Access to services still needs improvement

"Access to municipal services is improving across the country, particularly in the metropolitan municipalities and other big cities. This contributes to supporting economic growth. However, we need to be mindful of the backlogs that remain, many South Africans are still waiting for these services," said Nene.

Speaking at the Institute of Municipal Finance Officers (IMFO) Annual Conference in Cape Town, Nene said ageing infrastructure that requires upgrading or replacement, the rising costs of service delivery as well as persistent service delivery backlogs in many areas were problem areas for local government.

Institutional inefficiencies continue to plague local government, although legislation provides for clear separation of the roles of administrators and councillors. "These roles tend to be reversed to the detriment of service delivery."

The deputy minister called on the IMFO to develop an ethics charter, where members who have been found to be corrupt are deregistered or even black-listed.

Another problem that is faced by local government is the under-expenditure of conditional grants -which are set to increase even further to R82 billion by 2013/14 from R70 billion in 2011/12.

"Local government continues to under-spend on capital expenditure. There are always reasons advanced for this but I want to emphasise that it means we are failing our people," explained Nene.

He cautioned against spending unwisely, calling instead for a good value for money.
Management posts should also be filled by competent and committed personnel, while municipal budgets should also be adequately funded.

"A major part of the challenge is to get the basics of cash management and revenue management right. These measures will translate into proper cash flow management."

Municipalities also needed to pay greater attention to maintaining their existing assets.

"Government is exploring ways to ensure that the legislative and fiscal framework for local government is appropriately structured to facilitate of municipalities," said Nene.