Current Edition >> Archive Section >> Special Features >> 1 - 15 July 2003
Eskom continually strives to satisfy customer needs and improve our service, which is why customer satisfaction levels are measured monthly. For the past few months results showed that agricultural customers are not satisfied with the quality of Eskom's service compared to the money they pay for electricity. This saw Eskom venturing in a number of projects to improve the quality of electricity supply and service. Various projects were embarked on, including upgrading lines, replacing poles, inspecting poor performing lines and upgrading the Contact Centre.
New Soutdrift substation
Soutdrift substation is about 45 km outside Bloemfontein, just before Krugersdrift dam. This substation was built in order to increase the supply capacity on rural electricity networks and has cost Eskom an estimate of 12 million rand.
When the rural networks for this area were planned back in the mid 80's demand for capacity in the farming business was significantly different from what it is today. The area to the west of Bloemfontein for example has enjoyed considerable and sustained growth in demand, which Eskom could ultimately not accommodate.
Spending millions in building this substation was one way of ensuring the integrity of our major networks, reliability of supply and continues to offer value for money.
This year, Eskom plans to invest a furthe R48,175-million for network enhancement.
Pole replacement
It is a statutory requirement for Eskom to replace poles inspected and classified as high risk due to pole rot. Major pole replacement projects are currently being executed to address risks. These risks include a danger to the public, the environment, animals and to Eskom's own staff, as well as unnecessary power interruptions. There are a number of things that causes wood pole failure, such as age, weather, insects, fungal decay, mechanical damage, fire, lightning and woodpeckers. Fungi are the main cause of damage to Eskom's poles. These causes differ from area to area, depending a lot on the climate of that area.
All poles are treated before installed, during manufacturing, creosote and during inspection with chemicals. The life expectancy of a pole is 25 years. Eskom replaced 3 000 poles in 2002 and is in the process of replacing 7 000 in 2003 in the Northern Cape, Free State and North West.
Bad performing lines
In addition to replacing poles we identified the worst performing lines and rebuild or refurbish them. Statistics on the performance on the lines in the Free State were drawn after which technical staff inspected each part of those lines. The poor performance of these lines is due to various options, such as ageing, broken insulators, conductors or due to low voltage on the line. Lines with low voltage are done via a separate project and the rest of the lines are then repaired. Poles are changed, insulators and cables replaced from the first pole on the line to the last one. After completion, the line is then inspected again before it is finally completed. Last year, 24 lines were identified and inspected in the Free State, and were completed in February this year. This year, 12 lines were identified and should be completed by September 2003.
Contact Centre
Eskom's Contact Centre in Bloemfontein currently takes calls and serves more than 400 000 customers. To improve their service, they did a work-flow study, which showed the need to increase their call taking capacity to improve its service levels by 40%. This means that 80% of calls that come through to Eskom's Contact Centre will be answered within 30 seconds. Eskom is therefore investigating various options to address this and should have this in place by the end of 2003. The Contact Centre is also investigating various options to increase their capacity to do follow-ups and give feedback to customers, which is also part of the services delivered by the Centre.
For any service equiries concerning Eskom, contact our Contact Centre at 086 053 5535.
Decentralising to make a diffence in rural areas : Opening of office in Bloemfontein
South Africa's rural heartland faces enormous development challenges. Farmers and their workers, small towns and their citizens are caught up in a season of change. The HSRC's new heartland office can help make sense of the transitions and turn the challenges into workable plans to improve people's lives.
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) helps decision-makers see the bigger picture so they can make well-informed choices. The HSRC plays a leading research role across the continent. Much of its work involves helping public-sector firms, non-governmental organisations and international development agencies by conducting social-scientific research that may help formulate or influence public policies on a wide range of issues. The HSRC's top-quality research executives and specialists collaborate with other science councils, tertiary institutions and research bodies around the world, and network with international organisations such as the United Nations, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank.
Some of the HSRC's users include: the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Nelson Mandela Foundation; the Centres for Disease Control (US); the Ford Foundation (US); the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation; the WK Kellogg Foundation (US); the Carnegie Corporation (US); the Welcome Trust (UK); UNESCO and UNICEF; government departments, including Arts, Culture, Science and Technology; Education; Health; Labour; Social Development; Water Affairs and Forestry and local institutions such as SA Tourism, the Independent Electoral Commission and the Joint Education Trust. With 130 top researchers and 100 support staff working in five different centres around South Africa, the HSRC is helping the country's leaders to examine critical issues and factors to help fight poverty, create new jobs and industries, fight discrimination and inequalities, and improve service delivery to all South Africans.
The HSRC's 10 research programmes include:
• Assessment Technology and Education
• Evaluation
• Child, Youth and Family Development
• Democracy and Governance
• Employment and Economic Policy Research
• Human Resources Development
• Integrated Rural and Regional Development
• Knowledge Management
• Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS and Health
• Social, Cohesion and Integration (focusing on the arts, sports, religion, media, history and the sciences)
• Surveys, Analyses, Mapping and Modelling (helping other research programmes meet their development research needs)
The new heartland office will serve the special needs of the Free State and Northern Cape
In these two provinces, hundreds of thousands of farm workers and their families are entering a new era. They are moving off the farms where they work and into nearby communities. Their health needs, education, housing, water and electricity all once provided by their employers, must now come from the municipalities where they are relocating. At the same time, many farm workers, like workers in other industries, face the threat of unemployment. They need skills training. Those who have already lost their jobs need new ways to earn a living. Many municipalities in these provinces lack the funds as well as the expertise to handle the influx of so many people with so many needs. They also face with their own new set of challenges. One such challenge is the management of municipal land. Historically, municipalities administered commonage agricultural land for the benefit of white residents. As part of the land reform programme, these municipalities can now obtain finance and other forms of support to convert commonage into a developmental resource for impoverished residents.
Well-managed commonage can contribute to land reform, food security, local economic development and sustainable natural resource use. But rural municipalities are generally understaffed, underfinanced and underequipped for their new responsibilities. They too need resources, training and skills for the heartland's new era.
Led by a professional with a passion for heartland issues
Since early 2002 the HSRC has been running research projects specifically designed to address the most pressing needs of the rural areas. Some of these projects include:
• A study on using commonage land for emerging farmers. The HSRC and the University of the Western Cape are now working on how municipalities can be assisted to do effective commonage management. Proposals will be presented at a national commonage workshop planned for September this year.
• A study on municipal service delivery to farmers and farm workers to establish a policy on where such services should be based to the best advantage of both municipal and farming areas: in towns or on farms.
• The development of a small towns network to research issues such as coping with HIV/AIDS, to distribute information and to involve communities in solving their own problems.
• The development of a book on rural local government, commonage and farm workers, to be published in late 2003.
Future plans for the heartland office include creating a database of researchers and consultants in the Northern Cape and the Free State, to help bring emerging researchers into the mainstream activities of the area. 'We also want to partner extensively with the provincial government and local universities,' says Dr Doreen Atkinson, a research director in the Democracy & Governance research programme who pioneered the HSRC's heartland work and now leads the six staff in the Bloemfontein office. 'We're already building access to political decision makers in these provinces,' Dr Atkinson says. 'The governments of both provinces have shown their support for the HSRC's work and both premiers attended the launch of the Bloemfontein office.' Dr Atkinson says that both the Northern Cape and the Free State tend to be isolated and underfunded, especially considering their huge development challenges. 'Municipal funds for service delivery tend to go to established urban centres, government on revisions to the constitution regarding local government.
The HSRC's research skills will complement existing research capacity at the University of the Free State and Vista University. 'Universities in these two provinces just don't have the resources to meet the huge need for research here,' Dr Atkinson says. 'So we plan to work closely with them. In the same way, we are working closely with private consultants in these provinces. There's plenty of room for collaboration, and the HSRC can provide a channel for putting the research findings of private consultants into the public domain, where it can have a much wider effect. The goal is to develop a culture of research contribution.'
As part of this process, last year Dr Atkinson led a delegation, including local, provincial and national government officials, to the US to see firsthand how farm workers' issues are handled there. In March 2003, she attended a World Bank conference in Washington DC, on promoting small urban centres as a mechanism for rural development. Building such international links can help South Africa leap forward by building on models that have already been proven successful. In a similar vein, Dr Atkinson hopes to create models in the heartland provinces that can help develop other rural provinces.
Building small communities into power bases
One such model could be the proposed Small Towns Research Network, which will be launched by the HSRC's heartland office in July 2003. While HIV/AIDS is one focus of this project, it also deals with the wider economic implications of the disease. As Dr Atkinson says: 'Income earners in Gauteng, for instance, are coming home to the rural areas to die. There's a growing rural population living on pensions and grants. We hope to develop a network to inform municipalities on best practice, and to develop a lobbying force to work with provincial and national government to build long-term solutions. We also are looking into the economic implications of municipalities closing down services such as schools, health clinics, and so on because they don't have the income to maintain them.'
The Small Towns Network will also 'bring research to the grass-roots level and let people know what is being done on their behalf', says Dr. Atkinson. 'And it will help us spot talent where someone is having a positive effect in one municipality that can be replicated in others. We're looking to link local experts who have been successful in their fields to projects at a more national level.' Other research topics being researched by the HSRC heartland office will also assist small town development. Two Bloemfontein-based researchers, Anja Benseler and Ntobeko Buso, are working on youth development policies in the Free State. In addition, researchers Shai Makgoba and Daniel Pienaar are undertaking studies of local economic development in the Free State. These projects are being done in partnership with the Free State Economic Advisory Council and the University of the Free State.
Led by a professional with a passion for heartland issues
Dr Doreen Atkinson brings many years of research and teaching experience (as well as a tractor load of enthusiasm) to the heartland projects. A graduate of Rhodes University in political science, economics and English, she completed her BA Hons in political science there before earning her MA in political science at the University of California at Berkeley, as a Fulbright Scholar. She subsequently completed her PhD in political science at the University of Natal in Durban.
She has lectured at Rhodes University and the University of Stellenbosch. She was a researcher at Rhodes, the University of Natal, and the Centre for Policy Studies in Johannesburg. She also worked for six years for McIntosh Xaba and Associates (MXA) as a private consultant in the Free State. Her areas of research and consulting include local government, civil society and non-governmental organisations, local development, including land and labour issues, governance and constitutional development, regional and rural development, land reform, water and sanitation, and community involvement and development projects.
Dr. Atkinson and her team can be contacted by telephone on (051) 430-0138 or by e-mail at datkinson@hsrc.ac.za
For further information on the HSRC visit the website at www.hsrc.ac.za.
Mangaung Local Municipality. Budget speech 2003 by the Executive Mayor Councillor Ithumeleng Mokoena.
The IDP - Our strategic focus
Mr. Speaker, I stand to present to Council and the people of Mangaung our budget for the financial year 2003/2004. The past 12 months we witnessed two key events, namely the adoption of Integrated Development Plan (IDP) as well as the development and approval of our Strategic Framework. I am pleased to announce to you that the budget that I am presenting today is informed by these two key policy statements of our Municipality. This budget was further compiled in line with the National Treasury's Budget Reform guidelines. These guidelines include the new method for tabling the budget together with new reporting protocols. The IDP is the powerful tool for realising the vision of the Municipality. It is our main strategic instrument guiding our Municipal planning, management, investment, development and decision-making, taking into account inputs from all stakeholders, including community and elected public representatives. Emanating from our IDP process, we came up with a strategic plan, with the following four key delivery objectives that together constitute our wheel of success, which are derived from our understanding of the development needs of the people.
These are:
1. Economic Growth and Job Creation, given expression by our slogan "Mangaung on the Move". This means: (a) Getting the basics in place and implementing related economic development projects; (b) Leveraging our competitive edge as a unique and attractive location of investments; (c) Broadening participation in the economy; and (d) Building investor confidence of local, national and international investors.
2. Building Community Resilience and Self- reliance, expressed as "Building Community Power". Under this, the Municipality will continue to improve social development through a series of interventions and particularly seek to empower women, youth, the disabled and the rural community.
3. Service Excellence and Sustainability expressed by the slogan "The Benchmark Municipality". This approach is intended to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery so that the Municipality achieves highest performances against key benchmarks both nationally and internationally.
4. Civic Leadership and Common Purpose, expressed as the Hub, the spoke that holds our strategy together. The Municipality is placing special emphasis on improving it's interface with the community through civic leadership and good governance, which builds stakeholder confidence and engenders a strong sense of common purpose amongst all stakeholders. In building and strengthening our civic leadership with a common purpose, we have started with the implementation of a programme which ensures that our municipality lives up to the principles of co-operative governance as enshrined in our Constitution. This programme, namely, Mangaung Compact, aims at harnessing all the available resources and bringing all stakeholders for a successful implementation of our IDP. I hope that this programme will be officially launched by the end of July 2003.
Budget reform
To achieve the above, the Municipality has endeavoured to manage it's financial affairs in a disciplined and prudent manner. I am happy to announce that the Global Credit Rating Company has recently declared that our Municipality displays a strong financial profile, with low levels of gearing and high levels of liquidity. Together with these efforts, the Municipality participated in the National Budget Reform process.
In order to give effect to the above and to ensure sustainable service delivery, it is imperative that the Municipality remains financially viable. It is therefore essential that consumers contribute to this by paying for the services they receive. Without any lamentation on our part, the monthly growth in the outstanding debtors is a great concern and should be implemented soon to recover the accumulated outstanding debt.
Key Milestones
Before I talk on the allocations for 2003/2004 fiancial year, I would wish that this house takes note of some of the trailblazing initiatives that the Municipality is engaged in. These initiatives confirm our objectives and commitment of being a Benchmark Municipality:
1. Electricity Restructuring : In accordance with our support for the introduction of an external service delivery option for electricity delivery, the Mangaung Municipality is ready for the establishment of the Regional Electricity Distributor Companies. In this respect we stand a good chance that the Headquarters of the new RED's could be within Mangaung.
2. Consolidation of the Organisation : We are the first Municipality to do away with different sets of Conditions of Service for employees from the disestablished municipalities, which has enabled us to design a unified organisational macro structure. We intend to be the first Municipality to implement the new TASK Evaluation System that would finalise all the processes towards the establishment of our Municipality.
3. Annual Performance Report : In terms of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act of 2000, it is required of all municipalities to prepare for each financial year an Annual Report. To this end MLM is in the process of finalising it's first Annual Report covering the financial years 1 July 2001 to 30 June 2003 and it is envisaged that this Report will be launched before the end of July 2003.
Budget overview
Returning now to 2003/2004 allocations, the budget that I present today amounts to a capital budget of R223 226 570 million and the operating budget of R1 277 249 840. Together this amounts to an annual investment in the Municipality of R1 500 476 410. We should bear in mind though, that the Municipality is operating in an environment where the community needs are greater than the resources and infrastructure can handle. However, in the 2003/2004 financial year, the Municipality will continue to make service delivery a priority in the underdeveloped areas of Mangaung. This will be done with greater care and caution of not neglecting the already existing and good infrastucture we have in other areas.
The 2003 national Budget provides for a significant increase of nearly 37% in the allocation of intergovernmental grants to local government. Because of this development, I am proud to announce that out of our equitable share allocation, which amounts to R188 million with an addition of R36,6 million for salaries of the former R293 employees of Mangaung, we will be extending provision of free basic services for sanitation and waste removal to the poor of our communities. This is in addition to the 6kl of water and 30 kilowatts of electricity that we have been providing from July 2001. In addition, all households whose land value is R12 500 or less and whose building value is R30 000 or less will be exempted from paying property rates. We estimate that about 73 650 households are to benefit from this decision. That is why we refer to this budget as a truly People's Budget !
Furthermore, I am recommending that the outstanding debt of the target households above, which will at 30 June 2003 amount to approximately R161,2 million, be written-off against the provision for bad debt which amounted to R170,84 million on 30 June 2002. The rationale behind this recommendation is that it does not make sense to implement free services for the poor and at the same time expect them to repay the accumulated outstanding debt in respect of their properties. Secondly, with regard to transfers for municipal infrastructure, the primary objective is to expand delivery of basic infrastructure services to include poor households. This will be done with more emphasis on the rural communities of our Municipality.
1. Operating Budget. The operating budget for 2003/2004, being part of a medium-
term income and expenditure framework, is based on guideline growth rates set by the National Treasury, at 9% for the 2003/2004, 8% for the 2004/2005 and 7% for the 2005/2006 financial years. The operating budget was compiled as follows:
• Surplus brought forward - 6 650 000
• Rates and general services deficit - 98 104 690
• Sanitation surplus - 9 500 480
• Housing service deficit - 1 922 130
• Sub-total - 83 876 340
Contribution in relief of rates
• Electricity - 56 000 000
• Water - 25 500 000
• Fresh produce market - 2 457 460
• Surplus carried forward - 81 120
In total the operating budget for the 2003/2004 financial year amounts to R1 277 249 840, which presents an increase of 16,41% above the approved budget for 2002/2003.
Sanitary tariff and general assessment rates
Assessment rates are mainly used to provide non-remunerative services, such as library, traffic and sport and recreational services and to cover the costs involved in maintaining an ordered community and are calculated on the value of a site and improvements. In order to implement the principle of one city, one tax base, it was necessary to compile a new valuation roll that reflects the valuation of properties at the same date. We have now reached that stage and a single tariff structure to cover Mangaung Local Municipality (excluding farms) will be recommended. The new valuation roll will be implemented with effect from 1 July 2003. As soon as the Property Rates Bill has been promulgated, the City Valuer will also be instructed to compile a supplementary valuation roll for all the farms within the jurisdiction of the Mangaung Local Municipality.
After all avenues have been explored to either decrease expenditure or increase income, there was still a deficit of R27,31 million on the rates and general services account. As a result it is recommended that an increase of 10,85% be effected to make up the deficit for the 2003/2004 financial year.
Capital Budget
The capital budget for the Mangaung Local Municipality amounts to R223 226 570 for the 2003/2004 financial year. This shows an increase of 11,69%, or R23,37 million compared to the budget of 2002/2003. As in the previous years, the capital budget has again concentrated on infrastuctural development.
It must be noted that in total R150,5 million of the capital budget is allocated to infrastructure, especially in the underdeveloped areas.
Revenue Policies and statistics
The summary of consumer debtors' age analysis as at 30 April 2003 is:
Outstanding for
• 30 days - R 34 297 685
• 60 days - R 35 187 699
• 90 days - R 18 490 275
• 120 days - R 13 418 838
• 150 days and more - R 464 799 018
Total - R566 193 515
An increase in tariffs will unfortunately be unavoidable and it will be necessary to generate the required additional income to balance the 2003/2004 budget and also for remaining at market related economic levels. The effect of a tariff increase on the monthly municipal account will differ from consumer to consumer depending on the effect of the general valuation on each individual property (increase or decrease). A tariff increase of 10,85% in the general assessment rate and sanitation tariffs is necessary to ensure the additional required income to balance the budget. General tariffs, excluding water, electricity sanitation and assessment rates, are on average increased by 5,5%, except for calculated tariffs based on estimated costs.
Outlook for the Future
The main aim of the budget is to maintain financial stability while undertaking some high priority initiatives for development of areas in need of basic services. The budget aims to free up and reallocate resources to meet the high priority and strategic objectives of the Council. It is of utmost importance that strict budget control be exercised to maintain expenditure within the limits set by the budget. It is budgeted that the surplus will only be R81 120 on 30 June 2004.
Conclusion
From now on, our focus is on accelerated service delivery ! From now on, let us strengthen the contract to build a better life for all ! From now on, let the vulnerable, the disabled, the aged, the women, feel the embrace of our entire Municipality ! And through this budget, let the Mangaung be transformed into a construction site for a better tomorrow for all !
I thank you
JI MOKOENA
EXECUTIVE MAYOR
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