This comment has been prepared in response to a public invitation of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality for submissions in respect of its 20024-205 IDP and budget.
My first question is: If I read the IDP published in the city’s website, will I be able to be informed about the plans of the municipality for my area (and ward) during 2024-2025? The answer is negative (except for selective projects).
Base-line data (Situation analysis)
The rationale for statistical data in a planning document, such as an IDP, is to analyse the current situation, using that as base-line information to do futuristic planning.
Statistical information can only we useful if it the data contained in it is updated (recent) and obtained from credible sources.
The data cited on pages 18-24 of the IDP have apparently be obtained from the results of 2022. However, expect for graphically messy graphs, there is no interrogation of this data to explain how it will inform the setting of goals, objectives or performance indicators. In fact, it gets no mentioned further in the IDP.
Has data been quoted for the purposes of compliance only? What is the relevance thereof for the performance and plans of the Mangaung municipality?
Perhaps the most important data of all, namely economic conditions in the city, enjoy apparently no attention (or reference) in the Situation Analysis section of the IDP. How an earth can the city monitor economic growth or decline in its jurisdiction of no base-line information are considered (or apparently available)?
Sustainable Development
On page 33 to 34 of the IDP, the goals of the Sustainable Development Goals are listed, apparently as part of the mandate of the Mangaung Municipality. If that is the case, how do these goals link to the goals and objectives of the Mangaung IDP? Even more important, what is the actual performance of the city in terms of these goals? Why else have the sustainable development goals been included in the IDP?
The ultimate “outcomes” of the Sustainable Development Goals are probably rankings of the Human Development Index and the Gini Coefficient. What is the Human Development Index and the Gini Coefficient for Mangaung?
Economic Development
I quote from the IDP (p. 51): “The ultimate impact of the MMM Economic Development Strategy aims:
• To facilitate economic transformation
• To develop an inclusive rural economy and township development
• To develop balanced and integrated urban and rural areas
• To enhance spatial sustainability and resilience
• To prompt investment attraction
• To facilitate opportunities for research and innovation”.
Reading from the IDP, it seems like the immediate plans for economic development in the city are a wide range of “desktop studies.” The aims of the MMM Economic Development Strategy (as quoted above) are ambitious. There are broadly defined strategies on how to achieve this, but no targets.
Reading from the IDP, it seems like the immediate plans for economic development in the city are a wide range of “desktop studies.” The aims of the MMM Economic Development Strategy (as quoted above) are ambitious. There are broadly defined strategies on how to achieve this, but no targets.
The LED Strategy attached to the IDP document package is full of theoretical and academic conceptualisations and theories, but apparently no tangible targets for economic growth and job creation.
A lot of emphasis is placed in “value adding” in the strategy. I find it difficult to understand how this will promote economic growth and development in the city, without tangible strategies and targets.
Ultimately the questions are:
1. What are the economic growth targets for the Mangaung Municipality over the short, - medium – and long-term?
2. How many job opportunities does the municipality aims to create over the short, - medium – and long-term, considering its identified aims and strategies?
In tangible, practical terms, what will the city actually do to achieve economic development?
If I am a business person in the city, will the Mangaung IDP allows me to make informed decisions about investments, expansions and the government risks facing my business? The answer is negative.
Spatial Development
The Executive Mayor of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality has recently said that inhabitants of the city must be ready to accept squatters in their midst, a part of the city’s efforts toward spatial integration, and specifically to bring poorer parts of the community closer to employment opportunities (places of work).
In an orderly governance regime, such fundamental interventions must be properly planned. Where in the IDP has provision been made for this? The city’s Spatial Development Framework makes provision for township establishment in various areas of the city, but I couldn’t find anything in the IDP for 2024-2025 that provide for such plans in that planning cycle.
It must be noted that the Mangaung Informal Settlements Upgrading Programme: Mangaung Metro Municipality attached to the IDP list human settlement capital projects until the 2019 financial year; indicating that the strategy has probably not been updated (as it is the 2024/25 financial year now). I couldn’t determine from the contents how the Mangaung municipality will go about to address township upgrading, resettlements to bring people closer to their place of work or the thorny issue of land invasions. Importantly I couldn’t find a section in the IDP that operationalise this document into the municipality’s governance strategy (the IDP and budget).
There are a comprehensive details of the city’s SDF in the IDP (pp. 129-148), but it seems like these sections have been quoted (verbatim) from the SDF, without any specific provisions for funded activities or projects for the 2024-2025 financial year.
What is the implication? That the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality “plans” to promote illegal, unplanned land invasions, without making provision for structuring and organising the process in its plans and budget?
Budget (Medium Term Expenditure and Revenue Framework)
It must be noted that the proposed key tariff increases on the Mangaung MTREF are far above the economic growth rate for the city and the country – and not taking into account inflation.
I couldn’t find any evidence that the IDP is aligned with the budget. Considering selective indicators, I couldn’t find an alignment between the service delivery targets in the IDP (which are almost totally missing anyway) and the budget allocations on the MTEF.
It must also be remarked that the mSCOA format of the budget documents, and the clear attempts to comply with the formatic requirements of the Budget and Reporting regulations, 2008 may be compliant with the requirements of National Treasury, but is it very user-unfriendly to communities and the business sector that need this information to take informed decisions.
It will be useful if the MMM could publish data information in a format that:
1. Clearly reflects how the budget will fund the IDP objectives and strategies.
2. The budgeted capital budget expenditure per ward.
3. The service standards in respect of core municipal services, and how it will be funded through the budget (operating budget).
4. The funding of strategic themes in the IDP (which clearly include, although not specifically mentioned): Spatial redesign in the city, economic development through value added gains and transformation of the social – and physical infrastructure of the Mangaung municipal area.
It is important to mention that the financial plan included in the IDP certainly does not inform the reader about the financial strategies of the municipality to ensure financial viability. The Municipal Planning and Performance Management Regulations, 2001 (in Regulation 2 (3) (c) stipulates that the financial strategies must … “include a financial strategy that defines sound financial management and expenditure control: as well as ways and means of increasing revenues and external funding for the municipality and its development priorities and objectives, which strategy may address the following: (i) Revenue raising strategies; (ii) asset management strategies; (iii) financial management strategies; (iv) capital financing strategies; (v) operational financing strategies; and (vi) strategies that would enhance cost-effectiveness.”
I do not find any of these elements in the IDP / budget package.
General impressions.
The IDP and budgets documents, in terms of their technical presentation, make a poor impression. It must be remembered that the Mangaung Municipality is a metro, and that its official publications are reflections of its corporate image (identity).
Compare the technical view of the Mangaung IDP with that of Johannesburg City (click here) and Cape Town (click here).
Image source: Canva
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