The mandate of local government has expanded greatly over the last ten years, and now includes more comprehensive operational responsibilities, as well as new ones, such as air quality management, says KPMG South Africa City Centre of Excellence associate director Andile Skosana.

“This has placed local municipalities in a challenging space.”

Local municipalities are probably “the most monitored sphere” of government, he adds, which is why their failure, when it happens, is “so obvious”.

Provincial and national government, as well as residents, oversee local municipalities, he explains, but local government and the general public have little say on provincial or national level performance.

The 1998 White Paper on Local Government best describes the South African vision of local government as articulated in the Constitution – developmental local government with social, infrastructure and economic development responsibilities.

However, “we have done well to run in different directions, creating complexity as we go”, says Skosana.

Skosana worked at a municipality for five years, where he was a city planner, while he also assisted in drafting the city’s integrated development plan and city strategy.

“All the legislation around local government is well meaning, and done for the right reason, but never asks if a municipality can realistically implement the legislation, or if it has developed the ability to comply with the legislation.

“Local governments are also guilty of not admitting when they have too much on their plate,” says Skosana.

He says South African municipalities do have a wide mandate seen in an international context. In Canada, for example, municipalities exist as extensions of the provincial government and, therefore, have little infrastructure development responsibility.

Similarly, in many countries in Europe, municipalities are often smaller in size and have more reliable revenue sources, as most of the residents are employed, while South African municipalities, such as Johannesburg, have to look after millions of people with many of them unemployed.

South African municipalities are, however, not unique in the challenges they face, says Skosana. Chicago, for example, is also looking for solutions to raise revenue as it is not making ends meet.

South African local government receives its income from rates, taxes, grants from national government, donations and investments, with grants the biggest contributor.

“Those who have big rates bases have bigger discretionary resources – up to 40% of income can come from rates and taxes in some of the big metros,” notes Skosana.

But what can be done to improve the performance of local government in South Africa?

Skosana believes local government can take advantage of opportunities to utilise different funding structures, such as leasing some of its buildings, or selling them off.

There is also not “enough of a legal framework” to ensure that all spheres of government collaborate in the pursuit of common goals, such as the National Development Plan or individual city development plans.

“When cities collaborate, they improve their leverage and capacity.

“The New York area, in the US, has a regional planning authority managed by the three states that link up there geographically. They see New York as one functional area where they need to collaborate on certain functions, such as transport,” explains Skosana.

“I would love to see more collaboration in South Africa, but especially in Gauteng. The three metros in Gauteng can plan and budget for certain infrastructure, such as water, sanitation and transport, together.”

However, for this to happen, “we need bigger people in the private sector and in municipalities; people who are able to share without feeling a loss of control or power”.

The law also needs to change, as collaboration is currently “not regulated, not structured and it will not just happen magically”, emphasises Skosana.

Also, there is no real sanction in place if “national government lets down cities, or if cities let down provincial government, for example.”

Also, adds Skosana, why not explore returning some functions to provincial and national government if a local government cannot carry out these functions effectively, in return for that municipality reaching some specific and agreed goal that will contribute to local, provincial and national goals.

While this cannot legally happen in South Africa at the moment, “there is nothing that stops us from opening a discussion on this”.

The KPMG Cities Centre of Excellence “goes beyond the consultancy level”, says Skosana.

“We focus on strategy, such as the budget process. We help cities prioritise when they have limited resources, for example.”