October 17, 2007
By Emily Visser
A GROUP of key Kenyan municipal delegates are impressed by the way in which Johannesburg handles its affairs.
"I am told you are the best, so we want to learn from the best," said the secretary-general of the Association of Local Government Authorities of Kenya, Hamisi Mboga.
The four-person delegation visited the Metro Centre on Wednesday, 10 October, hosted by the department of external relations and the Johannesburg innovation and knowledge exchange (Jike). The visitors were able to get a closer look at the City's financial systems and structures of governance during a morning of presentations by representatives from the department of finance, the Office of the Speaker and the legal and compliance unit.
Kenya is undergoing comprehensive reforms that involve a total constitutional review. Local government structures and the role local governance plays are also up for reconsideration. Viewing the visit as a fact-finding mission, the team hoped to learn from other cities that had successfully undergone similar changes, Mboga confirmed.
Angeline Hongo, programme coordinator for local government in Kenya shares information with Benita Young, facilitator of international relations in the City of Johannesburg
It consisted of two groups - one visited Durban, Johannesburg and Windhoek; the second visited the British cities of Birmingham and London.
Finances
And they were particularly impressed by the way in which Johannesburg turned around its finances, with capital budgets quadrupling over the last five years. "Capital budgeting in Nairobi is particularly negligible," said the chief economist in the ministry of treasury, Josephine Kanyi.
The country's capital city did not have the benefit of tapping into electricity and water revenue as these key services were operated outside municipal structures, she said. In contrast, Johannesburg derived 36 percent of its revenue from these two sources, said Hitekani Mashele, the investor relations officer in the City's finance department.
Johannesburg would soon lose one of its cash cows, however, when the proposed Regional Electricity Distributors (REDs) Bill, now on the table, was passed by parliament, confirmed Vele Hlophe, of the budget office. A number of alternative sources of revenue were being considered.
Businesses already pay a surcharge of 2 percent on services to make up for the loss of revenue from the scrapping of regional services council levies. Other options include getting a bigger share of the fuel levy, getting revenue from roads coming into Johannesburg and taxing private vehicles.
Turning the rates and taxes unit into a fully fledged department also contributed to better revenue collection, Mashele said. "Collection ratios are more than 95 percent on a monthly basis."
In Nairobi, rates were the biggest source of revenue, followed by business licences and by-law fines, said that city's town clerk, John Gakuo.
Johannesburg has also successfully launched five bonds - four institutional and one retail. The City had a sinking fund into which surplus cash was put for the repayment of bonds, Mashele explained. During the first month of its launch, Jozibonds, the City's first retail bond, raised R156-million for Joburg.
The Kenyan delegation felt it had much to learn from South Africa, and from Johannesburg in particular, with Kanyi admitting, "We have not explored our revenue potential in Nairobi."
New governance model
South Africa's municipal legislative structures, sanctioned by the Constitution, were also a talking point. Johannesburg has undergone a number of structural changes since a new governance model was approved in 2006.
Forming part of a pilot study that will be implemented nationally once it is running smoothly in the city, the legislative and executive powers were separated to enhance relationships between councillors and administrators and enable greater accountability, among other things.
Nomsa Mgida, the deputy director in the legal and compliance unit, guided the delegation through Joburg's high-level executive structure.
In the new design, the Offices of the executive mayor and City manager are merged to enhance the administrative and political interface. The City manager serves as the head of the Office of the Executive Mayor. Members of the mayoral committee, the 10 city departments and 14 municipal entities are also part of the executive.
Harvey Phalatse of Jike and Hamisi Mboga, the secretary general for the Association of Local Government in Kenya exchange gifts
"The executive mayor comes with the political vision and the City manager comes with the plan to implement this [through the departments and entities]," Mgida illustrated.
The most important legislation regulating local government are section 152 of the Constitution, the Municipal Systems Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). Mgida said the MFMA was like a bible for local government because "every aspect of local government is governed by this Act".
The Municipal Property Rates Act, which looks into re-evaluating properties, also played a crucial role, she pointed out.
Strengthening role
Loshini Govender, the deputy director in the Office of the Speaker, introduced the legislative branch of local government. "The separation of powers strengthens the role of local government."
Under the current law, the executive and legislative functions both vest with the municipal council, with the speaker as head. In the new model, the role of the council as legislature will be strengthened, its oversight function enhanced and debate on local issues improved.
Also part of the new model is the appointment of a leader of executive business, forming part of the executive and legislative branches of council. Put simply, its function was to be "a messenger between the executive and legislative", said Dina Louwrens, who was representing the Office of the Speaker.
"The leader of executive business has the primary responsibility of ensuring that executive business is effectively processed to the council via the programming committee." This position is appointed by the executive mayor and mayoral committee, and ratified by the council.
The function of section 80 committees has also been replaced by 10 portfolio committees, whose work is overseen and co-ordinated by the chairperson of committees. This is a special position assigned to a councillor who is a member of the majority party, but who is not a member of the mayoral committee.
Govender pointed out that under the old structure, members of the mayoral committee chaired their own section 80 committee meetings, which resulted in their "passing their own interests".
Summing up for the visitors, Kanyi said issues that Kenya needed to deal with were apparent. "Here [in South Africa] are clear local government guidelines as informed by the Constitution, whereas in our country this is not in place."
And in closing, Harvey Phalatse, the Jike director, said this was a first meeting, the start of further exchanges between the two cities. "We can share a lot of experiences with you through bilateral agreements and business forums."
Vietnam
The Kenyan team was followed by a group of representatives from Hanoi, also on 10 October.
The capital city of Vietnam will be signing a twin city agreement with Tshwane, Joburg's neighbour, and the group visited Johannesburg to learn more about the City's traffic management system and the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market.
Bob Stanway, the executive director of transport, spoke about the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit system, which Joburg has just started implementing. To be developed in two phases, once complete the system will cover 330 kilometres. Four other cities in South Africa were implementing BRT systems – Cape Town, Tshwane, Durban and Bloemfontein – in preparation for the 2010 Fifa World Cup™, Stanway confirmed.
Phase one of Joburg's BRT would be completed by April 2009, in time for the Confederations Cup, phase two by April 2010, in time for the World Cup.
Also on the cards was an advance traffic management system that would be upgraded over the next four years. Once in place, the system would run off a shared database that would have benefits across City structures, said Liam Clarke, Johannesburg Roads Agency's general executive manger for business implementation.
Finally, the Hanoi delegation learned about the structures and functions of the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market by its chief executive officer, Kgosientso Ramokgopa. The market is the largest in Africa and the fifth largest in the world by volume.
Led by the vice-chairman of the People Council of Hanoi City, Le Quang Nhue, the Vietnamese visitors were in the country for three days, during which they also went to Tshwane.
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