Question NW2500 to the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

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13 September 2018 - NW2500

Profile picture: Ntombela, Mr MLD

Ntombela, Mr MLD to ask the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

Has the Local Government Management Improved Model and Assessment Tool been effective in measuring the quality of service delivery that takes place within local government and (b) Has there been improvement in the overall management of local government with the specified tool as a contributing factor?

Reply:

(a) 1. The Local Government Management Improved Model (LGMIM) is under the custodianship of the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) and the information provided here was sourced from the DPME. The rollout of the LGMIM is currently in its fifth (5th) year since its inception and pilot. To date, one hundred and forty six (146) municipalities comprising of metropolitan, district and local municipalities participated in the programme. Of the total, twelve (12) were assessed during the 2013/14 financial year in the pilot phase, thirty (30) municipalities were assessed in the 2014/15 and 2015/16 financial years respectively, forty-one (41) municipalities were assessed during the 2016/17 financial year and thirtythree (33) municipalities during the 2017/18 financial year.

2. The logic of the Local Government Management Improvement Model (LGMIM) is that institutions matter and for service delivery and productivity to improve, the quality of institutions is important. To this end the LGMIM is aimed at facilitating the development of an in-depth understanding of the operating environment and quality of management and work place practices of municipalities that are key for improving service delivery.

3. As such the LGMIM does not measure the quality of service delivery per se, but rather the management practices and work place capabilties that are the necessary pre-conditions (or enbaling conditions) for improving service delivery in municipalities. It does this by identifying institutional problems, thereby positioning the senior leadership of municipalities to meet the minimum norms and standards of good institutional performance to deliver on their developmental outcomes. LGMIM does not include an assessment of actual deliverables against planned deliverables.

4. What differentiates LGMIM from other monitoring processes is that it provides an integrated and holistic view of a municipality’s performance across several critical key performance areas, thus making it easier to prioritise areas that are in need of significant improvement and potential support. It may also highlight issues that impact on service delivery in relation to areas of general non-compliance to legislative, regulatory and/or best practice prescripts. For example, it may highlight whether a participating municipality is adhering to a specific management practice or norm such as making adequate provision for refurbishment and maintenance of assets or whether it is producing audit action plans to address the findings from the Audit outcomes.

(b) 1. The LGMIM is one of several initiatives (albeit specialised and focused on the internal operating environment of municipalities) utilized within the local government sphere in an attempt to support and improve the performance of municipalities such as Back2Basics and the the Auditor General’s performance audits, and therefore it is difficult to attribute service delivery improvement solely to LGMIM.

2. The LGMIM is a management information tool intended to assist the municipal leadership to analyse how the organisation works and how it approaches key operational tasks in 6 key performance areas and which performance gaps need to be addressed to ensure the delivery of quality services and improve productivity.

3. The LGMIM is utilised by departments specifically mandated with a support function, such as the Department of Cooperative Governance, sector departments and provincial departments responsible for local government as an additional data source to inform the development and tailoring of support plans and initiatives to facilitate improved service delivery.

4. There is a close relationship between the DPME and provincial departments responsible for local government in conducting the assessments so as to ensure that these departments have direct and real-time access to the assessment results to inform their support initiatives to the various participating municipalities.

 

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