As Operation Vulindlela is expected to enter its second phase, government will focus on stabilising the performance of local government to address the immediate challenges in electricity, water, and other basic services.
“Without these services, businesses cannot function, and investors cannot invest,” Deputy Minister of Finance, David Masondo, said on Tuesday.
He was addressing the Old Mutual Thought Leaders Forum. Masondo said in the long term, the institutional structure and funding model for local government will be reviewed. This to ensure that municipalities are financially and operationally sustainable.
Municipal administrators
“The ultimate objective should be to balance the need for local government. One that is responsive to the needs of a community. With the need for economies of scale in the delivery of services such as water and electricity.
“However, none of the challenges facing local government will be addressed. That is if we do not ensure that capable and qualified people are appointed to municipal administrations. The number of people employed in local government has significantly grown since 2006. This without a corresponding improvement in outcomes,” the deputy minister said.
He identified corruption and patronage in the appointment of senior managers. Also political interference, as having contributed to instability and a loss of technical skills.
“To rebuild capacity in local government, we will strengthen the regulation and oversight of the appointment process. This refers to senior managers, and protect the administration from undue political interference,” Masondo said.
Operation Vulindlela is a joint initiative of the Presidency and National Treasury. It aims to accelerate the implementation of structural reforms and support economic recovery.
Spatial inequality
“The second new frontier of reform is to address spatial inequality. This is through housing, transport, and urban policy that turns our cities into dynamic centres of economic activity.
“The high cost of transport shuts out millions of South Africans from employment opportunities. It creates labour market frictions and prevents job creation. The lowest quintile of households per capita spends more than 37% of their after-tax income on direct transport costs.
“To promote spatial integration, we will use our housing programmes to enable people to live closer to areas of economic opportunity. Rather than building houses on the urban periphery,” he said.
This will require the release of well-located public land for social housing. As well as a review of regulations to unlock investment in low-income housing in our cities.
“In addition, we must shift our expenditure on housing from a supply-driven model. This… is through which government constructs complete houses and hands them over to beneficiaries. And shift to a more demand-driven model that provides people with the means. For them to find housing in areas where they want to live. This will also allow us to leverage private sector capital beyond our fiscal resources,” he said.
Passenger rail system
Government will also work to restore the passenger rail system to operation. It will also invest in integrated public transport systems that are affordable, reliable, and safe.
The last new area of reform that Operation Vulindlela will prioritise over the coming years is digital transformation.
Digital transformation
In the absence of a clear, focused, and effective digital transformation strategy, South Africa is lagging behind its peers.
“To address this, Operation Vulindlela will work closely with the responsible departments. This to put in place a comprehensive roadmap for digital transformation focused on digital payments. Also on system inter-operability, and data integration, as the basis for the digitisation of services.
“This roadmap will support innovation and bring millions of South Africans into the digital economy. It will also improve access to services. These reforms, in addition to those already completed or underway, will fundamentally transform South Africa’s economy.”
- SAnews.gov.za
