“Towards the Greater Professionalisation of Senior Municipal Managers”

Yunus Carrim
Deputy Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA
June 2011

Never before, as now, have we been under so much pressure to accelerate service delivery and development. And never before, as now, has your role been so important. We are emerging from probably the most remarkable elections since 1994. Against considerable odds, we had a poll of 57,54% - about 10% more than in previous elections. It was the most peaceful elections ever. There has been no major contestation of the results. It is the people, ultimately, who were the real stars of these elections and democracy the winner.

But if people came out in their surprising numbers to vote, it was often a grudging, conditional vote. Many were saying we’re voting for you – but we want to see better results. Deliver – or else! And they are right! As much as we have delivered, we simply have to deliver more! And faster!
We’re in this boat together, we politicians - in all three spheres, may I add - and you managers. We simply have to do more, better, faster, smarter. As politicians we can get  mandates from and report back to the people and we can provide overall direction to you, and we need to do this far more actively and effectively, but, we rely, ultimately, on you to deliver, and, in some fundamental respects, you are more important than us. In any case, we come and go, sometimes rapidly too, but most of you stay, and with the new legislation emerging, this will be increasingly so.

So it is that I particularly welcome your decision to have your Conference so soon after the local government elections and, even more, on the very necessary theme of “Breaking New Ground through Professionalisation of Local Government”. Breaking new ground is most certainly necessary if local government is to significantly improve service delivery and development. I will talk today briefly on “Towards the Greater Professionalisation  of Senior Municipal Managers”. By “senior municipal managers” I mean the municipal manager and the managers directly accountable to the municipal manager – the section 57 (of The Municipal Systems Act) managers, as we colloquially speak of them.
Of the senior managers posts, CoGTA feels the municipal manager, CFO (Chief Financial Officer), human resources manger, head of planning, head of engineering and head of communications are crucial.

CoGTA believes that you are a crucial organization in ensuring that senior municipal managers play an effective role in accelerating service delivery and development in local government.  We value your organization and want to partner with you more effectively. Unfortunately, because of other pressing commitments, Minister Nathi Mthethwa is unable to be here today. He asked me to convey his apologies and his very best wishes to you.

 Distinct but Interdependent Roles of Senior Managers and Councillors
It is clear from CoGTA’s (Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department) 2009 “The State of Local Government” Report, that constituted the basis of the LGTAS (Local Government Turnaround Strategy), and from much else, that the blurring of the roles of senior managers and councilors has served to hamper the effective functioning of municipalities. Councils and, where appropriate, executive committees are meant to provide political and strategic oversight of the municipal administration and senior managers in particular. Councils finalise the recruitment and appointment policies of the municipalities, and they appoint the municipal manager and managers directly accountable to the municipal manager. But it’s not for councilors to micro-manage senior managers and the administration or interfere in their role. Councilors should not be deciding on who gets appointed below the level of senior managers or on who gets tenders. Their task is to shape the policies on these issues and the criteria for decisions, and exercise the necessary oversight.

 A framework for the role and responsibilities of municipal managers, as distinct from councilors, is set out in The Municipal Systems Act, particularly in sections 50, 51, 53, 55, 59 and 66. The Municipal Finance Management Act is also relevant in this regard. CoGTA is to discuss with stakeholders whether we should go beyond the framework, and, within the constitutional constraints, be more specific in the legislation in more clearly separating the role of councilors and administrators.
As part of the process of responding to the blurring of the roles of councilors and administrators, The Municipal Systems Amendment Bill passed in parliament recently, prohibits office-bearers of political parties from serving as senior municipal managers. By office-bearers of political parties is meant chairpersons, deputy chairpersons, secretaries, deputy secretaries, treasurers and any other designations of office-bearers.  Ordinary executive committee members of political parties  are not prohibited from serving as senior managers.

Among the reasons for the prohibition are:
    •    The need for clearer lines of demarcation between councilors and the municipal administration.
    •    Key office-bearers of political structures are deployed as senior managers, even if they do not have the necessary skills or experience.
    •    The need to professionalize the municipal administration and regulate human resource issues to ensure more effective and efficient service delivery. 
    •    In many municipalities, mayors are ordinary members of political parties while senior managers are political office-bearers. These senior managers often refuse to act on certain key instructions from Mayors (or senior councilors). Sometimes they say, “No we are not going to do this, the party has not agreed, and we deployed you, and can dismiss you.” The balance of power undermines the functioning of municipalities. In the municipality the Mayor is the “boss”, and in the ANC structures the senior manager is the “boss”.
    •    Often, political office-bearers take their cue from the party executives and other structures rather than mayors (and senior councilors).       
People will still have a choice – they can either be political office-bearers or senior managers.

There is a  somewhat different, but, ultimately similar, prohibition on DGs in the national and provincial spheres being office-bearers of political parties anyway. There is absolutely no intention to restrict ordinary municipal staff from serving as office-bearers of political parties. That would be unconstitutional anyway.
Of course, political parties should exercise political and strategic oversight of the municipalities they win. There are many ways political parties can do this, including by monitoring the performance of councilors in a variety of ways. But this should not entail allocating office-bearers to serve as senior managers. In any case, these office bearers are supposed to be providing leadership to the party structures, not become absorbed in the day-to-day management of municipalities.

SAMWU has raised objections to this and other provisions relating to collective bargaining issues in the Bill. These matters are being addressed in negotiations between the ANC and SAMWU. SAMWU is a key ally of the ANC, and a major partner in making local government work more effectively, and it’s important that the differences be amicably addressed. CoGTA will also play whatever role it can to address SAMWU’s concerns.
It should be stressed too that if councilors should not take over the role of senior municipal managers, managers should also not stray into the political role of councilors. With the majority of councilors being sworn in after the elections being new, senior managers might be tempted to unduly influence the political direction of the council. Senior managers must provide technical assistance and advise councilors, but it’s the elected councilors who must make the political decisions. 

Ultimately, whatever the legislation, it is crucial that councilors and senior managers fully understand, accept and respect their respective distinct and interdependent roles. Getting this relationship right is fundamental to ensuring accelerated service delivery and development. This issue will be part of the focus of the induction and ongoing education and training programmes of councilors and senior managers.

Appointment of Competent Senior Managers
As a key part of professionalizing the administration, we also have to ensure that there are competent senior managers. In terms of the Municipal Systems Amendment Bill, the Minister, will, in future, after consultation with National Treasury SALGA, ILGM, IMFO and other stakeholders, regulate minimum skills, expertise, competencies and qualifications for the appointment of senior municipal managers. Councils would not be able to appoint senior managers who do not meet these criteria. There will also have to be better alignment between regulations passed in terms of the Municipal Systems Act and Municipal Finance Management Act.

To reduce nepotism and encourage the appointment of suitably qualified people, posts will in future have to be advertised nationally, not just locally. If a suitable person is not found to fill a post, a municipality may request an MEC or Minister to second a person to the post until a suitable candidate has been appointed. Within 14 days of the appointment of a senior manager, the MEC has to be informed of the appointment process and outcome. In turn, the MEC must within 14 days inform the Minister. If a person is appointed as a senior manager without meeting the requirements of the legislation, the MEC or Minister has to take appropriate action. Of course, a municipality may, in special cases. apply for exemption from provisions of the legislation, if it is clearly unable to attract suitable candidates.

As you well know, municipalities do not finalise performance agreements with senior managers for months on end. The Bill requires that the performance agreements be signed within 60 days, failing which the appointment lapses.
Give the huge controversy over the remuneration of senior municipal managers and the need to ensure a measure of uniformity across similar municipalities, the Minister may regulate the duties, remuneration, benefits and other terms and conditions of employment of senior municipal managers. Obviously, should the Minister do so, he will take into account market issues; the need to attract skilled senior managers; the specific challenges of smaller, particularly rural municipalities, in drawing suitably qualified candidates; the category, type and size of a municipality; and other issues. Moreover, if the Minister regulates, he will do so after consultation with National Treasury, SALGA, your organization, IMFO and other stakeholders.    

Need to Retain Senior Managers
There is far too high a turn-over of senior municipal managers. We need to ensure those appointed are suitably qualified for senior managers’ posts. But just as important, that they stay in their posts for a reasonable time. Whatever skills and qualifications a person has, to be an effective senior municipal manager usually requires about 5 years. We are aware this is not simply because senior managers are constantly searching for better options. It’s the five-year fixed term contracts that make them feel insecure. But they are also vulnerable because they can get removed with changes in the local leadership of political parties. Most times, where managers are paid off for the remainder of their contracts, it is an unnecessary financial burden on a municipality.

Sometimes several senior municipal managers get replaced at more or less the same time, causing a loss of significant skills, experience and institutional memory. Senior municipal managers often start looking for alternative jobs about a year or more before their contracts expire, in case they are not renewed. This uncertainty and the search for alternative options means that towards the end of a senior manger’s contract, the prospects of getting the best from her or her is reduced, and   service delivery can be undermined.

To encourage stability, the Municipal Systems Amendment Bill provides for managers accountable to the municipal manager to in future be appointed to permanent, not fixed term, posts. Municipal managers will still be appointed on five- year fixed-term renewable contracts.
But obviously the legislative amendment is not enough. Councilors and political parties have crucial roles to play in contributing to the stability and productivity of senior municipal managers. We are appealing to the newly elected councilors not to arbitrarily replace qualified senior municipal managers. The majority of councilors will be serving their first term, and so the need to retain effective senior managers is even more necessary.
It also needs to be drawn to the attention of councillors that in terms of MFMA regulations, there is a target to ensure that all senior managers have adequate qualifications, skills and experience by the end of December 2012. Unnecessarily, removing senior managers will undermine the achievement of what is, in any case, a difficult target. 

 CoGTA is also considering working with SALGA, ILGM, IMFO and other stakeholders to develop a national database of senior managers who are employable.
Other Aspects of the Greater Professionalisation of Senior Managers
There are many other aspects of the greater professionalization of senior managers that CoGTA and your organization can together work on. These would include:
    •    There has to be ongoing upgrading of the skills and qualifications of senior managers. Much money and resources have been expended on the education and training of senior managers, but it’s not clear what the outcomes are.  We need both new, more effective programmes and new ways of conducting them. We need to consider reviving LOGOLA as public school for local government.  The CoGTA Directorate for  Local Government Support and Capacity Building will be holding discussions with the Department of Higher Education and Training and the Local Government SETA on 24 June to discuss this. We will work closer with you, SALGA and other stakeholders in this regard.
    •    We also need to work together on how we approach universities, colleges and other institutions to produce more suitably qualified people so that the pool of skills is improved. We need to bring together work we are doing on a skills audit.
    •    Your organization can also play an important role in encouraging greater ethical conduct among senior municipal managers. Interestingly, in your submission to the parliamentary public hearings on coordinated service delivery in 2009, you suggested that you would submit to CoGTA proposals for a clearer code of conduct that promotes ethical standards in the sector. We want to take this further with you.
    •    We understand that you are sometimes put under pressure by councilors to act in ways that are not consistent with the MFMA(Municipal Finance Management Act). But you are the accounting officers and you have to be responsible. You can be vulnerable for not complying with councilors at times, but you can also be vulnerable if you do. You can’t simply say you are a helpless victim. And it is for us in national and provincial government to work with councilors to ensure that you have the space to properly fulfill your role as accounting officers.
    •    CoGTA believes that the professional associations of senior municipal mangers should play a far more active role in your ongoing education and training, and should also contribute to the ethical awareness of senior managers. We also feel that senior municipal mangers should belong to their respective professional associations, and if appropriate, this could be made a condition for those being appointed in future.   
    •    To reduce unnecessary administrative and bureaucratic burdens on municipal managers, CoGTA is working with other departments in trying to rationalize the number of reports you have to do, so that your role is more that of activists focusing on service delivery and development rather than being caught up in preparing or overseeing the processing of endless reports.
    •    There has been progress on the Operation Clean Audit campaign, but we still have a long way to go. We need your greater cooperation in this campaign. The success of the Operation Clean Audit campaign, will both contribute to and reflect the greater professionalization of senior municipal managers.
    •    For senior municipal managers to earn respect, you also need to treat staff below you fairly and professionally. You need to avoid being nepotistic and ensure that you appoint suitable people to posts. But also you have to appoint them to vacancies that exist in terms of the staff establishment. In terms of the Municipal Systems Amendment Bill,  municipal councils are clearly required to approve a staff establishment structure and no person may be employed to posts not provided for in the structure. The Bill also provides that people responsible for such appointments may be held personally responsible for irregular or fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
    •    It’s also relevant to mention that the Bill also provides that any staff member dismissed for misconduct will, depending on its nature, not be able to be employed in a municipality before a particular period of time.  Municipalities will have to provide quarterly reports on misconduct cases to MECs who will inform the Minister. CoGTA will prepare a national database of all staff dismissed or who resigned prior to the finalization of their cases.
    •    You also need to treat the municipal trade unions in a professional manner. Unions are an important ally in ensuring the success of municipalities. Of course, relating to unions can be very challenging, but finding effective relationships is very important.  The CoGTA State of Local Government in South Africa Report revealed that there are not effective Local Labour Forums in many municipalities. You need to address this matter.
    •    Treating residents with the respect they deserve is also part of the greater professionalisation of senior municipal managers. Together with councilors, municipal managers have a very important role in responding appropriately to community protests. Of course, it is not easy to do this, but you have to find ways to meet the challenges. Without active community participation, local government will not succeed.
 
 Some Responses to ILGM Issues Raised
In your submission to the 2009 parliamentary public hearings on coordinated service delivery, you also raised the following issues:
    •    The need for accredited National Skills Assessment Centres to supplement selection and appointment procedures for senior municipal managers to ensure that competent appointments are made.
    •    The improvement of mechanisms for assessing training service providers in cooperation with CoGTA, the South African Cities Network and LGSETA to ensure the service providers offer programmes of a suitable quality and value, with the necessary practical outcomes.
    •    The need to ensure a clear separation of powers, with the council exercising legislative authority more effectively and the exco exercising executive authority.
    •    Partnering with CoGTA in the maintenance of a national database of senior municipal managers who are employable.
As CoGTA we are very keen to engage with you further on these issues. We would like to meet with the ILGM leadership shortly to take this further.
In his address at the national conference of the iLGM on 17 November 2010, Minister Shiceka identified the following, among other, issues:
    •    Create a better policy and legislative environment for senior municipal mangers to function in a more professional manner.
    •    Ensure that critical senior municipal managers posts are filled as a matter of urgency.
    •    Prohibit office-bearers of political parties from serving as senior municipal managers.
    •    Strengthen municipal financial management systems so that by 2014 the vision of Clean Audit is realized.
    •    Strengthen ward committees.
Of course, since then there has been progress:
    •    The Municipal Systems Amendment Bill is part of the process of creating a better environment for the greater professionalization of senior municipal managers.
    •    The Bill also deals with the prohibition of office bearers of political parties from serving as senior municipal managers.
    •    CoGTA has developed a concept paper on strengthening ward committees. We are currently processing this through the CoGTA structures. We will in due course engage with you and other stakeholders on the proposals that are emerging. Some of the key decisions to be taken will have to wait on guidelines from the ANC’s 2012 National Conference.   
    •    In respect of the filling in of vacancies for the top six critical posts in municipalities, these are the figures for posts occupied by March this year we have:
    •    82% of municipal managers.
    •    85% of CFOs
    •    39% of communication posts.
    •    120 municipalities have filled development and town planning posts.
    •    Regarding  the Operation Clean Audit  campaign, the following progress is recorded:
    •    Functional internal audit units have been established in 263 municipalities, and 268 municipalities have established functional audit committees.
    •    In the 2009/10 financial year, the number of municipalities with audit disclaimers was reduced by more than 50% from the previous year. In 2009/10, 53 municipalities received disclaimers compared to 103 municipalities in 2008/9. Importantly, the number of municipalities that received financially unqualified reports but with findings increased from 113 to 120. Municipalities with Clean Audits increased from 4 to 7 in the same period.
•  CoGTA is working with National Treasury, the Auditor General’s Office, SALGA (South African Local Government Association) and other institutions to ensure the development of skills. Among other aspects are the following:
    •    Cooperation with National Treasury and University of Witwatersrand to provide a Certificate Programme in Management Development for Municipal Finance.
    •    Cooperation with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants on  the Local Government Accounting Certificate for municipal finance officials below accountants  - debtors' control clerks, tender staff, cashiers, bank reconciliation administrators and others.  This is a SAQA (South African Qualifications Authority) recognised qualification at NQF (National Qualifications Framework) level 3. The current intake is 2000 learners in the 12 months programme which involves both contact training and workplace practical training.
    •    An advanced certificate at NQF level 4 is being piloted for learners who have already completed the certificate. There were 110 learners last year in this programme, which seeks to provide a more in-depth knowledge and competence of key technical areas of accounting  - for example, presentation of financial data, operating a computerised accounting system, recording and evaluating costs and revenues, etc.

Towards a More Effective Partnership between CoGTA and ILGM
While we need to address all the issues raised here and other issues, we also need to locate them in the context of the LGTAS. We need to prioritise and emphasise different issues and allocate resources taking into account the LGTAS. The more we address these specific issues, the more we advance and deepen the LGTAS, and the more we deepen and advance the LGTAS, the more we create the conditions to better address these issues.
CoGTA is, in the months ahead, in active cooperation with all the stakeholders, going to accelerate the LGTAS. Although over 90% of municipalities have adopted their municipal-specific turnaround strategies (MTAS), in terms of the LGTAS, and the majority has incorporated them into their IDPs, the MTAS are of uneven quality, and need to be significantly improved. They also need to involve far greater community participation to develop them further.
We call on the ILGM to play your full role in consolidating and strengthening the LGTAS and the MTAS. The success of municipalities depends significantly on the effective implementation of the LGTAS and MTAS.

More immediately we urge you to work with the councilors to ensure that the draft IDPs and budgets are processed expeditiously in time for the 1 July financial year deadline.
Clearly we need to work much more effectively together, CoGTA and ILGM. We need to explore the possibilities of our meeting more often, perhaps quarterly?
In conclusion, I return to the point I began with - our mutual interdependence as politicians and senior managers. We need each more than ever before! We’re in this together.  Let’s recognize this fully! And let’s act accordingly!