election the new Council has started a process to review and make changes to the Macro Structure of the Municipality. The approved structure of the Organisation makes provision for seven (7) top management positions. Six (6) of the seven (7) positions are filled on a permanent basis; one (1) position remains vacant. New Performance Agreements have been drafted for all Section 57 managers for the new current structure as proposed by the new Council, and has been signed and submitted to the MEC for Local Government. The new Municipal Manager’s Employment Contract and Performance Agreement are outstanding. 6.2 Performance Management System The Municipality has a functional Performance Management System in place which was approved and adopted by Council in June 2009. The PMS has been fully implemented at organisational, S57 and middle management level. All training has been completed in the compilation and evaluation of performance,