KNYSNA NEWS - The Western Cape Government's decision to place the Knysna Municipality under administration follows an all too familiar pattern in South Africa.
In 2024, an overwhelming majority of South African municipalities found themselves wanting in terms of performance, with a paltry 16% (41 out of 257) receiving clean audits.
Though overall the Western Cape compares favourably with other provinces, the Auditor-General's Consolidated General Report on Local Government Audit Outcomes 2023/24 shows there has been a notable regression in five provincial municipalities since the 2020/21 outcomes were released.
These are the Central Karoo District Municipality and the Cederberg, Theewaterskloof, Kannaland and Laingsburg local municipalities.
While only four Western Cape municipalities (13%) had material findings on their performance reports, seven (23%) required material adjustments to their performance reports to avoid receiving any material findings, compared with four (13%) in 2020/21.
Citing the reasons for placing Knysna Municipality under administration, the Western Cape MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell, said there had been a raft of systemic governance issues blighting performance.
Among them was neglection of duty in effectively planning, implementing and monitoring service delivery in alignment with legal, regulatory and community expectations.
Muhammad Ali
South African standardisation expert Muhammad Ali, MD of World Wide Industrial Systems & Engineers (WWISE), believes the absence of robust, standards-based performance management is at the heart of the country's growing municipal productivity crisis.
Ali has spent years analysing public sector productivity data across Africa and globally. His findings show that South African municipalities lag behind countries like Algeria and Mauritius, where state departments have adopted key performance indicators (KPIs), performance-based budgeting and annual staff appraisals.
In contrast, Ali says South Africa's performance systems often fail to reach operational levels, and individual development plans lack focus on leadership, motivation or communication.
Add budget constraints and widespread vacancies - particularly among critical roles like engineers - and poor service delivery becomes inevitable.
"Globally, the benchmark is one engineer per 1 000 to 1 500 people. In South Africa, it's one per 3 166," Ali explains. "At the same time, 46% of our water systems are at critical or high risk, compared with global norms where most are stable."
Ali is urging municipalities to implement ISO standards, including:
• ISO 30414 (human capital metrics)
• ISO 30408 (human governance)
• ISO 30409 (workforce planning)
• ISO 23326 (employee engagement).
He claims these could raise clean audit outcomes from 16% to 90% over time.
However, the model requires commitment: a three-year plan, costing R150m to R200m, focusing on skills transfer and embedded implementation, not just consulting.
"This isn't a quick fix," Ali says. "But it's the only way to achieve lasting change and rebuild public trust in service delivery."
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