Last week marked the beginning of a round of community meetings between residents and Makana Municipality.
Last week marked the beginning of a round of community meetings between residents and Makana Municipality.
The municipality went from ward to ward to present its Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and budget for the next financial year. But why should local residents be concerned?
The IDP meetings provides residents with an opportunity to influence the manner and pace in which the municipal area is developed as the IDP should reflect their inputs. The IDP is a five-year plan which informs the current council’s programmes to develop the city and in turn guides the municipality in terms of deciding which projects to include in its annual budgets.
The law requires municipalities to develop a culture of community participation and stipulate processes which they should set in motion to encourage and create conditions for the local community to participate in the affairs of the municipality.
Chapter four of the Municipal Systems Act of 2000 compels municipalities to involve the local community in the preparation, implementation and review of their budgets and IDPs and outlines mechanisms which should be employed to achieve this. It further states that a municipality should contribute funds towards “building the capacity of the local community to enable it to participate in the affairs of the municipality”.
Section 16 compels councillors and staff to allocate funds and resources in the municipality’s annual budget to foster community participation. “A municipality must establish appropriate mechanisms, processes and procedures to enable the local community to participate in the affairs of the municipality,” reads section 17.
The municipality is required to notify the community timeously about public meetings and hearings by the municipal council and other political structures of the municipality by placing notices in the local media. The municipality is further required to hold consultative sessions with locally recognised community organisations including traditional authorities, where appropriate, and report back to the local community.
To illustrate the fact that the views of the community are taken into consideration when developing an IDP, Ward 5 residents complained during the 2006 local government elections that they need a community hall in their area. The project subsequently found its way into the municipality’s IDP and the result is that a hall is being built in Extension 9 to serve the residents of Transit Camp and Extensions 8 and 9.
Most projects which are currently underway in Makana, such as the housing developments in Fingo, Eluxolweni and Transit Camp originate from community input during previous meetings.
