Northern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs

Vision

People of the Northern Cape living in integrated sustainable human settlements, with responsive, accountable and highly effective municipalities and traditional institutions.

Mission

• To facilitate and manage integrated sustainable human settlements and infrastructure development for eff ective service delivery
• To facilitate, monitor and support the consolidation and sustainability phases at municipalities for integrated, sustainable service delivery
• To promote and support inter-sphere engagement for integrated planning and coordination
• To facilitate, develop and support systems and structures to enhance traditional leadership
Human Settlements

In the 2009/10 fi nancial year, the Northern Cape built 4 463 houses and serviced 1 794 sites in all the fi ve districts of the province. Furthermore, 3 567 benefi ciaries received title deeds. All housing benefi ciaries received basic services of sanitation, water and electricity.

Priority projects

T h e N a t i o n a l D e p a r tme n t o f H uman Settlements identified numerous Informal Settlements Upgrading Projects (ISUP) as priority projects in the following areas:
• Colesberg (Ouboks)
• Kimberley (Lerato Park )
• Upington
• John Taolo Gaetsewe
• Pampierstad.

In all these five ISUP projects, much progress has been made and the department will continue with the projects over the next financial year.

In the 2010/11 financial year, the province will be able to only prioritise the upgrading of informal settlements both in urban and rural areas. It will deliver 2 739 homes, provide services to 2 134 sites, complete the planning and surveying of 945 sites and rectify 462 poorly built houses. The department will also ensure that all 2 739 beneficiaries of houses receive title deeds. The province will continuously link human settlement development to job creation, skills development, poverty reduction and local economic development in order to build sustainable human settlements.

The province will further strive to make sure that quality is not compromised. Learning from the past, the department will upscale its inspection of houses being built, ensure enrolment of projects with the National Home Builders Registration Council and that defaulting contractors are dealt with in terms of the law.

Cooperative Governance

Ensuring good governance at local government level is one of the department’s primary objectives. It is determined to ensure transparency and clean governance by dealing with reported allegations of corruption and irregularities at various municipalities.

Some of these cases are being dealt with by law-enforcement agencies. The Executive Council is concerned about the audit outcomes of some of the province’s municipalities. Exco convened the Local Government Summit at the beginning of October 2009 where the issue of municipal audit outcomes and the link with 2014 Operation Clean Audit were discussed. The Operation Clean Audit Campaign was launched by the premier and the minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on the evening of the provincial government’s Local Government Summit.

In terms of rolling out of the process of implementing the Municipal Property Rates Act of 2004, which started in July 2009, 27 of the 32 municipalities have implemented new rolls. The municipalities that did not implement the new rolls will be assisted by the department to do so. The new deadline in this regard is 1 July 2011.

Budget allocation and priorities for 2010/11

Human Settlements – R314 116 000

The Human Settlements division receives R314 116 000, which includes a conditional grant allocation of
R273 260 000 from the Integrated Housing and Human Settlements Development Grant. The department needs an extra R104 000 00 to continue with the ISUPProjects and this has been discussed with the national minister of Human Settlements.

Despite the limited financial resources, the department will, in the course of 2010/11, accelerate delivery of human settlements through the upgrading of informal settlements and rural housing development. As part of facilitating the implementation of integrated sustainable human settlements, the department will assist all municipalities in preparing for their municipal housing sector plans and this will include the roll-out of the National Housing Needs web-based system, which is known as the National Housing Needs Register (NHNR).

The department will again award 10 scholarships to support and strengthen the aspirations of young people who are interested in pursuing undergraduate studies in housing and construction related fields. The empowerment of women is fundamental to sustainable human settlements development.

For that reason, the department will mobilize and train women in the province to participate in the construction and management of housing development projects.

During the first quarter of the 2010/11 financial year, the department will convene the Emerging Contractors Conference in the province.

This conference will empower historically disadvantaged contractors to become independent, self-reliant and eventually more sustainable.

The department is also committed to mobilizing youth throughout the province to participate in human settlements delivery. They will be trained in building skills and construction management.

Cooperative Governance – R117 099 000

The programme on Cooperative Governance receives R117 099 00, which constitutes 24% of the total budget. Transfer payments to municipalities constitute 18% of total budget for the department. While there are some of municipalities in the province that have become pockets of excellence, local government has, in general, for some time been in distress. Most of our municipalities have been unable to effectively perform their core functions, resulting in communities progressively losing confidence. It was envisaged that by this time, all of the municipalities would be in the stabilisation phase. However, most of the municipalities in the province have just recently entered the consolidation phase and some are still struggling with the establishment phase, and they continue to face immense challenges.

During April to August 2009, the National Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs conducted an assessment of all municipalities in the country. The assessment led to the compilation of the State of Local Government in 2009 Report, which was deliberated on at the National Local Government Indaba in October 2009, with a broad consultative process with various sectors of the South African public. Further consultations with stakeholder groups led to the development of the Local Government Turn-Around Strategy (LGTAS), which was approved by national cabinet in December 2009.

It is against this background that the approach of the province in managing local government support and  intervention must have a greater impact than previous interventions such as Project Consolidate and the Local Government Five-Year

Strategic Agenda.

Following the adoption of LGTAS, the executive council Lekgotla further adopted the Local Government 10-Point Plan (2010 – 2014), which is intended to reinforce and support the implementation of LGTAS. The objectives of the 10-Point Plan are to:
• Improve the quantity and quality of municipal basic services to the people in the areas of access to water, sanitation, electricity, waste management, roads and disaster management
• Enhance the municipal contribution to job creation and sustainable livelihoods through local economic development
• Ensure the development and adoption of reliable and credible integrated development plans (lDPs)
• Deepen democracy through a refined ward committee model
• Build and strengthen the administrative, institutional and financial capabilities of municipalities
• Create a single window of coordination for the support, monitoring and intervention in municipalities
• Uproot fraud, corruption, nepotism and all forms of maladministration affecting local government
• Develop a coherent and cohesive system of governance and a more equitable intergovernmental fiscal system
• Develop and strengthen a politically and administratively stable system of municipalities
• Restore the institutional integrity of municipalities.

In the process of implementing the LGTAS and the 10-Point Plan at provincial level, the department embarked on province-wide roadshow, as a means of supporting the municipalities and assisting them in developing their action plans.

All municipalities were asked to develop individual municipal turnaround strategies. All government departments and state-owned enterprises are expected to include their plans in the municipal IDPs. The department will, during the course of the 2010/11 financial year, drive the implementation of the LGTAS and Local Government 10-Point Plan with the purpose of restoring the confidence of the majority of our people in our municipalities and rebuilding and improving the basic requirements for a functional, responsive, accountable, effective and efficient developmental local government.

Traditional Affairs – R6 778 000

South Africa is not atypical in having had to accommodate indigenous institutions in its new political order when the country made its transition from minority rule to a non-racial democracy in 1994. In many parts of the world, and especially post-colonial states, customary forms of governance remain salient, being deeply rooted in local institutions.

The Provincial House of Traditional Leaders was inaugurated on 1 April 2009. The members of this Provincial House include eight representatives of the Khoisan communities. This is unique in the sense that although the legislation dealing with indigenous communities is not finalised, the Northern Cape is the first province to acknowledge the Khoisan communities and include them into the provincial structure.

The office of the President has requested that the National Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs deal with the Khoisan issue. Engagements with the representatives of the Khoisan are ongoing.

 

 

Key personnel: Mosimanegape Kenneth Mmoiemang, MEC
                      Bradley Swartland, Acting Head of Department

Key contact people:

  • Neo Maneng, Media Liaison and Parliamentary Officer

Tel: +27 53 830 9581
Email: nmaneng@ncpg.gov.za

  • Gamiem Abrahams, Communications Services

Tel: +27 53 830 9492

Email: gabrahams@ncpg.gov.za

  • General

Tel: +27 53 830 9422/4 Fax: +27 53 831 4832

Physical address: 9 Cecil Sussman Road, Kimberley
Postal address: Bag X5005, Kimberley 8300

 

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