ALFRED NZO DISTRCIT MUNICIPALITY 2010/2010 IDP EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Alfred Nzo District Municipality is located on the north-eastern side of the Province of the Eastern Cape and stretches from the Drakensberg Mountains, borders Lesotho in the North, Sisonke District Municipality to the East and O.R. Tambo District Municipality in the South.  The District has a total surface area of approximately 6858 square kilometres and is sub-divided into Matatiele and Umzimvubu local municipalities occupying approximately 4352 and 2506 square kilometres respectively.  The local municipalities are composed of four former Transitional Local Councils (TLCs) or towns, Mount Frere, Mount Ayliff, Cedarville and Matatiele and one R293 township, Maluti as well as three former Transitional Rural Councils (TRC).  The former Transitional Rural Councils are now part of the two local municipalities, Matatiele and Umzimvubu.  Alfred Nzo District Municipality is composed of 680 villages.

 DISTRICT CHALLENGES

The Alfred Nzo District Municipality is faced by a number of challenges and some of these challenges will definitely require more time to be fully addressed and that further entails the need for integrated approach by all stakeholders towards addressing those challenges.  The rural nature of the district as well its topographical setup contributes immensely to these challenges.  The identified district challenges are listed as follows:

Poor or no accessibility in certain areas (transportation) resulting to limited development opportunities within the district.

  • The district faces a serious backlog in electricity, which poses a digital divide and limited access to services.
  • High rate of unemployment, lack of skills and poverty are major problems within communities of Alfred Nzo District. 
  • The Lack of infrastructure (Water Infrastructure, Electricity, Communication, roads and Passenger Transport), is another major factor that hampers development in Alfred Nzo District Municipality.
  • The district area has a huge potential on agriculture development however there is lack of investment in agricultural industry.
  • Continuous poor climatic conditions in the form of storms, tornadoes and floods have resulted in degraded land forms and soil erosion, which require extensive land care and strategic housing interventions.
  • Social Infrastructure in the form of schools health police stations and recreational facilities need partnering between the public sector, the private and the communities.
  • In terms of financial resources, the district still relies on funds from National and Provincial Grants and this somehow limit development opportunities. 
  • The district is a WSA (Water Services Authority), however it is still struggling to put proper systems in place for collecting revenue.  The district also has water schemes that are non-functional due to challenges with water sources.  The district is however working towards addressing these challenges with the assistance of both private service providers and DWAF (Department of Water Affairs and Forestry).
  • The district has been struggling to obtain clean Audit Report from the Auditor General and thus resulted the municipality requiring intervention in terms of Section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
  • The withdrawal of Turn Around Plan (TAP) Team by the Provincial Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs had some negative impacts on the targets set by the district to turn around its situation for better.
  • The municipality managed to review its Organisational Structure after the approval of the IDP and Budget and this saw the municipality struggling to fill most of the posts as they were not budgeted for.

 ECONOMIC POTENTIAL WITHIN ALFRED NZO

 Alfred Nzo municipal area is naturally well vest with resources of a significant nature.  Such resources contribute positively to opportunities on the following:

  • Agriculture in the form of crop production, fruit production, livestock farming;
  • Tourism related to arts, crafts, scenery, wildlife, wetlands, cultural heritage;
  • Forestry and value addition Strides; Water resources for development.
  • Small scale mining in the form of sand mining for construction purposes
  • Water resources: Three major Kinira, Tina, and Umzimvubu rivers cut across the district and the district falls within Umzimvubu river basin.
  • The N2 Freeway:  This route passes through the district on the southern side and it is a major link for three provinces (Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. 

 DISTRICT ACHIEVEMENTS

  • The district has managed to adopt a number of policies of which some policies are for financial management which are to assist the municipality to turn around the situation to positive. 
  • The municipality takes the issue of Performance Management System seriously and this has seen the municipality reviewed and adopted its policy on Performance Management System and is working on cascading the system to lower levels that Section 57 Managers.
  • The district municipality also managed to produced the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plans (SDBIPs) for 2009/10 based on the approved IDP and such plans informed the basis of the Performance Agreements for Section 57 Managers and they are also used as a tool for monitoring the performance by the municipality as per the targets for the financial year 2009/10.
  • The municipality has achieved more than 80% in filling all Senior Positions including the position of the Municipal Manager which was left vacant for almost a year.

 THE MUNICIPAL TURN AROUND STRATEGY

As a result of Administrative intervention by the Provincial Local Government, the municipality developed its Turn Around Plan as well as the Action Plan on Risk Assessment.  The municipal Turn Around Plan focused on the Following:

  • Clean Audits: The municipality aimed at developing policies and internal control systems especially on financial management to ensure financial accountability, transparency to ensure that the confidence from the public on the municipality and its grant funders is restored.
  • Financial Viability and Management: The municipality to develop a strategy on enhancing its billing system to broaden its revenue base to reduce the dependency on grants.  Again the municipality was to develop an Asset Register that is GRAP compliant.
  • Service Delivery: As the Water service Authority the municipality to ensure that all Plans and policies to enhance service delivery are in place as well as proper implementation of Free Basic Services.  As the co-business of the municipality being water and sanitation, the municipality to ensure that the vacancy rate in the Infrastructure and Service Delivery is minimized and capacity to be ensured through recruitment of personnel with expertise.
  • Institutional arrangement and Municipal Transformation: The municipality to fast-track the recruitment of critical positions and implementation of municipal Employment Equity Plan.  The municipality to intensify the capacity building within the institution through training of both politicians and administrators.  The municipality to ensure culture of performance and accountability through regular reporting. 
  • Good Governance and Public Participation: The municipality to intensify the public participation through the development of the unit responsible for that and also develop systems to ensure continuous communication with public through awareness campaigns.  The municipality to continuously monitor and evaluate the implementation of Council Resolutions.  

 LEGISLATIVE MANDATE

 There is a multitude of policy and legislation that Municipalities must comply with and take cognisance of, the most important of which are the following;

ð     The Republic of South Africa Constitution Act (1996); Chapter 7 sets out the objectives of Local Government and provides that Municipalities have a developmental duty which entails structuring and managing their budget, administration and planning processes in a manner that prioritizes the basic needs of their communities whilst promoting social and economic development within their communities. Chapter 3 deals with co-operative governance which is essential to the fulfillment of the objectives given that these objectives encompass a wider spectrum than the functional areas of Municipalities.

ð     The Municipal Systems Act (2000); read together with the Municipal Planning and Performance Regulations (2001) provides the legislative framework for integrated development planning. Municipalities must undertake developmentally oriented planning and are legally required to adopt an IDP, give effect to their IDP, conduct their affairs in a manner consistent with their IDP and review their IDP on an annual basis.

ð     The Local Government Municipal Finance Management Act, (2003) requires municipalities to coordinate the process of preparing the annual budget and revising the IDP to ensure that there is integration between the two. It makes provision for Service Delivery Budget Implementation Plans (SDBIP) to ensure effective implementation of service delivery in accordance with the annual budget.

ð     Other pertinent legislative frameworks include the Municipal Structures Act, (1998) and the Inter-Governmental Relations Framework, (2005).

ð     Relevant policy frameworks include the RDP (1994), GEAR (1996), White Paper on Local Government (1998), PGDP (2004 -2015), Provincial Spatial Development Plan (2003) and the ECDLGTA Framework Guide for Credible IDP’s.

 POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE MUNICIPALITY 

 The Alfred Nzo District Municipality executes amongst others the following functions and powers:

 Integrated Development Planning for the district as whole including the Framework Plan for IDPs for local municipalities within its area of jurisdiction.

  • The district is a Water Service Authority (WSA) and therefore provides Bulk and Portable water supply as well as both rural and urban sanitation 
  • Municipal Health Services serving the district as a whole. 
  • Fire and Rescue Services as well as Disaster Risk Management within the whole district. 
  • The implementation of Expanded Public Works Programme. 
  • Environmental Management within the whole district.
  • Financial Management and revenue collection through services it renders to communities, business and government departments and distribution of grants to local municipalities.
  • Promotion of Local Tourism for the district as a whole.
  • Promotion of Local Economic Development in the district as a whole.

 FUNCTIONS NOT YET PROVIDED BY THE DISTRICT

  • Municipal Abattoirs
  • Municipal Public Transport
  • Municipal airport services

 PROCESS FOLLOWED BY THE ALFRED NZO DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY TO REVIEW INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT PLANNING FOR 2010/11

 The Alfred Nzo District Municipality commenced with the preparation of its IDP Review for 2010/2011 financial year where the process plans (attached as annexure 1) detailing actions and activities for the review was adopted by the Council during the month of July 2009.  The Alfred Nzo district municipality adopted the following methodology when reviewing its IDP for 2010/11:

Phase 2: StrategiesA set of intended actions for dealing with priority issues
Phase1: Analysis Situational analysis to determine level of development & priorities 
Phase 5: ApprovalComments from the public and adoption of the IDP by the Council
Phase 3: ProjectsProject planning
Phase 4: IntegrationAlignment of IDP with all plans that will impact on the municipality

 The Alfred Nzo District Municipality further presented its Process Plan with Framework Plan to its local municipalities, stakeholders including government sector departments and the said plan outlines the roles and responsibilities as well as plan of action on activities to be performed and time frames.  The municipality also considered the comments by the MEC as the base to ensure that credible IDP is achieved.

Please note : for a detailed IDP document please contact Mr S. Khuzwayo on 039-254 5000 or send and email to khuzwayos@andm.gov.za