Question NW77 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

Reply:

1. Whether he has entered into a performance agreement with the President, Mr Jacob G Zuma, with regard to the implementation of the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2014-2019; if not, why not; if so,

The Performance Management Framework for Ministers is the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) for 2014-2019, which is the first 5-year implementation plan of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030. The performance targets and indicators are derived from the 14 Outcomes which government seeks to achieve.

These Outcomes and targets constitute government’s Programme of Action (POA), against which performance is tracked and reported at least on a quarterly basis. POA reports are publicly available on the government’s website.

(a) Which key indicators and targets from the MTSF are reflected in the agreement?

Key targets for the MTSF include:

• Increase in the percentage of households with access to a functional water service from 85% in 2013 to 90% by 2019.
• Increase in the percentage of households with access to a functional sanitation service from 84% in 2013 to 90% by 2019, including elimination of bucket sanitation in the formal areas.
• 1.4 million Additional households to be connected to the grid between 2014 and 2019, and 105 000 additional non-grid connections.
• An increase in the level of public trust and confidence in local government from 51% in 2012 to 65% in 2019, as measured by the IPSOS survey.
• An improvement in overall municipal audit outcomes, with at least 75% of municipalities receiving unqualified audits by 2019.
• Income support to the unemployed through expansion of the Community Work Programme to reach 1 million participants in 2019.

(b) How many performance assessments has he undertaken in consultation with the President since the agreement was signed?

Cabinet closely monitors the implementation of the NDP 2030/MTSF 2014-2019 through POA reports. These reports are tabled before an Implementation Forum of a Cluster of Ministers collectively responsible for MTSF Outcomes and then submitted to Cabinet, where progress is noted, bottlenecks to implementation are discussed and recommendations to address bottlenecks are considered and approved.

(c) What progress has been made in meeting the key indicators and targets from the MTSF?

This response is based on information received from Department of Water and Sanitation, Energy, Environmental Affairs, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and National Treasury and Government Communication and Information Systems (GCIS). Progress provided hereunder on basic services is as at April 2015. The impact of the key indicators and targets is measured annually by sector departments. As a result, the latest measurement as at end of March 2016 on the key indicators and targets will be provided to the honourable member as soon as it has been finalised by respective Outcome 9 delivery partners.

Indicator	Baseline	Target	Progress	Progress rating
Number or percentage of hhs with access to a functional service at acceptable levels as per norms and standards	Water: 85% operational service 65% reliable service as benchmarked by Census 2011 (this equates to 85% operational service)	90% by 2019	Access to Water Infrastructure increased from 96.2% in April 2015 to 96.5% in December 2015, which constitutes an estimated 85 000 households that have been served with water supply infrastructure during the first 3 quarters of 2015/16 financial year. 66% households have access to reliable services, i.e. access to water services without frequent and lengthy interruptions in supply.
	Sanitation: 84% New baseline proposed by Sanitation of 74%	90% by 2019	Sanitation delivery through the Rural Household Infrastructure Grant and Municipal Infrastructure Grant was 133 508 households served cumulatively since April 2015. This translates to a 0, 7% annual increase.
	HHs using bucket sanitation 88127 in formal areas	88127 buckets eradicated in formal areas by 2015. 32 500 buckets eradicated in formal settlements by March 2016	As at June 2015, bucket sanitation has been removed in 24 559 households over the past year against the initial target of 88 000. The Department has planned to replace 32 500 buckets by the end March 2016

Indicator	Baseline	Target	Progress	Progress rating
	Electricity: 12,8 million hhs connected to grid	1.4 million additional HHs connected by 2019	Access to electricity (grid) increased from 88.13% in April 2014 to 88.23% in April 2015. This percentage increase constitutes 233 455 households connected to grid from.
	Refuse: 72%	80% by 2019	According to the General Household Survey results, access to refuse removal increased from 74.5% in July 2013 to 74.6% in July 2014. The percentage increase constitute 162 046 households with access to waste collection services. The GHS is conducted annually and the results are release in July every year. The latest report will be released in July 2016.
Public trust and confidence in local government	51% (Ipsos 2012)	65% by 2019	Decreased from 55% in November 2014 to 49% in November 2016. This is according to a survey conducted by Ipsos.
Number of municipalities that improve their audit outcomes	20% adverse and disclaimers 25% qualified audits 50% unqualified audits (2014)	Number of municipalities with disclaimers and adverse opinions Maximum of 25% municipalities with Qualified audits At least 75% of municipalities with unqualified audit opinions by 2019	The audit outcomes for the MFMA 2013/14 Financial Year are as follows: 17% of municipalities and entities had disclaimers and adverse, which is a reduction of 6% from 23%. 22% of municipalities and entities had qualified opinions 58% municipalities and entities had unqualified opinions. As at 17% of municipalities and entities had disclaimers and adverse opinion The 2014/15 preliminary audit results for 2014/15 were released by the Auditor-General in December 2015. The final consolidated report will be released in June 2016. The improvement in audit outcomes can only be measured after the release of the consolidated AG report.
Number of participants reached	172 000 (actual participation rate end March 2014)	1 million participants by 2019	The total CWP participation rate as at end of December 2015 was 214 013 cumulatively

 

(d) What are the key obstacles to implementation?

• The provision of reliable services remains a challenge across all services due to backlogs in infrastructure refurbishment and neglect of operation and maintenance and asset management. There are no proper investments for infrastructure maintenance, which results in service interruptions.

• The challenge of connecting households in rural areas, to bulk electricity infrastructure remains an issue. Most of these connections are concentrated in remote areas far from the grid, which necessitates installation of additional bulk infrastructure to connect these households. Installation of new bulk infrastructure necessitates environmental impact assessments, acquiring servitudes and project design functions, which have long lead times, to complete leading to delays in reticulation.

(e) What is the plan to address such obstacles?

• Improving service delivery performance requires a programme management approach to proactively address the planning, coordination and institutional constraints experienced in the 27 priority districts. In this regard, a Service Delivery Business Strategy (Attached) was developed and approved by Cabinet on 02 June 2015 which entailed the establishment of a Programme Management Office (PMO) which is currently being coordinated by MISA and comprises key sector departments (DWS, DoT, DEA, DOE, NT, DCoG, & DPME).

• To date, the PMO has completed the diagnostic assessments at the Amathole District to determine and confirm the status quo of the backlogs on access to reliable services. Umzinyathi, Sekhukhune and Bojanala Districts municipalities are currently being assessed.

 

• The Department of Energy has recognized the need to enhance performance through project management of the electrification programme, to establish stakeholder forums aimed at managing expectations and to ensure alignment with planned electrification targets. Separate funding from Integrated National Electrification Programme (INEP) will be allocated to address bulk infrastructure requirements for targeted electricity connections specifically in deep rural areas.