THE KZN MUNICIPAL OVERVIEW
LED projects help to empower rural communities
SERVICE DELIVERY FOR THE PEOPLE
Under the South African system of representative democracy, the local sphere of government has evolved to consist of 284 municipalities who have the right to govern their own communities, subject to national and provincial legislation.
Local government in KwaZulu-Natal is organised into the eThekwini Metropolitan Council, and ten district municipalities, namely: Amajuba; iLembe; Sisonke; Ugu; uMgungundlovu; uMkhanyakude; uMzinyathi; uThukela; uThungulu and Zululand. Each district is further divided into a varying number of local municipalities.
The goals of the local government system are to: provide democratic and accountable government for local communities; ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner; promote social and economic development; promote a safe and healthy living environment; and encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in the matters of local government.
Municipal elections are held every five years to elect the members of the district, metropolitan and local municipal councils, who, in turn, will elect the mayors of the municipalities to office. The South African municipal elections for all districts and local municipalities in all nine provinces were held in May 2011.
President Zuma stated that the new municipal officers will be expected to deliver on their mandates. "We have indeed done well in transforming governance in the national and provincial spheres," he said. "However, our research has indicated that we have to do a lot more to improve the way local government works."
INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT PLANS
All development in the province needs to be developed in accordance to national and provincial plans. These include the:
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Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (ASGISA)
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National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP)
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KZN Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS)
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Provincial Spatial Economic Development Framework (PSEDS)
These strategies have been tabled to all municipalities in the province and form the basis for a series of municipal development and growth summits that have been held. While urban areas in the province have good infrastructure and service delivery, past inequalities have left a legacy of problems, particularly in rural areas with low population densities.
President Zuma said, "Indeed we have done well as a country in only 17 years of freedom, but we know that many more South Africans still need water, electricity, sanitation, jobs and other basic necessities."(May 2011)
In order to plan for interventions to address municipal needs, local municipalities in South Africa use integrated development planning", as a method to plan and deliver future development in their areas. An Integrated Development Plan (IDP) is a wide-ranging plan for an area that gives a general framework for development. The plans aims to co-ordinate the work of local and other spheres of government in a coherent manner in order to improve the quality of life for all the people living in an area.
LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Local Economic Development (LED) has been identified as one of the key options that compel local areas to become more pro-active in developmental terms.
The objectives of LED are job creation; empowerment; economic growth, vitality and diversification in areas subject to recession. The overall aim is to establish the 'locality' as a vibrant, sustainable economic entity. By stimulating the local economy, increased revenue fromtaxes will be obtained, which in turn will provide resources LED projects help to empower rural communities for social services.
