The state of municipalities in South Africa

THE STATE OF MUNICIPALITIES

in South Africa

As we usher in 2018 with a brand new state president and a new cabinet, South African communities have become watchful for the “new dawn” promised by the new president. Since 1994 South Africans have been waiting patiently for a better life that has eluded them for the past 24 years.

Local government is at the coalface of improving the lives of South Africans. Local government has been entrusted by the constitution to provide basic services to South African communities. Local government therefore forms the building blocks for a thriving country.

However the development of local government that should be in line with the constitution has taken an unchartered detour with the result that the state of local government is in disarray.

Minister Gigaba

In many cases it is in crisis. National government has finally recognized the dire straits that local government finds itself in and the new state president’s maiden State of the Nation Address (SONA) the issue around local government was highlighted. He promised to urgently address the detour and redirect the direction local government so that it discharges its constitutional mandate. So serious is the situation that a new minister of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) has been appointed. (We profiled the new minister, Zweli Mkhize, in our last edition). The new minister has hit the ground running in this regard and kicked off with the week long summit on the Future of Cities as it relates to the Integrated Urban Development Framework that commenced on 9 April and ended on 13 April. By the time of going to press the report on this summit was not yet available. Municipal Focus will feature the report in the next edition.

This summit, hosted by the minister representing the government and city leaders, will be engaging on the Integrated Urban Development Framework. Topics such as Urban Youth Unemployment, City Mobility and Public Space Leadership Programme (ELP, is a joint initiative by the National Treasury, Department of Cooperative Government, South African Cities Network and the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) will be discussed. ELP, which hosts representatives from eight municipalities and pilot cities in COGTA’s intermediate cities programme is aimed at identifying the challenges faced by cities and creating sustainable solutions to these issues.

In his budget speech the former minister of finance, Malusi Gigaba said, “cities are at the heart of the national economy and hold the potential to drive our economic renewal”. This clearly illustrates the important role local government plays in the development of the nation. So where are municipalities getting it wrong?

The most critical issue that needs to be addressed before a thriving nation can emerge is to find a solution to the serious debt problem municipalities have been able to create for themselves. Parliament heard from the Auditor- General, Kimi Makwetu that municipalities are drowning in debt of about R43bn. This state of debt is unprecedented and threatens the livelihood of businesses that supply services to them. The briefing to parliament was dominated by reports of sordid affairs at local government level that according to treasury officials can only be resolved through political will. Financial allocations to local government have grown faster than other spheres of government. However over the state’s 2018 medium-term expenditure framework period, municipality’s debt service costs were the fastest growing category of spending. Municipal debt continues to grow and is exasperated by a culture of non-payment. The report revealed that outstanding debt in terms of bulk electricity amounts to R16bn, bulk water at R6.8bn and debt in terms of trade

Minister Zweli Mkhize creditors R11.9bn.

The dire straits of the finances of municipalities have been clearly illustrated by the Auditor-General when he reported that only 49 out of 263 municipalities achieved clean audits. He identified the lack of compliance by municipalities and the culture of non-payment. The lack of compliance includes irregular and wasteful expenditure together with corrupt conduct of officials. A very recent and glaring example of the consequences of non-compliance is that of a Northwest municipality that contravened treasury regulations by diverting R50 million from a grant meant for water infrastructure and bank it with the troubled VBS Mutual Bank.

The municipality in question, the Moretele Local Municipality confirmed that they made this deposit. Last month the SA Reserve Bank placed VBS under curatorship due to a liquidity crisis, after treasury instructed municipalities to stop banking with VBS Mutual Bank. This municipality that has its seat in Mathibestad in northern Pretoria has been marred by violent protests over the water provision. The water provision issue has been at the center of service delivery protests as the community was left without water supplies. The municipality hit the headlines when a resident of Ngobi village sent an email to former president Jacob Zuma, pleading with him to intervene so that her area could get water. The municipality is on record as confirming that they took R50 million meant for nothing else but water and invested it with VBS. This would not have been a problem had the municipality invested reserves in VBS, but in terms of treasury regulations they cannot invest money from a grant. This is a clear case of non -compliance of the regulations. Early last year treasury instructed municipalities to stop banking with VBS. They were doing so in violation of the Municipal Finance Management Act that prohibits them from depositing their money with mutual banks. It appears as though this municipality is not the only municipality that has violated this regulation. Several others are also in transgression of the regulation. It is reported by City Press that they have seen a document showing that Dr. Ruth Segomotsi Mopati District Municipality, based in Vryburg allegedly banked more that R82 million with VBS.

This blatant transgression of the regulations has led to a serious collapse of service delivery in the municipality. The inability to provide the community of this municipality the basic right of clean quality water due to its non-compliance of treasury regulations and transgression of the constitution has caused socio-economic regression in the area through violent service delivery protests. This example of non –compliance has become the norm in different forms throughout the country leaving South Africans deprived of socio economic development.

As far as the culture of non-payment is concerned, national treasury has flagged the non -payment for public services as a threat to the financial stability of municipalities. The non- payment culture has become endemic in South African society. The majority of communities receiving services from municipalities avoid paying for the services. Due to these non- payments municipalities are unable to pay ESKOM and the bulk water suppliers thus they are unable to provide basic services and pay service providers. The situation is exacerbated, as government is also indebted to municipalities. As at 31 December 2017 provincial government owed municipalities R3.7bn and national government owed R2.9bn. Majileng Mgqaleni, deputy director general of intergovernmental and fiscal relations also spoke on the issue of non-payments at the briefing to members of the standing committee on appropriations recently, “it is a societal problem. Government owes municipalities, municipalities owe ESKOM,” she said. “We believe it is a political issue to be addressed on a political level. Everyone as citizens has the responsibility to pay for services for government to work.

As we scan the news wires and social media platforms we are informed of the negative activities taking place in almost every municipality in the form of fisticuffs in council chambers, votes of no confidence in mayors, violent service delivery protest demonstrations, political killings of councilors, uncovering of corrupt dealings of government officials and businesses and the list seems endless we are left without any doubt that the state of most municipalities in South Africa is on the

verge of collapse.

As has been repeated over and over again by civil society and government leadership South Africa is in urgent need of a political intervention to steer local government away from total collapse.

However it will require every member of the South African community to take responsibility and hold the political leaders accountable to stop the rot. We have ourselves to blame as our constitution makes provision for civil society to hold councilors accountable. Public participation is a vital part of our democracy and allows for citizens to get involved in how their communities are governed. At local level the Government Structures Act 1998 requires amongst others municipalities to develop mechanisms to consult communities and community organizations in performing their functions and exercising its powers. These structures are commonly known as Ward Committees and provide a vital link between ward councilors, the community and the municipality. They allow for members of the communities to influence municipal planning in a manner that best address their needs. The system of ward committees was introduced in 2005. According to legislation the first meeting of the newly elected council must take place within 14 days after the election results are gazetted.

In view of the important role that local government plays in the development of the people of South Africa it is critically important that municipalities are functioning optimally and sustainably. The ward committee system is designed to play a critical role in the giving meaning to the principle that “the people shall govern”. This is so because local government is regarded as the level of government closest to the people and ward committees are one way to ensure that citizens give input to the decisions that local councils make. Participation in the ward committees would go a long way in holding the political leaders to account and to improve the state of municipalities in South Africa. The state president has appealed to South Africans to assist him in turning the fortunes of local government around so that all of us can start becoming economically and socially integrated in the development of the country.

Source: Fin24.

The meeting looked at the work of COGTA including interventions to assist dysfunctional municipalities

Kimi-Makwetu Auditor General

LANXESS LEADS THE WAY IN WATER PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGIES

The LANXESS Liquid Purification Technologies (LPT) business unit is one of the world’s foremost suppliers of products for treating water and other liquid media. With production sites in Leverkusen and Bitterfeld, Germany, and in Jhagadia, India, the specialty chemicals company also holds a leading position in the development and production of ion exchange resins and are very active in our new business line for reverse osmosis membrane elements.

Purifying our most precious resources LANXESS’ high-performance products are used in numerous industries to treat and purify water and processing streams, and to recover valuable ions from solutions. Their products include the Lewatit ion exchange resins, Lewabrane reverse osmosis membrane elements, and Bayoxide ironoxide absorbers. The ion exchange resins (IX) and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane elements help desalinate water and other liquids and remove undesirable substances. They therefore play an essential role in conserving one of the most important prerequisites for life on our planet. Clean water needs strong technologies.

WASTEWATER TREATMENT& REHABILITATION Bayoxide E33 helps to treat drinking water, with an additional application in wastewater treatment, particularly in the mining sector, or the treatment of contaminated groundwater in the vicinity of abandoned industrial plants. These products are based on nanoparticularferric oxide hydroxide, offering a very high surface area, advanced mechanical stability and superior absorption capacity. Important applications include the removal of arsenic and phosphate from potable and waste water.

ION EXCHANGE RESINS Ion exchange is used intensively in the power industry for the de-mineralisation of water, as well as condensate polishing for recycling. It is mainly used in the mining industry for the primary recovery of valuable metals such as platinum group metals (PGMs), gold, uranium, copper, and others; for the purification of PGMs, copper, cobalt and nickel streams for production of premium grade metals; and for scavenging or secondary recovery of valuable species from waste streams. Ion exchange technology also increasingly plays a significant role in purification of water where heavy metals, nitrates, ammonium, or other harmful substances have to be removed from the water in order to render the water potable or recyclable.

MODERN MEMBRANE FILTRATION TECHNOLOGY LANXESS’ Lewabrane line of products are spirally-wound, thin-film, composite reverse osmosis membranes. Reverse osmosis is used to filter out undesirable substances from water, such as salts, pesticides, herbicides, viruses, bacteria and particulates. The range includes elements for all the main reverse osmosis applications, including desalination of seawater, brackish water, and lowsalinity industrial water. Among the most important applications for reverse osmosis membranes is the treatment of process water for power plants and the generation of ultrapure water in the microelectronics sector. It can also be used in the production of drinking water from both brackish water and seawater. This method is used on a large scale in cities and municipalities, and on a small scale in restaurants, hotels and on cruise ships. The membranes lower the salt content of the water and are often combined with ion exchange resins to form a highly efficient, very powerful purification and de-mineralisation system. In South Africa, reverse osmosis plays a major role in the recovery of water from acid mine drainage in the gold and coal mining areas. The reverse osmosis permeate or product stream can be of potable water standards, or to supplement water supplies from municipalities. The innovative products, technologies and processes developed by LANXESS are used worldwide to treat water, and to enable companies and communities to handle this resource efficiently. By assisting customers to create progressive and efficient solutions for the use of their specific water resources, LANXESS plays a major role in supporting the preservation of this life-giving, strategic resource.

WHAT SOLUTIONS DOES THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY HAVE TO LIMIT ITS USE OF WATER? As a result of all the changes in industrial production processes and the continuing improvements in water treatment, water consumption has continued to fall over the years with the increased use of recycled water. Chemical industry products have played a crucial role in the recycling of water. In the mid-1950s, for example, water was recycled 2.4 times in the manufacture of paper; it is now reused 12 times. In the chemical industry itself, water is recycled on average 28 times before it is fed into the downstream purification stage, cleaned and returned to the water circulation.The overall trend is towards zero liquid discharge, i.e. that no waste water is generated in production. This is achieved by examining in each process what quality of water can be reused in a particular process stage and how heavily contaminated water can be treated and fed back into the process. We are ourselves working on just such a concept for our own production sites.

For more info, visit www.lanxess.com

Production of the Lewabrane membrane for water

QUALITY PURIFIES.

The effi cient and sustainable treatment of water plays a decisive role in many industries, especially as zero liquid discharge is becoming the license to operate. As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of products for the purifi cation of water and other aqueous effl uents, LANXESS has been providing innovative, costeffective water treatment solutions for more than 80 years. Lewatit® ion exchange (IX) resins are used for the purifi cation of water, or to selectively remove or recover specifi c ions. LANXESS’ Lewabrane® reverse osmosis (RO) membrane elements are used to recover water from brackish and sea water, or to recycle water from effl uent streams. The LewaPlus® design software is a comprehensive, powerful software design tool for RO membrane and IX resin systems. Bayoxide® iron oxide adsorbers bind specifi c impurities quickly and reliably, and round off our product portfolio of solutions for water treatment.