Consolidating developmental local government through the local government turnaround strategy: The case study of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality.

Abstract

In 2009 the State of Local Government Report (SLGR) found that municipalities across were struggling to deliver the developmental objective of the White Paper on Local Government. The goal to build Developmental Local Government (DLG) has not been achieved despite the numerous interventions that have been introduced over the years to support local government. Following the diagnosis by the SGLR the Local Government Turnaround Strategy (LGTAS) was introduced as an intervention to support and complement municipal programmes. In this report, the case study of Makhuduthamaga Local Municipality (MLM) was used to investigate the impact of the LGTAS on the aspirations to deliver on the objectives of DLG. MLM is situated in the Sekhukhune Region (southern region) of Limpopo Province and is one of the poorest municipalities in South Africa. Thus, the study investigated the impact of the LGTAS in a ‘distressed’ municipality that does not have the capacity to execute its developmental mandate. One of the main factors that is often cited to explain South Africa’s inability to deliver DLG is that municipalities tend to focus more on institutional building and thus sideline the issue of community participation. In this regard, the influence of the New Public Management is pointed out. Although the South African Constitution provides for a decentralised developmental planning system that is ‘bottom- up’ in approach, evidence suggest that community participation in municipal programmes has been minimal. Instead of a ‘bottom-up’ approach, the development planning system is characterised by a ‘top- down’ approach wherein municipal programmes are formulated by national and provincial government. The lack of citizen participation is acknowledged by the LGTAS. In fact, the LGTAS attempts to create a platform where both community participation and institutional building can occur simultaneously. The study reveals that the impact of the LGTAS in the case of MLM has not been significant in improving community participation and service delivery which is a key indicator of a municipality that is able to deliver on its developmental mandate. The minimal impact of the LGTAS in MLM has been due to a number of factors which include the ‘top-down’ process followed to formulate Municipal Turnaround Strategy. To improve community participation, the report suggests that MLM should seek new ideas that have the potential to accentuate the existing measures. In this regard the ideas of presented by Gaventa (2002) are pivotal. Importantly, the report also outlines institutional building as a prerequisite for a good function municipality.