About the position
Cluster Solution Portfolio
As the Head of the Municipal Finance, Fiscal Policy & Economic Growth Cluster, the Chief Officer will provide strategic leadership and ensure integration of the following cluster solution portfolio to ongoing and critical challenges in the Local Government Sector:
Position Context
Internal Operating Environment
The Chief Officer: Municipal Finance, Fiscal Policy & Economic Growth is part of the Executive Team of the organisation.
The structure provides for a smaller executive team with the specific focus on longer term strategy and visionary leadership in anticipating the needs of the local government.
The current strategy requires a step-up change process to become more relevant and effective at representing and supporting municipalities and the executive team is required to support the CEO in championing and driving the change required. Focus is required on the value propositions of “the voice of Local Government” and “the support and capacity building of municipalities” in the delivery of their developmental mandate.
There are implicit strategic shiftsunderpinning the adoption of the strategy in creating a balanced environment to optimise Local Government’s ability to function optimally.
The organisation recognised that to bring about the strategic shifts, it is necessary to reconfigure, renew and revitalise the organisational capabilities. This will be achieved through the implementation of an intensive but planned Organisational Design (OD) and Development process.
As part of the executive team, the incumbent is required to work closely with his/her fellow executives to drive the achievement of the strategic objectives of the organisation, as a team; and increased collaboration and interdependence is required at this level. The incumbent will be required to work closely with all Executives and Heads of Operations in the Provinces to ensure the achievement of the strategic objectives as a unitary organisation.
As part of the executive team, the cultural and transformational shifts required to underpin the implementation of structural and process and system changes need to be championed and role-modelled.
Role Specific:
The incumbent plays a significant role in driving programmes of Lobbying and Advocacy and programmes of municipal support and advice to address challenges experienced in the sectors applicable to Financial Resilience and Sustainability and Regional and Local Economic Development and Growth.
The majority of work in this cluster relates to the role in protecting the rights of the municipalities in the IGR space and to disrupt the Policy, Legislative and Governance frameworks and systems where it inhibits the LG Sector to achieve and deliver against its developmental mandate.
The incumbent is required to be skilled and have a proven track-record in lobbying and advocacy and should have a profile typically associated with that of an activist.
Participation and representation of the organisation and LG at IGR and other fora is required at a senior level in the Trading services, Financial and Economic sectors. The engagement with the sectors takes place at various levels - Ministers, MECs, MMCs, DGs, DDGs and across many stakeholders (such as state owned entities) at CEO level.
The organised Local Government Act establishes procedures for representation at the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC) and the intergovernmental Fiscal Relations Act provides for representation at the Local Government Budget Forum. Other pieces of legislation where the organisation is expected to play a role in relation to its remit include: Financial and Fiscal Commission Act; Municipal Structures Act; Municipal Fiscal Powers and Functions Act; Municipal Property Rates Act; Municipal Finance Management Act etc.
The Chief Officer is expected have a high level of emotional maturity with a sound business acumen and political savvy.
Role Specific External Operating Environment
Fiscal and Financial Management -
Some of the challenges experienced by municipalities include the resultant effect of the national fiscal consolidation process - resulting in a reduction in the growth of national transfers to municipalities and the growth in the persistently vulnerable cash-flow position in municipalities.
Half the country’s municipalities are in financial distress; nearly a quarter collects less that 80% of revenue owed to them and about 59% of municipalities have debtor levels higher than 30% of own revenue; and many
Service Delivery and Infrastructure -
A key symptom of the challenges experienced by municipalities in service delivery is visible in the increase in protest action (often accompanied by violence).
Underspending on capital budgets, repairs and maintenance continues to be a regular phenomenon. There is a widening funding gap for capital expenditure needs due to (among others) unfunded mandates, expenditure inefficiencies, inadequate transfers, significant electricity and water losses.
There is a growing need to respond to disruptions in the energy sector, including uptake of renewable energy and changing consumer demand, through new business models that encourage internal efficiency, electricity trading, grid charges, alternative energy services; the adoption of proactive climate change adaptation strategies; and Infrastructure life cycle planning and management from project identification through to operations and maintenance.
Spatial Transformation and Inclusion –
Challenges in the space of spatial transformation is directly linked to the relatively poor coordination of spatial planning. The urban agenda prioritises densification but the municipal revenue mode which is dependent on property rates, incentivizes urban sprawl. In addition, there has been slow progress by some municipalities in readiness for giving effect to SPLUMA provisions.
Access to land (both public and private) for housing delivery, bulk services provision for housing and the issue of land expropriation (with or without compensation) remains critical challenges against the backdrop of weakening social cohesion in communities.
Generic External Operating Environment:
Political and Legislative –
The Cluster has a clear strategic role to play in, representing the interests of local government within the system of government and supporting its members to fulfil their developmental obligations. However, with the diversity of political players in local government, the organisation must be a non-partisan organisation that serves all members, regardless of the lead party.
In addition, the executive must have a sound understanding of global and national political strategies and directives relating to this broad scoped and complex cluster.
The amount of legislation and regulations impacting on this cluster is wide spread and voluminous and the executive is required to have a working knowledge of the entire legislative framework.
Economic –
The organisation is faced with a skewed dependence on member levy income whilst municipal members are faced with an ongoing shrinking envelope and an increasing demand for services against the backdrop of increasing capacity constraints and reduced household incomes due to the general economic decline.
The executive team will play an important role in creating an environment that promotes innovative thinking to solving challenges faced by municipalities. There is a need to promote the innovative development of specialized and value-added services to become more relevant to the differentiated needs of the municipalities and to diversify the revenue sources and to implement a differentiated approach to service delivery with the aim to improve the relevance to its members.
Socio-Cultural –
The principal challenges of inequality, poverty, joblessness and the need for basic services persist and manifest themselves in different ways in communities. On spatial transformation and social cohesion, the local economic reality is still characterized by pervasive (and increasing) inequality.
Integrated planning and implementation among role-players operating in the local government space is negatively impacted on by the deemed duplication of powers and functions experienced at implementation level among various organs of state. As an executive of the organisation, there is an important role for effective stakeholder management in the local government sector to ensure an integrated approach to supporting municipalities with their challenges.
Environmental and Geographical –
There has been a number of fundamental changes in spatial planning and land use management as spatial development has slowly improved for the better, mainly in urban areas. However, the actual spatial transformation is still outstanding as the inherent past apartheid policies and infrastructure design still maintain.
Stakeholder engagements –
The Chief Officer will be expected to support the CEO in attending high level and potentially sensitive and highly technical IGR and other fora to represent LG as the protector and disruptor on behalf of the LG. The engagement takes place at various levels Ministers, MECs, MMCs, DGs, DDGs and across many stakeholders (such as SOEs) at CEO level. The Chief Officer will require superior advocacy an
