Councils operate a service delivery programme against a defined set of policies, plans and strategies. In doing so, they conform within legislative aspects by completing the policies and strategies with public input.
It is only through buy-in of all stakeholders and by implementing policies and strategies in a consistent manner that success is ultimately achieved.
The City of Amsterdam’s Green Strategy is a case in point. Their strategy is showing the way to save the bee population. Amsterdam has opted to make the city as bee-friendly as possible by planting native species in parks, banning the use of pesticides in public parks and installing green roofs on buildings in the city, to create an environment welcoming to bees. While bee numbers are declining in the rest of the world, in Amsterdam species diversity of honey bees and wild bees increased by 45% since they began the project in 2000. It has taken the city 18 years to successfully implement their strategy, well beyond the term of most councillors.
In South Africa all strategies are approved by council and then incorporated into an Integrated Development Plan and Budget and implemented.
The manner in which Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality deals with policies and strategies leaves much to be desired.
Some strategies were completed but never approved by council and therefore not included in the IDP/Budget. A good strategy was completed for the Nahoon Beach Area some years ago, with good public participation.
All stakeholders agreed to the strategy. However, it was never submitted to council and never implemented.
The plan recommended the Nahoon Caravan Park be privatised as it was not regarded as a prime mandate of the City to build and run accommodation products.
Then, out of the blue, the City decided it would build 30 braai stands and three wooden chalets at the Nahoon Caravan Park. Why? Who proposed it? It is certainly not what the stakeholders want.
Some strategies only reached the draft stage and were then abandoned.
Every municipality by law must have an approved Waste Management Plan. The City completed a draft in 2014, but they never consulted the public as required by law.
The plan remains a draft and therefore the City is in contravention of the law until they complete a Waste Management Plan approved by the council and government. Our letters to the municipal manager in this regard since 2014 have been ignored.
Instead of complying with the law, the City organised two conferences recently, one on waste and one on recycling, which may have cost more than completing a Waste Management Plan.
Some strategies gazetted in terms of National Legislation are ignored by Council.
The City completed a Management Plan for the Nahoon Estuary, which was then promulgated in the Government Gazette by the MEC for Environmental Affairs on December 19 2016, meaning it was legally binding.
The law requires the municipal manager to submit the plan to the council for approval, for signature by the Mayor and then included in the IDP/Budget.
The plan was never submitted to council and therefore not included in the IDP/Budget and therefore not implemented.
It is very sad as this is a prime tourism attraction.
However the water quality of the estuary is poor as the City wilfully allows raw sewerage to flow into the estuary while the plan allowed for the improvement of sewerage infrastructure which would solve the problem.
After written requests to the municipal manager and meetings with the portfolio councillor and acting director, the plan is yet to be submitted to the council.
Some strategies are included in the IDP but are not implemented because it does not receive any funding.
The City completed a Tourism Master Plan in 2015. It appears as a Sector Plan in the IDP but not one of the 10 priority projects included in the Plan was ever implemented as it was not funded.
Why have a plan if you are not going to implement it?
Some plans that have legal status are amended by the stroke of a pen.
Each City must have a Spatial Development Framework Plan which indicates an Urban Edge. An Urban Edge is essentially a strategy to counter urban sprawl, encourage densification and protect natural resources.
It is meant to counter the legacy of apartheid planning that brought about segregated spatial patterns, where dormitory townships and the settlement of poor communities were pushed to the periphery of towns and cities. An SDF is completed with public participation.
Recently the City approved a new township of 4,000 sites near Fort Pato on the old King Willliam’s Town road which is situated outside the Urban Edge.
In order to satisfy the Department of Human Settlements, the initiator of this proposal to relocate the Orange Grove Informal Settlement, the council “adjusted” the Urban Edge to accommodate the proposal without dealing with such deviation in terms of the law, namely advertising for public comment. It would be difficult to justify the proposal as ample land is available on the West Bank in close proximity to the Orange Grove informal settlement, and in the Urban Edge.
Christo Theart is a town and regional planner and is the chairperson of the Buffalo City Ratepayers Forum...