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This project has been funded by the European Union.

Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty

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The Municipal Outreach Project Launch

This website has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty and the South African Institute of Race Relations and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.
The launch of the Municipal Outreach Project was held at the Killarney Country Club on 30th January 2009. Delegates from the three funding partners (European Union, South African Institute of Race Relations, and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty), as well as representatives from the municipalities, government departments, and development organisations attended this event. The following is the presentation by the Municipal Outreach Officer.

 
Good morning to all the councillors, government officials, and development organisations who have joined us the launch of the Municipal Outreach Project. My name is Nthamaga Kgafela; I am the Municipal Outreach Officer; which entails that I handle all participatory research aspects of the project, as well as the day-to-day running of the project.
 
I will present information about the project, how the South African Institute of Race Relations will implement the project, and how all of you can participate in this initiative. Thereafter, speakers from the European Commission, and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty will provide you with more information about these two funders.
 
SLIDE 1
 
The Municipal Outreach Project is an exciting initiative which aims to assist in combating South Africa’s biggest challenge of reducing poverty and inequality levels. It’s the first of its kind as it involves local government as well as three organisations with expertise in research and policy development to combat poverty, at a level where interventions will be most effective. Moreover, this project does not rely on pre-determined ideologies that may affect the effectiveness of the projected outcomes. The project was funded by the European Union, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty, and the South African Institute of Race Relations.
 
SLIDE 2
 
This presentation will give an overview of the objectives of the Municipal Outreach Project, South Africa’s poverty challenges, the municipalities in the project and their poverty challenges, how the project will be implemented in order to achieve the relevant outcomes, and the outputs of the projects.
 
SLIDE 3
 
One major challenge South Africa faces is poverty. Rural development with the aim of combating poverty in those areas has been the major focus in developing anti-poverty strategies. This project will focus on the major urban municipalities, as urban poverty poses major development challenges, as will be demonstrated during this presentation. This initiative aims to improve the capacity of local government officials with the co-operation of all tiers of government, and development organisations. The project aims to strengthen the institutional and participatory development capacity of local government authorities in South Africa.
 
The estimated 1 800 municipal councillors and officials, as well as development organisations in these municipalities, will use their newly gained capacities to implement best practice interventions to curb urban poverty in South Africa. The estimated 19 million people residing in these municipalities will be the final beneficiaries of the project. The research, as well as the best practice interventions that will be made available to the councillors, officials, and development organisations will enable the municipalities to firstly, acknowledge the poverty challenges specific to their municipalities, secondly to assess the policy interventions available to them, and lastly to look at ways to best implement these interventions to combat such challenges.
 
SLIDE 4
 
There are various ways of measuring poverty. Poverty in our country is perhaps our biggest challenge as this affects the ability of people to share in the largest economy on the African continent. In a 2007 poverty publication by the National Treasury, it was said that “Present day poverty discourse draws on complex and sometimes contradictory underlying assumptions about what people are supposed to need in order to live a minimally human life; about the obligations between individuals and society, about the relation between have and lack, ill-being, well-being and suffering; and about social life and individual agency.”
 
Absolute or financial poverty is a fixed money value that is only updated to take account of inflation. The most commonly used barometer to measure absolute poverty, constructed by the World Bank, is the dollar-a-day approach. Using this measurement, people living below a dollar a day are considered poor.
 
Another poverty concept, which is perhaps a more suitable poverty measuring tool, is relative poverty. A relative poverty line takes into account that standards of “adequate” household wellbeing shift with rising prosperity, over time. The poverty income varies according to household size. Poverty levels range from R1 023 per month for one individual, to R3 752 for a household of 8 members or more.
 
SLIDE 5
 
Poverty should not only be viewed in terms of the minimum requirements for subsistence; but should also focus on the ability of the poor to become economically active, to such an extent that they are able to participate effectively in the economy.
 
Furthermore, children born in to these households should have the opportunities to move out of such situations, and not be caught in the so-called poverty trap. Factors such as access to services such as electricity, clean water, and adequate sanitation facilities; the type of dwelling, health services, economic opportunity (such as the availability of jobs) the environment, and most importantly education, should be considered in defining poverty. Education offers the opportunity to become effectively economically active, and to have decent employment. Education is also essential for the country’s economic development if we are to compete with first world countries; and eventually become a first world country ourselves.
 
SLIDE 6
 
This graph shows absolute poverty in South Africa from 1996 to 2007. The bottom axis shows the years assessed. The left axis shows the number of people living on less than a dollar a day in South Africa. The right axis shows the proportion of the total population living below this level of poverty. Using this measure of poverty, an upward slope can be seen from 1996 to 2002. Then downward slope can be seen from 2003 to 2007. The highest number of people, and proportion of people living below this poverty line, was in 2002, where 2.8 million people, or 6.1% of the population was living at this level of poverty. In 2007, 2% of the South African population, almost a million people, were living on less than a dollar a day. It is clear that South Africa faces serious poverty challenges. The decline might seem a sign of successful poverty implementation plans; however, this is not necessarily the case. The decline came as a result of the expanded social grants rollout by the government of the day. However, social grants do not guarantee a way out of poverty, but rather lessen the depth of poverty. The recommendations that will be made through consultation with development organisations and municipalities, during the course of the project, will allow for interventions that will seek to get people out of poverty, and leading decent lives.
 
SLIDE 7
 
This graph shows the number of people living in relative poverty. As defined earlier, relative poverty takes into account that standards of “adequate” household wellbeing shift with rising prosperity, over time. And poverty levels range from R1 023 per month for one individual, to R3 752 for a household of eight members or more. In 1996, there were 17 million people living in relative poverty.
 
During this period, the highest number of people living in relative poverty was in 2004; where 22.5 million people were at this level of poverty. In 2007, there were 20.5 million people, or over 40% of the population, living in relative poverty. This signifies a growth in the number of people living at this level of poverty of 20.5% from 1996 to 2007.
 
The poverty gap measures the difference between each poor household’s income and the poverty line. In other words, the amount of income that would be required to bring every poor person exactly up to the poverty line. If the poverty line was set at R1000 per month, and a certain household’s income was R700 per month – the poverty gap would be R300. The same difference is taken for each poor household, and all differences are added together to establish the poverty gap. From 1996 to 2007, the poverty gap increased from R17.527 billion to R37.892 billion, an increase of 116%.
 
This project aims to assist the eight municipalities covered by the project to define poverty in their municipalities, taking into consideration the specific challenges faced by each municipality.
 
SLIDE 8
 
There are 8 municipalities in the project. These include the six metropolitans – Ekurhuleni, City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, City of Cape Town, eThekwini, and Nelson Mandela Bay; as well as two district municipalities – Capricorn and Motheo district municipalities in Limpopo and the Free State provinces respectively.
 
The graph shows the number of people and the number of households per municipality. The largest population is in the City of Johannesburg, with 3 225 309 people in 2007; followed closely by the City of Cape Town and the eThekwini metros, with populations of 2,892,243 and 3,090,122 respectively. The number of members per household is also essential, as it is used in the calculation of relative poverty. In the Capricorn District Municipality in the Limpopo province, for instance, there are 1.5 million people, and almost 300 thousand households; which is about 4 members per households. While in the City of Johannesburg, there are, on average 3 members per household. The other municipalities have on average 3.5 to 3.75 members per household; which is in line with the national average of 3.65 members per household.
SLIDE 9
 
The Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan is in the Eastern Cape Province, and Port Elizabeth is the metro’s largest city. Over 57 270 households, or 24% of households as can be seen in the red section, were without any earned income in 2007. Only 32% of households had an income of more than R19 200per annum, or R1 600 per month - as can be seen in the green segment.
 
With a total of 47%, almost half of the metropolitan’s households earned less than R9 600 per annum or R800 per month – that is the combination of the red and the purple segments; it is clear that there are significant challenges for this municipality. Historically, the population of the municipality has been growing at 2.8% per annum. Jobs in the municipality are not growing at the same rate – which hampers the metropolitan’s ability to combat poverty.
 
SLIDE 10
 
Motheo District Municipality in the Free State province has 3 local municipalities, which are the Mantsopa, Naledi, and Mangaung local municipalities. Bloemfontein is situated in the Mangaung local municipality. 23% of households had no income in Motheo in 2007. Only 16% earned between R9 601 and R19 200 per annum. While a mere 32% of households had incomes of more than R19 200 per year. 52% of households in this municipality earned less than R800 per month – less than half of the households in Motheo District Municipality, earned more than R800 per month.
 
SLIDE 11
 
The Ekurhuleni metro, former East Rand, 23% of households in Ekurhuleni had no earned income in 2007; while 39% had incomes of less than R800 per month.
 
SLIDE 12
 
The City of Johannesburg, the largest metropolitan in the country, had the highest number of households with an annual income of over a million rand – with over 8000 households having incomes of more than R1.2 million. Yet, 19% of households were without any earned income in 2007; and 34% had incomes below R800 per month.
 
SLIDE 13
 
More than 50% of households in the City of Tshwane had incomes of more than R19 200 per annum. However, 17% had no earned income in 2007. And 15% had an annual income below R9 600, and 15% between R9 601 and R19 200.
 
SLIDE 14
 
Close to 200 thousand people or 23% of the eThekwini Metropolitan in the KwaZulu-Natal province, where Durban is situated, the largest municipality in the province had no earned income in 2007, while 42% earned below R9 600 per month.
 
SLIDE 15
 
The Capricorn District Municipality is situated in the Limpopo province. There are 5 local municipalities within this district, which are the Aganang, Blouberg, Lepelle-Nkumpi, Molemole, and Polokwane municipalities. 80% of the population had annual incomes below R19 200. 26% of households had no earned income. And 65% had an annual income below R9 600.
 
SLIDE 16
 
25% of households earned incomes below R800 per month in the City of Cape Town metropolitan. 13% of households had no earned income in 2007. 12% earned between R1 and R9 600 per annum. Therefore, 25% of households earned less than R800 per month.
 
SLIDE 17
 
The project has several channels for distributing information to the municipalities. A weekly newsletter, published every Friday at noon, is published on the project website, www.eumunicipaloutreach.org.za. The newsletter is also e-mailed to municipal councillors and officials, and development organisations. A monthly Fast Facts for Local Government is published and posted to all municipal councillors and officials, and development organisations; and carries information on over 170 indicators per issue. An annual South Africa Survey will also be distributed. The Survey covers a wide range of socio-economic issues, and contains information on demographics, the economy, business and employment, education, health and welfare, living conditions and communications, crime and security, politics and governance. Extracts from the Survey are posted on the project website.
 
SLIDE 18
 
Workshops will be conducted in each of the municipalities covered in the project. The first series of workshops, the Major Urban Poverty Challenges Identification (MUPCI) workshops, will take place in 2009. The workshops will be designed for elected councillors and officials to identify what they see as the major poverty challenges facing their constituents.
 
The second series of workshops will be in 2010. These will be the Urban Poverty Intervention (UPI) workshops, and will explore policy interventions appropriate to the challenges identified in the MUPCI workshops.    
 
The Anti Poverty Intervention Implementation Proposals (APIIP) workshops will take place during 2011. The APIIP workshops will formally propose the policy interventions identified in the first two years, and will identify the most effective means to implement the policy recommendations.
 
The Municipal Outreach Project requires the participation of the municipalities, and development organisations in order to jointly determine and implement interventions that will aid the country in combating poverty.
 
SLIDE 19
 
Regular communication is required amongst the municipalities, development organisations, and the project implementation team in order to successfully achieve the goal of assisting in the capacity building of local government to combat poverty. You can contact me, Nthamaga Kgafela, on the contact details in view.
 
For more information, please visit our website on www.eumunicipaloutreach.org.za. This presentation will be posted on the project website this afternoon. You can leave your contact details at the information desk outside, where you may also take a copy of the latest issue of Fast Facts for Local Government.
 
Thank you
 

by nkgafela — last modified 2009-01-30 13:21