Good Governance and Oversight
Good governance is at the heart of the effective functioning of every municipality.

Driven by growing customer expectations, the efficiency and effectiveness of public service delivery are increasingly seen as key metrics of public sector performance. Addressing this issue is therefore a stated priority in most countries.

So you ask why should municipalities be constantly monitored and evaluated on their ability to carry out the following basics functions as outlined below?

• The holding of Council meetings as legislated.
• The functionality of oversight structures, S79 committees, audit committees and Inter Governmental (IGR) and District Forums.
• Progress reports delivered to the community monthly outlining serving delivery and financial health of the municipality.
• The existence and efficiency of anti-corruption measures.
• The extent to which there is compliance with legislation and the enforcement of by-laws.
• The rate of service delivery protests and approaches to address them.

Public participation
To ensure that municipalities are held accountable they must engage with their communities regularly by using efficient communication systems to  disseminate urgent information. The basic measures to be monitored include:

• Community satisfaction surveys
• Effective public participation programmes

Financial management
Sound financial management is integral to the success of local government. Performance against the following basic indicators will be constantly assessed:

• Whether the budgets are realistic and based on cash available.
• The percentage revenue collected.
• The extent to which debt is serviced.
• The efficiency and functionality of supply chain management.

Institutional capacity
There has to be a focus on building strong municipal administrative systems and processes. It includes ensuring that administrative positions are filled with competent and committed people whose performance is closely monitored. 

Targeted and measurable training and capacity building will be provided for councillors and municipal officials so that they are able to deal with the challenges of local governance as well as ensuring that scarce skills are addressed through bursary and training programmes. 

The basic requirements to be monitored include:

• Ensuring that the top six posts (Municipal Manager, Finance, Infrastructure Corporate Services, Community development and Development Planning) are filled by competent and qualified persons.
• That the municipal organograms are realistic, underpinned by a service delivery model and affordable.
• That there are implementable human resources development and management programmes.
• There are sustained platforms to engage organised labour to minimise disputes and disruptions.
• Importance of establishing resilient systems such as billing.