28 August 2008
editorial
Johannesburg — WATCH out if you're driving around Durban (eThekwini). The city has cut spending on maintaining its roads 21% annually over the past three years.
The local roads are likely to be a lot better in Cape Town, which has increased maintenance spending by more than 40% on average over the period. Johannesburg's spending hasn't increased at all - which is why the potholes are proliferating.
Durban plans double-digit spending growth on its roads in the next three years; Jo'burg and Cape Town's plans are more modest. But as the treasury's latest review of local authority finances makes clear, SA's cities are falling woefully behind in doing the spending crucial to ensuring that their citizens have adequate roads, sanitation, water, electricity or public transport services.
It is local authorities that are responsible for providing the services that most directly affect the quality of people's daily lives. But the treasury's richly detailed 2008 review of the budgets and expenditure of SA's 283 local authorities finds that they are not doing a very good job of providing the infrastructure needed to meet the demands of a growing population and a growing economy.
Not only are they not building enough new infrastructure to tackle the huge backlogs, but they are failing to maintain their existing assets adequately. Municipalities had budgeted to invest R7,3bn on maintenance in 2009-10, for example. They should be spending about R11,8bn annually. No wonder there are potholes, burst water mains, sew age spills and other symptoms of neglect. Capital budgets have been growing by about 16% annually. That looks respectable, but given the extent of the backlogs, and the rate at which the leading local economies are growing, it's not nearly enough.
The treasury review suggests that municipalities should shift their focus from internal issues and focus instead on delivering services. But the emphasis is on service levels that are appropriate to the "real world" in which each municipality operates. So while the largest cities need to invest a lot more, because that's where populations and economies are growing fastest, the treasury suggests smaller, rural municipalities must take care that they don't end up spending on facilities they don't need, and can't afford.
The review's effort to differentiate between municipalities is important, and welcome. The last thing SA needs is a lowest common denominator-type approach that fails to confront the realities of where economic activity is and where people most want to be and to work. The 27 largest municipalities are home to almost 80% of the national economy, so the services they provide crucially affect efforts to grow the economy, create jobs and reduce poverty.
We know there are many small municipalities failing to do the basics. The concern is that even the largest metros are not delivering services as they should be, even though they are better resourced and better run. The review expresses concern that they are too dependent on grants from the national government and aren't raising enough of their own funds. They are also underpricing services and not doing enough to collect revenue efficiently. And, of course, they don't have enough of the right skills. The review sets this out: it's up to citizens to push for solutions.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Did'nt you know? the vast majority of our local government has no idea as to what effects what.Forget the PC,tell the truth and say it like it is.