Honourable Speaker, Councillors,
Municipal Manager and officials,
Members of the media,
Members of the public
It is my privilege and honour to present to you the budget for the financial year 2010 / 2011.
The preparation of the 2010/2011 budget comes in the wake of a down-turn in the economy and a corresponding increase in the demand for municipal services. On the inverse, it also come at a time of a major hype unprecedented in the history of South Africa as we prepare for the memorable kick-off of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, the most prestigious and most celebrated sporting event in the world that only a handful of countries shall be lucky to host.
This budget also marks the final delivery mandate by this current council to address the remaining service delivery backlog as encapsulated in the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) of the district in the next financial year. All this takes place on the eve of the local government elections scheduled to take place next year (2011).
Madame Speaker, it is imperative for me at this moment to reflect on our achievement as custodians of the electorate. You will agree with me that we have made great strides as a collective with regard to addressing the service delivery backlogs in our municipal area of jurisdiction. Access to water is currently standing at 97.4% compared to 93% in 2005.
Access to sanitation is currently standing at 88.6% compared to 79% in 2005. 78% of our communities in the district has access to electricity and access to refuse removal currently stands at 78.2%. We are indeed on track to meet our 2014 timeframes set for the eradication of service backlogs. During the previous five years the District Municipality has spent an amount of R131,951,263 on new infrastructure in the district.
Operation and maintenance has always been a challenge in most municipalities in South Africa and we are currently reaping the results of poor planning as far as assets of the municipalities are concerned. In order to address this endemic problem, FBDM joined DWA, DBSA, Department of Housing and Local Government (COGSTA) and SIDA in piloting Operation and Maintenance. This brought about a change in the way service delivery was implemented by the District Municipality. It is common knowledge that some of the category B municipalities struggle to maintain their assets, consequently forcing the district to render assistance in this regard. Our initial investment was R350,000 but has since grown to R10 million over the last two financial years. Coupled with this funding a unit to assist local municipalities with technical issues was established. Three engineering technicians were appointed and assigned to each of the smaller local municipalities.
Substantial progress has been made in extending basic household services throughout the district although challenges towards meeting the provincial targets, national targets and millennium targets for the provision of basic services still exists. In 2007 we have achieved the national targets for the provision of water to clinics and in 2009 we achieved these targets for water provision to schools. The national target for the eradication of buckets was achieved in 2008. The national target for sanitation provision to clinics and schools was reached in 2007 and 2009 respectively.
The Integrated Development Plan (IDP) process is of the highest quality in the province. Over the past two years our IDP was rated the most credible planning document intrinsically linked to our budget. In order to enhance planning two years ago Council established a separate Planning and Development Department. The Spatial Development Framework (SDF) for the district was prepared and adopted by Council. So too the SDFs for all the local municipalities i.e. Magareng, Phokwane, Dikgatlong and the District Management Area (DMA) were prepared and adopted.
The GIS Unit was resuscitated which gave rise to the Corporate GIS. The Corporate GIS includes various departments within the district municipality and local municipalities and allows any requester access to all the spatial information through the GIS website. This will encourage municipalities to use spatial information to take more informed decisions with regard to planning and development. Through Planning and Development the establishment and implementation of Performance Management Systems in local municipalities were also facilitated.
Great strides were also made on the Human Resource Management. We have an adopted Institutional Development Plan in place. In the past year, we undertook a district wide skills audit to determine skills capacity in our area of jurisdiction. A Human Resource Strategy that was developed and completed by Council in 2008 has enabled us to develop and adopt various HR policies. Our Employee Assistance Programme currently stands at R100 000 per annum. We have a functional Local Labour Forum in place. Our Bursary Scheme for officials has increased from R50 000 to R100 000 in the previous financial year. Our budget for the Workplace Skills Plan increased exponentially from R200 000 in 2006 to R513 762 in 2009/2010. Despite these achievements on the human resource area, we do still encounter challenges especially with regard to recruitment and retention of scarce skills.
We have also improved on our ICT growth path. We completed our IT Master Plan to give impetus to all ICT development processes going forward. Of significance is the increased capacity on our ICT server, hardware, software, network, data back-up system and data recovery, wide area network that links all the local municipalities to FBDM. We still have capacity constraint in this area. However, to alleviate the situation Council has taken on board ICT interns to create capacity in this area. Capacity could be further enhanced through a well structured ICT Skills Development Plan.
Madame Speaker, on environmental health issues we managed to introduce a functional waste collection and disposal service for Koopmansfontein (DMA). We have developed and operationalised Sector Plans (HIV/Aids; Integrated Waste Management Plan; Integrated Environmental Management Plan). A landfill site has been established in Koopmansfontein and we procured and distributed 275 refuse bins among indigents in the Magareng Local Municipality and we procured and distributed 350 refuse bins for indigents in the Dikgatlong Local Municipality.
Our success rate with regard to Drinking Water Quality Monitoring has increased to 83.3% (Blue Drop Management System). Awareness on sanitation and HIV/AIDS (TB; STIs) has been stepped up in rural communities. To date 104 such campaigns have been conducted in partnership with NGOs.
In addition we have regular monitoring and evaluation of food premises (1143); we have taken 242 swabs, evaluated 306 milking parlours and we collected 356 milk samples. We trained 336 food handlers and 109 non-food premises. 126 Child-care facilities and 98 Funeral Parlours were evaluated. Despite these achievements, we do still experience challenges, in particular with regard to illegal dumping of waste on open spaces in residential areas, the implementation of the Waste Management Act, inability of local municipalities to budget adequately for the effective operation of landfill sites and the absence of a local accredited laboratory.
Community development in the DMA is an important core business of this municipality. To this end we have managed to conduct HIV/Aids and related campaigns in rural communities in the DMA; clean-up campaigns are organized in partnership with rural communities; twenty Community Outreach Programmes per year are conducted in partnership with other Sector Departments to ensure that government services are accessed by rural communities; ten (10) Home-Based Care Community members in the Olierivier area have been trained to support and care for the terminally ill within the community. The DMA Committee and Rep Forum are fully functional and we continually provide logistical support to these structures. In order to enhance public participation community members have been trained in the area of public participation.
We have monthly support and participation in Community Crime Prevention programmes. All of the gel stoves and oil-lamps donated by Standard Bank have now been distributed to indigent communities in the DMA. The notable challenge we experience in community development is the lack of commitment from external stakeholders especially sector departments in the delivery of government programmes in rural areas.
Madame Speaker, Disaster Management is a key service delivery imperative of FBDM. Our District Disaster Management and District Disaster Risk Reduction Plans are in place. We have established a District Disaster Management Advisory Forum, recruited and capacitated Disaster Volunteer Corps; established Satellite Disaster Centres in the local municipalities; trained and capacitated Community Development Workers (CDW’s) in local municipalities on the basics of Disaster Management and of importance is that we will be commencing with the construction of the first phase of the District Disaster Management Centre through utilization of the MIG grants. We will strive to raise the bulk of the funds needed for the construction of the District Disaster Management Centre (Approximately R 65,0m). Council has approved a turnaround strategy to improve on service delivery in the district. Through this intervention, it is hoped that the short, medium and long term challenges baffling municipalities will be addressed.
Madam Speaker we have to admit that though we have managed to achieve a number of milestones, we are not a picture of perfection. If we were, there would be no more room for improvement and we are all aware that this is certainly not the case. We are continuously refining the budget process in order for it to be more inclusive, more responsive and much clearer. As councillors and officials we have to learn more about what is required from us and keep on engaging with it. I am appealing to management to demystify and make the process as simple as we can under the circumstances. I am also appealing to all of us to see the budget as a powerful tool for delivery and transformation and to take out some of the stress and anxiety that is still experienced.
We need to be constantly aware that our mandate is to address the needs of the people and the municipalities in the district.
The budget I am presenting to Council for adoption has gone through the following process: As required by law, the Executive Mayor has tabled to Council a Budget Process Plan in August 2009. Almost, simultaneously in the district the IDP review process was rolled out with the participation of all the municipalities, in order to review needs, assess delivery and prioritise still existing or new areas for development and service delivery. Our process has been in line with national priorities and show that we are not misdirected in terms of our priority areas. As in the budget speech of Minister Gordhan, our priorities still direct us to invest in infrastructure in order to assist municipalities to speed up free basic service delivery. Water, sanitation and electricity provisioning still top our priority list. Housing has also been indicated as a high priority need – a function that does not yet belong with us. The Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs is, however, in the process of accrediting district municipalities in the province which will enable us over the next few years to take over this function.
I would now therefore like to take you through a more detailed presentation of how we propose to invest the funds that have been entrusted to us. In terms of the allocations to local municipalities in the 2010/11 budget we will be giving the Dikgatlong Municipality R3,680,000. Of this amount only R200,000 is going towards new projects while the rest will be used for maintenance. The project identified in Dikgatlong is the supply of a water purification system in Romance. Magareng Municipality will be receiving R5, 400,000 of which R2,900,000 will go towards maintenance and R2,500,000 towards new projects. The identified projects for Magareng are the replacement of the Ikhutseng water pressure tower at an amount of R1,500,000; the structural assessment of water storage facilities at an amount of R100,000 and the supply and delivery of a refuse truck at a cost of R900,000. Phokwane Municipality will be receiving an amount of R2, 710,000 and Sol Plaatje Municipality R500, 000 for maintenance of infrastructure.
In the District Management Area (DMA) we will be rolling out a number of projects. The main focus of these projects will be on the provision of water and electricity to communities in the DMA. An amount of R100,000 was also set aside for the development of a cemetery in the DMA. The total amount allocated to the DMA is R5,789,000.
The Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan has by law to be tabled to the Executive Mayor within 14 days of adopting this budget. The document will be tabled according to time schedules as prescribed in the MFMA. In terms of the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP) each Department in this municipality will regularly be reminded how they have determined goals, objectives and key performance indicators, in consultation with Council. Council’s role (in terms of the MFMA) is to ensure oversight and monitoring. It is also important to understand the key role and responsibility that the Executive Mayor has to play, in terms of Sections 52-56 of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
We have done the bes we could and despite the difficulties of capacity and deadlines, we have a budget that is pro-poor and which we are able to justify. There are a number of areas which still need work in the future. We are still challenged to ensure that we have a lean but productive and efficient administration, and to free as much of our resources for direct investment into and benefit to the community.
We need to understand that our IDP, our budget and our Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan are legally binding decisions of Council and cannot be deviated from without permission from National Treasury. Let us make sure that we use all other assistance available in order to ensure that our planning and our budget are not just documents for the shelf. Let us ensure that our budget serves the interest and development of our people. All of us here will be held accountable and all of us have to work collectively in order to ensure that we focus on good governance and service delivery.
I want to sincerely thank all Councillors, the Municipal Manager, the management team, unit heads, officials, stakeholders, government departments and members of the public who have given input and may still be inputting to this process. I thank you for your attention and I invite you across the political spectrum to come on board and approve the 2010/11 Budget of Frances Baard District Municipality as per recommendation set out in the item before you.
