SALGA
in.KNOW.vation
sharing municipal knowledge, innovation & excellence
March 2015
Smart Cities
What is a Smart City?
Bold Move to Smart Cities
Lessons for SA Cities
Professionalisation of
Local Government Sector
Municipal Awards and
Recognition
in.KNOW.vation
Welcome to the first issue of in.KNOW.vation, a publication of the
South African Local Government Association (SALGA) that informs,
shares, celebrates and profiles municipal innovations, excellence
and partnerships. in.KNOW.vation aims to accelerate knowledgesharing and learning to allow for replication of good practices and
innovative solutions in line with SALGA’s mandate of Profiling,
Knowledge and Information Sharing.
The years 2015 and 2016 are significant for Local Government
in South Africa. In 2015, South Africa is celebrating 15 years of
democratic Local Government, this emanating from the first
democratic Local Government elections of 5 December 2000.
In 2016, SALGA will celebrate 20 years since its establishment in
1996. In the same year, the fourth Local Government elections are
scheduled.
Since 1996, the sector has achieved important milestones.
However, challenges remain. This is a time for reflection and
also a time to explore innovative partnerships and solutions to
address the remaining challenges. This publication will contribute
to the discourse of continuing to build a developmental Local
Government.
Enjoy the read …
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in.KNOW.vation
A Knowledge & Innovation
Publication
SALGA
SALGA National Office
Menlyn Corporate Park, Block B
175 Corobay Avenue, Cnr Garsfontein and Corobay
Waterkloof Glen ext11, Pretoria
Tel: 012 369 8000
Fax: 012 369 8001
Email: [email protected]
www.salga.org.za
Produced by Corporate Strategy & Research,
Office of the CEO
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CONTENTS
01
03
15
21
Introduction
Smart Cities
Smart Cities are the future. Creating the municipalities of tomorrow
means smart strategies and smart implementation. More than a matter
of broadband solutions alone, the Smart City brings a whole new way of
approaching municipal planning.
Knowledge Management in South
African Cities
How we manage knowledge today will determine the future of
municipalities tomorrow. It is our ability to create knowledge, learn from
our past, and translate and apply knowledge that will act as a catalyst to
gain a competitive edge and create better municipalities for the future.
Knowledge Management in SALGA
Knowledge and Information Sharing is one of the six mandates of SALGA
as stated in the Five-Year Strategic Plan (2012–2017). The mandate aims
to position SALGA as the main hub of Local Government knowledge and
intelligence, and to facilitate peer learning within the sector.
23
31
Innovation in Local Government:
From Ideas to Impact
Innovations are a critical component of how Local Government can excel
in service delivery. Social innovation – finding innovative solutions to social
problems – is very much relevant to Local Government. Organisations
working in the area of innovations are profiled in this section.
Professionalisation of the Local
Government Sector
Developing professional standards for government will ultimately assist with
better service delivery. SALGA collaborates with others to create national
professionalisation standards to help uplift and standardise professionalism
in the Local Government sector.
37
The SALGA Municipal Barometer
41
Municipal Awards and Recognition
The SALGA Municipal Barometer recently launched its services as an active
portal of municipal information. Municipalities can now log in online and
compare statistics, financials and other information to help make better
management decisions.
Awards and recognition are key drivers of employee motivation and job
satisfaction. This section highlights national and international awards given
to municipalities, some awarded by municipalities to promote development
in the sector.
INTRODUCTION
Throughout the world, cities are growing at exponential rates.
In 1910, 10% of the world’s population lived in cities. By 2014,
50% of the world’s population lived in cities, and it is projected
that by 2050, 75% of the world’s population will live in cities. As
urban municipalities grow, they face the challenge of increased
populations, greater service-delivery requirements, and a more
demanding, educated consumer. Many rural municipalities, on the
other hand, are shrinking, together with their tax bases and access to
capable talent. South Africa faces the multiple issues of poverty and
inequality from its apartheid history, combined with a burgeoning
middle class and the need to keep the economic engines going. This
means greater challenges ahead for municipalities.
The solutions are no longer simple. Today’s answers require a
broader, strategic approach, with more sophisticated, nuanced
methods of handling municipal needs. The municipality of today
deals with multiple issues simultaneously. This means better skill
sets, different approaches and more thought put into how things
are managed, as much as how they are done. Managing knowledge,
encouraging innovation, learning from the past; all become part of
how municipalities need to evolve for the future.
Many ask: Why do we need Knowledge Management and
Innovation? How are they different from what we have done in
the past? Knowledge Management encompasses a range of tools
and processes such as organisational learning, collaboration, and
innovation, and the scope for improvement therefore is wide. As
complexities grow, the role of the South African Local Government
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Innovation is at the heart of the
evolution of any organisation.
Government institutions, nonprofit organisations, businesses and
even individuals need to evolve
to survive. Today’s world is more
complex and more demanding, and
timelines have sped up. To meet
these demands, government needs
to innovate, to create knowledge
value, to increase service delivery.
Nowhere is this more apparent than
in municipalities.
Association (SALGA) in assisting municipalities becomes more
critical. It is important to grasp fully the overall national picture and
understand how municipalities evolve. Helping those municipalities
to develop their capabilities to innovate, manage knowledge, and
build effective processes is part of SALGA’s mandate.
The in.KNOW.vation publication informs, shares, celebrates and
profiles municipal innovations, excellence and partnerships. It aims to
accelerate knowledge-sharing and learning to allow for replication of
good practices and innovative solutions to problems and challenges
faced by municipalities and the sector in general.
The lead article of this inaugural edition of in.KNOW.vation is Smart
Cities. The article defines Smart Cities, and why it is important to
build Smart Cities. It also profiles the work of South African cities that
have embarked on Smart City initiatives.
Another relevant concept for Local Government is Social Innovation,
that is, innovation focused on social problems. The article explores the
concept and its relevance for municipalities, and profiles institutions
working in the area of Innovation. Also included are articles on the
Professionalisation of Local Government, an important initiative
led by SALGA and the Department of Cooperative Governance
and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Knowledge Management in the
Local Government sector, and the SALGA Municipal Barometer. To
recognise success and excellence in Local Government, a directory
of national and international awards is included, highlighting key
awards received by and given by municipalities in South Africa.
knowledge
decisionmaking
data
cost
reduction
efficiency
accountability
service
delivery
information
motivated staff
wisdom
responsiveness
Creativity is thinking up new things.
Innovation is doing new things.
Theodore Levitt
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Smart Cities:
It’s time to make
the bold move
The question every municipal planner needs to ask: How can I use the
concept of Smart Cities to take our municipalities towards a better
future? What can we do now that will lay down the roadmap for
modern townships and municipalities 20, 30 and 50 years from now?
A municipality doesn’t need to be heavily resourced or big in its own
right to be a Smart City. To become a Smart City means we need to think
differently, approach problems in new ways. Municipalities can take
elements of Smart City thinking and apply them today.
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Technology is evolving at a pace that is difficult to fathom.
Remember the first cell phones? They were simple. They
could make and receive calls and send messages. Over the
years, technology has evolved – today smart phones can do just
about everything. There is a similar development happening in
our living spaces. We no longer simply call them cities, we call
them Smart Cities.
Creating a Smart City involves much more than broadband roll-out.
However, the technology is the first step.
In the 2015 State of the Nation address,
President Jacob Zuma announced that
eight municipalities were set to have full
broadband capability within five years.
These are Dr Kenneth Kaunda in North West, Gert Sibande in Mpumalanga, O.R.
Tambo in the Eastern Cape, Pixley ka Seme in the Northern Cape, Thabo Mofutsanyane
in the Free State, Umgungundlovu and Umzinyathi in KwaZulu-Natal, and Vhembe in
Limpopo. In addition to these eight, the cities of Cape Town, Johannesburg, Tshwane
and Ethewkini have programmes and plans in place.
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What is a
Smart City?
A Smart City uses digital technologies to
enhance performance and well-being, to
reduce costs and resource consumption, and
to engage more effectively and actively with its
citizens. Key ‘smart’ sectors include transport,
energy, health care, water and waste.
Today there are many levels of being ‘smart’.
The definition of a Smart City varies depending
on which part of the world you come from.
In first-world cities such as London and
Amsterdam, a Smart City provides a fully
integrated system of interdependent solutions
and services. These cities have had the
advantage of centuries of spatial planning,
sophisticated infrastructure, and access to
large amounts of funding. The headquarters of
the biggest technology firms in the world are
on their doorsteps.
Dealing with common challenges
Municipalities have to find practical answers to common challenges, from
providing power, water, homes, roads and transport, to catering for the
needs of a varying body of citizens. Big cities are growing bigger. Smaller
municipalities struggle both financially and in developing capacity to deal
with years of apartheid-neglected infrastructure. The rapidity of change in
municipalities can have devastating effects on planning. Services such as
transportation, safety, basic water and electricity have to cater for many more
people. It is the municipalities whose solutions are resilient and scalable that
have the most opportunities to be Smart Cities.
It used to be that providing adequate service delivery was a job well done.
Not any more. Smart Cities are those that have overcome the limited nature
of their infrastructure. New buildings, roads and sewerage systems cannot
be created fast enough to keep pace with today’s expanding populations and
greater demands. But what these cities can do is find new ways to continue to
give their citizens the services they expect. The key term is resilience – if a city
is resilient to population growth, climate change, and demographic change,
among other things, it is closer to being smart.
Readiness to create a new municipal future
What will be required for Smart Cities to be created? Are our municipalities
ready for it? Or is the smart movement only open to rich, big cities in overseas
countries? Smart Cities create a better living experience for their citizens by
using innovative and connected solutions. No one city anywhere in the world
has achieved full and complete integration to their satisfaction. But it starts
with asking the right questions, and a municipality’s willingness to engage in
new strategies.
Developing countries, by contrast, have
to do more smart thinking than simply
bringing in technology such as broadband.
This is not to say broadband capability isn’t
important. What makes it important is how
we use it. In South Africa, apartheid spatial
planning created huge disparities in wealth
and living standards. Part of the challenge
in rolling out smart solutions is fixing those
limitations and, at the same time, taking the
nation forward in the 21st century.
On the plus side this also means that today’s
new township developments are greenfields,
where municipal planners don’t have to rework
ancient infrastructure. It is an opportunity to
create brand new integrated infrastructure.
We can bring in new technology to leverage
off broadband: smart metres, smart transport,
integrated libraries, schools and clinics. We
can link up the police, emergency response
services and hospitals in diverse ways to bring
us closer to the best Smart Cities around the
world.
uestions municipal planners can ask
Q
to assess their readiness for Smart City
solutions include:
• Are we facing multiple service-delivery problems that put strain on
existing systems?
• Is our municipality laying down roads and sewerage systems, and creating
public transport systems, which might benefit from interlinked broadband
capability?
• Are our police, hospitals, emergency systems, and clinics connected to
provide citizens with the best service, or could they benefit from working
together in an interconnected system?
• Do we find pockets of excellence in how we operate against problem areas
that would benefit from integration?
• Is the infrastructure in place to help grow universities and businesses, and
foster centres of entrepreneurship and new economic sources of growth?
• Do we have the vision and political will to create a Smart City strategy?
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What are the areas of impact for a Smart City?
Many traditional municipal services can be impacted by Smart City
interventions. In larger cities, sometimes different departments are
already implementing solutions, but they aren’t integrated. What
are the main areas that can be affected by the interventions of a
Smart City? There are no rules regarding which areas to address
first. All cities have differing needs and priorities. Areas such as
infrastructure, energy, transport, health, safety, waste, water,
governance, and creating new centres for growth are all critical
components of a Smart City.
Infrastructure
There are two ways in which a Smart City approach factors into
infrastructure. The first is how a municipality constructs the
infrastructure and systems to make things work. The second is how
citizens interact with the municipality on infrastructure. Sometimes
citizens might not see the municipal workings behind the scenes,
but having efficient, effective systems goes a long way towards
better service delivery. One example is how Smart City public
transport allows the municipality better control over costs and
maximising usage of its assets. Smart tools empower citizens with
crucial information, or ways to communicate with the municipality
about problems.
Energy
Provision of energy is one of most municipalities’ key sources
of revenue. Being able to monitor this has a direct impact on
the municipality’s budget. Smart solutions can help billing and
collection, and in the same way as can be done with water, make
sure that utilities remain profitable and can continue to supply
uninterrupted service. The next level is Smart meters, which can
help municipalities move to efficient systems to capture, plan and
manage energy usage.
Transport
Transport is an area in which Smart Cities have a big impact.
Effective transport planning, usage of roads, and development of
public-transport systems can have an impact on people’s everyday
lives. With South Africa’s spatial planning history, this is one
area where greenfield projects using broadband technology can
make a difference. A good example of an effective system is that
of Amsterdam, which has an integrated parking and traffic-load
warning system.
Health
As populations grow, health services become more important. A
stressed health delivery system can be assisted by intelligent ways
of dispensing medicine, and more effective communication through
broadband technology for medical solutions and linking hospitals,
clinics, doctors and others.
Safety & security
Some cities, such as Johannesburg and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, have
highly populated areas which are monitored by CCTV cameras.
When the footage is analysed in real time, petty crimes can be
isolated and punished. There are other ways of ensuring safety
too, such as early-warning weather applications which encourage
citizens to seek cover ahead of time. Disaster prevention can benefit
greatly from efficient broadband capability, and allow teams to
communicate quickly in emergency situations.
Waste
The most important element of waste management is that it
continues to move on time. In municipalities with stressed wastemanagement systems, bottlenecks can be identified and cleared
quickly and effectively. Using Smart City technology, systems can
be integrated into the broadband capability to provide real-time
information.
Water
Fresh water is vitally important to densely populated areas. Billing
failures can lead to inefficient payment collection. This can reduce
the budget for purification and maintenance. Smart metering can
help cities affected by these problems. Citizens can also watch out
for water leaks and report them through smart reporting tools
before losses take place.
Governance
An integrated local-government application made available by
affordable wi-fi or broadband would bring citizens closer to realtime updates from municipalities. The communication could be
two-way and problems could be reported and resolved much faster.
Creating new centres for growth
New technology means new opportunities and new jobs.
Municipalities don’t need to create jobs, they need to create the
platforms on which businesses and organisations can be created.
These, in turn, will create new centres of growth and jobs. In 20
years from now, young people might be doing jobs that do not
exist and are not even dreamed of today. Smart City strategy using
broadband technology offers those opportunities.
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Smart Cities are not a matter of bits and bytes but
people and evolution. Once we decouple the “smart”
in Smart Cities from the IT industry, we enter a world of
“intelligent cities”, “digital cities”, “connected cities” and
more. Those grappling with smart-city solutions include the
telecoms, financial services, utilities, construction, health-care,
education, government, public safety and national security, and
environment sectors.
It is therefore no surprise that different industries approach the subject
from their comfort zones. IT companies define a Smart City through a
technology lens; developers concentrate on physical infrastructure; utilities
insist it is about sustainable energy; and the green lobby champions the
environment. Smart Cities are all of the above.
Joe Bignan, The Economist
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What does it take to
be a Smart City?
A number of factors were identified that help
determine a municipality’s readiness to create
a Smart City. These include political will, social
capital, digital capability, physical infrastructure, a
focus on outcomes, and meaningful public-private
partnerships.
Political will
As leaders of the city, administrators and politicians
must drive the move towards Smart City status.
Smart City migration is characterised by two things –
funding and time lag.
It is easy to say “let’s become a Smart City”
without considering that implementation
can sometimes be long and expensive.
It needs to be budgeted long-term and managed
throughout. Having the right political champions
and political will makes or breaks Smart City
implementation.
Social capital
Building a successful Smart City requires bringing
the end users into the process. To make it work,
the final users of the system need to know what is
happening and how it will contribute to their lives.
Citizens can provide real-time feedback on the
performance by helping to report faults, traffic jams,
and crime hotspots. They can also suggest new uses
for the technology that planners might not have
considered. Smart City planners need to factor in
social capital and the integration of people’s voices
into the planning to make it work.
Strong digital capabilities
Smart devices are everywhere in today’s
municipalities. Every citizen can play a role in
tapping into and using broadband technology. For
municipalities, this means developing some level of
infrastructure that will assist in a potential myriad of
uses. In some of South Africa’s municipalities wi-fi
will soon be free in libraries and other government
buildings. This will open the door for the developing
population to tap into the grid of the city. Digital
power is important, but it’s not everything. People
still need to bring forward ideas on how best to use
the technology.
Intelligent physical
infrastructure
The physical infrastructure must meet a minimum
standard to support the digital technology. This
could take the form, for instance, of control towers
for internet antennae or fixed vantage points for
CCTV cameras which monitor traffic or crime.
South Africa’s infrastructure may not be perfect,
but it can easily support smart solutions. There are
African countries with a fraction of South Africa’s
infrastructure capability that are working hard on
smart initiatives.
Outcome-focus and
transparency of outcomes
To capture the imagination of the people, the
vision of a Smart City must be citizen-centric.
Municipalities need to show how the standard of life
can be improved. Clear outcomes also make it easier
to measure results. Transparent outcomes can bring
more citizen engagement as the people begin to
realise how their lives can be improved.
eaningful public-private
M
partnerships
Just as digital technologies are a great part of Smart
Cities, the role of private technology companies is
important. Who are the potential partners, and
what can they bring to the table? It is a perfect
opportunity for partnerships. These partners might
be businesses, NGOs or others who are stakeholders
in how municipalities operate. Municipalities can
lead the way by actively seeking out partners to help
create the vision for Smart Cities.
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Smart doesn’t mean
big and expensive
Experts in the field of Smart Cities agree on factors that contribute
to successful Smart Cities. These include resilience, scalability and
sustainability. Solutions can be described as resilient if they are able
to withstand unforeseen changes. If a solution has a technological
backbone, is it able to endure hardware and software upgrades
or sometimes even a whole change of technological partner?
Will infrastructure have to be greatly modified to cater for these
changes? Can it be said to be resilient? The best solutions are well
thought out and can accommodate different kinds of stresses.
Scalability is also essential. Is a solution able to withstand unforeseen
changes in technology? In the Smart City space a solution must be
able to cater for excessive load. Can broadband solutions handle
user spikes in peak times? Can customer service dashboards handle
thousands of complaints at once? The downfall of manual customerservice systems such as hotlines is that they can be manned by only
so many people at once. But through technology, digital applications
are infinitely scalable and have other advantages, such as the ability
to instantly read trends.
Ensuring solutions are long-term and sustainable is also important.
A common example is where a service is promised as free of charge
but unforeseen costs mean the solution owner must subsidise the
solution or introduce unpopular charges.
The best solutions are well thought out and can accommodate
different kinds of stresses.
What are the challenges in
becoming a Smart City?
There are many challenges in becoming a Smart City, but the
biggest one has to do with commitment. Other elements include
the pace of change and information silos, complexity and limited
infrastructure, developing an innovation culture, data legislation,
and public funding and procurement rules. In addition, dealing with
the fear of change and with relevance is important, and above all,
to thrive as Smart Cities, municipalities must develop cultures that
foster innovation.
platforms with their own infrastructure requirements. Smart Cities
need to anticipate change and plan ahead of the technology curve.
There is a phenomenon in which utilities concentrate solely on their
own performance. There is often very little cross-functionality in the
service provision of energy, waste, water, and transport. This needs
to be overcome for smart optimisation to be realised.
Complexity and limited infrastructure
Pace of change and information silos
Smart Cities are heavily reliant on digital technology, but technology
changes fast. No sooner is one platform the most efficient than it is
replaced by another. Internet connectivity has evolved now to 4G
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The bigger a population becomes, the more complex the potential
difficulties turn out to be. The complexity in metering and billing
across ever-changing platforms for increasingly large customer
bases makes for a challenge which Smart Cities need to master.
Utilities struggle to penetrate densely populated urban dwellings
that are not structurally complete. If, for example, fibre optic cables
cannot be easily and effectively laid in a certain area then that area
will miss out on the march to smart status.
No funding for first movers
Funding is integral to Smart Cities. Once innovations are out of the
testing stage, there is often a lot of reluctance on the part of cities
to be the first mover in case they fail. This critical delay can affect
the roll-out of smart innovations. Municipalities are already on tight
budgets, so these budgets need to be earmarked and ring-fenced
for future developments.
Data legislation
The large-scale use of data during the smart roll-out, such as the
creation of customer profiles using sensitive personal information,
creates challenges for how this information is shared among smart
partners. South Africa has legislation to prevent the abuse of this
information.
Public funding and procurement rules
Municipalities must always account for public funds. Parameters for
success need to be clearly set out, and it requires commitment to
ensure that the rules under the Municipal Finance Management Act
(MFMA) and Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) are met. This
must balance against the need to run trials of new and untested
technologies and processes.
Procurement rules that are weighted in favour of entities with
track records can put fresh innovation at a disadvantage. In a fastchanging environment, there must be a balance between using
conservative procurement methods and being open to catching the
wave of new technologies.
Dealing with fear of change and with
relevance
Many utilities have had a transactional relationship with customers
for decades. Smart solutions call for a natural reduction of direct
service provider relationships. In the smart environment citizens
could receive integrated services from a number of utilities. These
will increasingly be on virtual platforms, causing some utilities to
fear losing relevance.
Many innovations fail because the technologies they replace
are simply cast by the wayside. Often these older systems have
supported the livelihoods of a range of people and when that
livelihood is threatened, the new system is not trusted and is
sometimes sabotaged.
Innovation culture
Creating an innovation culture is central to developing a Smart City.
Business as usual will no longer work in the future. Municipalities
that actively encourage new thinking and innovation, and support
new ideas, will be the best placed to maximise their Smart City
programmes.
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Examples of Smart Cities
around the world
Amsterdam – the gold standard
In 2009 the Amsterdam municipality took the decision to
position Amsterdam as a Smart City. Through strong political will
and a plan with strict timelines the city was able to attract the
cooperation of the citizens of Amsterdam, research institutions
and private businesses. The results have led to the incubation
of a larger number of original ideas there than in any other city
in the world. Here are examples of just some of the more than
60 stand-alone projects Amsterdam has trialled and continues to
trial since its decision to become a Smart City.
Smart Mobility. This project has encouraged the mass use of
electric cars. Citizens charge their cars by drawing power off
domestic solar panels. If there is excess power in a household,
it can be sold back to the grid. In another project, the Roads
Authority in Amsterdam is working to allow emergency vehicles
faster access to accident sites by plugging them into the traffic
control system, remotely closing bridges and guiding the
emergency vehicles to the accident site based on real-time
traffic information.
Smart Grid. An entire self-contained community of 40 000
households agreed to pilot a self-healing energy grid. It is set up
with smart meters and has the highest density of solar panels in
Amsterdam.
Sensors in the grid allow the power
utility to switch substations remotely
depending on the severity of use.
Amsterdam is at the forefront of everything good about
Smart Cities. Its detailed and informative website (http://
amsterdamsmartcity.com/) shares its knowledge and it has
found a way to get business and citizens highly interested in the
results of the Smart City drive. This makes for one of the best
Smart City programmes in the world.
Addis Ababa – a different approach
As the administrative capital of the African Union, Addis Ababa
is used to hosting large gatherings of dignitaries. However, its
transport network has never been ideal and, like many small
African countries, it features old roads which are ill-suited to
expansion. With economic growth and urban migration this
means that traffic congestion is a problem that will not easily
go away.
Rather than try to seek a road-based solution, Addis Ababa
has decided to implement a rail-based solution. The recently
commissioned light-rail network is set to offer greater comfort
and capacity to commuters in the capital. The 34.24km network
is set for completion in early 2015. It will offer capacity for
15 000 passengers per direction. Compared to road travel, this
option is more environmentally friendly, which is one of the
hallmarks of a smart solution.
Smart Work Centres. These are fully functional offices erected
alongside areas of the highway grid notorious for traffic jams.
Citizens can pull into these work centres to do their work rather
than sit in slow-moving traffic.
The system prioritises the movement
of high numbers of people, as opposed
to road-based solutions which try to
accommodate high numbers of cars.
There is scope for new rail line, meaning
the system is both scalable for larger
numbers of commuters and sustainable
for future years.
Smart Living Showroom. A demonstration house was set up
in Amsterdam to showcase the products of a partner company
that sells smart lifestyle products. The products are focussed on
water, energy, and waste. The house is visited by 3 million people
a year.
Addis Ababa has shown that sometimes it is not the obvious
solution that is the best one. Where some people would say
“why not fix the roads?”, Addis Ababa fixed the problem, even if
it did not touch the roads. This is a very good example of creative
thinking.
This remote access allows smarter maintenance programmes and
results in zero outages. In addition, the municipality introduced
the Smart Dimming programme, where street lighting is preprogrammed to dim in areas of low activity at certain times.
Smart Parking. This allows residents to pre-book parking spots
at partner buildings to reduce CO2 emissions while looking for a
parking spot.
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Smart Citizen Kit. Those concerned about air quality in the city
can fix a small device called a Smart Citizen Kit to their roof. The
readings from the device are linked to an app which indicates
the ambient temperature, air quality, humidity, noise pollution,
and light intensity.
What Smart Cities mean for South Africa
What opportunities are presented when municipalities make a concerted effort to embrace the best use
of technology to power their future? With the right level of political ambition, private sector input, and
social involvement, smart innovations can be implemented quickly. It is not too late to consider smart
outcomes.
Individuals can also participate in city outcomes. If citizens are
consulted at the beginning of the process, and if the outcomes are
painted clearly as being beneficial to all, they would most certainly
be more supportive. Another important factor to consider is added
employment. Smart solutions bring jobs into the fold. Many times
they are new ventures which require new staff. At the testing stage
City of Johannesburg
the teams are small but as systems roll out the opportunities grow.
Transformation can also be a factor. Apartheid skewed the social
landscape and undoing inequalities in the poorest areas can be
difficult. But smart solutions can help create balance, and can easily
cut across the different classes to provide equal solutions to all
citizens today.
view of the city’s strategic and operational issues through
effective information-gathering and processing, and efficient
dissemination of intelligent information. This will allow for wellcoordinated, integrated and responsive service delivery, focusing
on public safety in the initial phase;
• Installing households with smart meters to reduce electricity
losses, increase revenue, and reduce energy consumption;
• Smart transport technology aimed at addressing current and
envisaged future problems affecting travellers and freight users
with regard to traffic flow, via the Intelligent Traffic Management
System;
The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality has embarked
on a journey to transform Johannesburg into a Smart City in terms
of economy, environment, utilities, transportation, education,
health, planning, governance and people.
The objective is to provide efficient services that are easy to access
and use (using technology as an enabler), being responsive in an
open and transparent way, and ensuring financial, environmental
and quality service-delivery sustainability. The City’s approach is
holistic: it is cross-domain and multidisciplinary; it is citizen- and
people-oriented (through active engagement); it leverages local
infrastructure, connectivity and resources; and it provides an
interoperable, common underlying smart platform.
It is envisioned that wide-ranging broadband capacity will be the
backbone of the new Smart City. This has been laid down and
is facilitating service-based innovations the City has started to
implement, such as:
• Affordable broadband connectivity among City-owned facilities,
and access in the City through the creation of wireless hotspots
at all Rea Vaya BRT stations and in the buses, as well as selected
open spaces;
• An Intelligent Operation Centre aimed at providing an integrated
• Promoting ICT literacy via Public Access to Internet, which is
aimed at enhancing and promoting ICT literacy to all, including
disadvantaged communities, via free access to digital information;
and
• Universal access: Skills development via ICT Hub IT innovation
and SMME incubation, with a focus on application development
in collaboration with the Universities of Johannesburg and the
Witwatersrand.
The Smart City of Johannesburg is intended to support the
Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) Paradigm, which can be
summarised as follows:
1. Do more with less: being more efficient across the whole city,
thus saving enormous costs
2. Do it better: being more effective, increasing the quality of the
services
3. Do new things: being innovative by utilising new opportunities
and experimenting with new concepts
The Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Councillor Parks Tau, has
said, “A Smart City is about how you apply technology to advance
your own objectives and configure technology to support what
you want to do.”
| 12
An innovation, to be effective, has to be simple and it has to be
focused. It should do only one thing, otherwise it confuses. If it
is not simple, it won’t work. Everything new runs into trouble;
if complicated, it cannot be repaired of fixed. All effective
innovations are breathtakingly simple. Indeed, the greatest
praise an innovation can receive is for people to say: This is
obvious. Why didn’t I think of it?
Peter Drucker
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality
The eThekwini municipality in KwaZulu-Natal is the first public-sector entity to
trial a Smart City mobile application. The ‘Smart City’ app integrates a number
of services offered by the municipality. It is available on smart phones and tablet
devices and it allows municipalities to interact with their customers in real time.
As smart innovations go, the application has everything required of a modern
and responsive tool. Not only does it remove the need for customers to present
themselves at service points, it takes away nothing in terms of customer
interaction. Without boarding a car or bus to strain the transport network
further, a customer can start a case on the app and follow it to completion with
ready updates along the way. Some of the cases which are typically logged are
as follows: no water, no electricity, high bill, pothole, faulty traffic light.
The developers of the application indicate that there are a number of other
South African municipalities in final discussions to join the trial. In the case
of eThekwini there will be a period after the pilot where the feasibility of the
application is examined, and it can only be hoped that it takes off and becomes
an essential tool for service delivery in the new Smart City space.
City of Cape Town
As far back as 2000 when the City of Cape Town became a single Unicity Council,
its leaders saw the need for it to become a Smart City. In 2003 the SmartCape
Access project saw a selection of libraries fitted with modern computers and
free internet access. The idea was to empower citizens with modern amenities
to help them better carry out their daily tasks. For example, this impacted on
prospective job-seekers looking for employment by allowing them to search
for jobs on free internet. It also helped students doing research for academic
purposes. There is a focus on technology being an aid and enabler for better
service delivery.
The City of Cape Town actively invites private partnerships with local businesses.
During the SmartCape Access project, the City incentivised cooperation by
offering cheaper advertising and greater exposure for partner businesses.
Today the City of Cape Town continues to investigate ways in which to become
a smarter, more liveable city, realising that public-private partnerships are
essential to achieving those aims.
| 13
City of Tshwane
The City of Tshwane is the administrative capital of South Africa and plays an important role
in the Smart City movement. It has the highest concentration of knowledge industries in
the country and is home to four major universities and seven national science councils. Like
Amsterdam, the City of Tshwane realised the importance of tapping into the intellectual and
research capabilities of these entities. It was for this reason that in 2007 The Innovation Hub
was set up to maximise cooperation and research opportunities with these organisations.
One of the early smart interventions in Tshwane was the twinning of the city with the
Finnish city of Oulu in 2005. This partnership has allowed for important knowledge transfer
of best practices. Smart Cities are those that learn from other cities and openly share their
own findings. Another example is its trialling the e-Health Project in 2009. This programme
provides health-care services by using ICT for information-gathering purposes. The aim was
the development of electronic health records to be used in clinics.
It is in the area of wi-fi capability that the City of Tshwane has moved forward most notably,
and through Project Isizwe it has rolled out some 400 wi-fi sites to date, offering coverage to
over 2 million people. By the end of 2015 it is estimated that Tshwane will offer free wi-fi to
more than 3 million people. Tshwane Executive Mayor, Cllr Kgosientso Ramokgopa, said of
the project, “This unprecedented intervention will juxtapose Tshwane as an e-Capital of
excellence and a driver of education in the country, aligned to the creation of a Smart City
and a knowledge economy.”
City of Ekurhuleni
The City of Ekurhuleni is referred to as ‘Africa’s workshop’ because it has the largest
concentration of companies producing goods and commodities on the continent. Goods need
to be moved, and this is supported by Ekurhuleni’s diverse network of roads and rail lines. To
keep pace with the demands of these bulk customers, the metro has put in place a cuttingedge electronic metering-in-place system that allows businesses to track their utilisation
throughout the month. This allows them to manage consumption and keep within budget.
This will soon be reinforced by a range of new smart meters for both electricity and water,
which will improve the efficiency of metering and billing. Some features of the system include
remote readings and automated real-time readings.
OR Tambo International Airport
Ekurhuleni has also taken note of the need to improve its ICT network and to make sure that
its fibre and wireless grid is properly connected and maintained. There are plans to introduce
an ICT operations centre, which by 2016 will provide the basis for the city delivering wifi service not only to its employees, but also to households and businesses. This will put
Ekurhuleni well on the path to being a Smart City that is able to service both its business and
domestic customers in a modern way.
The future is Smart Cities
There can be no doubting the power of smart solutions to improve our lives.
The human population is growing constantly yet our cities largely remain the
same size. In the age of high life expectancy and universal rights for all, we
must find a way to give a high quality of life to our people. It is never too late for
municipalities to start. In the case of South Africa all the building blocks are
there. The challenge is now to make Smart Cities happen.
| 14
Knowledge
Management in
South African
Cities
If you have knowledge, let
others light their candles
in it.
Margaret Fuller
| 15
Today’s organisations have a
vast amount of information and
knowledge, and municipalities are
certainly no exception. However,
in applying knowledge management
principles and practices, it is important
to know that knowledge is not the end,
but the means for further action. Knowledge
is derived from information but it is richer
and more meaningful. It includes familiarity,
awareness and understanding gained through
experience or study, and results from making
comparisons, identifying consequences and making
connections.
Share your knowledge. It’s a
way to achieve immortality.
Dalai Lama
it current. The major question to ask about this kind of knowledge is whether
someone can make it available for others to see.
Without a culture of sharing within an organisational structure, the introduction
of knowledge management is doomed. A suitable organisational culture as it
relates to KM is a situation where the sharing of information is second nature.
Well-structured, well-narrated knowledge ‘stories’ can help others learn from
past situations and respond more effectively in future situations. Stories
can come in varied forms, with a range of labels, such as cases, anecdotes,
examples, histories or simply ‘experiences’.
To make KM work, employees need to absorb the culture, understand that
sharing information is everyone’s business, and see themselves as members
of multiple communities.
Effective Knowledge Management
w
d
le
ge
S
SY
ST
CT
Underpinning all this
are IT systems that
enable accurate, reliable
and useful information
to be captured,
disseminated and
accessed.
EM
AL
RU
KM
ST
This is supported by
institutional structures
and systems that
facilitate the capture,
storage and sharing
of information and
knowledge.
IN STIT U TIO N
Explicit knowledge is knowledge in visible form. It is
either written down or recorded, easily transferable
and reusable. Manuals and other types of documents
contain this kind of knowledge. For explicit knowledge
to remain a valuable asset requires the effort to keep
ul
re
Kamari aka Lyrikal
Knowledge may be labelled as either explicit or tacit.
tC
Key to effective KM is
developing a KM culture
that ensures people
understand the value of
sharing what they do and of
learning from others.
Knowledge increases by
sharing but not by saving.
Explicit and tacit knowledge
M a n ag e me n
tu
Therefore, knowledge management is about applying
the collective knowledge of the entire organisation
to achieve specific organisational goals. The aim of
knowledge management is not necessarily to manage
all knowledge, just the knowledge that is most
important. It is about ensuring that people have the
knowledge they need, where they need it, when they
need it – the right knowledge, in the right place, at
the right time. Knowledge management establishes
an environment in which people are encouraged to
create, learn, share, and use knowledge together for
the benefit of the organisation.
The importance of culture in Knowledge Management
o
There are many definitions of knowledge management.
In the main, knowledge management is based on the
idea that an organisation’s most valuable resource is
the knowledge of its people. Therefore, the extent
to which an organisation performs well will depend,
among other things, on how effectively its people can
create and share knowledge around the organisation,
and use that knowledge to best effect. Many of
the tools, techniques and processes of knowledge
management are already in use by other management
disciplines such as human resources and performance
management.
Tacit information, on the other hand, is unquantifiable and intangible. It’s what
is in our heads – not concise, difficult to summarise. When a person is unable
to remember how they were able to do something, we refer to that kind of
knowledge as tacit.
Kn
What Is Knowledge Management?
UR
ES
IT
Source: www.knowledge-management-online.com
| 16
Why Local Governments need Knowledge
Management
The importance of knowledge management in any organisation
cannot be over emphasised, and this is particularly true in the localgovernment sector.
thereby leveraging and making readily accessible the knowledge
and expertise that already exists within the municipality. In so
doing, institutional memory is built through preserving, developing,
using and sharing knowledge, which is not lost when experienced
employees leave” (‘Knowledge Management in South African Cities’
2013).
Implementing KM principles guarantees efficient and prompt
delivery of services and also provides further benefits, which
include:
Knowledge management could act
as a catalyst to gain a competitive
edge.
• Reduced costs
• Increased efficiencies
• Motivated staff
• Better responsiveness
• Enhanced decision-making
• Greater accountability
• More democratic governance
• Improved service delivery
RY
KM increases
the quality and speed of
communication between employees and managers, as
well as with the public.
GO
VE
R
AT ER
A CC O U N
TA BILI TY
Enh
an
ced
de
c
SS
N SIVEN E
g
IC
AT
KM
harnesses
global knowledge,
lessons learned and
good practices from other
municipalities, both locally and internationally.
ES P O
KNOWLEDGE
MANAGEMENT
BENEFITS
in
CR
G RE
Employees
have the
opportunity
to develop their
skills and improve
their prformance
through group work
and knowledge
sharing, thereby
building employee
satisfaction.
ak
IVE
D EL
RVIC
E
IMPROVED SE
MO
Knowledge has always been
NA
shared at municipal level but often
NC
in a disorganised and patchy way. The
E
adoption of KM ensures that municipalities
can “systematically capture and organise the
wealth of knowledge and experience of staff,
clients, stakeholders, beneficiaries and partners,
| 17
IE
F
TAF
DS
The public
has access to
information and
so feels more
connected and
involved with
government
systems.
KM ensures
transpaprent,
open systems
that reduce
the potential
for corruption
and unethical
behaviour.
E DE
• Knowledge sharing creates
value in an organisation
and strategically enables a
competitive advantage.
M OR
• KM increases the
financial worth of an
organisation.
ENC
S
KM
Sharing
E
means
no
more
knowledge
C
DU
reinventing the wheel or
and learning means
RE
repeating the same mistakes, which can
that the lag time
be costly and inefficient.
between ideas and
implementation
is shortened,
while making
information
KM results in increased speed of response
accessible
and better knowledge of customer needs, leading
reduces
to satisfied customers.
costs.
TE
IVA
OT
• KM facilitates better
decision-making, more
collaboration, restructuring
of organisational
processes and a decline
in the duplication of
work, consequently
cutting operational costs
and improving service
delivery.
FFICI
M
• KM improves organisational
performance by means of better
quality, innovation, productivity
and efficiency.
INCREASED E
TS
OS
DC
RR
• KM creates the opportunity for employees
to develop their skills, performance and
experience through group work and
knowledge sharing.
T TE
KM has a number of benefits for public-sector organisations:
BE
Like most large organisations, municipalities respond to the needs
of their citizens by providing an inclusive and far-reaching service
delivery. From a SALGA perspective, the adoption of a KM model
is central to performing the “delicate act of judging financial
sustainability, addressing the inequalities of the past, delivering
services in the face of a growing urban population, all the while
fulfilling its explicit developmental mandate”.
o
isi
n
m
Source: Knowledge
Management In South
African Cities 2013
Knowledge
Management
highlights in some
municipalities
City of Johannesburg
The City of Johannesburg’s Innovation and Knowledge Management Unit (formerly known
as the Joburg Innovation and Knowledge Exchange) was initially launched in 2002 as the
Visitor & Resource Centre in response to an overwhelming number of requests from external
stakeholders for the City to share “Johannesburg’s Transformation Story” – the wealth of
lessons learnt about transformation, based on its experiences during the major institutional
restructuring that took place between 1990 and 2000. In addition to the knowledge
exchanges that afforded internal knowledge-sharing among City employees, the City
also realised the value of institutionalising its knowledge assets for the benefit of its
organisation.
Key programmes and initiatives
The basic economic
resource – the means
of production – is no
longer capital, nor
natural resources, nor
labor. It is and will be
knowledge.
Peter Drucker
Deploying and harnessing good Knowledge Management practices plays an important role
in the City of Johannesburg to enhance performance, productivity, collaboration and service
delivery. Hence the City developed a Group KM Strategy and Implementation Plan to embed
KM throughout the CoJ in systematic and structured ways, and to enable the CoJ to achieve
and sustain its strategic objectives as outlined in the Joburg 2040 Growth and Development
Strategy (GDS) through knowledge creation, knowledge application, knowledge capturing
and knowledge sharing. A particular KM vision for the City was defined:
“To enable the City of Johannesburg to become a world class African city through the
effective harnessing and application of the intellectual capital and knowledge of its
workforce and stakeholders”.
The unit has the following key functional areas as part of driving and mainstreaming KM:
• Knowledge Management programmes – To institutionalise and mainstream knowledge
management within the City’s political and executive leadership, departments and
municipal-owned entities.
• Innovation programmes – To embed a culture of innovation among the city’s employees;
to recognise and reward innovative projects and programmes that are improving service
delivery in public service.
• Knowledge Exchange and Learning programmes – To facilitate the transfer of knowledge
resources within the CoJ and also with partners and stakeholders through structured
programmes.
In addition, the unit has been given the responsibility of driving the Smart City Priority, which
entails the provision of leadership (smart trends, analysis, research, benchmarking) and
ensuring integration of Smart City initiatives in support of the Johannesburg 2040 GDS and in
collaboration with the lead departments.
Key Successes
Since the unit’s establishment, it has experienced the following successes:
• The creation of an established KM methodology;
• Documenting and dissemination of better practice and lessons learnt through development
of case studies on key City initiatives. The establishment of an empowered KM workers’
(champions’) forum as one of the main tools used by the City to encourage and facilitate
knowledge-sharing across functions, departments, municipal entities and external
stakeholders;
• Effective knowledge exchanges through the hosting of official delegations, as part of
supporting cooperative governance efforts; and
• Celebrating and sharing innovation and excellence through the unearthing of innovative
projects for recognition and promotion at various awards platforms, and the annual
production of the innovation magazine “Impact”.
| 18
City of Tshwane
eThekwini Metropolitan
The City of Tshwane, asserting with pride its identity as “South
Africa’s Capital”, further positions itself as “liveable, resilient
and inclusive. A city whose citizens have to enjoy a high quality
of life; have access to social, economic and enhanced political
freedoms; one where its citizens are partners in the development
of the city” (Tshwane Vision 2055). Like other cities around
the globe, the City of Tshwane is in a changing and dynamic
environment that presents challenges and opportunities to
economic growth. In growing a competitive economy, it has
committed itself to becoming a knowledge-driven city that
leverages on existing knowledge and expertise, both internally
and externally, to improve its socio-economic status. The City
has recognised that knowledge is a key strategic resource that it
needs to manage effectively in order to participate and survive
in the knowledge-based economy.
In late 2009, eThekwini Municipality in Durban, formed the first
ever local-government-driven, practitioner–based Municipal
Institute of Learning (MILE). This historic decision was partly in
response to our national government’s “Turnaround Strategy”,
which sounded the call for municipal collaboration to enhance
local-government practitioner capacity, and partly to contribute
to the municipality’s KM strategy to position Durban as a
Centre of Learning. A series of extensive consultations with
key provincial, national and international stakeholders were
held as part of the initial scoping exercise, and the city received
overwhelming support for the formation of such an institute.
When Tshwane decided to elevate
knowledge management to the level
of a critical capability in its business
operations, it did so in order to foster
a culture of learning and knowledge
exchange to enhance innovation and
service-delivery improvement.
To that effect, the knowledge management capability within the
Research and Innovation unit was established in 2012.
Achievements
Since the establishment of the KM capability, the following have
been achieved:
• Approval of the KM Framework and Roadmap
• KM Toolkit
• Knowledge Zone Portal
• Appointment and training of KM champions
• Launching of the KM Forum
• Coordination of knowledge seminars and benchmarking
study tours
| 19
Major successes
MILE has played the role of coordinating eThekwini
Municipality’s KM agenda. At this stage four areas have been
successfully prioritised:
• Improving internal access to information and knowledge:
MILE has been the vehicle that has ensured that electronic
systems are in place to allow municipal employees easy
access to information. A knowledge portal was established to
achieve this goal.
• Policy Coordination: MILE has played an important role in
ensuring that all policies approved within the municipality
are well-formulated and do not conflict with other existing
policies. All approved policies are now accessible to staff and
the general public. MILE has also been able to offer a policyadvisory service to other municipalities.
• Creating an enabling KM organisational culture: Transforming
an inward-focused, complex bureaucracy into an effective
learning organisation that values information sharing and
exchange is not easy; it requires one to craft and execute a
clear strategy. Among the issues this strategy will focus on
are encouraging staff to keep learning journals, putting in
place mechanisms that help in moving from tacit to explicit
knowledge, and focusing on projects that allow effective
knowledge transfer to facilitate succession planning.
• Sharing innovations and good practice: The municipality
has over the past five years led the country by publishing its
own publications with a view to sharing lessons learned with
practitioners from all over the continent and beyond. MILE
has played an important role in encouraging departments
to document lessons learned, as well as in creating the
opportunities internationally to make these publications
available.
Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality
BCMM was the first municipality to appoint political KM
champions, and the municipality also conducted KM
training for councillors, senior and middle management,
as well as departmental KM champions, in terms of the
KM Strategy and Framework.
The councillor training has been
identified as best practice by the
Knowledge Management Reference
Group (KMRG), to be used as the
basis for training councillors in
other municipalities and members
of both provincial legislatures and
Parliament.
Major successes
The IKM, Research and Policy Department have had the
following major successes, among others:
• The IKM, Research and Policy Department has
developed Research Management Policy Framework
and Guidelines to regulate and govern all research
undertaken by, within, or on behalf of BCMM.
• The department has facilitated and coordinated Case
Studies of Better or Best Practice, Lessons Learnt and
Innovation, and continues to do so. Case studies have
been undertaken, or are in process, on:
–– T he Public Participation process in the Ward
Delimitation process towards becoming a
Metropolitan Municipality;
–– T he Blue Drop Achievements of BCMM in terms of
Water Quality;
–– G
ovan Mbeki Human Settlement Award-winning
projects (both at provincial and national levels); and
–– T he Basic KM Training provided for councillors at
BCMM.
• The Department has also established a set of
Communities of Practice (CoPs) aimed at knowledgesharing among relevant BCMM officials, in an effort to
improve cross-departmental collaboration in order to
solve some of the challenges being experienced. The
following CoPs are now operational, and meet on a
regular basis:
–– C
oP on Statistical Information including Provincial
Statistics South Africa
–– P
olicy Reference Group for development, review,
amendment and alignment, and
–– Research Working Group (RWG)
City of Cape
Town
Culture
The City of Cape Town believes that
validated information and knowledge
are key elements in an effective decisionmaking process. Embedding a KM culture
is the second phase of implementing KM,
after putting in place the Information and
Knowledge Management (IKM) infrastructure.
Custodianship is a component of the city’s KM
policy, meaning that people who are accountable
and responsible for information and knowledge assets
are present in every department. All departments have
a strong KM focus, and each department should appoint
a “KM Officer”. Communities of practice, and coaching and
mentoring are encouraged.
Institutional structure
KM is located in the Strategic Development Information and
GIS department (SDI&GIS), reporting to the Executive Director,
Corporate Services, who is very supportive of KM. The department
comprises of three branches: Information and Knowledge Strategy
(IKS), Corporate GIS (CGIS), Knowledge Resources and Support
(KR&S). The KM audit conducted in 2006 recommended setting
direction for the City of Cape Town KM process rather than
‘proclaiming a strategy’. The initial focus was on data management
and operational systems. A knowledge hub/portal (Development
Information Resource Centre – DIRC) has been set up to integrate
internal and external city development information and knowledge.
The city has also developed a set of processes to guide KM
partnerships. KM practices encouraged include using common data
platforms, optimising the use of existing IKM infrastructure, use of
knowledge hubs, knowledge sharing and communities of Practice.
IT systems
The SDI&GIS department uses mainly SharePoint in its delivery of
the knowledge hub (DIRC), and references GIS systems via the hub.
The city is considering adding to these platforms in order to develop
the strategic element of the knowledge hub by providing users with
some analysis capability. The DIRC makes available “development
reports”, which consist of strategies and plans, and policies and
standards, logically arranged and made available either at city or at
local-area level. The DIRC also makes available “Knowledge Tools”
in the form of a spatial information tool, an expertise locator, a data
directory, a research hub, a statistics, trends and information portal,
and a link to other specialised knowledge resource centres.
The City of Cape Town has also launched the continent’s first
municipal Open Data portal to share data with the citizens and
stakeholders in Local Government to increase transparency of its
processes as well as promote economic opportunities available. The
portal is available in this link: http://web1.capetown.gov.za/web1/
OpenDataPortal/
| 20
Knowledge
Management in SALGA
“Share, Learn, Innovate”
Knowledge and Information Sharing is one of the
six mandates of SALGA as stated in the Five-Year
Strategic Plan (2012–2017). This mandate is
in support of the other five mandates of
SALGA, which are: Lobbying, Advocating
The Knowledge Management programmes of SALGA aim to support the
organisation’s overall mandate of transforming Local Government to fulfil
and Representation; an Employer Body;
its developmental mandate. The programmes are guided by the following
Capacity Building; Support and Advice,
objectives:
and Strategic Profiling. The mandate
aims to position SALGA as the
1 To strengthen the generation, dissemination and application of
main hub of local-government
local-government knowledge and intelligence;
knowledge and intelligence,
and to facilitate peer
2 To strengthen the local-government knowledge-exchange
learning within the sector.
programmes;
3
4
5
T o foster knowledge partnerships and collaborations for broader
knowledge sharing and learning to benefit the sector;
T o support research and benchmarking activities of Local
Government; and
To promote an enabling environment for knowledge management.
The strategic objectives are achieved through the following programmes:
a) Establishment of a Local Government
Knowledge Hub
SALGA is developing a comprehensive, integrated, highly accessible (webbased) Knowledge Hub that will contribute to a key mandate of SALGA,
that of being the hub of Local Government knowledge and intelligence.
The hub will improve access to the Local Government information and
knowledge resources, which will result in increased collaborations and
better decision making by SALGA, the sector and partners; share and
profile South African and international good practices that are relevant
for the sector; and, over time, enable SALGA to build a body of knowledge
(institutional memory) of the local-government sector that will serve as
the reference for the future.
| 21
b) Knowledge Exchange Programme
f) Municipal Innovations
Knowledge exchange is an important part of knowledge
management, because knowledge resides in people. It is therefore
important to strengthen knowledge-exchange programmes as part
SALGA’s knowledge-management strategy. Knowledge exchange
programmes include but not limited to the following:
SALGA is building capability to drive innovations within the
organisation and the sector. This capability will include repositories
of innovations; partnerships and collaborations and recognition of
innovations and excellence in municipalities.
• National Municipal Managers Forum – a platform for municipal
managers to inform improvements in local-government
performance, collaborate in addressing common concerns, and
facilitate inter-municipal peer learning.
• SALGA Information and Knowledge Exchange (SIKE) – an internal
and interdepartmental knowledge-sharing session that enables
SALGA business units to share information and knowledge
on programmes, projects, challenges, and successes in an
environment that is informal and relaxed. It also serves as a
platform for the SALGA Executive to engage with staff.
• Workshops, summits, round tables, dialogues, strategic
conversations and conferences, facilitated internally in
collaboration with SALGA business units, and externally with
stakeholders, including municipalities.
• Supporting learning networks, including but not limited to
the Knowledge Management Reference Group (KMRG), Local
Economic Development (LED) Network, and Local Government
(LG) Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Network.
c) Collection and Dissemination of Local
Government Good Practises
SALGA introduced the initiative for the documentation and sharing
of Local Government good practices. The aim is to improve the
generation, dissemination and application of knowledge and
intelligence for the benefit of SALGA and Local Government.
This initiative showcases successes and excellence, highlights
partnerships and collaborations, facilitates replication and sharing
of resources, and promotes and encourages learning, innovative
thinking and practise in the Local Government sector.
d) Knowledge and Innovation Publication
SALGA produces a publication on Knowledge and Innovation
to inform, share, celebrate and profile municipal innovations,
excellence and partnerships.
e) SALGA Knowledge Champions
As part of institutionalising and promoting knowledge management
and innovation, Knowledge Champions were appointed from all
SALGA business units to serve as the advocates for knowledge
management and innovation within the organisation, and to act
as representatives to link colleagues to external knowledge and
information resources. A SALGA Knowledge Champions Forum was
formed, and the first meeting to clarify roles and responsibilities
was held in February 2015.
For more information about SALGA Knowledge
Management programmes, please contact us on
[email protected]
| 22
Innovation in Local
Government:
from ideas to impact
Public sector innovation is both an imperative
and an opportunity for governments today. It
is about using new approaches, from policy
design to service delivery, to improve the
performance and responsiveness of the public
sector.
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
What is Innovation?
Every day in municipalities across South Africa, municipal
employees take actions to improve citizens’ quality of life by
providing services such as electricity, water, sanitation, roads, etc.
This is important. There are also employees who go beyond the
call of duty to create innovative solutions for challenges faced by
municipalities. Innovation in the context of Local Government can
be defined as creating effective processes, products and services
that improve good governance and service delivery. Organisations
that innovate create more efficient work processes and have better
productivity and performance. For municipalities, this could mean
implementing new ideas, creating dynamic products or improving
existing services.
How do governments bring about
Innovation?
Governments innovate by cultivating and generating ideas
from within, replicating innovations that have been successful
elsewhere, and creating partnerships for innovation with other
organisations.
| 23
Working in municipalities gives employees a chance to derive a
real sense of satisfaction that comes from changing communities’
lives. Bringing innovation is about going the extra mile, which
may mean finding different ways to solve basic problems that
communities face. Employees are a primary source of innovation
in municipalities. Another very important source of ideas for
solutions to social problems is citizens themselves. They are
the best judge of what their problems are. Engagement with
communities is very important to get their ideas and insights.
The innovation process can be broken down into four phases: idea
generation and discovery; idea selection; idea implementation;
and idea diffusion.
Clearly defining the problem and seeking the best possible solution
is the first step. The best ideas deliver meaningful results, meet
the demands of the public, and meet policy goals. An example
is the public bus rapid-transit systems in South Africa’s largest
municipalities to provide affordable, efficient public transportation
for urban commuters. When ideas are presented, we must decide
which are worth pursuing. Government and municipalities, in
particular, face multiple stakeholders with competing interests,
such as civic groups and trade unions. Getting their buy-in to
innovative ideas is essential. Once selected, an idea must be
developed and executed. Success is dependent on a number of
If you always do what you
always did, you will always
get what you always got.
Albert Einstein
factors. One of these is giving employees a stake in the
outcome. Public servants are motivated by recognition of
their achievements. Rewards are important. Another is
getting feedback and input from citizens by engaging with
them during the execution process. Defining an end-goal
against which progress can be determined is also important
in order to judge the success of the innovation.
Where municipalities most often fail in producing
innovation is in implementation, because there is no
established process to ensure that good ideas are turned
into action. The final step in the process is spreading the
innovation through the organisation. This diffusion often
involves breaking down organisational silos. This was one of
the difficulties that had to be overcome in the Municipality
of Ekurhuleni, in implementing a technological solution to
improve service delivery. There are many ways to approach
innovation, and many groups that can support it or provide
further information to assist municipalities.
The best way to predict
the future is to invent it.
Alan Kay
Social Innovation and its relevance for
Local Government
A social innovation is a novel solution to a social problem
that is more effective, efficient, and sustainable. Social
innovation innovates around social problems, a concept
that is relevant for municipalities. Some of the best social
innovation is the result of repurposing successful ideas
from other fields. Some social innovations are the result of
improved collaborations. Creative input from a wide range
of disciplines also results in ideas and ways of doing things.
Public- and private-sector collaborations, universities,
research institutes, and think tanks are also frequent
sources of social innovations.
Examples of more formal social innovation include
microcredit for unbanked people to access capital, and
distance learning to enable pupils far from centres of
learning to get an education. Communal ablution blocks
constructed from containers in the eThekwini Municipality
were an innovative solution to providing sanitation
and waste management to the densely populated
underdeveloped areas. The innovative management of
water supply in Drakenstein Municipality, which saved
the municipality millions of litres in water, is a model that
has been replicated throughout the country. Ekhurhuleni
Metro has instituted social innovation in technology for
service delivery, providing lessons in how municipalities can
combine social innovation with being Smart Cities. These
are just some of the social innovations happening today in
South Africa that are making a difference to communities.
SALGA promotes Innovation in Local
Government
The South African Local Government Association (SALGA)
encourages a mind set of innovation in municipalities.
This means innovating around issues and problems that
communities face and thinking about Local Government in
a different way. SALGA’s role is to collect and disseminate
knowledge on innovation, to encourage learning, and
facilitate the replication of successful practices in different
municipalities. Innovation creates connections among
communities, government, the private sector and civil
society seeking innovative ways to meet social needs.
There are also many success stories, not all well known.
When one municipality comes up with a solution that can
assist others, it is important to capture those learnings
and share the thought process, the methodology and how
it was done. Others can learn from those stories. Awards
systems often provide an excellent avenue for finding out
about them. For more information, see the Awards section
in this publication.
| 24
Innovations Institutions
There are several government and non-government institutions that promote the culture and environment for Innovation in South Africa
and across the globe. These institutions must be supported. These include, among others, the Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI),
the Innovation Hub, the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), the Impulelelo Social Innovations Centre and United Nations (UN) Public Service
Awards.
Thuli Radebe
Chief Executive Officer | Centre for Public Service Innovation
McLean Sibanda
Chief Executive Officer | The Innovation Hub
The Centre for Public Service Innovation
The Innovation Hub
The Centre for Public
Service Innovation (CPSI)
was established by the
Minister for Public Service
and Administration in
2001, mainly to identify
innovative solutions
for service-delivery
challenges and develop an environment more receptive to,
and supportive of, innovators within government.
The Innovation Hub,
Africa’s first accredited
science and technology
park, is a subsidiary of
the Gauteng Growth and
Development Agency, an
agency of the Gauteng
Department of Economic
Development. For more than 10 years, The Innovation
Hub has supported the growth of innovative companies in
smart industries (ICT and advanced manufacturing); green
and sustainable energy sectors, and Bioeconomy (health,
agriculture and industrial).
The CPSI focuses on solutions that improve citizen access to
services and the internal efficiency of public-sector institutions.
A crucial part of discovering innovation is documenting and
sharing best practice. The annual CPSI Public Sector Innovation
Awards Programme celebrates the successes of individuals
and teams, and serves as a source for the replication of
identified service-delivery innovations. The annual Public
Sector Innovation Conference, another important programme
of the CPSI, allows innovators to share best practices and form
cross-sectoral partnerships.
What makes The Innovation Hub different is the way it
collaborates with the private sector and governments
in incubating new businesses. It plays an active role in
encouraging local entrepreneurship in the technology sector,
and works with business to ensure that new technology is
sustainably supported and has market potential.
In partnership with the Innovation Hub and the City of Tshwane,
the CPSI developed a solution to eliminate duplication in the
dispensing of chronic medication in public-health facilities,
which was successfully piloted in four clinics. The CPSI
also works with the Honeydew Police Cluster in the City of
Johannesburg on a solution for the pro-active identification
and reporting of crime in informal settlements, which is
currently being piloted in Diepsloot. These are examples of
innovations where the CPSI is making a difference.
Its development programmes include the Maxum Business
Incubator, mLab, the Climate Innovation Centre, and the
BioPark. In the area of skills development are Coachlab,
Thought Leaders, Future Leaders and FabLab. Their
corporate social investment (CSI) project is the Jumping Kids
Recreation Centre. Among the specific initiatives with various
municipalities are a solution to prevent meter bypassing and
illegal electrical connections, and an e-government initiative
to improve communications between citizens and the cities.
The Kusile School Mobile Science Laboratory is being rolled
out at a number of schools.
For more information, go to www.cpsi.co.za
For more information, go to www. theinnovationhub.com
| 25
Rivka Kfir
Interim Chief Executive Officer | Technology Innovation Agency
The Technology Innovation Agency
The Technology
Innovation Agency
was established
in terms of the
TIA Act, 2008
with the objective
of stimulating
and intensifying
technological
innovation in order to improve economic growth and
the quality of life of all South Africans by developing and
exploiting technological innovations.
TIA’s core business objective is to support the development
and commercialisation of competitive technology-based
services and products. The Agency primarily uses South
Africa’s science and technology base to develop new
industries, create sustainable jobs, and help diversify
the economy. It invests in a variety of technology
sectors: advanced manufacturing, agriculture, industrial
biotechnology, health, mining, energy and ICT.
TIA was formed when seven Department of Science and
Technology entities were merged. Previously tasked with
supporting and promoting innovation in the country, these
entities were the Innovation Fund, Tshumisano Trust, Cape
Biotech Trust, PlantBio Trust, LIFElab, BioPAD Trust, and
the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Strategy (AMTS).
Rhoda Kadalie
Chief Executive Officer | Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre
Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre
Impumelelo was established in 1999 to identify and reward social
innovation directed at improving the quality of life of the poor. It
started as an awards programme, but has expanded to become a
repository of best practices in South Africa. Its main programmes
include master-class training, case-study research, documentation
and publication of best practice, and the dissemination of good
news through media and advocacy programmes. It aims to inspire
people to replicate, upscale and adopt these innovations into local
contexts.
Impumelelo’s prestigious awards recognise government and
civil-society projects in housing, sanitation, HIV/AIDS, skills and
enterprise development, job creation, education and food security,
among other sectors.
Finding out ‘what works’ and then sharing these lessons broadly is
the key to improving the country’s record at all levels of governance
and enhancing civil-society best practice. Impumelelo imagines
a South Africa that scales these projects up to a national level,
transforming the country.
One example of how the TIA works in social innovation
is the organisation’s funding of research by the Centre
for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa
(CAPRISA). The TIA-funded CAPRISA 004 trial of a vaginal
gel for the prevention of HIV infection in women resulted
in effectively reducing female HIV infection. These results
were presented to great excitement in the scientific AIDS
community, at the XVIIIth International AIDS Conference
in 2010.
In 2014, Impumelelo partnered with the Oasis Association for
Intellectual Disability to help create recognition for the group’s
commitment to social innovation. Impumelelo’s recognition of the
innovations in waste management in low-income townships in
eThekwini Metro has brought national attention to the programme.
For more information, see www.tia.org.za
For more information, go to www.impumelelo.org.za
Impumelelo has recognised 457 examples of social innovation
around South Africa and encourages government to build on these
networks of existing best practice to improve service delivery.
| 26
UN Public Service Awards
The United Nations Public Service Awards are the most
prestigious international recognition of excellence in
public service. They reward the creative achievements and
contributions of public-service institutions that lead to a more
effective and responsive public administration in countries
worldwide. Through an annual competition, the UN Public
Service Awards promote the role, professionalism and visibility
of public service.
CPSI and Impumelelo submit their innovation winners to the
UN Public Service Awards. South African Innovation Projects
that have won this award include: Communal Ablution
Blocks for Informal Settlements (2013 – 1st Place winner in
the Improving the Delivery of Public Services Category) by
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality; and the Administrative
Support for the Tuberculosis Programme in City Health (2009
– Finalist Improving the Delivery of Services Category) by the
City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality.
For more information about United Nations Public
Service Awards, go to http://www.unpan.org/DPADM/
UNPSDayAwards/UNPublicServiceAwards/tabid/1522/
language/en-US/Default.aspx
| 27
Imagination is not only
the uniquely human
capacity to envision
that which is not, and
therefore the fount
of all invention and
innovation. In its arguably
most transformative and
revelatory capacity, it is
the power that enables us
to empathize with humans
whose experiences we
have never shared.
J.K. Rowling
Innovation in
Municipalities
The Lehae Housing Project –
successful social innovation
in the City of Johannesburg
Highlighted below are several municipalities that have
accomplished unique achievements:
There are few issues more emotive in South African municipalities than housing. In the
past 20 years, millions of RDP houses have been built. However, the gaps remain. Land and
housing remain foremost in many residents’ minds.
Building good-quality, sustainable housing-development models remains a challenge. In
a response to this challenge, the City of Johannesburg Housing Department created a
sustainable project of mixed-development housing, leveraging 6 500 housing opportunities
into nearly 10 000 new housing opportunities.
How was this done? The first phase consisted of providing traditional low-cost housing.
When the Housing Department moved into Phase 2, the project leaders realised there
was room to create a new approach by developing a mixed-income settlement that would
help subsidise the building of the township. The result of Lehae was to create a new way
of thinking of housing; of mixing targeted income groups in a township by offering fully
subsidised, partially subsidised and bonded houses, which in turn would help take the
budgets much further, and of applying different methodologies and that would speed up
the process.
The mixed-use development allowed for greater yield on the project by changing the type
of housing available, from 6 500 straight RDP, to 3 000 RDP in Phase I and 2 000 RDP in
Phase 2, plus a further 5 000+ housing opportunities in Phase 2, for a total of 10 000
housing opportunities for the full project. This helps break down disparities in income, for
by mixing communities, Johannesburg has the opportunity to become a community where
people of all economic means, races, creeds and colours can mix.
The intended consequence of the mixed-use housing development was to service a
previously unrecognised group of people, those earning between R5 000 and R15 000 per
month. People in this income bracket previously fell through the cracks – their income was
too high for fully subsidised housing, but not high enough to qualify for housing loans. With
Lehae, they had the option of partially subsidised housing or bonded properties, and this
opened up the doors to house ownership in a new way. Addressing this income bracket
was part of the Housing Department’s ‘Breaking New Ground’ strategy, which recognised
that housing was not only about the poorest, but also about those whose income brackets
placed them below the housing threshold.
It is unique social innovations like Lehae that work towards breaking down old barriers,
finding ways to stretch limited municipal budgets, and helping people to find sustainable
community-housing solutions.
| 28
Sanitation and waste
management: communal
ablution blocks for informal
settlements in eThekwini
Municipality
In Durban, eThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) is the authority responsible for providing
water and sanitation to the 3.5 million residents of the city. One of the main challenges
faced by EWS is the provision of services to dense informal settlements, which have formed
as people have migrated to the city seeking job opportunities. There are currently an
estimated 350 informal settlements spread throughout the city, housing in the region of
one million people.
Implemented in 2009, the community ablution blocks (CABs) are a social innovation
designed to address the sanitation needs of these communities. CABs are shared water
and sanitation facilities containing male and female toilets and urinals, showers, basins for
washing hands, and laundry facilities. Each CAB serves 1 000 households, and an estimated
200 000 residents of informal settlements in Durban now use them.
A major innovation of the sanitation project is the use of modified shipping containers
as CABs. Shipping containers can be rapidly customised and since they are prefabricated,
building and construction costs are reduced. They can be easily installed on land which is
often steep and where space is limited. Also, shipping containers are not easily vandalised,
and require little maintenance. An additional innovation emerging from the use of shipping
containers is that they can easily be moved as new housing developments emerge.
One of the key innovations in the continuing success of the project was appointing an
inhabitant in each area where a CAB is located as a paid caretaker. The caretaker is required
to keep all the ablution areas clean and supplied with toilet paper. The caretaker is also
responsible for immediately reporting any malfunctioning equipment and identifying the
maintenance work required.
Water management in
Drakenstein Municipality
The Drakenstein Municipality in Paarl, Western Cape, faced high growth in water demand
despite aging and poorly regulated water infrastructure. Also, as much as 33% of water was
metered incorrectly or not metered at all, which resulted in significant financial losses. Very
high pressure in the pipes frequently caused burst pipes and water loss.
The Department of Water Services in the Drakenstein Municipality proposed the Water
Demand Management Success programme, which took a comprehensive approach to
addressing water management issues. The programme addressed issues of water demand
and system maintenance. A new block tariff system changed the water consumption
patterns of heavy users. A major effort was made to meter all connections. The existing
water infrastructure was upgraded, and the network fitted with pressure-reducing
equipment. Public awareness campaigns were conducted to promote water conservation.
As a result of these efforts, between 2001 and 2013, a total of 142 million litres of water,
worth about R710 million, was conserved, and non-revenue water consumption decreased
from 33% to 11%. Prior to the implementation of the programme, growth in demand for
water increased by 2.5% to 3.5% per year. In particular, it was found that the pressuremanagement initiative was very successful, contributing as much as 80% of the total water
savings of the programme.
The success of this initiative has inspired other municipalities to replicate the methods
employed by Drakenstein municipality with such success. Similar initiatives have been
implemented in almost every major South African municipality.
| 29
Rea Vaya BRT Project, City of
Johannesburg
The Rea Vaya BRT project is a truly pioneering large scale, municipally run, mass transit
system in Africa. It is innovative because of the unique way in which it has brought
together the material and human means needed to deliver the project. It has overcome
strong opposition from the informal mini-bus and taxi operators by bringing them into the
system. The Corridors of Freedom initiative strongly linked to the project is also one of its
kind, as it creates priority lanes for the BRT system bordered with dense and green real
estate development. The implementation of a brand new transportation system results
in the intensive creation of employment in the city. Phase 1 of Rea Vaya targets primarily
the reconversion of former taxi drivers & operations through formation and investment
opportunities. A total of 51 000 jobs will be created by the beginning of phase 1C in 2016;
75% of these jobs are dedicated to the reconversion of actors from the old transportation
system (mostly taxi drivers previously on costly leases) and the 25% remaining will be
mostly allocated to young people with a high level diploma.
Secondly, as the outskirts of Johannesburg will be intensively connected to the center, it
will help inhabitants of neighbouring deprived areas in Gauteng benefit from the city’s
steady economic growth (4.2% on average between 2000 and 2010). Lastly, the drastic
emission reduction forecast will deal with the volumes and also different types of emissions,
including Particulate Matter (PM) emissions which are one of the most noxious for the
respiratory system, and will be reduced by the use of Euro IV and Euro V buses. The same
line of reasoning goes with congestion reduction, which is a collateral – but crucial – effect
of Rea Vaya.
Technology for service
delivery in Ekhurhuleni Metro
Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) provides public services to over 3 million
South African citizens in one of the most densely populated areas, Gauteng. The municipality,
covering the area from Germiston in the west, to Springs and Nigel in the east, faced a
number of serious challenges in delivering services. Its 20 customer-care areas and service
departments’ business processes and technologies were not standardised, integrated or
automated. This caused duplication of work and cumbersome service-delivery processes.
Yet, the municipality has a vision to be a smart, creative and developmental city. It therefore
approached IT company Software AG for help in implementing new software for businessprocess management and customer service. The systems put in place have boosted
productivity, enabled more efficient communication and integration among departments,
and improved on the municipality’s ability to use data effectively and extend the insight
gained to drive action. The development of process-technology solutions in Ekurhuleni has
elevated the municipality to a centre of digital-process excellence.
Through this partnership, service delivery was optimised in six different departments:
energy; water and sanitation; corporate and legal; city development; infrastructure
services; and health and social services. The real social innovation is that the new processes
have had a major impact on the lives of the most vulnerable in the city. Previously, EMM’s
Indigent Management process spanned over three months before qualifying applicants
were approved. Today, this process is completed within 21 days.
Making a difference in people’s lives is what social innovation, and Innovation
itself, is about. For each day that a municipality provides service delivery to
its citizens, the country comes one step closer to success in government. The
more that municipalities find new solutions, and identify new processes,
partners, and ways to serve their citizens better, the greater the contribution
by government to providing improved quality of life.
| 30
The Professionalisation
of the Local Government
Sector
Since the 1994 elections, the South African government has been on a
transformational journey to create a new democracy. Old ways of doing
business and bureaucratic institutions were reformulated. Twenty years
later, government is reviewing its policies, processes and legislation.
What worked after the first election and what is needed today are
different. This means that the standards set, or not set, two decades ago
have an impact on the government’s capacity and capability to provide
local service delivery today.
Professionalisation of the public service, including the Local
Government sector, is one of the priorities of government. This
priority was established through the Local Government Turnaround
Strategy (LGTAS) in 2009 as one of five key strategic objectives
to improve performance and professionalism in municipalities.
Following the 2010 Human Resource Management (HRM)
Conference, SALGA, with the cooperation of The Department of
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), resolved to
embark on active measures to contribute to the professionalisation
of the sector.
Defining a Profession, Professionalisation &
Professionalism
The Professionalisation Framework for Local Government (April
2013) states that while there is no conclusive definition of a
‘profession’, there is general agreement that a profession is viewed
as a vocation or full-time career that exhibits most or all of the
following characteristics:
• a common body of specialised knowledge and expertise, based on
the application of systematic theoretical principles, and acquired
by members of the profession through prolonged education and
training at the highest levels, as well as on-going professional
development;
• a system for certifying that individuals possess such knowledge
and expertise before being licensed or otherwise allowed to
practice;
• a closed community with a strong sense of collegial responsibility
and corporate solidarity (esprit de corps), characterised by shared
norms and values;
• adherence to high ethical standards and codes of behaviour,
together with provisions for the monitoring and enforcement of
compliance by individual members;
• a commitment to a social ideal that prioritises service to the
welfare, health and safety of citizens, communities and society as
a whole over the personal interests of practitioners;
• a high level of societal status, esteem and legitimacy, arising from
the higher social function of the work of the profession;
• the existence of a professional body or organisation able to certify
| 31
and ensure the competence of practitioners and encourage and enforce ethical standards of behaviour; and
• a broad measure of discretionary autonomy allowed to members of the profession over the management of
their affairs, the development of new knowledge and the setting of standards of performance and behaviour.
Professionalisation at the general level can be defined as the process by which a particular occupation
transforms itself into a fully-fledged profession, exhibiting the characteristics outlined above.
Professionalism refers to the competence, work practices, ethos, behaviour and attitudes typically
displayed by members of such a profession.
What is Professionalisation of Local Government?
The professionalisation of Local Government is designed to help municipalities get the basics of
service delivery right, using the human resources already at their disposal.
The process of professionalisation includes
checking each role or position in Local
Government from the perspective of
the employee’s competencies, work
practices, ethos, behaviour and
attitudes expected in a particular
occupation.
The professionalisation of Local Government seeks:
• To address the lack of competencies in municipal
structures, which affects the ability to account for public
resources administered on behalf of communities.
• To fill vacant key positions, particularly at senior
management level, with individuals who meet
the criteria in respect of minimum competence
requirements.
• To ensure that key officials have the minimum
competencies and skills. Capacity-building
and the professionalisation of Local
Government are part of an on-going
process.
• To reduce the dependency on
consultants and to empower
government employees.
| 32
Why the need to professionalise
Local Government?
CoGTA conducted an assessment of South African
municipalities which found various developmental
challenges facing Local Government. In particular,
areas relating to service-delivery backlog, fraud and
corruption, lack of appropriately qualified personnel
in critical positions, poor communication with
communities, and violent service-delivery protests
were problematic. The outcomes of the report
resulted in the formation and implementation of the
Local Government Turnaround Strategy.
Among its recommendations was that
Local Governments should appoint
skilled and capable professionals into
management positions.
These professionals should be selected on the basis
of minimum competency requirements and relevant
qualifications. Senior positions should be filled by
individuals who have some form of Local Government
and management experience, practical skills, and the
capability and desire to serve others.
In addition, professionals must be subjected to a
continuous upgrading of their skills and knowledge in
order to keep up with local and international trends.
The purpose of the strategy is to encourage Local
Government to service the public in a professional
manner. Ultimately, this strengthens the credibility
of Local Government and its partnerships with
| 33
communities and civil society. The intended result
is to create a responsive and accountable Local
Government.
Ethics in Local Government, as in other parts of the
public sector, are particularly important. Public office
involves public trust, which can only be maintained
if public officials acknowledge the primacy of the
public interest and are able through their actions
to promote public confidence in the integrity of
municipal services. In promoting improved standards
of professional behaviour and conduct in Local
Government, a particular emphasis must be placed
on the observance by both elected and appointed
officials of professional ethical principles and values.
These principles are of a higher moral standard than
other norms and standards because they deal with
normative issues of what is commonly accepted as
‘right’ or ‘wrong,’ rather than what is merely desirable.
Professionalisation Framework for
Local Government
In response to the Turnaround Strategy objectives
for Local Government, the Professionalisation
Framework was developed by CoGTA and SALGA. The
strategic focus of Professionalisation is to assist Local
Government in meeting its developmental mandate.
It operates in a complex and challenging task
environment. This involves, among other things, the
efficient handling of substantial budgets, meeting a
range of complex legislative requirements, interacting
effectively with other spheres of government,
addressing the demanding and sometimes conflicting
expectations of the communities, and engaging in
highly technical forms of decision-making, planning
and implementation.
a) P
illars of Professionalisation adopted for Local
Government
Local Government Service Orientation
This relates to the conformance by all elected and
appointed officials to high standards of professional
ethics, conduct and behaviour appropriate to serving
the public; this will be achieved through reinforcement
of programmes linked to Batho Pele and the Codes
of Conduct in the Municipal Systems Act and the
introduction of a management of conflict of interest in by
enabling financial disclosures and managing the risks of
fraud and corruption in the sector.
Leadership and Managerial Professionalism
This will entail competence in terms of knowledge and
skills and a high level of analytical ability in a wide array
of areas or disciplines such as governance, strategic
capability, leadership, policy analysis and development,
programme and project management, human resource
and financial management, change and risk management,
knowledge management, service delivery innovation,
interpersonal relations, mediation, conflict management,
diversity management and the display of exemplary ethical
conduct. Building a pipeline of leaders and managers at all
levels ensures professionalism will be developed through
national development programmes. This works together
with the establishment of a purpose-built SALGA Centre
for Leadership and Governance.
Technical Professionalism
Technical Professionalism refers to the acquisition
or application of specialised or technical high-level
competence of knowledge and skills in terms of the
norms and standards required for a relevant occupation
or profession at various levels within Local Government
as context. This will be facilitated through various
recognised statutory and non-statutory professional
bodies in consultation with relevant mandated sector
departments. This involves ministerial criteria to be
adhered to, and in the case of statutory bodies, may have
other requirements. Recognised professional bodies will
certify levels of competence, knowledge and skills. This
will also ensure continuous professional development,
which enables career development and progression, as
well as providing annual reports to the Minister of CoGTA.
Institutional Professionalism
Institutional Professionalism promotes administrative
practices to ensure an effective, efficient, accountable
and responsive Local Government system to optimise
service delivery. This will be facilitated through the
introduction of proper policies, practices, processes,
systems and structures to institutionalise and embed
professionalisation in Local Government. Much like the
other related pillars of professionalisation, norms and
standards will underpin the implementation approach at
both sectoral and local levels.
b) R
ole of Professional Bodies in the Professionalisation
of Local Government
A professional body is a group of people in a learned
occupation who are entrusted with maintaining control
or oversight of the legitimate practice of the occupation.
Professional bodies and associations can be either
statutory or non-statutory. These bodies will play a
crucial role in the professionalisation of the sector. The
Framework states the roles and responsibilities of the
professional bodies as follows:
• promote and ensure continuous
development and life-long learning;
professional
• conduct ongoing research and disseminate good
practice among members;
• develop a collective and collegial ethos;
• set and enforce ethical work practices and behaviour;
• set relevant competence criteria for admission into
the profession and accreditation of educational
programmes;
• develop a clear set of norms and standards for the
relevant occupational category in the Local Government
sector;
• establish minimum competency levels based on
national competence frameworks and job profiles;
• develop RPL procedures, through which professional
bodies can assist employees in obtaining accredited
qualifications after the RPL process is completed; and
• ensure that the supply and demand of technical and
professional competence in key sectors are met.
Role of Institutions of learning
Institutions of learning also have a role to play in
professionalising the sector.
SALGA welcomes engagement with
educational institutions on which
projects or programmes are most
suitable for Local Government staff
members.
Educational institutions should engage Local Government
through a joint determination process to establish the
courses and curriculum outcomes that will best suit
professionals in Local Government.
| 34
The Local Government Sector Education and Training
Authority (LGSETA) is one stakeholder in this process
responsible for research into critical and scarce skills in Local
Government. LGSETA should continuously be consulted
during the professionalisation process of municipalities.
The LGSETA’s involvement in the development of skills in
the sector, as well as in the disbursement of the skills fund
in the various municipalities, is instrumental to the success
of learning programmes.
Conducting sector skills planning is also
important to understand what skills are
required in Local Government.
What communities want is an ethical government.
Professionalisation can succeed in Local Government if
officials remember that their job is to serve the public’s
interests. Government officials should be inspired to work
with integrity and honesty in their positions. They must act
fairly and impartially in the performance of their duties,
and not give preferential treatment to or discriminate
against any group of people or individual. In carrying
out Local Government business, including making public
appointments, awarding contracts or recommending
individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public
office must make their choices solely on the basis of merit,
not favour.
SALGA programmes contribute to the
Professionalisation of the sector
Professionalisation of the sector should not be limited
to professional bodies and institutes of learning alone.
Involving the partners of Local Government will also help
achieve government’s goals. These include the community
at large, international donors which support capacitybuilding in the Local Government sector, and other spheres
of government with cross-cutting responsibilities.
SALGA is implementing a number of programmes aimed
at contributing to Local Government, such as the Human
Resource Information System. This system is a portal that
provides easy access to information. It has two elements,
a transactional element and a data-management element.
Stakeholders can log in and access generic documents and
toolkits, and share information.
How Batho Pele leads to good
governance and improved service
delivery
SALGA also uses the portal to monitor trends on issues
relating to human capital matters. Additional programmes
include the establishment of the SALGA Centre for
Leadership and Governance, the implementation of
elements of the Human Resource Management Strategy,
and the Performance Management Support Programmes
and Job Evaluation.
For good governance in Local Government all the relevant
stakeholders must be governed by and adhere to Batho
Pele principles. Batho Pele principles speak to issues of
transparency, accountability, respecting citizens, putting
the public first, and providing exceptional customer
service. When Local Government consistently begins to
show these fundamental values, the relationship with the
community is strengthened.
Professionalisation can turn municipalities around and
establish Local Government as an employer of choice,
as envisioned by the National Development Plan.
Professionalisation is an important cornerstone to serve as
a vital link between academics and local practise, and for
ensuring service excellence for the future.
Leadership is never an avenue to be selfserving, but a platform to render great
service to people.
Ifeanyi Enoch Onuoha
| 35
SALGA
Thinking is one of the most important
weapons in dealing with problems.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
Municipal
Barometer
Find out how the Municipal Barometer
helps with municipal decision-making
and planning. See how your municipality
compares with demographic trends, basic
services and other factors within South
African municipalities. Using this data will
help municipalities make reliable, datadriven decisions, save costs and
improve service delivery.
What is the Municipal Barometer?
The Municipal Barometer is a web-based SALGA portal set up to provide
valuable, timely data that allows municipalities to compare results and
more effectively make decisions for their municipalities.
Why a Municipal Barometer?
The need for local-level data in South Africa has increased tremendously in the past
20 years. Now, as municipalities strive for ever-more efficient and effective delivery,
access to data is more important than ever.
In response, SALGA introduced a new programme that aims directly at fulfilling that need.
It improves cost-effectiveness and saves time, while empowering municipal officials with
rich data that can be used for assessing municipal performance, improving decision making,
enhancing planning, enabling programme monitoring and evaluation, promoting benchmarking
and capacitating oversight.
Increasing demand for municipal data
Municipal officials are familiar with the usual drivers of increasing demand for data. They need to understand
more fully and address more effectively the imbalances inherited from the pre-democracy era. They need to
evaluate the effectiveness of various government policies and programmes properly in addressing these imbalances
at the local level. And they need to track the general life circumstances of the South African population to acquire a
broader and deeper understanding of the people and country they serve.
However, more often than not, key agencies express growing concerns regarding a lack of easy access to readily available
and up-to-date local-level data. Planners at regional and local levels, have complained that they lack adequate data to
support effective programme planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
While various government departments and private research/data organisations collect some of the required data, there has
been no concerted effort to bring them together in one portal where they are made readily available and easily accessible. This
has resulted in fragmented and often ad hoc data-collection processes, which undermine the otherwise positive efforts of dedicated
researchers and collators.
Municipal Barometer Programme
SALGA, as a representative voice of municipalities, first responded to these challenges by establishing a Local Data Programme that brought
together key data agencies such as Stats-SA, Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB), Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), South African
Cities Network (SACN) and Centre for Municipal Research and Advice (CMRA) to make local-level data easily accessible to municipalities. The
initiative led to the establishment of a web-based portal known as the Municipal Barometer (MB), which houses and provides easy access to
municipal data that is disaggregated to a ward level.
| 37
The Municipal Barometer portal is an
exciting new programme launched
to help municipalities to make
comparative, data-driven decisions.
Visit www.municipalbarometer.co.za
for more information.
The Municipal Barometer was launched in 2013.
The launch was followed by provincial roadshows
and district workshops which were convened and
conducted mainly in Mpumalanga province in 2014.
Left: Municipal Barometer Workshop in Gert Sibande District
Municipality, November 2014
Municipal Barometer
Selection Tool
Municipalities are expected to make informed and reliable decisions in order to
deliver on their mandates. However, efficient and effective decision making has been
hindered by the difficulty of accessing readily available and reliable local level data.
The Municipal Barometer is thus a web-based portal established to collect, re-package
and disseminate local level data for municipalities. It was developed to provide easy
access to municipal level data for both specialist and non-specialist audiences. Endusers will be able to benchmark, correlate, analyse and present quality graphics
and tables using a few clicks. Data can either be presented on screen or exported
to popular file formats such as Word documents and Excel spread sheets. The nine
buttons below represent outcome indicators on which the Municipal Barometer is
intended to provide disaggregated information.
Please select the local, district or metropolitan municipality of
your preference from the drop down list. The reports in the
Municipal Barometer are shown for the area of preference.
Local Municipality
!Khels
Labour absorption rate (%)
Go to the Municipal Barometer
Demographic Trends
(report)
Basic Services
Social Development
(report)
Economy Growth and
development (report)
Environment
Municipal Finances
Good Governance
and Accountability
Coherent Municipal
Planning
Municipal Capacity
(Capacity Building,
HR, Labour Relations)
<32.0
32.0<36.0
!Khels: 40.4
36.0<40.0
40.0<44.0
Province
>=44.0
Figure 1: Screenshot of the Municipal Barometer Homepage
| 38
Predefined Municipal Reports
Less than five pages long, the municipal reports available on the MB
list important and easy-to-understand facts to do with the key issues
for a specific municipality. Officials, councillors, citizens and planners
can use these fact sheets to help them to understand these issues.
They can be handed out at community events and public meetings.
District Municipal Profiles
District Municipal Profiles provide analyses of the socio-economic
environment of each district along with its respective local
municipalities. The District Municipal Profile Report includes an
analysis of the demographic structure, economic performance,
income levels, labour market and service delivery. In addition, policy
issues are addressed together with their implications on service
delivery, the economy, the environment and other issues challenging
the district. The reports are therefore aimed at contributing to
informed planning and decision-making across various stakeholders.
Longitudinal/Time-series Data
The indicator areas enable municipalities to access their
performance in various service delivery, socio-economic and
financial areas against a baseline year of 1996. Because end-users
can determine trends and patterns, they can improve their decision
making, planning and programming. The data can be downloaded
from the MB in various formats (Word and Excel) and used further
to demonstrate trends as represented in the following bar chart. In
addition, data can be aggregated from ward level to national level.
This makes it possible to see what is going on in indicator areas at
ward, municipal, district, provincial and national levels.
Benchmarking Tab
The benchmarking tab allows municipalities to compare each
others’ business processes and performance metrics, and identify
best practices. Municipalities can learn from each other.
Labour Market
90000
80000
Dependency ratios
-6%
-11%
70000
60000
-13%
-15%
-11%
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
South Africa
Mpumalanga
Ehlanzeni
Mbombela
2001
2007
Mbombela
Ward 1
2011
Figure 2: Demographic sustainability comparison
| 39
2001
2007
Makhado
2011
2001
2007
Thulamela
2011
Employed
59583
75639
78768
55566
81926
75592
Unemployed
59395
53385
45702
82014
62813
58915
Figure 3: Comparative labour market statistics
Municipal Financial Analysis
Financial data enables municipalities to see if they are complying with National Treasury regulations as depicted by the Norms and Standards
table below. The National Treasury for instance stipulates a creditors payment period of 30 days, and Figure 4 gives an indication of the time it
takes for the Local Municipalities in Ehlanzeni to settle their invoices with suppliers. Reliable, rapid access to such data enables SALGA and other
stakeholders to identify how municipalities have been managing their finances over time and assist them in developing appropriate responses.
National Treasury Norms and Standards
Assessment Criteria
Norm
Description
Grants and Subsidies to Total Revenue
–
Level of Reliance on Government Grants
Personnel Cost to Total Expenditure
25-40%
Proportion of budget dedicated to payroll
Interest Paid to Total Expenditure
6-8%
Cost of debt servicing
Repairs and Maintenance to Total Expenditure
8%
Cost of maintaining capital infrastructure
Debtors Collection Period
30 days
Period taken to collect revenue
Acid Test Ratio
1:1
Liquidity
Total Liabilities to Total Assets
–
Gearing ratio
Creditors Payment Period
30 days
Period taken to process invoices.
Auditors Opinion
Unqualified/ Qualified Financial procedure compliance
Table 1: National Treasury Norms & Standards
Creditor Days
Ehlanzeni Local Municipalities: Creditors Payment Period 2005-2013
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
2005
Bushbuckridge LM
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
0
1328
726
2607
2833
3544
3763
13
Mbombela LM
41
67
270
44
120
223
176
110
7
Nkomazi LM
54
49
0
341
121
304
215
271
10
Thaba Chweu LM
10
81
39
22
43
198
168
378
9
Umjindi LM
118
143
117
728
0
1
27
63
9
Year
Figure 4: Ehlanzeni Local Municipalities: Creditors Payment Period 2005-2013
Municipalities and stakeholders are encouraged to explore the Municipal Barometer and discover its versatile uses. Its capacity to add value to,
and enhance, decision-making and planning can be expected to make a marked difference to effective Local Government. What is more, the MB
may been seen as a cost-saving measure in many municipalities as current publicly available data is free of service charges and easily accessible.
For further information, go to http://www.municipalbarometer.co.za/ or for queries or training and presentations, contact [email protected].
| 40
Awards and
Recognition
Awarded to
Municipalities
Awards reward success, but they also recognise many other qualities: ability,
commitment, struggle, effort and, above all, excellence. In the field of government,
awards are often the largest acknowledgement that many in public service will
receive. Awards are also important for employees – working for an organisation
that has won many awards is a source of pride and motivation.
This database, developed by SALGA, documents and showcases national, African and international
awards, given to South African municipalities over the years, that recognise municipal
innovation, excellence and high standards. We encourage municipalities to explore these
awards, and capture good practices and lessons. The database will be continually updated
and shared across the sector.
| 41
| 42
PART ONE:
SOUTH AFRICAN
AWARDS
1
Audit Outcomes of LG (MFMA 2012 – 2013)
The Auditor-General of the Republic of South Africa, as mandated by legislation, audits all public institutions, including municipalities
and municipal entities. Below are the audit outcomes for the year ended 30 June 2013 (2012–2013 financial year). These municipalities
and municipal entities received financially unqualified audits with no material findings, commonly referred to as a ‘clean audit’. In this
financial year, 30 municipalities and entities belonged in this category, out of 319 audited institutions, including 278 municipalities
(local, district and metropolitan) as well as 41 municipal entities. This constitutes an overall 9% improvement as compared to the 5%
obtained in 2012. Among the year’s 30 ‘clean audits’, 13 had sustained this achievement from 2011–-12.
Unqualified Financial Statements with No Material Findings on the Quality of the Annual Performance Report or Non-Compliance
with Legislation
| 43
Province
Municipality
Municipal Entity
Eastern Cape
None
Mandela Bay Development Agency
Free State
None
None
Gauteng
Sedibeng District
Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market
Johannesburg Social Housing Company
KwaZulu-Natal
Uthungulu District
Uthungulu District
Msinga Local
Ntambanana Local
Okhahlamba Local
Ubuhlebezwe Local
uMhlathuze Local
uMzimkhulu Local
Durban Marine Theme Park (Pty) Ltd
Safe City Pietermaritzburg
uThungulu House Development Trust
uThungulu Financing Partnership
Limpopo
None
None
Mpumalanga
Ehlanzeni District
Steve Tshwete Local
---
Northern Cape
ZF Mgcawu District
---
North West
None
None
Western Cape
City of Cape Town Metropolitan
West Coast District
Breede Valley Local
George Local
Knysna Local
Langeberg Local
Mossel Bay Local
Overstrand Local
Swartland Local
Theewaterskloof Local
Witzenberg Local
Cape Town International Convention Centre
2
Blue Drop (Drinking Water)
The Department of Water Affairs implemented the Blue and Green Drop Certification Programme in September 2008 to introduce
incentive-based regulation of drinking and waste water. Blue and Green Drop Certification is an excellence award for sustainable
drinking- and waste-water quality management to encourage municipalities to improve their water quality and sanitation services
to allow for safe drinking water and adequate sanitation services.
Source: https://www.dwa.gov.za/dir_ws/DWQR/default.asp
2011 National Top 10 Blue Drop Municipalities (2012 Report)
3
Top 10 Municipalities
Province
Percentages
Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality
Gauteng
98.95%
City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
Gauteng
98.92%
Mogale City Local Municipality
Gauteng
98.79%
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality
KwaZulu-Natal
98.77%
Tlokwe Local Municipality
North West
98.45%
City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality
Western Cape
98.14%
Eden District Municipality
Western Cape
98.12%
George Local Municipality
Western Cape
98.12%
Bitou Local Municipality
Western Cape
97.74%
Witzenberg Local Municipality
Western Cape
97.63%
Green Drop Status (Waste Water)
Source: https://www.dwa.gov.za/dir_ws/GDS/Default.aspx
2011 National Top 10 Green Drop Municipalities (2012 Report)
Top 10 Municipalities
Works Name
Province
Percentages
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality
Phoenix
KwaZulu-Natal
99.4%
iLembe District Municipality
Shakaskraal
KwaZulu-Natal
98.5%
iLembe District Municipality
Frasers
KwaZulu-Natal
97.6%
Tlokwe City Council
Tlokwe
North West
97.0%
Tlokwe City Council
Tlokwe
North West
97.0%
City of Cape Town Metropolitan
Municipality
Macassar (Strand)
Western Cape
96.8%
Bitou
Plettenberg Bay – Gansevallei
Western Cape
96.5%
City of Cape Town Metropolitan
Municipality
Wildevoelvlei
Western Cape
96.3%
Bitou
Kurland
Western Cape
96.1%
eThekwini Municipality Metropolitan
Central
KwaZulu-Natal
96.0%
| 44
4
Bontle ke Botho Clean and Green Awards
South Africa hosted the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg from 26 August to 3 September 2002.
Deliberations at the WSSD resulted in an action-oriented implementation plan called the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation
(JPOI). Immediately after the WSSD, the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) adopted the Clean and Green campaign as a strategy
to implement the JPOI. Now called the Bontle ke Botho Clean and Green Campaign, it has adopted “sustainable living and poverty
alleviation” as its overarching theme, supported by a number of cluster themes.
Source: http://www.gdard.gpg.gov.za/BKB/Pages/About-BKB.aspx
5
Year
Municipality
Award Description
2014
Ekuhuruleni Metro Municipality
Cleanest Municipality in Gauteng
2013
City of Tshwane
Cleanest Municipality in Gauteng
2012
Sedibeng District Municipality
Cleanest Municipality in Gauteng
2011
Sedibeng District Municipality
Cleanest Municipality in Gauteng
2010
Emfuleni Municipality
Cleanest Municipality in Gauteng
2009
City of Johannesburg Metro Municipality
Greenest Municipality
2005
City of Johannesburg Metro Municipality
Cleanest Metropole in Gauteng
2003
Pikitup (entity of City of Johannesburg Metro Municipality)
Cleanest Metropole in Gauteng
Greenest Municipality Competition (GMC)
The Cleanest Town Competition (CTC) was initiated in 2001 with a primary focus on implementing the National Waste Management
Strategy with the key elements of reducing, recycling and reusing waste materials. The Greenest Municipality Competition is open
to all municipalities and consists of six core elements, namely: Waste Management; Energy Efficiency and Conservation; Water
Management; Landscaping, Tree Planting and Beautification; Public Participation and Community Empowerment; and Leadership
and Institutional Arrangements.
Source: https://www.environment.gov.za/projectsprogrammes/gmc
Year
Category
Municipality
Province
2014
Metropolitan Municipality Overall Winner
City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
Gauteng
First Runner-up
Nelson Mandela Bay
Metropolitan Municipality
Eastern Cape
Second Runner-up
Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality
Eastern Cape
Overall Winner
Mogalakwena Local Municipality
Limpopo
First Runner-up
Umhlathuze Local Municipality
KwaZulu-Natal
Second Runner-up
Nkomazi Local Municipality
KwaZulu-Natal
Metropolitan Municipality Overall Winner
Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality
Gauteng
First Runner-up
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality
KwaZulu-Natal
Second Runner-up
City of Cape Town
Western Cape
Overall Winner
Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality
Limpopo
First Runner-up
Newcastle Local Municipality
KwaZulu-Natal
Second Runner-up
Drakenstein Local Municipality
Western Cape
Local Municipalities
2013
Local Municipalities
| 45
6
Centre for Public Service and Innovation (CPSI)
The Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) was established in 2001 by the Minister for Public Service and Administration with a
mandate to inculcate a culture of innovation in the public sector. CPSI is a key driver of innovation that seeks to unearth, promote
and showcase innovative solutions to improve service delivery. The awards programme celebrates successes of individuals and
teams and serves as a source for the replication of identified service-delivery innovations.
Year
Municipality / Entity Project
Project Description
2013
City of Johannesburg
Metropolitan
Municipality
The Joburg Landfill Gas to Energy project uses innovative
technologies which enable the City to develop green projects
from what is generally considered waste. The project allows for
the management of landfill gases, the development of a Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM) to comply with the Kyoto Protocol
requirements, and additional revenue streams for the City, as well as
meeting the City’s long-term strategic goal of shifting to a low-carbon
economy.
Landfill Gas to Energy
project from the City of
Johannesburg
1st Runner-up in the
Innovative Partnership in
Service Delivery category
2012
2011
City of Johannesburg
Metropolitan
Municipality
Rats Cages project
City of Johannesburg
Metropolitan
Municipality
Rea Vaya BRT project
Mhlathuze Local
Municipality
Upgrade of the Nsezi
Treatment Plant project
City of Johannesburg
Metropolitan
Municipality
Men’s Clinic
Chris Hani District
Municipality (CHDM)
Rural Sustainable Villages
project
3rd Runner-up in the
Innovative Partnership in
Service Delivery category
The innovation in the Rats Cages project involves the use of cages to
trap and hold rats prior to transporting them to the gas station where
they will be eliminated. The innovative designs used in Alexandra
Township are different from other rat or bird cages.
The Rea Vaya BRT project is a pioneering, large-scale, municipal-run,
mass-transit system. The implementation of a brand new public
transportation system helps create employment in the city, bringing
1st Runner-up in the
Innovative Service Delivery impacted taxi drivers to formal employment and connecting outlying
suburbs with the city’s main economic growth centres. The new
Institutions category
system is waste-efficient and assist in reducing air pollution.
This initiative developed a mechanical and electrical installation
specification for procurement of Mhlathuze water, and improves
the clarity of municipal water. Collaborative effort and meticulous
2nd Runner-up in the
planning of the design and construction of the Raw Water Pump
Innovative Service Delivery station within a restricted space and time-frame makes the project
Institutions category
a significant success story. The new clari-flocculator was modified
quickly and economically using four submersible pumps and other
technical innovations that greatly improved the efficiency of the
clarifier, which assists in water treatment.
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are managed according to
national and local guidelines. The establishment of a facility in which
3rd Runner-up in the
STI surveillance can be monitored through laboratory testing at the
Innovative Service Delivery STI Research Centre has increased the number of people tested.
Institutions category
Winner – Innovative
Partnerships Category
and Overall Winner –
Innovator of the Year
This innovation involved the establishment, equipping and support
of organic food gardens at selected CHDM schools. The project
encourages self-sufficiency and is linked to the school curriculum and
local job creation, with the result being that the Rural Sustainable
Villages have been replicated under the CPSI over the past few years.
| 46
Centre for Public Service and Innovation (CPSI)
Year
Municipality / Entity Project
Project Description
2011
City of Johannesburg Fresh Produce Online
Metropolitan
Shopping System
Municipality
1st Runner-up in the
Innovative Use of ICTs for
Effective Service Delivery
category
This was the first system of its kind in the country to offer buyers on
the other side of the world an opportunity to place an order for fresh
produce online. Customers can view prices with grading and sizes, and
choose their preferred shipping methods virtually. Buyers therefore
save on costs by not having to visit the market.
Ehlanzeni District
Municipality
7
Organisational
Using key documents generated through the Performance
Performance Management Management system, this innovation improved performance and
System
service delivery, and created effective teamwork and group cohesion,
by employing a holistic approach in the planning of strategy and
2nd Runner-up in the
performance indicators and the improvement in risk management.
Innovative Enhancements
of Internal Systems of
Government category
City of Johannesburg Translation Services for
Metropolitan
Migrants
Municipality
3rd Runner-up in the
Innovative Service Delivery
Institutions category
The innovation involved the provision of translation services to migrant
communities in selected health-care facilities in the City of Johannesburg.
By 2011, the programme had assisted 3 480 beneficiaries and assisted
migrant nurses with employment opportunities through translation
services. They are trained in basic HIV and AIDS and counselling, and
also briefed on service-delivery issues and the Code of Conduct of the
City of Johannesburg.
Drakenstein
Municipality
The Drakenstein Municipality’s Tourism Unit was used as a pilot site to
implement the ISO 9001:2008 Standard for Local Government. Given
the nature of the area (predominantly agricultural with a major focus
on the wine industry) it made logical sense that the TQM project be
implemented in this unit. The ISO certificate of compliance by the
SABS confirms that the municipality is serious about service delivery
and ensures that processes and procedures are continuously improved
to the benefit of the customer.
ISO 9001:2008 for
Local Government from
Drakenstein Municipality
3rd Runner-up in the
Innovative Enhancements
of Internal Systems of
Government category
Impumelelo Social Innovations Awards
The Impumelelo Social Innovations Centre was established in 1999. It presents awards for social innovation and best practice in
the public and private sectors. Impumelelo runs a number of programmes, including case-study research, the documentation and
publication of best practices, and a media and advocacy programme.
Year
Municipality/ Entity
Project
Project Description
2013
Drakenstein Local
Municipality
Water Demand
Management
Prior to 2000, the Drakenstein Municipality had water losses in
excess of 33% per year and a steady growth in consumer demand
for water. The water-services department started a Water Demand
Management Programme. Existing infrastructure was upgraded and
pressure-reducing valves installed on the water network. The savings
in water consumption over the past 12 years are estimated at R700
million.
Gold Award Winner
2013
Drakenstein Local
Municipality
8Ml / Day Meulwater
Treatment Works
Gold Award Winner
| 47
Paarl, the largest town in the Drakenstein Municipal area, purchases
95% of its water supplies from the City of Cape Town at considerable
cost. The Drakenstein Municipality built the Meulwater Treatment
Water Works, which can treat 8 million litres a day, and allows the
municipality to make full use of the Berg River water, and reduce
water-treatment costs considerably. The Meulwater Treatment Water
Works is capable of providing up to 25% of the town’s annual water
requirements.
Impumelelo Social Innovations Awards
Year
M u n i c i p a l i t y / Project
Entity
Project Description
2012
eThekwini
Metropolitan
Municipality
Communal Ablution Blocks
for Informal Settlements
In Durban, eThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) is the authority responsible
for providing water and sanitation to the 3.5 million residents of the city. One
of the main challenges faced by EWS is the provision of services to dense
informal settlements, which have formed due to the rapid and increasing
migration of people to the city seeking job opportunities. The community
ablution blocks (CABs) are shared water and sanitation facilities comprising
female and male blocks containing toilets, showers, basins for washing hands
and laundry facilities. Each CAB serves 1 000 households, and an estimated
200 000 residents of informal settlements in Durban now use them. The critical
component for the success of this project is the appointment of a paid caretaker
for each CAB, who is responsible for keeping the premises clean and stocked
with toilet paper, and ensuring that the EWS repair team is informed of any
maintenance faults.
eThekwini
Metropolitan
Municipality
Sustainable Pit Latrine
and Market Garden
Programme via Latrine
Dehydration and
Pasteurisation (LaDePa)
Technology
Gold Award Winner
Gold Award Winner
2010
2008
eThekwini
Metropolitan
Municipality
Greening the Moses
Mabhida Stadium
eThekwini
Metropolitan
Municipality
Orange Bag Domestic
Recycling Project
Gold Award Winner
Gold Award Winner
SA faces significant challenges in the provision of sanitation services to the
urban poor. Emptying and disposal of pit latrine sludge is a major health and
environmental problem. The LaDePa machine produces a nutrient-rich soil
conditioner from the sludge. The simplicity of operation of the machine allows
for the integration of the sludge-treatment process with community needs,
which in turn provides further jobs and up-scaling opportunities to the underskilled.
Creating an entirely carbon-neutral stadium was a goal that eThekwini
Municipality set for itself for the 2010 World Cup. The process involved specific
plans for sustainable waste management, water-resource management, energy
management, transportation-systems management, and sustainable landscape
management. The demolition of the old stadium was also taken into account;
and the entire process has been calculated to be carbon neutral.
The Cleansing and Solid Waste Unit of the eThekwini Municipality initiated a
new recycling project in August 2007. The Municipality established a partnership
with Mondi Paper (who would buy all the recycled waste), and began providing
orange refuse bags to households in which to place plastics and paper for
recycling. A number of SMMEs and entrepreneurs were selected to collect the
bags and deliver them to Mondi Paper.
City of Cape Town Green Goal Action Plan,
Metropolitan
Western Cape
Municipality
Silver Award Winner
The City of Cape Town proudly committed to building partnerships and
coordinating the networks of action necessary to ensure that Team Cape Town
and the Western Cape Scored green in 2010. Branded as ‘Green Goal 2010’, host
City of Cape Town’s 2010 greening programme contributed to raising awareness,
minimising waste, diversifying and using energy efficiently, consuming water
sparingly, compensating for the event’s carbon footprint, practising responsible
tourism, and constructing infrastructure with future generations in mind.
City of Cape Town Violence Prevention
Metropolitan
through Urban Upgrading
Municipality
Silver Award Winner
The City of Cape Town partnered with the German Development Bank to
develop the Khayelitsha area to reduce crime and improve the safety of
residents in the area. The project employs a holistic approach to making the area
safer, focusing on crime reduction, social development, and capacity-building.
Emalahleni Local
Municipality
The demand for water in Emalahleni Local Municipality exceeds the supply from
the Witbank Dam. In partnership with Anglo Operations Limited the municipality
began a water reclamation project in 2005. Polluted water from South Witbank
Colliery is extracted, purified and pumped into the municipal reservoirs. Dirty
mine water, which used to be emptied into the streams and rivers, is now
recycled for consumption purposes. This is the first initiative of its kind in South
Africa.
Emalahleni Water
Reclamation Project
Silver Award Winner
| 48
Impumelelo Social Innovations Awards
Year
2006
2005
Municipality/ Entity
Project
Project Description
Nelson Mandela
Metropolitan
Municipality
Emmanuel Haven
Hydroponics Project
Motherwell is an informal settlement with at least 27% of its people
infected with HIV and 75% unemployed. The Emmanuel Haven
Hydroponics Project was established to address the multi-dimensional
causes and effects of HIV. A comprehensive public-private-community
partnership, its four clusters cover HIV/Aids, Horticulture, Information and
Communication Education, and SMME Support.
eThekwini
Metropolitan
Municipality
Durban Landfill Gas to
Electricity Project
eThekwini
Metropolitan
Municipality
Mariannhill Landfill
Conservancy
Thulamela Local
Municipality
Electrification of
Ha-Muraga Village
Merit Certificate
Platinum Award Winner
Platinum Award Winner
Silver Award Winner
eThekwini
Metropolitan
Municipality
Customer Services
Intervention Regarding
Water Use Management
Silver Award Winner
2003
eThekwini
Metropolitan
Municipality
eThekwini Water &
Sanitation Programme,
KwaZulu-Natal
Gold Award Winner
Nelson Mandela
Metropolitan
Municipality
Nelson Mandela
Metropolitan Municipality
Safety and Security
Silver Award Winner
2002
2001
| 49
Landfills generate a large amount of methane and carbon dioxide gas.
Engines that convert gas to electricity were built at two landfill sites. The
electricity is used by the eThekwini Municipality. The projects are two of
the first gas-to-electricity projects in Africa.
The Mariannhill Landfill Conservancy has instituted a number of policies
not only to prevent environmental contamination, but actually to restore
and conserve the spoiled environment.
The aim of this project was to provide electricity to 220 households in
Ha-Muraga village. The project started in August 2004. It was initiated by
the Thulamela Municipality and electrification was carried out by Eskom
distribution. In accordance with the Integrated Development Plan, the
community raised a sizeable portion of the funds required.
This project addressed 20 wards worst affected by outstanding water
payments in eThekwini. Community Service Agents explained debt
problems to consumers and provided solutions to managing water
consumption.
The aim of this project/programme is to provide an acceptable basic level
of water and sanitation to all households in the eThekwini municipality’s
rural and peri-urban communities by 2010 through the supply of urine
diversion toilets and 200-litre yard tanks.
The Community-Based Crime Prevention programme was established in
response to high levels of crime caused by poverty and unemployment.
It is a partnership with the non-governmental organisation (NGO) U
Managing Conflict, the South African Police Service; the Provincial
Departments of Welfare, Justice, and Correctional Services; and the
Community Policing Forum. It is the first project of its kind in South Africa
to recruit volunteers for sustainable crime prevention.
eThekwini
Metropolitan
Municipality
Cato Manor Development
Association
eThekwini
Metropolitan
Municipality
Official Informal Settlement The programme is a management and decision-making tool which allows a
Programme
rational approach to upgrading and relocating settlements.
City of Johannesburg
Metropolitan
Municipality
Midrand EcoCity Project,
Gauteng
Platinum Award Winner
The Cato Manor Development Association (CMDA) has been the lead
agency in redeveloping the Cato Manor area of Durban. Prior to the CMDA
intervention, unemployment in the area was 39% and about 80% of all
households had no access to basic services such as water, sanitation or
electricity. Since the implementation of this project unemployment has
decreased and basic services have been provided.
Platinum Award Winner
Silver Award Winner
The project focuses on the Ivory Park informal settlement in Midrand and
targets women, youth and the unemployed of the area. The programme
addresses poverty alleviation through local economic development that
improves the quality of the environment.
Impumelelo Social Innovations Awards
Year
Municipality/ Entity
Project
Project Description
2000
eThekwini
Metropolitan
Municipality
Durban Sewage Disposal
Education Programme
The Sewage Disposal Education Programme of Durban Metro
Water Services creates a better understanding of the workings of
the sewerage system among communities, especially first-time
users of these services, and arose out of the need to stop the high
levels of sewage pollution incurred through the abuse and misuse
of sewerage systems in the broader Durban metropolitan area.
Stellenbosch Local
Municipality
Klapmuts Consolidated
Municipal Infrastructure
Gold Award Winner
Merit Certificate
1999
8
Klapmuts is a small village in the Stellenbosch Municipality in the
Western Cape, which had been severely disadvantaged during the
apartheid years. In 1995, a community-development forum was
formed to work with the Stellenbosch Municipality. A programme
was developed for the physical upgrading of infrastructure,
housing, and community facilities, based on a planning framework
and strategy jointly developed by the local residents and Council
representatives.
eThekwini
Metropolitan
Municipality
Durban Solid Waste: Waste
Collection Programme
Durban Solid Waste (DSW), the municipal cleansing arm of the
Durban Metro Council, devised an innovative strategy which
combined waste management with investing the economic benefits
of the service in the communities themselves.
Greater Hermanus
Municipality
Greater Hermanus Water
Conservation Programme
This collaborative effort between the Greater Hermanus
Municipality and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry
offered a package of incentives to promote equity, efficiency, and
sustainability in the supply and use of water in Hermanus.
Kamoso Excellence Awards
The Kamoso Awards Programme was launched in 2007 by the Department of Public Works as a vehicle to recognise municipalities,
provinces, departments and public bodies that excelled in implementing the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). The
objectives of the awards programme are to:
• Mobilise government stakeholders and partners to increase their efforts with the EPWP implementation and strive towards
greater heights;
• Communicate and showcase the progress, impact, and successes of EPWP as a key government programme;
• Create a platform to enhance the visibility of the EPWP and reinforce its objectives to a broader audience; and
• Establish the Kamoso Awards as an important event on the calendar, as recognisable as other national award programmes.
Source: http://www.epwp.gov.za/documents/Kamoso%20Awards/Kamoso%20awards.pdf
Year
Name of Municipality
Award Description
2011
City of Cape Town
Best Municipal and District Project
Best Innovative Project
2008
City of Johannesburg
Best Project Municipal Award
Best Project Maintenance
| 50
9
City of Cape Town Energy Efficiency Awards
The City of Cape Town gives the Energy Efficiency Award to companies and buildings that have made energy-efficiency
changes. These changes include lighting retrofits, and mechanical and other efficiency upgrades. Such changes will lower
power outages and decrease the city’s carbon footprint. They will also encourage behavioural change among tenants and
staff.
The City of Cape Town gives this award to businesses that have shown leadership in energy efficiency, and implemented
significant energy-efficiency interventions.
Source: https://www.capetown.gov.za/en/EnergyForum/Pages/EnergyEfficiencyForumAwards.aspx
Year
Category
Winner
2014
Small building retrofit
Washtub Industrial Laundry Services
Large building retrofit
The Peninsula All Suite Hotel
New building
V&A Waterfront – No1 Silo Building
Single buildings
Cavendish Square
Head offices and franchise
Woolworths
New buildings
Hotel Verde
Large building retrofit
V&A Waterfront Holdings (Pty) Ltd
Large building retrofit
Vunani Property Investment Ltd
2013
2012
10
Halala Joburg Awards
Established in 2008, the Halala Joburg Awards recognise those who have made extraordinary efforts to ensure the
development and regeneration of Joburg’s Inner City. The aims of the awards are to:
• Encourage extraordinary effort and foster originality;
• Recognise exceptional effort that breaks new ground in urban regeneration, thereby advancing sustainable economic
growth, community well-being and great quality of life for Johannesburg residents;
• Recognise pioneering programmes and innovative projects initiated by audacious thinkers, whose passion has generated
new horizons in decaying areas;
• Encourage participation, equality and inclusivity; and
• Acknowledge commitment and dedication to fostering partnerships, initiating joint programmes and being a catalyst for
sustainable development that promotes social harmony.
Source: http://www.jda.org.za
Halala Joburg Awards Previous Winners
Year
Category
Project Name
Project Owner
2012
Living (Corporate)
120 End Street
Affordable Housing Company (AFHCO)
Working & Buying
The Main Change
Propertuity
Relaxing & Playing
Hotel Lamunu
Southpoint
Caring
Urban Arts Platform
Urban Arts Platform
Conserving/Colosseum
Shandukani
Wits Reproductive Health and HIV
Institute (WRHI)
Sustaining Joburg
Waste Management Programme
Johannesburg Housing Company
Believing
Renney & Wayne Plit
AFHCO
Living (Corporate)
Southpoint Student Accommodation
Southpoint
Working & Buying
Fox Street Mall (Phase 1)
Olitzki Property Holdings
2011
| 51
Halala Joburg Awards
Halala Joburg Awards Previous Winners
Year
Category
Project Name
Project Owner
2011
Relaxing & Playing
Sci-Bono Discovery Centre
Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG)
Caring
School of Practical Philosophy
School of Practical Philosophy
2010
2009
2008
Caring
Door of Hope Childrens Mission
Door of Hope Childrens Mission
Conserving
Salisbury House
Meissner Architects
Sustaining Joburg
ABSA Towers West
ABSA
Believing
Individual Capacity
Gerald Olitzki
Living (Individual)
9 Saratoga Avenue
Harmony Galz
Living (Corporate)
Cavendish Chambers
AFHCO
Working & Buying
Zurich Head Office
JHB Land Company
Relaxing & Playing
Arts on Main
Propertuity
Caring
Missionaries of Charity Mother Theresa’s
Johannesburg
Missionaries of Charity Mother Theresa’s
Johannesburg
Conserving
NUMSA Conference Centre
NUMSA
Believing
Individual Capacity
Ishmail Mkhabela
Living (Individual)
Sara Leon Building
Nqobile Khumalo
Living (Corporate)
Ashanti & Dogon Buildings
Leungo Investments
Living (Corporate)
Sambro House
AFHCO Holdings
Working & Buying
Lunga, Marlborough & Umoya House
Olitzki Property Holdings
Relaxing & Playing
Smart Gyms
Smart Gym (Pty) Ltd
Caring
Makhulong a Matala
JHB Housing Company
Caring
Citykidz Pre and Primary School
AFHCO
Caring
Friends of the Inner City Forum
Friends of the Inner City Forum
Conserving
Turbine Hall Square
Tiber Group
Sustaining
Main Street Mall
JHB Land Company
Sustaining
eKhaya Neighbourhood
eKhaya Neighbourhood
Living (Corporate)
Brickfields Housing Project
JHB Housing Company
Living (Corporate)
Madulamoho Housing Association
JHB Housing Company
Living (Corporate)
Mapungubwe Hotel Apartments
Faircity
Working & Buying
Works@Registry
City Prop
Relaxing & Playing
Gandhi Square
Olitzki Property Holdings
Caring
Metro Evangelical Services (MES
Metro Evangelical Services (MES
Believing
Individual Capacity
Neil Fraser
| 52
PART TWO:
AFRICA AND
INTERNATIONAL
AWARDS
1
C40 City Climate Leadership Award
The City Climate Leadership Awards Ceremony and Conference are jointly organized by C40 and Siemens. The City Climate
Leadership Awards are granted in 10 categories and provide global recognition for cities that are demonstrating climate-action
leadership. Five award categories are open exclusively to C40 Cities: Urban Transportation; Solid Waste Management; Finance and
Economic Development, Carbon Measurement and Planning; and Sustainable Communities. Five other categories – Green Energy;
Adaptation and Resilience; Energy-Efficient Built Environment; Air Quality; and Intelligent City Infrastructure – are open to C40 Cities
as well as cities in the Green City Index, a research project by Siemens and the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Source: www.cityclimateleadershipawards.com
2
Year
South African municipalities/municipal entities
Project
Achievement
2014
City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
Johannesburg Rea Vaya Bus and Transit
Finalist
Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM)
International Innovations Awards
The CAPAM International Innovations Awards celebrate the spirit of innovation in the public service by recognising organisations
that have made significant contributions to improving governance and services in the public sector.
Source: http://www.capam.org
3
Year
Municipalities/Municipal entities
Project
Achievement
2004
PIKITUP, City of Johannesburg Metropolitan
Municipality
“100 Spots” Pikitup project to clean up illegal
dumping
Silver Medal
Winner
Environmental Systems Research Institutes (ESRI) Awards
The ESRI International User Conference is the world’s largest event dedicated to geographic information system (GIS) technology.
It is held in the United States, usually for one week in July at the San Diego Convention Centre in San Diego, California. The ESRI
International User Conference dates back to 1981.
Source: www.esri.com/sag/
| 53
Year
South African municipalities/entities that have won the Award Description
award
2012
Frances Baard district municipality
Special Achievement Award in GIS
2011
Overstrand Municipality
Special Achievement Award in GIS
2010
Nelson Mandela Bay municipality
Integrated Land Information System Project
2009
Ekuhuruleni Municipality
Special Achievement Award in GIS
2002
City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
International GIS award for Internet Mapping service
4
Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation
The concept of the Guangzhou International Award for Urban Innovation (abbreviated as Guangzhou Award) is derived from
the city’s long-term cooperation with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), from its foundation in 2004, and with the
World Association of Major Metropolises (Metropolis) since 1993. Co-hosted by UCLG, Metropolis, and the Guangzhou Municipal
Government, the Guangzhou Award aims to reward innovations to improve the socio-economic environments in cities and
regions, promote sustainability, and hence advance the livelihood of their citizens. Presented biennially, the award encourages and
recognises outstanding innovative projects and practices in the public sector.
Source: www.citiesalliance.org/joburg-lilongwe-guangzhou-award
5
Year
South African municipalities/entities Achievement
that have won the award
Award Description
2013
Johannesburg, Lilongwe Mentorship
programme
Drive to implement financial and jobcreation programmes
Winner
LivCom Awards
The International Awards for Liveable Communities (LivCom Awards) were launched in 1997 and are the premier awards
recognising communities from 50 different countries for their contribution to the local environment. The LivCom Awards are the
world’s only competition that focuses on environmental management and the creation of liveable communities. The objective of
the LivCom Awards is to encourage best practise, innovation and leadership in providing a vibrant, environmentally sustainable
community that improves the quality of life for its citizens.
Source: http://www.livcomawards.com
Year
South African municipalities/entities Achievement
that have won the award
Project
2013
Socio-Economic City of Johannesburg
3rd Place
Gauteng Carnival
2012
Natural: A community of parks
1st Place
Johannesburg City Parks
2008
City of Johannesburg
Gold Award Winner
Diepkloof Xtreme Park
2007
City of Johannesburg
Gold Award Winner
Greening of Soweto
| 54
6
PRAGMA Awards
Each year a number of top South African and international companies and government entities are presented with awards for their
exceptional physical-asset management practices at the annual Pragma Client Awards function, which takes place in Johannesburg.
Source: www.pragma.net
7
Year
South African municipalities/entities Category
that have won the award
Award Description
2011
Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality
2nd Runner-up
Electricity and Energy
2010
City of Cape Town Metropolitan
Municipality
1st Runner-up
Electrical Services
Stockholm Industry Water Award
The Stockholm Industry Water Award honours outstanding and transformative water achievements by companies that contribute
to sustainable water management. The award seeks to stimulate and inspire advances towards a water-wise world and lay
the ground for increased business sustainability. The achievements can include improved water use in production processes,
pioneering transformative products and services, better management of human and financial water risks, and implementation of
innovative practice.
Source: http://www.siwi.org/prizes/stockholmindustrywateraward/
8
Year
Municipality / Entity
Achievement
Award Description
2014
eThekwini
Metropolitan
Municipality
Winner
The Water and Sanitation unit of eThekwini Municipality was
established in 1992. It manages the water and sanitation services for
the 3.5 million people living in the Durban area, and has worked with
some of the world’s major actors and knowledge hubs in water and
sanitation as well as development, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation, the World Bank, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Borda,
Eawag, the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership
(REEEP) and DHI. Its methods have been replicated across the country
and region, and eThekwini representatives are successfully sharing
and disseminating their findings and working methods.
World Design Capital
The World Design Capital is a city promotion project that celebrates the merits of design. Held biennially, it seeks to highlight
the accomplishments of cities that are truly leveraging design as a tool to improve the social, cultural and economic life of cities,
throughout a year-long programme of design-related events. The International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID)
leads the World Design Capital programme in a major step for the global design community.
Source: www.wdccapetown2014.com
| 55
Year
South African municipalities/ Category
entities that have won the award
Award Description
2014
City of Cape Town
Garden Skate Park
Building Trust International PLAYscapes
Design Competition
9
UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award
The UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour award was launched by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme in 1989. It is
currently the most prestigious human-settlements award in the world. Its aim is to acknowledge initiatives that have made
outstanding contributions in various fields such as shelter provision, highlighting the plight of the homeless, providing
leadership in post-conflict reconstruction, and developing and improving human settlements and the quality of urban life.
Source: http://unhabitat.org/urban-knowledge/awards
10
Year
South African municipalities/entities Award Description
that have won the award
2010
Johannesburg Social Housing
Company (JOSHCO)
Scroll of Honour from UN- Habitat in recognition of Innovative Approach
to providing Human Settlement
2009
The Alexandra Renewable Project
This renewal project has seen some 7 000 families relocated from the
banks of a polluted local river to better settlements. Urban greening
was incorporated in the project which led to development of parks and
recreation areas. The project also saw the development of new housing,
new schools and the refurbishment of many facilities. New clinics
improved access to healthcare; while 46 000 hygienic refuse bins have
been distributed, drastically improving garbage collection. More than
70% of the residents now have access to water and sanitation and 88%
have safe electricity, a major milestone in a place once referred to as
“Dark City”.
United Nations Public Service Awards
The United Nations Public Service Awards are the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service.
They reward the creative achievements and contributions of public-service institutions that lead to a more effective and
responsive public administration in countries worldwide. Through an annual competition, the UN Public Service Awards
promote the role, professionalism and visibility of public service. Source: www.unpan.org
Year
Municipality / Entity
2013
eThekwini Metropolitan Winner in the
Communal Ablution Blocks for Informal Settlements
Municipality
Improving the Delivery
of Public Services
Category
Category
Project
2009
City of Cape Town
Metropolitan
Municipality
2007
eThekwini Metropolitan Winner in the
Water & Sanitation Debt Relief Programme
Municipality
Improving the Delivery
of Services Category
Finalist in the
The Administrative Support for the Tuberculosis Programme
Improving the Delivery in City Health, Cape Town, South Africa has strengthened
of Services Category
the capacity of clinics to improve their cure rate by bringing
a new layer of staff into the normal day-to-day operations of
the clinics. Door-to-door follow-up visits to patients, who have
been diagnosed with tuberculosis and are registered at the
clinic, are carried out by trained Tuberculosis Assistants who
make sure that the patients do not interrupt their treatment.
What is now proved,was once only imagined.
William Blake
| 56
Coming together is a beginning;
keeping together is progress;
working together is success.
SALGA National
Office
Menlyn Corporate
Park, Block B
175 Corobay Avenue,
Cnr Garsfontein and
Corobay
Waterkloof Glen
ext11, Pretoria
Tel: 012 369 8000
Fax: 012 369 8001
| 57
SALGA Eastern Cape
Berea Terrace Office
Bldg
First Floor Suite 3
Berea
East London
5214
Tel: 043 727 1150
Fax: 043 7271156/67
SALGA Free State
36 McGregor Street
East End
Bloemfontein
9300
Tel: 051 447 1960
Fax: 051 430 8250
SALGA Gauteng
3rd Floor Braampark
Forum 2, 33 Hoofd
Street
Braamfontein
2017
Tel: 011 276 1150
Fax: 011 276 3636/7
SALGA KwaZulu
Natal
4th Floor Clifton
Place,19 Hurst Grove
Musgrave
Durban
4001
Tel: 031 817 0000
Fax: 031 817 0034
SALGA Limpopo
127 Marshall Street
Polokwane
0699
Tel: 015 291 1400
Fax: 015 291 1414
SALGA Mpumalanga
SALGA House
11 van Rensburg
Street
Nelspruit
1200
Tel: 013 752 1200
Fax: 013 752 5595
SALGA North West
Jade Square, Suite
400
cnr OR Tambo &
Margaretha Prinsloo
Street
Klerksdorp
2570
Tel: 018 462 5290
Fax: 018 462 4662
SALGA Northern
Cape
Block Two
Montrio Corporate
Park
Number 10. Oliver
Road
Monument Heights
Kimberley
8300
Tel: 053 836 7900
Fax: 053 833 3828
SALGA Western
Cape
7th floor, 44 Strand
Street
Cape Town
8000
Tel: 021 446 9800
Fax: 021 418 2709
SALGA Knowledge
Management
and Municipal
Innovations
Team
(left to right) Ntsakisi
Madzibane, Prince
Mashita, Sabrina García,
Mapule Letshweni
| 58
SALGA
SALGA National Office
Menlyn Corporate Park, Block B, 175 Corobay Avenue, Cnr Garsfontein and Corobay, Waterkloof Glen Ext11, Pretoria
Tel: 012 369 8000 | Fax: 012 369 8001 | Email: [email protected]
www.salga.org.za