Translated articles in this newsletter are available online also, in Sesotho, Zulu and Afrikaans.

Diartikele tse fetoletsweng ka hara lesedinyana lena la ditaba le tsona di a fumaneha ka puo ya Sesotho,
Sezulu le SeAfrikanse.

Izihumusho zama-athikhili akule nyuziletha ziyatholakala futhi kukhompyutha ngeSesotho nesiZulu nesiBhunu.

Vertaalde artikels in hierdie nuusbrief is ook in Sesotho, Zulu en Afrikaans beskikbaar.

From the National Co-ordinator
Working with you: Making a Difference
Recently, I was agreeably pleased to find a great deal of synergy between our ASALGP Partnership activities and the short to medium term focus outlined by the Director General of the Department of Provincial and Local Government. This was at the Institute of Local Government Managers' Conference in East London.

The eloquent and highly respected DG, Ms Lindiwe Msengana-Ndlela, urged managers to demonstrate commitment and confidence and accountability; to follow the Batho Pele principles; address problems and aim for high performance. She urged a focus on improving basic administrative systems including financial efficiency and treasury capacity; providing basic services and targeting delivery for indigents; not only assuring infrastructure development but satisfactorily providing for operations and maintenance of such assets; local economic development for job creation and skills development; and striving for functioning ward committees.

Our activities completed this year in our two partner areas, KwaZulu-Natal and Free State, have resulted in practical guidance for organizing quality ward committees and public participation. More recently we have just concluded an activity in Northern Free State District on local economic development (LED) which complements an earlier LED activity in Umkhanyakude District. We have also concluded an activity based in Ugu District on how to manage assets after they become operational. Further recent work on performance management should also be of interest. All very timely, in the light of the Director General's exhortations to deliver.

Another pleasant observation is the extent to which practitioners are becoming more aware of ASALGP material and the work being undertaken on the ground with municipalities and Provincial departments, and the impact of these.

Three things in particular stick in my mind:

It just goes to prove that if people hear about the work the Partnership is delivering they find it of value in their work and they make changes. The impact study which is being undertaken now about our project and its benefits will hopefully find gems such as these to demonstrate the value of capacity building on a practical partnership basis.
Happy reading of this second issue about our work.

Ms Angela Griffin National Coordinator

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Who are we?
The Australia South Africa Local Governance Partnership (ASALGP), funded by the Australian Government, supports the development of South African local government. The project is a practical partnership; building skills, ability and knowledge of people in all spheres of government to help provide services to people living in poverty. The project works in KwaZulu- Natal and Free State, though we share whatever is learnt with all South Africa and Australia through this newsletter and our website.

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A pinch of salt in a large drum of water': a whirlwind tour of Northern Free State to help stimulate economic development
By Mr Ian Martinus, ASALGP Advisor from Western Australia

Job creation in local areas is one of the best ways to help all South Africans achieve a higher standard of living. As the government increasingly calls for greater opportunities for all, regional economic development strategies that create real jobs are needed. Economic Development can be achieved from the grass-roots levels of the community - through local government working in partnership with the private sector and community groups. To be successful such partnerships need adequate budgets and realistic job creation targets.

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Who to Meet?
The 8 week long ASALGP activity I was assigned to started at a frenetic pace as the Northern Free State District Economic Development team organised a whirlwind tour of the entire region. This included trying to meet anybody who could be a potential champion for LED in the future. The list included small business, big business, township entrepreneurs, schools, provincial government departments, farmers, municipalities, women in business, tourism operators, youth, retired professionals, chambers of commerce, tourism associations, start-up businesses , pre-start-up businesses, development forums, educators and trainers, economic development (ED) consultants, etc.

What people fail to realise is that economic development starts the moment you wake up to the moment you decide to go to bed. All of the choices you make during your day determine whether or not you support a local business and assist in supporting a local job. The clothes you wear to the places you eat, can determine who you help to make a living.

In the Northern Free State, the Free State Province and indeed South Africa, buying, working and living local can become a reality and not a dream. With so many people desperately needing the opportunity to either learn new skills or apply their skills, government and business together can create the environment and opportunities for these work-ready members of the community.

ED does not end after an 8-week program like this one. In fact, it is merely a "pinch of salt in a large drum of water". Everybody in his or her local community who has the opportunity to make a difference, could and should.

"ED by walking around"
One of the underlying features about Economic Development (ED) is the critical need for fieldwork. "ED by walking around" will open the practitioner's eyes about 50 times faster and more effectively than someone pretending to be involved with ED who sits in an office. This is not to say that strategic planning, research and reporting is not important but an ED practitioner can have a better understanding and feel for a potential project after speaking with a person or group for 30 minutes than a person sitting at a desk for 2 days.

The team in this activity met with over 330 people within the 8 weeks, making over 30 appointments to meet with individuals or groups of up to 25 people. This does not include the Economic Development Issues Workshops held in the 4 local municipalities which attracted a further 100 people, 30% of whom were women.

SA seconded staff member of the municipality, Ms Marita Blom, and I went to all the major towns of Sasolburg, Parys, Vredefort, Koppies, Kroonstad, Viljoenskroon, Frankfort and Heilbron as well as a myriad of smaller places and many townships. The most memorable townships were interestingly called France and Iraq. The vibrancy and order in these towns is electrifying, and the buzz of economic expectancy in these places never ceased to amaze me. The townships are surely the heart and soul of many places and deserve the better infrastructure and greater economic assistance from public/private partnerships.

The economic development strategy
The aim of this activity was to develop an economic development strategy for Northern Free State District, with active involvement of the local municipalities in the district. A strategy is essential to clarify the role of municipalities in facilitating economic development as well as ear mark what municipalities and other stakeholders need to do to further economic opportunities for residents.

The draft strategy developed through the consultation process in this activity demonstrates links with the Integrated Development Plan; gives the context of development within the region; documents the results of all the consultations and prioritises the actions the District will need to take to encourage economic development - eg in the sectors of telecommunications, tourism, agriculture and township development. (The strategy will be available on the ASALGP website soon)

The strategy also includes the partnerships between the Province, local municipalities, small and big business that will be needed to deliver it.

Some outcomes already
During the extensive consultation process, some fortuitous partnerships were formed which led to some immediate economic outcomes:

The Bright Future for the Northern Free State
As a greater understanding of economic development occurs, more and more people will want to work in this most rewarding professional area. The potential for jobs is unlimited. The people who can effect change in the economic environment to create the conditions which generate jobs can make a true difference to the expansion and sustainability of employment and business opportunities for all.

About the author
Mr Ian Martinus is the Manager, Economic Development at the City of Wanneroo in Australia. He has been there for the past 4 years. Previously he worked in economic development-related positions in Japan, Indonesia and the United States. Ian was the Australian advisor for this 8-week activity, working with the Northern Free State District Municipality to devise a practical Economic Development Strategy. He worked closely with Ms Marita Blom, Director Economic Development and Public Liaison in the municipality, to deliver this activity. Dr Bethuel Setai also worked with this team to provide baseline data for the development of the strategy. Ian would like to thank the team that worked with him on this activity.

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A Dream Come True
By Mr Charl and Mrs Anna-Marie Botha

The Billingham Meander started with a dream. This dream was about creating jobs for people in our town, and giving hope where there was none.

The dream was that our street would become a kind of meander, where every home would contribute something to the project. There would be a house selling antiques, one selling art, one selling pottery, one selling clothing etc. This dream was an impossible one until 2 things happened:

There are several guest houses in Billingham Street, and about 50 people in all can be accommodated. Our clients of all nationalities come from local industries.

We hope that every guest house will contribute something to the meander: for example knitwear, linen, local art works, a tranquility centre. Coffee shops or teagardens at each guest house will source products from local people.

We will launch the meander in October with an open day, which will become a monthly event. Local musicians, dancers and other performers will be there. The aim is to sell an experience and not merely goods. Skills training, including life skills, will be ongoing. This project should provide jobs for about 40 persons in three years time, and should be able to help those interested to start their own businesses. The dream is that, with the help of God; the meander will be a blue-print for similar projects throughout the country. We are committed to make a change where we are and with what we have.

Anna-Marie and Charl came to the Pretoria workshop run by Ian Martinus and Marita Blom to share learnings from the local economic development activity. The Honourable Mayor of Northern Free State, Mr Khotso Sesele, gave the introduction to the event. ASALGP regularly runs workshops like this. Please check our website for information about upcoming events.

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Partnership news
During June 2004, Brisbane City Enterprises and Brisbane City Council in Queensland, Australia were hosts to three delegates from Matjhabeng Municipality, South Africa: Mr George Moahloli (Office of the Speaker), Cr Cosmos Dlamini (Ward Councillor) and Ms Cynthia Makhetha (Manager, Social Development).

The purpose of the tour was threefold:

Mr George Moahloli of Matjhabeng Municipality said:
"The trip to Australia was even more than we expected it would be. We learnt so many practical things about public nd national government to solve community problems in their embryonic state."

"One example of this was seeing the Carole Park community reference group in action. All the key community and government people are on this group. An issue about crime came up at the meeting and the director of police, who attends the meeting, took advice from the group about how to deal with this problem and then he went off and did it. The officials and councillors are jointly involved in community participation programmes whereas with us, it is mainly councillors who are involved with community participation."

"Solutions to community problems are seen as a joint responsibility between the community, government and business people. We will be able to try this here as well."

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Good practice points when working with the community

By Ms Elizabeth Sithole

See also:
Good Practice Points when working with ward committees from the first issue of Making a Difference Handbook for working with ward committees called Having your Say on the ASALGP website.

Watch out for:
Toolkit for Public Participation on the website soon.

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A word from Frikkie Brookes
Mr Frikkie Brookes, Acting Deputy Director-General: Local Government in Department of Traditional and Local Government Affairs, and Chair of the KwaZulu-Natal Coordinating Committee for ASALGP.

The partnership aspect
I am very happy with the Partnership we have established with our Australian colleagues and am convinced that it has contributed significantly to strengthening developmental local government in KwaZulu-Natal.

For instance, I have had very positive feedback about the strategic leadership training module, run with mayors and municipal managers in this Province. The people I spoke to who attended, said they found it useful, specifically because it dealt with the sometimes contested areas of responsibility between mayors and managers.

Performance management is a good example
Another good example and one I have been involved in personally, is the performance management system (PMS) activities. The work around this could actually be considered good practice in international development work.

The achievement from this PMS work has been a set of good practice guidelines for municipalities to use when developing performance management measurements and processes. We have also rolled out training to all our municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal on practical approaches to implementing this good practice. Our levels of knowledge about PMS within the Province have been raised, and we are picking up that IDPs are more focused since municipalities have begun to implement performance management systems.

Of course, it is too early for miracles. We envisage it will be 5 years before all municipalities have a fully functioning performance management system. The support offered through the ASALGP has certainly been a strong part of this process. ASALGP offered seed funding to kick start the process. Aah Sekhesa, acting Chief Director Planning and Development Coordination, and myself were fortunate enough to have been able to go on a study tour to Australia to see how performance management was done in that country. This gave us a much better understanding and enabled us to guide the process over here.

Mr Ian Cowie, Director in the West Australian State Department of Local Government and Regional Development, as well as Mr John McNally, the CEO of the City of Melville in the Perth metropolitan area, came to work with us when we were selecting consultants to develop the guidelines for performance management, when we were finalizing the guideline document and again when we had done the first round of municipal training. Both John and Ian really helped us manage this process and contributed largely to the success of this project. We got a better product with their intervention. Our levels of confidence in the Department have increased and this has helped us transfer our knowledge to municipalities. The technical expertise ASALGP offered us at key times during this process has been very useful.

Essential to have relevant expertise
I think the key to making the most of ASALGP is to find areas of work in Australia where there is significant and relevant expertise. The environment here is so different; some of the good work in Australia would not be relevant for us in South Africa. For instance, one of the most critical areas of performance for municipalities in South Africa at the moment is delivery of free basic services, whereas this is not an issue for municipalities in Australia. There wouldn't be any point bringing in technical experts from Australia to help us with this as I don't think they would have the relevant knowledge and expertise in this field. We must carefully select interventions and support programmes in this Partnership, on the basis of the mutual benefit that can be gained.

However, the generic management areas are very relevant for both countries and we could certainly learn from each other about such things as cooperative governance, finance management and basic book-keeping, and disaster management. We already have learnt about some of these areas and the work done with disaster management in Ilembe District; the women and micro enterprise development in Umkhanyakude is particularly significant. We would really like to build on this work in the last year of the project.

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ASALGP too short
All support programmes like ASALGP are too short, we find; though short programmes like this do encourage you to make the most of them while they are here. Sometimes I think, if we can't achieve anything in three years, we won't achieve it in a longer program. However, I would like to see the ASALGP re-packaged into a different program for a further three years, largely with the view of helping us ensure that the initiatives already completed are sustained and strengthened after the local government elections in 2005.

Coordinating Committee adds value
I'm comfortable with the way things have been going. I think our coordinating committee in KZN works well and we have the key stakeholders sitting together to manage the program of activities. We share many good ideas. I also value the links we have developed, through this project, with our counterparts in Free State. We certainly would not have had this without ASALGP.

Our thanks and appreciation goes to all who have become partners with us in this Programme, and especially to the ASALGP staff who have all been very supportive. It is a pleasure to work with a donor agency that is prepared to listen to what we think our priorities are, and who do not try to develop a programme around their own strengths alone.

See the ASALGP website to download the reports about PMS, basic book-keeping, disaster management and micro enterprise development.

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Introducing Mary Morudu
Mary has been with ASALGP for 15 months now. She works as the Administration Officer in the Pretoria office.

Mary was born in Hammanskraal, North West Province. Her first language is Northern Sotho, and she also speaks English, Zulu, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Tsonga and Shona; most of which she picked up at school.

Her main role in ASALGP is to manage the office; handle the accounts, organize workshops, arrange logistics for all our advisors eg transport and accommodation, for instance. Mary feels she has gained a lot of experience since joining the office, especially about people from other countries.

"I've met lots of people from other countries, with different cultures and I enjoy this. For instance, I went to an ANZAC day event where Australian's remember their heroes. They do this very differently to how we celebrate ours on the 16th of June.

"I've learnt to be strong and stand firm when making arrangements for our advisors. I've also learnt to take responsibility for my area of work.

"My dream is to travel to Australia some day to work."

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Notices:
3rd Annual Seminar: Making even More of a Difference
Every year, ASALGP runs an annual seminar to share what has been learnt over the past year. Last year the event was held in Durban. The year before in Free State. This year, the event will be held on the 10th and 11th of November in Pretoria.

It will be the final seminar for the project and therefore, the grand finale.

There will be formal guest speakers from South Africa and Australia, as well as a series of workshops by our advisors and partners providing a unique opportunity to hear in depth about key activities over the last year.

CSIR have been contracted to organize the seminar as they did very ably last year. We will be using our website, www.asalgp.co.za to advertise the event and keep you posted as it develops so please remember to check the site regularly.

Sign up to the website
For those of you who have internet access, why not sign up to our website? If you take a few minutes to register your name and email with us, you will receive regular monthly updates about what's new on the site, up-coming events like workshops and the annual seminar mentioned above.

Go to the front page of the website on www.asalgp.co.za. On the right hand side, in a white box, you will see the following:

SIGN UP WITH ASALGP
Click here to sign up for monthly ASALPG news bulletins

Simply click and you will be taken to the registration page. Fill in the details and that's all you need to do.

Apology for a mistake
We would like to apologise for a mistake in our first newsletter. In the insert listing current activities, we wrote about infrastructure management in Ugu District. However, we should also have included the local municipality Ezinqoleni where the actual work took place. Our sincere apologies for this mistake.

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All you need to know about the ASALGP Partnership Program
One of the key objectives of the ASALGP is the creation of long-term relationships between South African and Australian municipalities and other organisations involved with local governance. The intention is that these relationships continue to provide support for the development of local government in both countries after the end of the Project in March next year.

The Partnership Program is funded to help cross country connections grow and develop. Under the program, South African and Australian local governance entities can be "linked" over time to share knowledge and experience in specific areas where there is a common interest.

Two partnerships
Several partnerships have begun. In late 2003, a delegation from Xhariep District Council and Letsemeng Municipality from Free State, visited Barossa Council in South Australia to pursue a Cooperative Agreement. The focus of this agreement is on sharing experience and expertise in local economic development, regional investment and employment creation particularly as it relates to tourism related to the wine industry, an industry common to both. A return visit is planned for a representative from Barossa to visit Letsemang in August 2004 to continue the partnership.

More recently, in January 2004, four people from KwaZulu-Natal visited Adelaide to make connections with the Adelaide Metropolitan Consultative Committee and the Office of the Status of Women in South Australia. The delegates from Umkhanyakude District Municipality and KwaZulu-Natal Province focused their attention on local economic development, especially women's enterprises. A delegate from Adelaide will make a return visit to foster the relationship and gain further insight into the issues, challenges and successes of activities being undertaken in Umkhanyakude. (See the first edition of Making a Difference to hear more about this visit through the article titled, 'When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion'.)

Also, since then Mr Louis Scheepers, Municipal Manager of Saldhana Bay visited the Local Government Managers' Association Conference in Australia and the return visit was made in May/June to workshop the idea of the Management Challenge at the Institude of Local Government Managers (iLGM) conference in Port Elizabeth.

What's next?
More partnerships will be developed over the final months of the project as we continue to support cross country exchanges of knowledge, ideas and experiences well into the future.

We hope that the relationships created as a result of this project will provide opportunities for people to share not only their successes and achievements but also to learn more about other local government initiatives, which in turn will enable them to better fulfil their mandate of providing quality services to their communities.

Call Ms Angela Griffin, National Coordinator, ph 012 362 7470 for more information.

About the author
Ms Jacobie Prange is the ASALGP project manager. She is now spending her time between South Africa and Australia, after working with the project from Australia for the first two years.

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Products available through ASALGP

Please see our website for a copy of these products, www.asalgp.co.za

Or call Ms Mary Morudu on 012 362 7471.

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Will public participation improve service delivery?
One of the big challenges facing many municipalities in South Africa today is the collection and payment of rates and tariffs. ASALGP ran an activity, based in Maluti a Phofung Local Municipality in North East Free State, to look into this issue and trial public participation processes to explore ways of meeting some of the challenges in rates and tariffs collection and payment.

The Team
I was recruited by ASALGP to lead this activity, managing a team to trial public participation processes aimed at engaging with the community over the often fraught subject of rates and tariffs problems. Ultimately, the Team developed a toolkit for public participation which can be used by other municipalities within South Africa.

The team consisted of two secondees from the local and district municipalities, Maluti a Phofung and Thabo Mofutsanyane - Ms Malekula Melato and Ms Matlhogonolo Maboe-Phike. Provincial Department of Local Government and Housing also seconded a staff member to the activity - Mr Mahlomola Mahlaba. Two people from the region were contracted to bring their local community expertise to the activity - Mr Mofokeng Mothinya and Mr Mohlabane Molefe

The idea was to build the skills and abilities of team members to engage in public participation, and for them in turn to build the capacity of the community, the municipalities, and the Province to engage with each other over any issue. (This process has been used extensively in community development teams within Brisbane City Council - Australia's largest municipality - so it was interesting to see whether the process was applicable in South Africa as well.)

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A snapshot of Maluti a Phofung
Like many other municipalities, Maluti a Phofung faces many challenges in enhancing its revenue base, such as a culture of non-payment combined with poverty. Many residents are not aware of why they need to pay rates and tariffs, and the municipality has not really sought to engage the public about this matter in the past.

Maluti a Phofung (MAP) local municipality covers approximately 87.97 square km. It has a population of approximately 392,177. Of these, 87,585 reside in urban areas, 205,592 in rural areas. The population of Maluti a Phofung makes up 53.98% of the entire population within the Thabo Mofutsanyane District (See their Integrated Development Plan 2004: Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality).

MAP is responsible for providing basic municipal services to the following localities:

· Phuthaditjhaba
· Kestell
· Old QwaQwa peri urban and rural area
· Old Harrismith
· Intabazwe
· Tshiame.

Basic services include water supply and sanitation, electricity, solid waste removal, housing and related social services. The Integrated Development Plan identified the provision of water supply as one of the priority basic services in MAP.

To ensure efficient provision of water services in its area of jurisdiction, MAP has entered into service partnerships with two water boards, namely Rand Water and Sedibeng. Rand Water, trading as Amanzi Wethu, provides water services to Intabazwe, Old Harrismith and Tshiame. Sedibeng is responsible for Phuthaditjaba, Kestell and old QwaQwa peri urban and rural areas.

MAP has been experiencing problems of non-payment for services, mainly by domestic consumers and one of the contributory factors to this problem is the municipality's inability to measure the quantity of water supplied to households. The municipality was uncertain about the extent to which the free basic water policy of 6 kilolitres per household was being implemented.

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Installation of water meters: a real live example
To address this challenge, the municipality, supported by the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) through the Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Program (CMIP), embarked on a programme to install water meters in the Maluti a Phofung area. The program is being implemented in five phases. Phase 1 involves the installation of a total of 10,000 meters in Phuthaditjaba with the plan to complete by the end of April 2004.

Whilst the installation of water meters would provide data on the quantity of water consumed, it would not necessarily lead to consumers paying for the water used. Only if the community understood better why they should pay and the consequences of not paying (not only for them but for the viability of services in the long term) would payments be likely.

The Team decided to work alongside the private company contracted to install the meters (Sedibeng Water) to trial public participation processes in a real-life situation. They met with the Sedibeng Water Coordinating Committee that overseas the installation process, to see if they could help them run some kind of community engagement process to alert the community to the process and to discuss it with them as it rolled out.

Thus the program for installing water meters provided a real-life opportunity to engage with the community about rates and tariff collection by modelling a public participation process as part of the water meter installation programme.

The Activity therefore focussed on this as the basis for testing public participation with a view to enhancing the understanding between the public and the local government, and consumers and the water entity in relation to the intricacies of water provision, consumption and payment.

While ward committees have been established to constantly communicate with the public, not all ward committees have been actively involved in public meetings. Some ward councillors have not had sufficient technical information on all programmes implemented in their wards. Further, the attendance at ward committee meetings had generally been low.

Therefore when ASALGP approached the municipality to be a part of this activity, there was general agreement that community engagement may help the municipality turn the situation around.

The Team decided to work alongside the private company contracted to install the meters (Sedibeng Water) to trial public participation processes in a real-life situation. They met with the Sedibeng Water Coordinating Committee that overseas the installation process, to see if they could help them run some kind of community engagement process to alert the community to the process and to discuss it with them as it rolled out.

Sedibeng Water Committee and the municipality jumped at the chance to work with the public participation activity team in this way. Sedibeng had already installed one lot of meters and payment was already an issue. They were convinced that including the community in the process more would help them collect the necessary payments.

Political involvement essential
The activity Team worked closely with the Speaker of Maluti a Phofung, Me Mammie Leeu, who performed an essential role in championing public participation in the activity. The Speaker sent a letter to ward councillors and committee representatives and the Team distributed this letter throughout their local networks. The letter was to alert local people about the water meter process and to invite them to discuss this with Sedibeng, and the municipality in a public meeting.

The Speaker and the Sedibeng Water Committee agreed to meet with the Team before the public meeting to be trained in public participation processes and to prepare for the meeting with the community.

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Public participation training
A half day training session before the public meeting covered the following:

I then worked with the committee members to plan a process for the coming meeting and to prepare answers to possible questions that could be asked by the public at the meeting. I used the process of the training to demonstrate how to run real participation processes. The general consensus from the people who attended the training was that it was an excellent session. The training session really helped the Water Committee members feel confident in connecting with the community in the upcoming meeting.

Meeting the community
The public meeting attracted a total of 118 community members. The meeting was chaired by the Speaker of the municipality, Me Mammie Leeu, and it was officially opened by the Executive Mayor of Maluti a Phofung; Dr B E Mzangwa. The presence of the political leadership of the municipality sent good vibes about the importance the municipality placed on the views of the public in local governance.

The meeting focused mainly on the water meter installation programme. The appointed officials provided technical information on the progress of the programme. The public asked questions about the program and these were answered appropriately by the Committee.

The municipal indigent policy was explained. This was followed by answering of questions from the public.

During question time, it was interesting to see how the public challenged the municipality on various aspects of the meter installation programme. This provided a basis for self evaluation by the municipality. The first phase of the meter installation had already happened; installation of the second phase combined with public participation should show a difference in payment for services when the community is involved in the decision making about the water meter installation.

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What the community said
Comments by members of the public suggested that they had appreciated the meeting with the municipality. They had learned about a project in the community. The following were some of their comments:

What's happened since
Since this meeting, other meetings have taken place spontaneously between Sedibeng, the municipality and members of the community. People have specifically used information from the training about public participation that was run with committee members. There continues to be great enthusiasm for including the community in the rollout of water meter installation. It remains to be seen whether rates or tariffs will be paid more easily by the public now that they know more about why they need to pay, and whether the municipality picks up on some ideas from the community to make the payment of rates or tariffs easier.

For more information about this activity, go to the ASALGP website to download the activity completion report.

About the author
Ms Elizabeth Sithole is an experienced municipal official having been the municipal manager of Soweto in the early 90's. She is now a consultant and regularly works in other African countries, especially Uganda, on capacity building projects with provincial and local governments as well as NGOs. Elizabeth trained as a community worker and holds a Master of Arts Social Work Degree from Witwatersrand University.

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ASALGP Activities at a glance
CURRENT ASALGP ACTIVITIES
Intergovernmental relations in KZN and Free State
Two activities are about to begin looking at further developing effective intergovernmental relations. The activities will be 4 months each and run consecutively in KZN and Free State. Australian advisors will work closely with Provincial staff to strengthen and devise effective ways of enhancing intergovernmental relations in both provinces. Ultimately this will lead to better service delivery through municipalities to residents.

Development of learning materials and good practice guides
ASALGP has produced many different products though various activities. This activity will develop these products into user friendly products that can stand alone as tools to help municipalities and Provincial officials in their day to day work.

RECENT ACTIVITIES
Cooperative government between district and local municipalities
The purpose of this activity was to enhance the development of cooperative working relationships between district and local municipalities. Two local advisors, Mr Sledge Selesho and Professor Louis de Clercq, worked for 4 weeks each. Mr Selesho worked in Northern Free State District municipality and all associated local municipalities. Prof de Clercq worked in KZN with Sisonke, Umkhanyakude and Amajuba districts and associated local municipalities. Both advisors trialed cooperative working relationship protocols developed previously by the KZN Province in partnership with Uthungulu District Municipality. All but one municipality signed the protocols which will enable municipalities to work together more easily and clearly in future to ensure effective service delivery to citizens.
The protocols are available on the ASALGP website

Reviewing performance management systems for local municipalities
An Australian advisor, Mr Ian Cowie, worked for four weeks reviewing progress in introducing performance management into KZN, and also in evaluating how that knowledge was being shared with Free State. The advisor worked closely with the Province to come up with ideas on how to continue the process of supporting municipalities in how to measure their performance. One major outcome was the recommendation for municipalities to use a simple 'spreadsheet' type of approach when beginning to measure performance as this is often the clearest way to get good information and also easiest to implement. "Don't start with a Rolls Royce, when a taxi can get your there for a price you can afford" says Ian.

Northern Free State local economic development strategy
Economic development is essential to the country's growth. Municipalities can take a role in facilitating economic development. Australian advisor, Mr Ian Martinus, worked closely with seconded staff member Ms Marita Blom, of Northern Free State District Municipality to develop an economic development strategy for the region. The draft strategy emerged from extensive consultations with community, business, local and district municipalities, as well as Provincial stakeholders.
The draft strategy will be available online shortly.

Public participation through Ward Committees
An Australian advisor, Ms Pauline Peel, worked with a seconded employee, Mr George Moahloli, to strengthen public participation through ward committee processes in Matjabeng Local Municipality. The Speaker, Mr TV Matsepe, was closely involved with the activity. The activity devised a handbook for public participation processes in ward committees, which will be of use throughout the whole of South Africa. Mr Moahloli, ward councilor, Mr Cosmos Dlamini and staff member, Ms Cynthia Makhetha recently returned from an exchange tour hosted by Brisbane City Council (through Ms Peel) to see how participation is handled in several councils in south east Queensland, Australia.
The handbook is called Having your Say and is available on the website.

Public participation processes in Maluti A Phofung and Thabo Mofutsanyane Municipalities
Ms Elizabeth Sithole led a team to develop and trial public participation processes in Maluti A Phofung in Free State. The activity aimed to come up with a range of processes, useful for all municipalities in strengthening community participation in council decision making. The team included secondees from the District and Local Municipality: Ms Malekula Melato (for a part of the activity) and Ms Matlhogonolo Maboe-Phike; and from the Province: Mr Mahlomola Mahlaba, as well as two local experts: Mr Mofokeng Mothinya and Mr Mohlabane Molefe. The public participation processes were designed around rates and tariffs collection and payment issues.
A copy of the toolkit for public participation is available on the ASALGP website.

Infrastructure management in Ezinqoleni Local Municipality
Ezinqoleni Local Municipality in Ugu Distric in KZN is faced with the challenge of effectively and efficiently managing public infrastructure and facilities. A project team, contracted from Sirius Development Foundation (Mr Thabo Mofokeng and Ms S'bongile Mthembu) worked with seconded staff from Ugu (Mr Lungisani Mkhungo) and Ezinqoleni Local Municipality (Ms Phumelele Mngadi) to develop an infrastructure management plan which will help improve the processes for ensuring facilities are used and managed well.
The plan to manage this infrastructure can be downloaded from the website.

Intergovernmental relations in Free State
Mr Sledge Selesho worked closely with Provincial staff in Free State for 4 weeks to advise ASALGP about the best way to provide support for Intergovernmental Relations in the last phase of the project. An action plan was developed through consultation.

Acknowledgments
Interviews by Susan Ferguson
Articles without by-lines written by Susan Ferguson
Edited by Carol Low
Designed by The Junction

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