Pathways and opportunities for collaboration and partnerships towards improved service delivery in local government

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What is "collaborative governance"?

What is 'collaborative governance'?

As the name suggests, "collaborative governance" denotes government (municipalities and other organs of state), the community and private sector communicating and working with each other towards the achievement of a shared goal – one that is unlikely to be achieved with only one of these actors on board. Collaborative governance is particularly important for the achievement of environmental sustainability and environmentally-relevant goals in the municipality to the extent that the behaviour, activities and decisions of the municipality, the community and the private sector all have a potential direct or indirect impact on the state of the environment. It follows that there is a close link between active citizenship, public participation and collaborative governance.

Basis in South African law and policy

CONSTITUTION

The phrase "collaborative governance" does not appear in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. However, quite a few of its provisions call for inclusivity in decision-making and developmental local government attuned to the needs and involvement of government and others. The Constitution similarly calls for collaboration among all three spheres (national, provincial and local) and all three branches of government (the executive, the legislature and the judiciary).

Section 152(1) of the Constitution requires every municipality to encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in matters of local government. This would include environmentally relevant matters such as service delivery, conservation measures and mechanisms to change environmentally harmful conduct in formal and informal areas of the town or city. Chapter 3 of the Constitution stipulates several principles for co-operative government and intergovernmental relations among the different organs of state, specifically. Section 195(1) of the Constitution calls upon municipalities and others organs of state to respond to the needs of communities and to encourage public involvement in policy-making. The Constitution accordingly does not command collaborative governance in the strict sense of the word, but it does envision a democracy where government and communities (including the private sector) join hands in achieving objectives in the interest of society. These would include the objective to create and maintain an environment that is not harmful to human health or well-being as being entrenched as a right in s 24 of the Constitution.

LEGISLATION

As with the Constitution, "collaborative governance" is not explicitly provided for in the suite of local government legislation in South Africa. However, at least three pieces of legislation explicitly acknowledge the importance of involving other stakeholders in the operation of local government. These include:

Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000 (ss 2 and 5, chapter 4)
Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998 (ss 19, 44 and 56)
Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 (s 22)

DOMESTIC POLICY

The White Paper on Local Government, 1998 is the main policy instrument that established developmental local government after the demise of apartheid. The White Paper calls for and highlights various collaborative approaches including, for example, community development corporations, training and capacity-building initiatives and value-adding initiatives. The White Paper underscores that marginalised and excluded communities must be empowered through local government to become dynamic and equal participants in the processes which affect them.

The National Development Plan of South Africa – Vision 2030 (NDP) as well as the Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF), 2016 in combination reiterates the need for all South Africans to be 'active citizens' and to exercise (co-)leadership throughout society. Furthermore it is stated that people in South Africa (local communities and the private sector alike), should use the avenues provided for in legislation and policy to help shape governance processes and hold government (including municipalities) to account for the quality of services it delivers. The IUDF shares the sentiment that participation of local stakeholders in local government activities, as well as decision-making processes, advances the rights and responsibilities of communities. The focus is on improved services and quality of life, but also on social inclusion, cohesion and integration.

Collaborative governance: role of local government

The role of the municipality in collaborative governance for local environmental sustainability entails:

Diligent compliance with legal requirements for public participation and community engagement
Creative initiatives where the involvement of the community and private sector may strenghten municipality's hands
Explore the use of legal instruments such as Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and local policies
To financially support bottom-up community initiatives as far as resources allow
To identify and set targets for priorities of the municipality that may benefit from collaboration e.g. with local businesses, schools, universities or community-based organisations
To celebrate and disseminate information about collaborative projects and programmes to encourage expansion

Collaborative governance: role of local stakeholders

The role of the community and private sector in collaborative governance for local environmental sustainability entails:

Change mindsets about whose responsibility sound environmental governance is. It is not only the responsibility of the municipality and broader government
To be bold in expectations about what can be achieved in collaboration with the municipality as far as it concerns means to conserve natural resources or to prevent and minimise waste and different forms of pollution
To contribute financially to community and local government initiatives as far as resources allow
To be aware of, and internalise the objectives and vision of the municipality as articulated in its Integrated Development Plan (IDP), annual budget and Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP), for example

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Public Private Partnerships (PPPs)

A public-private partnership (PPP) is a contract between a municipality and a private party where the private party performs a function that is usually provided by the municipality and or uses municipal property in terms of the PPP agreement.

In a PPP, most of the project risk (technical, financial and operational) is transferred to the private party. However, the municipality pays for a full set of services, including new infrastructure, maintenance and facilities management. In a traditional local government project, the public sector pays for the capital and operating costs and carries the risks of cost overruns and late delivery. It follows that PPPs are essentially implemented by way of procurement processes.

PPPs are useful tools by means of which the public and private sectors can pool and coordinate their financial and technological resources more efficiently towards an environmentally safe and healthy local area. However, the environmental relevance of these PPPs will differ from one project to the next. As such, they may have positive and negative environmental implications. It is, therefore vital to identify the environmental regulatory framework for a project to ensure legal compliance and the minimisation of adverse environmental impacts stemming from the project.

Typical examples of environmentally relevant PPPs in local government include PPPs on waste management as one of the most complex services that municipalities should provide.

Notably, there is a legal framework applicable to PPPs involving municipalities which include, for example, the Municipal Public-Private Partnerships Regulations, 2005 (GN R309 in GG 27431 of 1 April 2005), chapter 11 of the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 and the Municipal Supply Chain Management Regulations (GN R868 in GG 27636 of 30 May 2005).

Extended Public Work Programme (EPWP)

The South African government's Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) has its origins in the Growth and Development Summit of 2003 where it was agreed that so-called public works programmes could provide poverty and income relief through temporary work for the unemployed to carry out socially and environmentally useful activities. The EPWP is a key government initiative with the priorities being decent work and sustainable livelihoods, education, health; rural development; food security and land reform as well as the fight against crime and corruption.

The EPWP is of direct relevance to improved local environmental governance although it is not driven by municipalities themselves. The EPWP involves community members (as envisaged in the Constitution and several pieces of local government and environmental legislation) for improved local environments. Several of the sub-programmes bear relevance to the environment, including:

Working for Water (focused on the reduction of invasive plant species to help improve water security and prevent soil erosion)
Working on Fire (focused on the prevention and control of wildfires)
Working for Wetlands (focused on effective and sustainable wetland rehabilitation)
Working for the Forest (focused on sustainable development and management of new afforestation and sustainable forest resource use)
Working for the Coast (focused on the overall healthy and sustainable development of South Africa's coastal environments)

Nothing prevents municipalities from becoming directly involved in the roll-out and implementation of these EPWP sub-programmes in the name of cooperative (environmental) governance as called for in chapter 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

Active Citizenship

Whilst active citizenship is not a local governance tool as such, it is at the heart of what is envisaged for developmental local government in South Africa. It is closely related to public participation, but it goes beyond the formalised requirements for the participation of interested and affected parties in the decisions and planning of the municipality. Active citizenship in the environmental governance context can be described as a process whereby people get involved in their local communities and democracy at all levels of government, including at the level of municipalities. Citizens take co-ownership for the ways in which environmental management priorities are set and implemented. Active citizenship is one of the most important steps towards healthy and environmentally sustainable societies especially in democracies that are still relatively young.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 states in s 195 that the public administration (also in local government) should be accountable and that people's needs must be responded to whilst the public must be encouraged to participate in policy-making. The same provision reiterates that public administration must be development-oriented. This constitutional imperative is further elaborated on in several local government policies and law. For example, in addition to the extensive attention paid to public participation in chapter 4 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000, the Act makes it clear in its definition of a municipality (s 2) that local communities form part and parcel of 'the municipality'. The Local Government: Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998 requires a municipal council to annually review not only the needs of the community and the municipality's priorities to meet those needs, but also the processes for involving the community (s 19(2)). In terms of ss 44 and 45, the Executive Committee / Executive Mayor must further annually report on the involvement of communities and community organisations in the affairs of the municipality.

Similarly the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 highlights the involvement of local communities in the financial affairs of the municipality. The input of local stakeholders is a requirement for the adoption of the annual budget and local communities must, therefore, allow community members to participate and comment on the budget, and such views must be considered. One of the strongest articulations of active citizenship is in the White Paper on Local Government, 1998 where the call is made for marginalised and excluded communities to be empowered through local government to become dynamic and equal participants in the processes which affect them. This should also be read with the environmental principle devoted to inclusive decision-making in s 2 of the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998. The White Paper on Local Government further prescribes that local stakeholders can facilitate active participation in the affairs of the municipality at four levels:

By voting
Through decision-making
As end-users
In partnership

Pathways and Opportunities for Collaboration

SARChI CLES Chair