Western Cape Government Releases Strategic Plan on Integrating Service Delivery for Maximum Impact

The only way for people and communities to receive tangible and real service delivery is through the effective coordination of all three spheres of government.

The Provincial Government of the Western Cape is committed to coordinate the planning, budgeting, and implementation of the three spheres of government to guarantee the delivery of services to the people we serve.

There are four challenges that, if overcome, will achieve this.

The first challenge is a lack of integrated planning and budgeting. Separate, unsynchronised planning and budgeting processes between local, provincial and national government have contributed to a lack of integrated planning and delivery at grassroots level.

The second challenge is a lack of coordinated support to municipalities. Capacity-building programmes within various municipalities are not informed by an over-arching provincial programme of support and, as a result, capacity support is fragmented, there is a duplication of effort, and a municipality's improvement (or deterioration) cannot be adequately assessed.

The third challenge is a lack of integrated service delivery. People often have to travel significant distances to access different government services. For example, a person applying for a disability grant may not have an ID book, but s/he will usually have to travel to two different locations to apply for an ID book and apply for a disability grant. While the Thusong Centres were established to address precisely this problem, there is usually only one Centre in each municipality, and most municipalities in the Western Cape are hundreds of square kilometres in extent.

The final challenge is municipal reporting and meeting fatigue. Municipalities are constantly inundated with requests for information and data from various provincial and national sector departments. This has resulted in high levels of frustration and "reporting fatigue". Most departments have created fora through which they engage municipalities, and these fora cause duplication and "meeting fatigue".

In order to achieve real service delivery, the Western Cape provincial government will focus on the following:

1. Problem: There is a lack of integrated planning and budgeting

• IDPs (Integrated Development Plan) still reflect municipal capital projects only
• Service delivery boundaries not aligned with muni boundaries in all sector departments

Solution:

• IDP Indaba - In order to make local government more efficient the Provincial Government's new IDP Indaba is bringing local, provincial and national government together to plan and budget. This will result in IDPs and departmental Annual Performance Plans that speak to each other. (IDP Indabas are currently being rolled out throughout the province).
• Decentralised service delivery model - Departmental service delivery boundaries should be compatible with municipal boundaries and departments should, where practicable, have regional management structures.

2. Problem: There is a lack of coordinated support to municipalities

• Capacity support from national and provincial government and other stakeholders is fragmented and results in duplication

Solution:

• Integrated bursary scheme - A single integrated bursary scheme for municipalities will be developed for the Province.
• Provincial framework for municipal support - A provincial framework for coordinating the efforts of different departments and external stakeholders will be developed.
• Bulk infrastructure support plans - There is a provincial initiative to determine the water and sanitation infrastructure needs of each non-metropolitan municipality in the Province and to collate these into a comprehensive Provincial Bulk Infrastructure Master Plan (Water and Sanitation).

3. Problem: There is a lack of integrated service delivery

• National and provincial departments deliver services without reference to each other
• People on the ground pay the price.

Solution: The Thusong Centres will expand opportunities by helping people to help themselves.

Expansion of Thusong Centres

• Thusong Centres will be built in local municipalities that do not yet have them.
• The basket of services at existing Thusong Centres will be increased.

Establishment of Thusong Zones National and provincial departments and other key services (especially postal and banking services) will be encouraged to relocate to "Thusong Zones".

Mobile Thusong Centres

• Mobile Thusong Centres are when a number of government departments travel together to one area to provide services. People can apply for IDs, disability grants and find out about job opportunities in one place.

Thusong extension service

• Community Development Workers will provide an extension service for the permanent Thusong Centres, relaying information and forms between Thusong Centres and residents living far from the Centres.

4. Problem: Municipalities experience reporting and meeting fatigue

• Many intergovernmental meetings called by sector departments
• Many reports required by national and provincial government.

Solution:

• Coordinated information gathering and dissemination - Information and data requests from all sector departments to municipalities need to be coordinated through a single entry point in the province. There will be a central database which stores and processes information, which will enable more accurate and integrated reporting on municipalities.
• Coordinated intergovernmental engagement - There are many intergovernmental fora that have no structured relationships with the Premier's Coordinating Forum and District Coordinating Fora. An audit of existing fora will be carried out and a provincial intergovernmental framework developed.

This provincial strategic objective is key to the success of all the other provincial strategic objectives since it supports integrated, synchronised actions of the three spheres of government. Moreover, it is the key to giving people the opportunity to live the lives they value.