SECTION 6: DISASTER MANAGEMENT
6.6 Community Priorities
Priority issues as raised by stakeholders across the municipality over the past few years include the following issues. These priorities should be addressed by all in the community.
a) Stimulation of the Economy
♦ Sustainable employment creation linked with skills training, and mentorship
♦ Plugging the leaks in the local economy
♦ Establishment of cooperatives
♦ Access to credit and banking services
♦ Business support services
♦ Marketing of the District
♦ Co-ordination, integration and alignment of budgets to enable comprehensive environmental planning that can stimulate economic growth
♦ Bringing marginalized groups into the mainstream of the economy;
♦ Diversification of the economy and broadening of the tax-base (develop clear strategies to deal with informal economy: hawkers);
♦ Focus areas: Agriculture (livestock improvement, agro-processing), Tourism (transformation and development), Labour-based programmes, Small and Medium business development (by-laws and support), Forestry.
b) Skills Development
♦ Increase skills levels especially among women, youth and the disabled
♦ Lack of access to further education
♦ Lack of technical skills e.g. engineers etc, as well as the retention of skills
♦ Focus skills development in areas of potential economic and social development
♦ Improve coordination between the Seta’s c) Environmental Protection
♦ The natural environment must be taken into account in all stages of project cycles
♦ Environmental sustainability must be taken into account.
♦ Efforts be made to conserve and rehabilitate land, biodiversity and historic places
♦ The protection of the environment in key to the economic growth of the area
♦ Waste Management, food hygiene, cleanliness and health safety should receive attention d) Economic Infrastructure
♦ Access to telecommunication services especially in remote areas
♦ Facilities to support economic development, including among others, agricultural infrastructure, hawker shelters, taxi facilities, airfields, SMME business premises, etc
♦ Fast-tracking the pace of electricity connections especially in rural areas
♦ Maintenance of electricity reticulation.
♦ Access to safe reliable water supplies
♦ Water for irrigation and agriculture
♦ Exploring alternative methods of service delivery
♦ State of streets in urban areas
♦ State of provincial trunk and main roads both tarred and gravel
♦ State of access roads in rural areas
♦ The need for the reclassification of roads
♦ The provision of accessible roads, especially to all social facilities and also, to the areas of high economic potential;
♦ The co-ordination of road maintenance, functional integration and alignment of budgets and programmes; and
♦ Emphasis on roads in the Elundini and Senqu municipal areas.
e) Water and Sanitation Provision
♦ Eradication of the bucket system
♦ Provision of potable water
♦ Improved Operation and Maintenance of all water and sanitation schemes;
♦ Extension of water services to those areas where there is a high risk of waterborne disease
♦ Provision of improved sanitation where there are currently bucket systems or dense rural communities
♦ Drought relief
♦ Recovery of payment for services
♦ Sourcing of additional funds in order to meet targets f) Social Infrastructure
♦ Facilities to support social development including among others sports fields, housing, libraries, clinics, hospices, schools etc
♦ Accessibility to basic facilities by the elderly and disabled
♦ Maintenance of social facilities such as clinics and schools
♦ Exploring alternative methods of service delivery
g) Addressing Social Issues
♦ Mainstreaming of HIV and AIDS issues in a holistic manner, taking into account the dimensions of poverty, health, prevention and effective treatment of disease
♦ Land Reform; including commonage issues, acquisition of land for black farmers (particularly women), and land claims
♦ Welfare services especially in support of people accessing Identity Documents and social grants
♦ Provision of adequate sporting opportunities and facilities
♦ Facilities or systems development for the care of elderly, orphans, vulnerable children and youth
♦ Safety and security issues, addressing crime and the prevention of disasters
♦ Ensure the social plight of women, youth and disabled receive attention and that programmes are responsive to their needs
♦ Protection of the socio-economic rights of residents (as defined in the constitution, including housing, healthcare, food, water, social security, education and just administrative action)
♦ Effective response to disasters
♦ Improvement of health services to all communities
♦ Retraining and attracting qualified professionals especially doctors, nurses and teachers h) Building Partnerships, Relations and Improving Cooperation and Coordination
♦ Co-ordination of sector Department activities, functional integration and alignment of budgets and programmes;
♦ Streamlining of programmes between government Departments so that the impact on the ground is larger
♦ Realignment of some government Departments and community activities to fit the District boundary (e.g. Department of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Correctional Services)
♦ Co-ordination of other District municipalities activities, functional integration and alignment of budgets and programmes;
♦ Co-ordination of local municipality activities, their functional integration into District-wide systems and alignment of budgets and programmes between the local municipalities;
♦ Functional integration of specific interest groups into municipal affairs
♦ Support and capacity building to the four local municipalities.
♦ Building of partnerships with external organisations especially in the areas of economic development.
♦ Use of joint ventures to enable local organisations to partner with other larger external partners when procuring
i) Access to Information
Improved communications from government
Improved communication between spheres and sectors of government Improved awareness by communities around programmes being implemented j) Institutional Capacity Development
Improve systems and processes to support local government and the way communities operate Organisational restructuring of government to address the priority needs
Financial efficiency of government improved to facilitate conduits for flows of money Build better customer relationship with the public, government and other stakeholders
Improve the way in which government money is being spent to maximize its impact.
Increase the proportion of women, youth and disabled being employed in government Support the development of District wide organisations
Increase the ability of government to deliver on its mandates
Improve the capacity which traditional leaders and designated groups k) Democratic Governance
Support for the improvement of democracy and Local Government leadership Improve the ethics used in management and governance
Improve skills in governance
Improved understanding of developmental local government More participation in affairs of government by communities Stronger political drive in implementation of programmes
l) Priorities Emanating through Community Based Planning
Public and community participation processes achieved through 2011 Community Based Planning have shown that the communities within the Districts have the following needs/priorities. Concerns raised during the outreach that had impact on the District emanating from the Outreaches to Communities February - March 2012, include:
♦ Water and sanitation – quality, availability, reliability, plans for future years
♦ Education and skills development initiatives
♦ Economic development, SMME and cooperatives support
♦ Shopping facilities
♦ Sports and recreational facilities
♦ Scholar transport
♦ Police visibility
♦ Youth development and empowerment
♦ Maintenance of community facilities
♦ Rectification of RDP houses
♦ Health
♦ Maintenance and fencing of cemeteries
♦ Maintenance, surfacing of roads and access roads
♦ Creation of job opportunities and employment
♦ Public toilets in towns
♦ Support to special programmes
♦ Construction and or expansion of clinics and hospitals
♦ Construction and or maintenance of schools
♦ Refuse removal
♦ Improved ambulance services
♦ Electrification
♦ Access to information and Information and Communications Technology
♦ Social security
The above issues cut-across activities and mandates of various Sector Departments and stakeholders.
Consequently, it will be critical that all plans and programmes of government do respond directly to these issues. At a District level, the following issues have been prioritised:
Special programmes Electronic communications
Economic development and skills development Job opportunity creation and support to SMMEs Water and sanitation backlog eradication
Drinking water quality monitoring and management Waste management and pollution control
Agriculture and rural development Sports (Mayoral projects) HIV and AIDS
Disaster management
m) Matters raised by communities in recent meetings
♦ Manning of District water works to
avoid vandalism
♦ Increasing pressure in water pumps
♦ Fencing of District dams and
reservoirs to limit hazards
♦ Constantly improving water quality
around towns and ensuring safety of water in rural areas
♦ Provision and maintenance of VIP
water tanks and improvement of honey sucking business as well as extension of sanitation services to cover all areas.
♦ Provision and maintenance of public
toilets in towns
♦ Water and sanitation utilisation
awareness campaigns and reduction of illegal connections
♦ Improving the quality, size and output
of toilets built
♦ Improving capacity of existing dams to
deal with increasing demand
♦ Lack of sustainable job opportunities