Transcript Document

Presentation to the Learning
Network
The Councillor’s Mandate
The councillor’s role is not an easy one and
demands expertise and knowledge about
the local government system and municipal
environment.
Councillors must have an understanding of their
mandate. There are many challenges they will
face during their five year term such as high
expectations of the communities they serve,
competing interests among different groups of
citizens living in the municipality, limited human
and financial resources and tight time frames for
delivery of services.
The councillor’s mandate must guide him or her in
the conduct of their duties.
Three important aspects of the councillor’s
mandate are:
- Acting as representatives of, and reporting back
to, the community they serve;
- Providing leadership roles in the council; and,
- Acting as custodians or guardians of public
finances.
The Department developed a Handbook called
“Everything you need to know about being a
Councillor”which provides useful and accessible
information to councillor on a number of key
issues.
Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter is all about governance – the
obligations and duties of leadership and the art
of being a wise and effective councillor. It lays
the foundation for the Handbook by stating that
the foundation of being a good councillor is
sound ethics and integrity of character in
everything you do. It stresses that councillors
are there to serve, not to dictate.
Chapter 2: National and Provincial Legislation
applicable to Local Government
Before going any further, it is important to
understand the legal background to municipal
government. While there are a great many laws
that you will come across during your term as
councillor, the laws summarised in this chapter
are the key pieces of legislation that you need to
know and understand.
Chapter 3: Inside the Council
This chapter provides a brief summary of the key
structures and functions of the Council itself.
You have to understand how a Council operates
and what the powers and limits to those powers
are within Council.
Chapter 4: Councillor Oversight
This chapter deals with accountability; the
mechanisms that are in place to ensure that
Council business is conducted within the law
and that public money is spent cost-effectively
for the benefit of all the communities in the
municipality.
Chapter 5: Intergovernmental Relations
It is not just the operations within the Council and
municipality that are important, it is also essential
that councillors and Council establish and maintain
good relationships with all other spheres of
government, including neighbouring local
municipalities, the district municipality, provincial
and national government departments as well as
traditional authorities. This chapter deals with
those intergovernmental relationships.
Chapter 6: Municipal Milestones
This is a brief but important chapter dealing
with some essential dates that councillors need
to be aware of where, in terms of policy and
legislation, the Council and its administrative
staff, need to perform certain functions, submit
or receive key Council reports and deal with
critical planning, budgeting and financial
matters.
Chapter 7: Service-delivery Trends
This chapter describes briefly two of the
important service delivery issues which concern
all Councils – providing for the poor and dealing
with the provision of housing and associated
services. Clearly, there is much more that
councillors will have to deal with while in this
position and this will be covered during
councillor training.
Chapter 8: Councillors and the Community
This chapter links back strongly to Chapter 1; it
deals with the essential relationship and
responsibility of councillors towards the
communities they serve. It stresses the importance
of working closely with community representative
structures to obtain information on needs and
challenges, and the importance of reporting back
on Council matters to ensure openness and
transparency, the basis of a working and sound
democracy.
Chapter 9: Major Programmes and Support for
Local Government
This chapter provides information on key
development and governance programmes that
municipalities are responsible for and which
Councillors need to know about and understand.
Chapter 10: Finance
A municipality has to manage its finances effectively
and efficiently; if it does not, then it will be unable
to perform its functions and not be able to fulfil its
mandate. Councillors play a critical role in ensuring
that there is sound financial management and
accountability through a system of checks and
balances. This chapter sets out the key points that
councillors need to know about and comply with in
terms of legislation.
Chapter 11: Performance Management
Performance management runs through every
aspect of Council and municipal operations. This
chapter reinforces those performance
management milestones, as well as setting out
specific performance management tasks and
indicators that must be complied with in order
to ensure accountability and promote efficient
and effective governance.
Chapter 12: Municipal Planning
Underlying all of Council‟s work and municipal
responsibilities in terms of service delivery is
good planning. All operations rely on finances
and budgets and the municipal budget is drawn
out of a participatory planning process – the
strategic Integrated Development Plan for the
municipality. This chapter describes briefly the
key planning documents that guide the Council
and its staff in all their activities.
In addition the Department researched and
developed 8 modules which are currently in the
process of being accredited before roll-out.
Module 1: Municipal Governance
This module provides an overview of municipal
governance and administration and is the
foundation for subsequent modules which contain
more detail on various aspects such as municipal
finance and performance management.
It is essential that Councillors have an overall
understanding of municipal governance with the
broad overview of how the Council and
Administration work together.
The intended outcomes of the module are that
councillors will have:
1. An understanding of the main objectives of the
Constitution in terms of its implications for local
government
 an understanding of the clauses of the Constitution
sets out the separate roles and responsibilities of the
three levels of government and how these levels are
linked;
 an overall understanding of the objectives of local
government;
 an understanding of the objectives of municipalities in
terms of co-operative government;
 an understanding of the status of municipalities;
2. A clear picture of the different elements of local
government
 an understanding of the difference between local,
provincial and national government structures
and processes
 the main roles and functions of local government
 the activities of local government and their social
and economic impact
 the establishment, composition, terms, powers
and functions of municipalities are understood
and explained
3. A clear understanding of their own work roles and
accountabilities and how these contribute to the
achievement of the roles and functions of local
government
 an understanding of the scope and limitations of a
councillor’s role
 an understanding of the personal responsibility of a
councillor in delivering government’s objectives at a
local level
 how the objectives, developmental duties and functions
of local government are listed and linked to a
councillor’s own work roles
 how the Batho Pele principles in the context of a
councillor’s work are linked to the roles and functions of
local government
4. An understanding of the challenges confronted by local
government and how government responds to those challenges
 an understanding of the kind of challenges and the extent of the
responsibility of local government in responding to those
challenges
5. An overall understanding of municipal governance (political
structures) and administration (staff / administration structures)
structure and functioning
6. An appreciation that this provides a foundation on which to build
more detailed knowledge about municipal governance during
later, more intensive capacity building on this aspect of local
government.
7. An understanding that this is the foundation for all other more
specialised activities in the municipality.
Module 2: Municipal Planning
The purpose of the module is to introduce councillors to municipal
planning concepts and some of the key legislation and policy that
governs or guides municipal planning.
The Integrated Development Plan or IDP is the central planning
document which guides all municipal activities and drives the annual
budgeting process. The IDP is informed by a number of different types of
plans, including sector plans, such as Local Economic Development Plans,
Transport Plans and Water Services Development Plans.
Council makes decisions, amongst other things, on applications they
receive for various types of development. For councillors to take
informed decisions, it is essential that they understand how these plans
are developed and what the implications are of implementing such plans.
The intended outcomes of the module are that councillors
will have:
1. A clear picture of the different elements of local
government, in this case, that of municipal planning
2. A clear understanding of their own work roles and
accountabilities and how these contribute to the
achievement of the roles and functions of municipal
planning
3. An understanding of the challenges confronted by
municipal planning and how government responds to
those challenges
4. An appreciation that this module provides a foundation
on which to build more detailed knowledge about
municipal planning during later, more intensive capacity
building on this aspect of local government.
Module 3: Municipal Finance
The module introduces councillors to two aspects of their role as
overseers of municipal finance:
 Financial management: refers to the councillor’s duty to safeguard
municipal assets, to monitor council’s performance, to be accountable
for how money is used and to oversee budgeting processes. Councillors
play an important role in financial management to ensure that money
is spent in a way that is accountable and transparent.
 Budgeting processes: the difference between a capital and an
operating budget will be explained as well as the budgeting processes
and budgeting cycles that municipalities must adhere to. Councillors
also oversee budgeting processes to ensure that the municipality is
able to deliver basic services efficiently and address the needs of the
communities they serve.
Municipal finances are complex and there are elements
of municipal finance that are important for municipal
councillors to be aware of, even if they do not have to
understand the detailed workings which is the concern
of the municipal administration.
The intended outcome of the module is that councillors will
have:
1. received information on a broad overview of the structure
and functioning of municipal finances;
2. received more detailed information on those elements of
municipal finances which directly affect councillors
responsibilities;
3. gained a general understanding of the main elements of
municipal financing and the councillor’s role in dealing with
municipal finances;
4. sufficient knowledge to be able to answer the questions
that form part of the training manual; and,
5. a reference document in the form of this module which
they can use in conjunction with the Councillor Handbook
during the course of their work as a councillor.
Module 4: Municipal Infrastructure
A fundamental role of local government is the
provision of services – water, sanitation, electricity,
municipal level roads, street lighting and waste/refuse
collection and disposal. These are the issues which
most affect the residents of a municipality when the
services are poor, non-existent or if there are
problems. In the case of lack of, or poor provision of
potable water, sanitation and waste disposal facilities,
there are serious health risks that can arise which will
not only affect the residents who are experiencing the
poor services, but the effects will spread of those
areas, causing, for example, water pollution which will
affect all users downstream.
Service delivery protests have become a regular
feature of the local political landscape. It is
therefore essential that councillors understand,
broadly, the mechanisms and processes that
need to be in place for the provision of efficient,
appropriate and sustainable infrastructure.
Sustainable in this sense means being able to
afford ongoing maintenance on an operational
basis.
The intended outcomes of the module are that councillors will
have:
1. A clear picture of the different elements of local
government, in this case, that of municipal infrastructure
2. A clear understanding of their own work roles and
accountabilities and how these contribute to the
achievement of the roles and functions involved in the
provision of municipal infrastructure
3. An understanding of the challenges confronted in municipal
infrastructure provision and how government responds to
those challenges
4. An appreciation that this module provides a foundation on
which to build more detailed knowledge about municipal
infrastructure during later, more intensive capacity building
on this aspect of local government.
Module 5: Performance Management
The purpose of the module is to provide councillors
with a thorough overview of performance
management in a municipality – what it means,
how it is carried out, and what the benefits are to a
proper system of performance management (PMS).
Of particular importance is that councillors should
understand their role in performance management,
and that if carried out properly, should result in a
cost-effective, efficient operating system within the
municipality.
The intended outcomes of this module are that
councillors should:
1. have a broad understanding of the legal framework
that guides performance management in a
municipality;
2. understand the roles and responsibilities of councillors
in performance management;
3. understand the issue of accountability in performance
management;
4. understand the principles of performance
management;
5. understand the concept of key performance indicators
in monitoring and evaluation of performance in all
areas and functions of the municipality
Module 6: Traditional Governance
This module will provide councillors with
information on how and where traditional
leadership and traditional authorities link into
municipal government – both the political and
administrative components of local government.
The intended outcomes of the module are as follows:
1. knowledge and understanding of the legislative background
to traditional governance and how this relates to municipal
management;
2. an understanding of the relationship between traditional
leadership and municipal political leadership and
management;
3. an understanding of the role that traditional leaders should
play in municipal affairs, particularly with respect to public
participation;
4. an understanding of the responsibilities of councillors
towards ensuring that there is communication with
traditional leaders and that they are provided with the
opportunity to participate actively in municipal affairs
5. an understanding of the limitations of involvement of
traditional leaders in municipal affairs.
Module 7: Public Participation
Increasing community participation in local governance can help deepen
democracy and improve good government. Examples from all over the world
show that greater community participation can empower communities,
improve people’s material lives and build community identity. To achieve this,
however, is hard work, and perhaps the hardest part of all is a change of
attitude to local governance from councillors, officials and the community. No
longer is government something done by elites to the community, but rather
a shared responsibility, with new requirements to openness, inclusion and
respect among all.
The purpose of this module is to demonstrate to councillors the central
importance of community participation in deepening democracy at local
government level, and provide councillors with the practical information they
need to ensure that they comply with the spirit and intent of the legislation in
working with, or setting up, effective community participation structures.
The intended outcomes of this module are:
1. councillors will be fully informed of the essential
reasons for, and meaning of community participation;
2. councillors will have an understanding of their central
role in community participation, in terms of informing,
consulting and involving the community, particularly
with regard to the key municipal processes;
3. community participation in the municipal wards will be
effective and add value to the key municipal processes;
4. democratic principles and practices will be promoted
and sustained throughout the term of office of ward
councillors throughout the entire municipality.
Module 8: Special Projects and Additional
Matters
This module brings together several additional
aspects of governance that municipal councillors
will encounter during their term of office and which
they need to have an understanding of. Councillors
play a role in each of these functions. The module
covers:
i. Rural Development
ii. Community Work Programme
iii. Local Economic Development
iv. Disaster Management
• The intended outcome of the module is:
1. That councillors have knowledge of these
special programmes and additional activities
of municipal governance or of concern to
municipal governance
2. That councillors understand the role they can
play in relation to these programmes.
14th Floor, North Tower
Natalia Building
330 Langalibalele Street
Pietermaritzburg, 3200
Tel: +27(0) 33 395 2831
Fax: +27(0) 33 345 6432
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.kzncogta.gov.za