The role of project and performance management within the integrated development planning process : case study of Tshwane Metropolitan municipality

Abstract

Since the general elections in 1994, the context of Local Government planning has changed in South Africa. With the current city-to-city or wall-to-wall jurisdiction areas, municipal planning is experiencing new challenges in providing basic services effectively. Municipalities are mandated by various legislative acts to become more developmental. In assisting them with the increased pressure to effectively deliver basic services and clear the current service backlogs, the Municipal Structures Act mandates the implementation of Integrated Development Plans (lDP) as the main planning instrument for a municipal area. According to the Municipal Systems Act 1998 (Act No. 117 of 1998), every newly elected council that comes into office after the election of the Local Government must prepare its own lDP. The created lDP will guide the development of the municipality for a five-year period. The lDP assesses an entire municipal area, determining all the needs of the community. With these needs determined and assessed, the process incorporates the projects and funds needed to alleviate the backlog that has occurred in the municipal area. It is a process of understanding and defining the problems and needs of the people, and ensuring that the situation improves. Along with the implementation of lDPs, the Municipal Structures Act also mandates the implementation of performance management systems within the structures of the municipality. Currently, not a week passes without a news headline announcing that in one of the municipal areas of South Africa social unrest is high because of the lack of service delivery from the relevant municipality. As the lDP has been implemented to address these problems the question can be asked: "Why, if the lDP process is implemented within most municipalities today, are there still issues being raised in relation to the non-compliance and lack of services delivery by municipalities?" This question in itself is difficult to answer, and there are hundreds of possible answers. The aim of this study will not be to find solutions to the lack of service delivery, but to evaluate the lDP process as well as the performance management systems in theory. There are various legislative acts and policy documents that state and mandate the use of these processes. Along with this are various guidelines that have been formulated to assist municipalities to successfully implement the lDP and a performance management system. The implementation of these two related processes will then be evaluated as formulated in the Fourth Revised lDP document of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (CoT). This will provide a basic indication as to how the processes have been taken from theory and guidelines to actual implementation. The central aim of the study will be to establish if the municipality actually used and implemented the guidelines as prescribed for the lDP process and performance management system. Even if the study does not aim to provide answers to the reasons related to poor service delivery and the lDP process, the assessment will provide insight into the formulation of these two processes. Recommendations will also be made in the conclusion chapter of the study.