SUPPORTING

CITY FUTURES
A

The Cities Support Programme and

the Urban Challenge in South Africa

James Duminy and Susan Parnell

B C
 Supporting City Futures

SUPPORTING
The Cities Support Programme and the
Urban Challenge in South Africa

February 2020
African Centre for Cities
University of Cape Town

This book is the result of a process of

knowledge coproduction involving the Cities
Support Programme (CSP) and African

CITY FUTURES
Centre for Cities (ACC). ACC acknowledges
D the contribution of CSP team and consultants
to the book through interviews and i
workshops. The authors, James Duminy and
Susan Parnell, also acknowledge the support
received from the PEAK Urban programme,
funded by UKRI’s Global Challenge Research
Fund, Grant Ref: ES/P011055/1.

Authors
James Duminy
Susan Parnell

Interviewers The Cities Support Programme and

James Duminy
Susan Parnell
Mercy Brown-Luthango
the Urban Challenge in South Africa
Review
Andrew Tucker
Editing
Lee Middleton
Design & graphics
Idea in a Forest
Production coordination
Alma Viviers
Printing
Tandym Print James Duminy and Susan Parnell
Suggested citation: Duminy, J., Parnell,
S. (2020) Supporting City Futures: The
Cities Support Programme and the Urban
Challenge in South Africa. Cape Town:
African Centre for Cities.

This work is licensed under the Creative

Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 ISBN 978-0-620-87063-4
International License. To view a copy of this
license, visit http:// creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc/4.0/
 CONTENTS
List of Acronyms 1

Foreword
By Professor Edgar Pieterse 5

Introduction 7
The South African urban challenge 8
ii Responding to the urban challenge 13 iii
Purpose and objectives 15
Framework 16
Outline of the book 17
References 19

Chapter 1: The History of South African Urban Reform 21

Unification 22
Post-war reconstruction and apartheid 24
The crisis of apartheid 28
Democratization 30
Conclusion 32
References 35

Chapter 2: Post-Apartheid Urban Policy and the

Genesis of the CSP 37
The pre-democratic era (1980s to 1994) 37
Democratization and reorganization (1994 to 2000) 42
Growth and implementation (2001 to 2008) 47
Decline (2008 onwards) 53
Conclusion 57
References 58

Chapter 3: What Is the CSP? 61

Where? 61
What? 74
How? 75
Institution 82
Team 85
Partnerships 88
Learning 91
Conclusion 92
References 93
 Chapter 4: Evolution of the CSP 95 Infrastructure finance 198
Conceptualization (before 2010) 95 Infrastructure delivery 200
Definition (2010 to 2012) 103 Conclusion 201
Planning (2012 to 2013) 104 References 203
Implementation (2013 to 2018) 105
Chapter 9: Human Settlements 205
The Integrated Urban Development Framework 106
The challenge 206
Conclusion 109
Theory of change 207
References 111
Historical context 207
Chapter 5: Leadership and Governance 113 Work programme 209
The challenge 114 Successes, challenges, and debates 218
Conclusion 220
iv

Theory of change
Work programme
114
115 References 221
v
Successes, challenges, and debates 125
Chapter 10: Public Transport 223
Conclusion 130
The challenge 224
References 131
Theory of change 225
Chapter 6: Planning Reforms 133 Historical context 226
The challenge 134 Work programme 227
Policy and strategic context 135 Successes, challenges, and debates 235
Theory of change 137 Conclusion 237
Work programme 137 References 239
Successes and challenges 148
Chapter 11: Economic Development 241
Context and debates 152
The challenge 242
Conclusion 159
Theory of change 243
References 163
Work programme 244
Chapter 7: Monitoring, Reporting, and Incentives 165 Successes, challenges, and debates 255
The challenge 166 Conclusion 259
Theory of change 167 References 259
Work programme 168
Chapter 12: Climate Resilience 261
Successes, challenges, and debates 176
The challenge 262
Conclusion 179
Theory of change 264
References 181
Work programme 264
Chapter 8: Infrastructure Finance and Delivery 183 Successes, challenges, and debates 269
The challenge 184 Conclusion 272
Theory of change 186 References 273
Historical context 186
Conclusion 275
Work programme 187
The practice of city support 275
Infrastructure finance 187
The urban research agenda 277
Infrastructure delivery 193
Successes, challenges, and debates 198 Provocations 280
References 281
 LIST OF ACRONYMS
African Centre for Cities (ACC) Development Action Group (DAG)
African National Congress (ANC) Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)
Breaking New Ground (BNG) Division of Revenue Act (DORA)
Built Environment Performance Plan (BEPP) Executive Leadership Programme (ELP)
Built Environment Support Group (BESG) Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP)
Built Environment Value Chain (BEVC) Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Programme
(FLISP)
vi Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC)
1
Capacity Support Implementation Plan (CSIP)
Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa Fiscal Impacts Tool (FIT)
(CAHF) foreign direct investment (FDI)
Cities Support Programme (CSP) Foundation for Contemporary Research (FCR)
City Infrastructure Delivery and Management Government Technical Assistance Centre (GTAC)
System (CIDMS) Growth, Employment, and Redistribution (GEAR)
City Integrity, Transparency, Social Accountability, House Price Index (HPI)
and Technology (InTAcT)
Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC)
community-based organizations (CBOs)
Human Settlements Development Grant (HSDG)
Community Organization Resource Centre
informal settlement upgrading (ISU)
(CORC)
Infrastructure Delivery and Management System
Community Works Programme (CWP)
(IDMS)
Comprehensive Integrated Transport Plan (CITP)
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)
Consolidated Municipal Transformation
Integrated City Development Grant (ICDG)
Programme (CMTP)
Integrated Development Plan (IDP)
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR) Integrated Public Transport Networks (IPTNs)
Department of Cooperative Governance and Integrated Residential Development Programme
Traditional Affairs (COGTA) (IRDP)
Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) Integrated Sustainable Rural Development
Framework (ISRDP)
Department of Human Settlements (DHS)
Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF)
Department of Planning, Monitoring, and
Evaluation (DPME) Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)
Department of Provincial and Local Government Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(DPLG) (IPCC)

sydelle willow smith

Department of Rural Development and Land Intergovernmental Relations (IGR)
reform (DRDLR) Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) (JIPSA)
Deputy Director General (DDG) local economic development (LED)
 Local Government Five-Year Strategic Agenda Public Transport Improvement Program (PTIP)
(LGFYSA) Public Transport Network Grant (PTNG)
Local Government Transition Act (LGTA) Rapid Integrated Project Options Assessment tool
Local Government Turnaround Strategy (LGTAS) (RIPOA)
Medium Term Integrated Infrastructure Framework Reconstruction and Development Programme
(MTIIF) (RDP)
Medium Term Revenue and Expenditure Framework Regional Services Council (RSC)
(MTREF) Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan
Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) (SDBIP)
multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs)
Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) social and environmental management (SEM)
2 Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) Social Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA) 3
Municipal Infrastructure Investment Framework South African Cities Network (SACN)
(MIIF) South African Local Government Association
Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) (SALGA)
Municipal Spatial Development Framework South African National Civic Organisation
(MSDF) (SANCO)
Natal Town and Regional Planning Commission South African Revenue Service (SARS)
(NTRPC) Spatial Costing Tool (SCOT)
National Development Plan (NDP) Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act
National Housing Forum (NHF) (SPLUMA)
National Local Government Negotiating Forum special economic zones (SEZs)
(NLGNF) Special Integrated Presidential Projects (SIPPs)
National Party (NP) subnational doing business (SNDB)
National Planning Commission (NPC) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
National Spatial Development Perspective Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs
(NSDP) (SECO)
National Upgrading Support Programme (NUSP) transit-oriented development (TOD)
National Urban Policies (NUPs) Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF)
Neighbourhood Development Partnership Upgrading of Informal Settlements Programme
Programme (NDPP) (UISP)
New Public Governance (NPG) Urban Development Framework (UDF)
New Public Management (NPM) Urban Development Strategy (UDS)
Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) Urban Land Institute (ULI)
Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Urban Network Strategy (UNS)
Planning and Implementation Management Urban Renewal Programme (URP)
Support (PIMS)
Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG)
Policy Coordination and Advisory Services (PCAS)
Programme Management Unit (PMU)
Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK)
 foreword
By Professor Edgar Pieterse

During moments of crisis and social contestation it is hard to see

or appreciate when there are positive stories about state craft and
innovation. This truth is particularly acute in 2020, as we come to
terms with the widespread and deep destruction of the Zuma era of
state capture and injury. However, if one’s attention remains fixed on
4 newspaper headlines and the drama of special commissions trying 5
to come to terms with state looting, it is near impossible to recognize
the pockets where people are striving to improve developmental
impact in the state. This book detailing the first five years of the City
Support Programme (CSP) of the National Treasury in South Africa
provides a unique insight into the conceptual, policy, institutional,
and personal labour involved in trying to tackle some of the most
wicked and intractable issues in post-Apartheid South Africa.

As the book elaborates, the CSP was a response to the National Development Plan analysis
that demonstrated that spatial inequality had to be confronted head-on if South African
cities were to realize their full potential. The CSP recognized that the routine operations
to provide public housing, subsidized public transport, and free basic services were not
going to solve the deepening challenge of spatial inequality. It therefore decided to experi-
ment with new planning tools and fiscal incentives to support the eight metropolitan gov-
ernments of South Africa to be more ambitious, more radical, and more strategic in how
they deploy scarce infrastructure capital so that economic and spatial inequalities can be
reversed. It is hard to overstate overstate the importance of this effort in the face of the
default culture, which simply accepts the suboptimal outcomes of doing more of the same.

With all of its challenges and shortcomings, the CSP offers important lessons for the
international policy and scholarly community interested in how democratic decentraliza-
tion (strong urban governments) can reinforce the leading role cities must play in pursu-
ing the Sustainable Development Goals. There is now a global recognition that cities must
and will take the lead in combining climate change action with inclusive development ef-
forts. However, there is very little knowledge about what is required in terms of policy and
institutional reform to equip city governments to meet the task. This book is an invaluable
resource describing a South African experiment that can inform that debate.
City of

sydelle willow smith

The book also points to the value of city-level innovation ecosystems, and the need to take Johannesburg: A
them far more seriously. Such ecosystems require the state and universities to engage view towards the
in creative knowledge partnerships that are grounded in the methodological imperative iconic city skyline
of knowledge co-production, and leave sufficient room for civil society actors and the pri- across the central
vate sector to join in the resulting experimental practices seeking contextual solutions. railway yard.
 Introduction
Over two decades since the advent of democratic rule, South
Africa faces a critical urban challenge. This challenge echoes the
unfinished business of transformation but is also informed by wider
pressures. The nature and scale of urban growth, combined with
the urban impacts of global conditions of economic transformation,
technological shift, climate change, and general insecurity, provide
a fragile context for the multi-scale governance reform that is
imperative to making cities more equal, resilient, and productive.
6 7
The imperative and opportunity of urban transformation is not unique to South Africa.
Globally, the importance of cities and urbanization in driving sustainable and equitable
forms of development is acknowledged, while the urgency of devolution and strength-
ening the local state to secure this developmental role for subnational actors is recog-
nized in multilateral conventions like the Sustainable Development Goals, the New Urban
Agenda, and the Paris Agreement. These accords speak to a new global recognition that
for cities and city governments to work optimally, they require particular kinds of inno-
vation, investment, and management to realize their potential as drivers of sustainable
development at multiple scales.
Moreover, the recognition that cities hold the key to so many different aspects of a
sustainable future is driving reform across various sectors, scales, and actors. What
many of these efforts have in common is the conviction that, whatever else they may
pursue, making local or city governments work better within their overall institutional
and governance contexts is non-negotiable. Cities themselves are unsurprisingly at the
forefront of change, but they are not alone. Key mechanisms being invoked to enliven
the subnational scale are various forms of national support and innovation programmes
— sometimes styled as ‘national urban policies’ (Cartwright et al. 2018; Turok and Par-
nell 2009; UN-Habitat 2016). This kind of effort reflects a cross-government concern with
improving the power and effectiveness of city management. In South Africa, a country
often seen as a global policy innovator, the Cities Support Programme (CSP) was set up
in 2011 within the National Treasury. It was conceived as an intergovernmental platform
for urban support and reform to address South Africa’s national urban challenge in the
core metropolitan areas, and to promote inclusive, sustainable, and productive modes
of urban and economic growth. It is now a formal part of the wider Integrated Urban
Development Framework that looks at urbanization and urban change across the entire
national spatial system (COGTA 2016).
This book seeks to capture the emergence, experiences, and lessons of CSP, as a par-
ticular — imperfect, yet significant and innovative — approach to urban support and re- Mangaung: A street
form. Our intention is not only to document the specifics of the CSP, but also to capture vendor selling to
a larger story about the evolution of urban policy and practice in South Africa. The story passing commuters

GUTO BUSSAB
of these big, bold, and nationally supported urban reform initiatives cannot be under- on the corner of
estimated — especially as the African continent becomes increasingly urban. As cities Hanger Street,
become the focus of policy debate, urban reformers, practitioners, researchers, and stu- Bloemfontein.
 dents must interrogate the process as well as the outcome of urban transformation; ongo- Figure C: The Importance and Opportunity of Large South African Cities (source: National Treasury 2018)
ing innovation must emerge from the lessons of the past and present. The CSP presents a
story of experimentation and learning, of success and failure. It is an especially important

total population
national output
case because it is largely a locally generated example of urban governance reform. It is
a story of one part of a wider ecosystem of people, institutions, and initiatives that are

total labour
working age
seeking to change the ways that municipalities act, and the ways that cities grow and feel.

employment

population
The current political moment in South Africa offers a critical opportunity to shape

national
the future of South African cities and urbanization and, by implication, the social and

force
economic fate of the country and region. National political leaders speak of a ‘New Deal’
for South African cities and towns — a promise to be fulfilled through instruments like 57% 50% 40% 42% 42%
the Integrated Urban Development Framework (COGTA 2016). As such, this book acts as
a timely intervention at this political juncture, a reminder of where South African urban by metros in metros live in metros live in metros live in metros
policy has emerged from, and the direction it could go.
8 In this Introduction we describe the purpose of the book and identify its intended audi-
economic output formal & informal
employment 9
ences. We also set out the book’s conceptual and empirical focus and, finally, provide an
outline of its structure and content.
79%
metros 59% growth
growth
The South African urban challenge
South Africa’s future is increasingly urban. The United Nations calculates that 66% of 2.5 x 1x
the population currently live in towns and cities (UNPD 2018), and it is estimated that the 1996 2012 1996 2012
total urban population will grow by 7.8 million people before 2030, with a further 6 million
national METROS’
to be added by 2050, taking the total urbanization rate to 80% (NPC 2013). Most of this Metros produce more manufacturing economy economy
growth is expected to take place in the country’s large cities, but secondary cities are jobs per resident than elsewhere
expanding as well (SACN 2016).
Figure A: Percentage population living in urban and Figure B: Percentage population living in urban Figure D: Overall changes in poverty rates, South Africa, 2006 to 2015 (source: World Bank 2018)
rural areas, South Africa, 1950 to 2050 areas: South Africa compared with Southern Africa 100
and Africa, 1950 to 2050
80 80 90
80
Proportion of total population (%)

70 70
70

Head count ratio (%)

60 60
60
50 50 50
Proportion urban (%)

40
40 40
30
30 30
20
20 20 10
0
10 10
2018

2018

Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total

0 0 Food Poverty Line Lower Bound Poverty Line Upper Bound Poverty Line
1950 1975 2000 2025 2050 1950 1975 2000 2025 2050
year year
2006 14.6 48.2 28.4 34.3 74.9 51.0 52.0 87.6 66.6

Urban South Africa 2009 19.4 57.4 33.5 31.5 74.9 47.6 46.8 88.0 62.1
Rural Southern Africa 2011 12.3 36.6 21.4 23.1 58.5 36.4 38.8 77.0 53.2
Africa (source: UNPD 2018) 2015 13.4 45.6 25.2 25.4 65.4 40.0 40.6 81.3 55.5
 Urbanization presents a potential opportunity. Cities have long been recognized as im- rating the harsh effects of poverty and inequality. Recently, however, the Urbanization
portant for economic development and poverty reduction. The reasons for this are linked Review (see Chapter 11) recognized that government interventions in urban develop-
to the effects of agglomeration. Spatial proximity, density, and connectivity provide en- ment processes have been relatively ineffective in overcoming the country’s legacy of
terprises with advantages and opportunities to scale-up, specialize, and innovate; create social, spatial, and economic division. These have generally taken the form of large-scale,
better matches between worker skills and jobs; and reduce the overall costs of providing supply-side interventions, focusing on physical solutions (such as housing megaprojects
public services (National Treasury 2018; UN-Habitat 2013). or transport infrastructure initiatives), and relying on internal public sector capacity for
Evidence shows that in South Africa, as elsewhere, cities are driving economic growth. delivery (National Treasury 2018). In institutional terms, poor levels of alignment between
They contribute disproportionately to economic development and employment genera- the functional responsibilities, interventions, and incentives of different spheres of gov-
tion, and municipal service delivery performance is far higher for the large cities than ernment have resulted in projects that are individually ineffective, collectively incoherent,
for other areas. These realities are helping to sustain high rates of rural-urban migration, and unaffordable.
1 which peaked following the removal of apartheid-era controls on labour mobility and resi- In the democratic era, important advances have been made in establishing a single
The overall migration dency.1 People move because living in urban areas provides them with better prospects municipal system from the fragmented, undemocratic, racially divided, and unaccount-
rate was 26.4% in 1996, of getting a job — with a higher probability of landing formal employment in particular able patchwork of local governments that functioned during apartheid. Urban munici-
10 dropping to 13.8% in
2001 before rising to
— while enabling access to amenities like shelter and electricity (National Treasury 2018; palities have played a critical role in the large-scale roll out of basic services. Yet the lo- 11
16.4% in 2011 (National World Bank 2018). As long as many of South Africa’s poor ‘look to urban economies for so- cal government system is still in a process of transformation, and significant challenges
Treasury 2018). cial and material opportunity’, cities will remain ‘migration magnets’ for the foreseeable remain if cities are to secure and increase their contribution to economic development
future (National Treasury 2018). While these realities present a major challenge to service (DPME 2014). City governments have to become more efficient in how they budget for,
provision, the coupled phenomena of urban economic growth and rural-urban migration implement, and maintain essential urban infrastructure services, and more proactive in
2 have helped to reduce rates of rural poverty as well as overall national poverty levels, as accommodating future demand arising from in-migration and expected rates of growth.
In the period 2006 to shown by Figure I (World Bank 2018).2 Moreover, they must act more effectively in regulatory and administrative terms when
2014, up to 385,000 That said, although South Africa is relatively urbanized, the manner in which cities, managing development processes.
people managed to and the urbanization process, have been managed has failed to reap an ‘urban dividend’
escape poverty after Figure E: The Metropolitan Challenge in South Africa (sources: Palmer et al. 2017; Gardner 2018)
moving from rural to
— an expected boost for economic activity, productivity, and growth arising from the
urban areas (Turok and increasing spatial concentration of an economically active population (COGTA 2016). In-
Visagie 2018a). While stead, South Africa is home to some of the most unequal cities on the planet (UN-Habitat
urban in-migration may 2008). Economic growth and job creation have been inadequate to keep pace with popu-
be associated with ‘a
large, positive impact
on life circumstances’
lation growth, and remain insufficiently inclusive. Meanwhile, current patterns of urban
development appear to be reinforcing spatial divisions created under apartheid rather
than delivering on the post-apartheid policy vision for inclusive, integrated, compact,
In Cape Town,
Johannesburg and R42
billion
for individual migrants,
positive effects are and sustainable cities. The South African Urbanization Review, produced by the World eThekwini,

784,000
often mitigated by Bank at the request of the National Treasury (see Chapter 11), recognized this shortfall
the fact that many in the urban developmental dividend as a function of two main dynamics: the persist-

per
job-seekers moving to
cities end up initially
ence of fragmented urban spatial forms, combined with ‘shortcomings in government

total metro
programmes and policy’ (National Treasury 2018, p. 6). households are

households
living in informal
The National Development Plan has highlighted the importance of space — and the

year
settlements and former
black townships on spatial relations between people’s urban residences and workplaces — as key hindranc- officially designated
the urban periphery,
without affordable
es to economic growth and poverty reduction (NPC 2013). Fragmented built environment to be living in the
forms obstruct social interaction, increase travel times and costs, boost carbon emis-
access to already
limited job and social sions, and undermine the financial viability of municipal governments (Turok 2014). These 18% worst housing
Estimated infrastructure
opportunities (NPC realities mobilize against the positive effects of agglomeration.
live in
circumstances; set investment requirement
2013; SACN 2016; Turok The capacity for cities to act as engines of growth or pathways out of poverty is by
and Visagie 2018a; no means inevitable. Concerted, proactive policies and interventions are needed to en-
informal
dwellings
against a national across the metros
2018b).
sure that urban growth and change result in efficient, productive, inclusive, and sustain- backlog figure of
able outcomes, securing the potential for cities to act as ‘engines’ of national economic
growth and prosperity. 2.2 million
Since the advent of democracy, the South African state has invested vast amounts
of capital and energy into redistribution and overcoming historical legacies of exclusion. (Gardner 2018).
Important strides have been made in extending access to basic services, and in amelio-
 Table A: Estimated capital and operational requirements versus actual spending
Responding to the urban challenge
US$ millions for Modelled1 Actual Estimate Total % of South Africa’s urban challenge is at once spatial and institutional. The coherence and
2013/14 year (municipal) of spend actual modelled effectiveness of the response that is mounted to this challenge will be critical in deter-
by others2 expenditure requirement mining the country’s future levels of economic growth, social welfare, and environmental
sustainability.
It is important to note that responding to the urban challenge does not imply a single-
Water supply 2,490 840 280 1,120 45% minded focus on what happens within cities to the exclusion of — or as an alternative to
— rural development. In South Africa, different types of ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ settlements
Sanitation 1,920 630 0 630 33% are interconnected in dynamic ways, driven by a range of historical and contemporary
factors, including flows of people, capital, and environmental resources (COGTA 2016).
Electricity 2,570 710 870 1,580 61% Responses targeted at cities therefore inherently have implications for rural areas, and
12 vice versa. As such, the South African urban challenge is one calling for recognition of 13
Solid waste 220 130 0 130 59% the importance of cities as centres of growth and prosperity within larger settlement,
spatial-economic, and natural systems (COGTA 2016; NPC 2013). It means identifying the
Roads & public 5,360 1,500 0 1,500 28% specific forms of developmental support that cities require to fulfil this role effectively,
transport3 within an overall agenda for national spatial and economic development. It also entails
enhancing the capacity for urbanization (as a transformative process connecting large
Community 590 360 0 360 60% cities, secondary cities, towns, and rural areas) to drive inclusive economic and terri-
and safety torial transformation at multiple scales. However, formulating this kind of multifaceted
response to the urban challenge will need to be undertaken in a context of economic 3
Housing 640 320 0 320 50% stagnation coupled with poor labour market performance (Turok and Visagie 2018c). The For example, in this
global recession of 2008 and 2009 badly affected South Africa, and poor economic per- period trade unions
have become less
Admin buildings 740 740 0 740 100% formance has continued since. Reasons include the continued dominance within the
engaged with broader
and systems4 economy of large, capital-intensive enterprises associated with the mining and energy civic issues, and more
sectors, coupled with the ongoing financialization of the economy. Capital intensity in focused on those
Other3 210 210 0 210 100% the business sector has allowed the unemployment rate to increase just as rates of remu- factors immediately
neration per worker have risen (Palmer et al. 2017). The country continues to have one of relevant to worker
income and welfare.
the most unequal economies in the world, and unemployed rates remain alarmingly high
Meanwhile, the civic
Total 14,730 5,430 1,150 6,580 45% at 27.5% (NPC 2013; Statistics South Africa 2018). movement, which also
Moreover, the urban response will take place within a shifting and uncertain politi- played a key role in

cal context. At the time of writing in early 2019, South Africa had only just emerged from driving and facilitating
(source: DBSA and CoGTA (2010), with figures updated and adapted to allow comparison for the 2013/14 year) a period of intense political contestation and scandal. The creation of a ‘shadow state’, the transition to
democratic rule
associated with the Presidency of Jacob Zuma, but extending across the entire intergov-
alongside urban
Notes: ernmental system, effectively nullified the potential impact of any new policy ideas and sector service
instruments, including the National Development Plan, and acted to empower a rural po- organizations like
1 Modelled figures taken from projections in the Municipal Services Finance Model litical elite (Swilling et al. 2017). These dynamics have encouraged a more general sense Planact (see Chapter
(MSFM) used for the MIIF Round 7 analysis, excluding administration and ‘other’. of popular disillusionment with the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), re- 2), have assumed a
more marginal role
2 Expenditure by others includes figures for water boards and Eskom, escalated from flected in the results of the 2016 local government elections, where the ANC lost three ma-
in coproducing and
the figures used in the MIIF Round 7 analysis. An additional US$50 million is al- jor cities (Johannesburg, Tshwane, and Nelson Mandela Bay) to coalitions led by its main tracking service
lowed for investments by others, including farmers, mines, etc. political opposition, the Democratic Alliance. These changes have introduced new dynam- delivery processes.
3 In the case of roads, the high figure modelled is strongly influenced by the required ics and uncertainties into local government civil and party politics (Palmer et al. 2017). Increasingly, civil
investment in low-volume rural roads. These political shifts should also be located against a general decline in the public society engagement
with government
4 For administration and ‘other’ expenditure, it is not possible to model these num- influence of civil society organizations in the years following 1994.3
delivery of services
bers, therefore actual areas used. In policy and strategic terms, the need for decisive interventions to address intra- and takes the form of
inter-urban inequality is acknowledged, as is the imperative to drive increased prosperity. protest (Palmer et al.
(source: Palmer et al. 2017) But there is little by way of consensus as to how this should be done. Dominant political 2017).
 discourses around how to promote national economic growth focus either on ‘growth
with redistribution’ or ‘radical economic transformation’ (Turok and Visagie 2018b). Purpose and objectives
Since the advent of Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency, South African political leaders
have been bullish about the prospects of a ‘New Deal’ for South Africa’s urban areas. Yet This book is, in part, a documentary about CSP as a platform for urban support and re-
there are also various discourses, axes of thought, and ways of framing the South African form, and the group of people constituting it within National Treasury. It is also a reflec-
urban challenge that make the issue of urban change particularly ‘noisy’ and in need of tion on what the Programme’s experience invites us to think about and do in the future.
strategic clarity. Debates include whether one arm of the rural-urban dichotomy should The starting point for this project has been the notion that CSP represents a ‘different
be prioritized. In other words, should urban problems be solved by investing in rural areas way of doing business’: the nature and scale of its ambitions and interventions for sup-
to stall rapid migration into cities? Alternatively, is national economic development best porting cities are new to the South African context, although not without local or inter-
delivered by spreading investment and economic activity across space; for example, by national precedent. We are presenting a description of a distinctive kind of platform and
locating Special Economic Zones in every province, and by targeting development at un- process with the hope that by describing it in a particular way — rather than carrying
derdeveloped or ‘lagging’ areas? Perhaps the national growth agenda is better served by out some form of assessment against predefined criteria — we can start to open up new
focusing investments on places where large numbers of people and infrastructures are questions and identify new kinds of knowledge imperatives. As such, this is not a formal
14 already concentrated? How the national government views large cities, and what support evaluation but rather a formative engagement. That said, the critical interaction that the 15
it offers to the metros either in direct fiscal terms or by way of policy and institutional book’s production entailed provides a basis for reflecting on whether CSP has had an
reforms, is in part an outcome of its wider perspective on the national spatial economy. impact on the objective urban challenges we have outlined above, whether it has taken
The politics surrounding national spatial economy — a not insignificant issue given an appropriate form and approach, and how it is positioned within ongoing debates on
the legacies of apartheid — is, however, only one determinant of urban policy direction. intergovernmental fiscal and governance reform.
Another debate centres on the priority of state investment within cities: should the focus From the perspective of National Treasury and CSP, the book will help inform the South
be on boosting economic growth by crowding infrastructure into specific places with African urban policy community of the critical practices, policies, and debates of which it
high potential, or by following space-neutral policies that support market development should be aware. Capturing some of the learning that has emerged from the Programme
where it materializes? Or should public capital be spent to provide subsidized services to may help to drive a better understanding of South Africa’s specific urban and governance
poor populations in the places where they reside? These are complex, nuanced decisions challenges, as well as opportunities for effective reform. For CSP, too, the book is a way
whose effective implementation depends not just on policy clarity, but also on ensuring to codevelop a policy-relevant urban research agenda in collaboration with university
that there is adequate state capacity to execute the agreed prioritizations and strategic partners. It seeks to frame — albeit not conclusively — several areas for further research,
choices, or to make the requisite institutional adjustments. which may guide students and scholars based in South Africa or elsewhere. In particular,
In sum, South Africa faces, in objective terms, an urban challenge and an opportunity. it invites researchers to think about two broad domains: the platforms and mechanisms
It also faces a range of — sometimes competing, sometimes complementary — narra- that are used for urban support and reform, as well as the substantive knowledge agenda:
tives on what strategy and priorities should be invoked to address that situation. Flowing what are the key priority issues that we should be investigating, and how might we make
from the analysis and choices made about the ambitions for the future of South African priority interventions when confronted by competing imperatives or different choices?
metropolitan areas and their place in the national space economy, it is clear that major For the African Centre for Cities (ACC), it was important that this book not simply be
institutional change is, notwithstanding the post-apartheid constitutional reforms, still an evaluative exercise or policy review. Rather, it is a way of situating the structure and
required. work of the CSP in a wider intellectual context. This has involved two main tasks and ob-
To catalyse urban change at the scale and ambition envisaged, the intention of the jectives: on one hand, assuming the conventional academic role of offering critique. On
CSP was to distil some sort of consensus around future action. Working across a very the other hand, it is also intended as an exercise of stepping back to be more reflective
fluid political and institutional landscape without necessarily understanding what was about the processes CSP has undertaken, and therefore clarify the strengths and weak-
possible or knowing what was realistic, the CSP leadership initiated a formative process nesses of those processes informed by the internal dynamics of delivering institutional
of urban reform. A far more collaborative intervention than, say, a state commission, the change. Moreover, it provides an opportunity to highlight the dimensions of what is in
CSP tried to absorb as many complementarities as possible within the intergovernmental many ways a more important phase of post-apartheid policy, fiscal, and practical reform
system. Operating in and across spheres and sectors came with costs — in particular than that leading up to 1994. In theory, the interventions of the CSP could effect more
those relating to institutional overreach — but it also established a different, more it- change in our cities than the introduction of the Constitution, or the municipal finance
erative mode of forging urban transformational change by working within the systems policies codeveloped with the World Bank in the 1990s. If that is the case, the CSP plat-
of government. This book is an integral part of the logic of that translational approach, form — its size, shape, strategy, and lessons — needs to be made legible for students and
where the intention is to critically track the challenges and opportunities involved in mak- future practitioners not only in South Africa, but also globally.
ing big changes to how cities are run. The embedded reflection that this volume presents Readers of this book who are policymakers and practitioners based in South Africa
is not a conventional academic critique. Rather, working with the CSP team, we sought to will be introduced to new and different approaches to urban support and reform, new
illuminate the uneven and contested processes of urban change. In the following section, kinds of urban governance practices, key debates in the field, as well as lessons from past
we set out the purpose and objectives of the book in more detail. experiences, all of which will hopefully assist with their professional work. Readers based
 outside South Africa will find in this text a documented case of a particular kind of initia- context and difference, and in its systemic vision and mode of action — and provides
tive representing how, internationally, responses to the challenges of cities are changing, an imperfect yet innovative example of how we can shift city government actions and
from which they can learn and relate to their own contexts. For officials or others who transform our urban spaces.
may not be entirely aware of the CSP’s overall strategy and work programme, or who may
disagree with aspects of this approach, the book provides a basis for engagement and
critique. Meanwhile, students and researchers will find a range of issues and tensions, Outline of the book
arising from the experiences, challenges, and successes of the CSP, which may assist
with the formulation of research questions and projects. The book is arranged in three main parts. Part 1 seeks to situate the CSP and its evolu-
tion within a longer history of urban processes and governance reform in South Africa.
Following this Introduction, Chapter 1 provides some temporal context through a his-
Framework torical overview of national initiatives to change the ways in which South African cities
were planned and governed in the twentieth century. Of importance here is that while
The book’s analytical focus is arranged along three lines: the CSP may be a new form or mode of urban innovation and policy prescription, South
16 African cities are palimpsests that reflect earlier such interventions. In this vein, Chap- 17
p Platform: We seek to describe and position CSP as a platform for convening dif- ter 2 proceeds to describe the specific post-apartheid dynamics that have given rise to
ferent voices and activities initiatives, both within the intergovernmental system and shaped the reform of urban governance practices. Here the CSP is located within a
and in civil society, rather than as an official unit as one might conventionally find in longer history of local government fiscal reform pursued by the National Treasury and its
a national government department. This may not always be successful because in post-1994 antecedents, as well as a longer process of public sector reform and municipal
reality CSP has elements of both a platform and unit: it is operated by a small team support pursued within the South African state.
of core staff located within Treasury, but as a programme of city support and reform, Part 2 of the book proceeds to systematize and describe the overall dimensions of the
its agenda, partnerships, and activities extend well beyond that institutional setting CSP’s strategy and work process. Chapter 3 presents the CSP in a nutshell, outlining its
(including into city government). This is a tension that we surface in various parts of institutional location, structure, strategic approach, and mode of working, before Chap-
the book. ter 4 describes the evolution of the urban question and the CSP platform, particularly
within the context of National Treasury.
p Process: Our emphasis is on the process by which CSP has emerged and evolved, Having established the broad size, shape, and objectives of the CSP, Part 3 goes on to
as well as on the ways in which it has tried to influence other actors, institutions, and provide more detailed discussions of each of the CSP’s thematic components. Chapters
processes. The book does not simply list CSP’s projects and outputs, but rather tries 5 to 8 focus on the CSP’s Core City Governance Component, a transversal component
to locate those activities within a larger strategic vision and institutional mode of that focuses respectively on the Leadership and Governance; Planning Reforms; Moni-
working. toring, Reporting, and Incentives; and Infrastructure Finance and Delivery sub-compo-
nents. CSP’s initiatives pursued in relation to Human Settlements and Public Transport
p People: The book is not just about presenting the formal strategy and work pro- are covered in Chapters 9 and 10, respectively. The Programme’s other two transversal
gramme of CSP itself or of the state. Neither is it a simple narrative of policy or in- components — Economic Development and Climate Resilience — are then discussed in
stitutional change. Part of what it tries to convey is that for states to function, they Chapters 11 and 12.
require a cohort of committed individuals — leaders who are able to work together in Finally, the book’s Conclusion returns to an overview of CSP as a whole, asking critical
an iterative and innovative way. We have therefore tried to include small snapshots of questions about the platform and its strategic approach to city support as it moves for-
the personalities and individuals who have come together to form this entity, and who ward into its second phase. We also present a few initial ideas that might begin to frame
have given it its character and, at times, legitimacy. a future policy-relevant research agenda for South African cities and urbanization. The
book ends with a series of provocations for its intended target audiences.
The central conceptual thread running through the book is that of ‘city support’. Global
development debates may have put cities and urbanization front and centre, but the
question of how we should support them to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), as well as other ambitions, remains up for debate. Ultimately, the book aims
to provide a basis from which we can problematize what we mean by city support, not
least because it is a ‘cluttered’ space: one frequented by international donor agencies
that bring their own understandings of the term and how it should be translated into
practice. We tell this story of a particular approach to city support that emerged organi-
cally in the South African post-apartheid context. We believe that CSP offers unique
value in important ways — for example, in its detailed attention and responsiveness to
 Figure F: City Support Programme areas of work as covered in this book
References
Chapter 12 core city governance Chapter 11
Cartwright, A., Palmer, I., Taylor, A., Pieterse, E., Parnell, S., Turok, I. (2014) ‘The Resilience of South African Cities a
and Colenbrander, S. (2018) Developing Prosperous and Decade After Local Democracy’, Environment and Plan-
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Turok, I., and Parnell, S. (2009) ‘Reshaping Cities, Rebuild-
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climate resilience

COGTA).
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chapter 9 DPME (2014) Twenty Year Review: South Africa (Pretoria:
Turok, I., and Visagie, J. (2018b) ‘Does Moving to a City
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Palmer, I., Moodley, N., and Parnell, S. (2017) Building a UN-Habitat (2013) Unleashing the Economic Potential of
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Land Strategy South African City Network (SACN) (2016) State of South cies: A Global Overview (Nairobi: UN-Habitat).
Development African Cities Report 2016 (Johannesburg: SACN).
Transaction Support General United Nations Population Division (UNPD) (2018) ‘Coun-
Admin Statistics South Africa (2017) General Household Survey try Profile: South Africa’. In World Urbanization Prospects:
Stakeholder 5% 2017 (Pretoria: Statistics South Africa). The 2018 Revision (New York: United Nations Department
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Planning

Reporting
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 Chapter 1

The History of
South African
Urban Reform
This chapter presents a broad historical overview of the ‘urban
20 question’ in South Africa, and describes the various kinds of urban 21
reform initiatives that have emerged since the start of the twentieth
century. It seeks to locate the current moment of renewed interest
in urban reform within a longer history of political and economic
debates, processes, and contestations. This is done, in part, as a
way to set up a discussion on the appropriateness of the approach
taken and instruments used by the CSP, which is a theme that we will
return to throughout the book, and particularly in the Conclusion.

A key starting point for this discussion is that states, and for that matter individual gov-
ernment departments and programmes, are neither unitary nor static. They are com-
posed of a diversity of different actors and interests; they learn and change. Their roles
and interventions can shift in relation to high-level political and social objectives, and
in response to public disagreements and conflicts. The aims, structure, and character
of a state may also change in accordance with emerging material and spatial trends
manifesting at various scales. Notably, the institutional architecture for urban govern-
ance is formative of and shaped by the dynamics of cities and urbanization. Indeed, we
shall argue that problems specific to cities and urban areas have historically played a
significant role in shaping wider national questions, institutional arrangements, and
governmental responses in South Africa. Moreover, not all reform efforts have been
targeted in the same direction — some have been explicitly anti-urban, while others
were reactions to the overreach of their predecessors, or to changing socio-economic
demands.
In this chapter, we explore some of these dynamics in South African history with par-
ticular reference to the mechanisms and instruments of urban governance reform. An-
other theme running implicitly through this chapter, as through the whole book, is that
of city support. We are interested in what forms, if any, city support might have taken in
different times and places. Who was responsible for support activities, and what did they
seek to achieve? City of Tshwane:
The following sections briefly discuss four critical moments of urban governance re- Pop-up spaza shop

GUTO BUSSAB
form in South African history, focusing on the institutions and processes by which re- selling sweets, chips
forms were established, and the instruments — the kinds of ‘governance levers’ — used and cooldrinks to
to implement them. These ‘moments’ include the creation of a unified South African state commuters.
 in the first decade of the twentieth century, the shift to formal apartheid policy in the pe- ‘a highly exploitable and disciplined black wage labour force’ (Morrell 1988, p. 619).
riod immediately following the Second World War, the growing ‘crisis of apartheid’ of the The way these alliances and interests played out within the urban environment was
1970s and 1980s, as well as post-apartheid democratization. critical to shaping the objectives and forms of later urban policies. Officials wanted to
regulate the establishment of townships and urban density, as well as the use of urban
land, to provide the conditions for reproducing a low-paid workforce. In Johannesburg,
Unification such conditions included an urban environment free from the ravages of epidemic disease,
as well as from a ‘sharply demarcated central working-class area’ wherein rentals were
The conclusion of the South African or Boer War in 1902 paved the way for British author- costly and an ‘aggressive class consciousness’ might all too easily foment (Van Onselen
ities to forge a new South African colonial state. Geographically, this was to comprise a 2001, p. 184). Authorities aimed to regulate and prevent the migration into cities of ‘unde-
series of separate territories, including the British colonies of the Cape and Natal, and sirable’ whites and Africans. They also sought a legal basis for the eviction and forced
the independent Boer republics (the Orange Free State and South African Republic, later removal of Africans from urban areas, justified on public health and sanitary grounds, and
known as the Transvaal). In the post-war era, colonial authorities faced the basic political of poor white people from the city’s growing slums. Africans were to reside in new, pe-
challenge of stamping British authority over the region, while gradually laying the founda- ripheral, and municipally-established townships like Klipspruit (Smit 1989). Working-class
22 tion for South African unification and responsible self-government. This, however, raised whites, by contrast, were to be ‘stabilized’ in relatively well-serviced suburbs. 23
critical challenges of administrative and legal integration. The creation of the Union of In the post-war reconstruction and unification period, the primary mode of policymak-
South Africa in 1910 meant the very different institutional and juridical systems active ing — and the principal mechanism through which a national urban agenda took shape
within each of the former colonies and republics would have to be aligned and consolidat- — was a particular kind of governmental institution and process: the expert commission.
ed. Moreover, officials had to ensure uniformity on critical political and strategic issues In the years following 1902, colonial officials appointed a raft of commissions to deliber-
such as industrial-economic and ‘native policy’, as well as, increasingly, urban policy. ate on issues such as land demarcation and ownership, tariff policy, as well as ‘native
British plans for reconstruction and unification coincided with sharp post-war eco- affairs’. Most importantly, at least for questions of urban governance, was the Transvaal
nomic and spatial transitions. Strong economic growth on the ore-rich Witwatersrand Local Government Commission, known as the Stallard Commission — notorious for pro-
encouraged migration into towns and cities, and Johannesburg in particular grew rap- claiming in 1922 the doctrine ‘that the towns were essentially the creation of the white
idly. Urban growth raised a series of policy problems. For one matter, urban populations man, and that the black man’s presence there could be justified only insofar as he served
needed to be fed, preferably without relying on costly imports, which brought the ques- the white man’s needs’ (Davenport 1970, p. 77). Under its recommendations, proper secu-
tion of agricultural modernization into focus (Freund 2019). Moreover, as overcrowded rity of tenure in urban areas was to be denied to all Africans.
slums swelled to accommodate new residents and jobseekers, threats of ill-health and The ‘Stallard doctrine’ directly informed the content and aims of the 1923 Natives
epidemic disease in urban areas became critical topics of political debate and action (Urban Areas) Act — the urban corollary of the 1913 Land Act — which sought to control
in the years before and following unification (Parnell 1993). In Cape Town, outbreaks of urban race relations over a variety of legal and planning domains. The Urban Areas Act
bubonic plague in 1901 fostered the emergence of a ‘sanitation syndrome’ that linked the empowered urban local authorities to set aside areas for African occupation (but not
urban presence of Africans to disease and anti-social behaviour (Swanson 1977). Social ownership) in separate ‘locations’, to provide (or require employers to provide) residences
pressure led to the construction of Ndabeni township, to which Africans were forcibly for Africans working in urban areas, and to implement a basic system of influx control
removed (Maylam 1990). Similar anxieties and responses would soon be found elsewhere, (Davenport 1970; Maylam 1990). It thereby entrenched the racialized ‘separation between
and the problem appeared to demand a coordinated central response. planning for “locations” and planning for the rest of urban South Africa’ (Mabin and Smit
In this period, a central urban problem directing governmental thought and interven- 1997, p. 199). Essentially, the Urban Areas Act defined a system of local government in 4
‘The Act also required
tion concerned the ‘urban native question’: how to deal with African migration, residen- South Africa, introducing ideas around the practicalities of governance at the city level. It
each municipality to
cy, and employment (and the risks perceived to result from those trends) in South Africa’s was an innovative piece of legislation, among other things codifying a twin-track, segre- establish a separate
growing towns and cities through state control. For leaders and officials, key questions gated system of municipal financial management.4 native revenue
included: should these realities and their associated effects be officially tolerated, ac- As a mechanism of governance reform, an expert commission like that chaired by account for all moneys
cepted, or rejected? What role should different levels of government fulfil in enforcing Colonel Stallard was distinctive in several ways. It addressed a particular problem, sat contributed by location
residents from fines,
control? And how should all of this be financed? for a limited period, and reported under the ultimate authority of a figurehead chair-
fees, rents, and beer
The post-war colonial state quickly assumed a controlling and coercive role over the person. The commission — occupying a ‘quasi-autonomous’ position in relation to the hall takings. This
production of urban space. On the Highveld, officials acted to secure the interests of state — played a particularly important role in helping to arrive at, and bring legitimacy money had to be spent
a new, assertive urban bourgeoisie, and to create the conditions for mining capital to to, difficult policy decisions in the context of political division or debate over a central on improvements to the
flourish — or, at least, to assist the aims of an emerging ‘gold and maize alliance’: an moral dilemma. Stallard, in fact, faced a choice between two highly contested posi- location and was not
to be swallowed up in
informal coalition of mineowners and ‘progressive’ large-scale farmers who supplied tions: divisions within a debate that would shape South African urban policy for years
the general rate fund
food to the burgeoning Witwatersrand market (Smit 1989; Trapido 1971; Morrell 1988). to come. On the one hand, there was the option of accepting, accommodating, and and spent on other
The alliance was built around a shared set of economic interests: ensuring low wages ‘stabilizing’ an African working class in towns and cities. On the other, African workers parts of the urban area’
for workers, producing cheap food to feed them, and generally creating and preserving could be excluded through their designation as temporary migrants from rural areas. (Davenport 1970, p. 78).
 A second important mechanism of governance reform was the consultative confer- migrant labour and segregation at a larger territorial scale. The question, simply put, was
ence. The key example here is the 1918 Public Health Conference, attended by a variety how the state should go about forging an appropriate ‘racial order in industrial urban
of medical professionals, officials from all levels of government, representatives of pro- life’ (Freund 2019, p. 149).
fessional associations, plus a range of other interested and affected parties. During the The disruptions of global war unleashed a modernist planning fervour in South Africa,
Conference and subsequent consultative processes that followed in the drafting of the a drive to reconstruct towns and cities in order to address ‘the dislocations of the age’
Public Health Bill, municipal officials emerged ‘at the forefront of the demand for urban (Mabin and Smit 1997, p. 203). Urbanization and industrialization had already gained mo-
reform’, notably ‘requesting powers to monitor disease and control slums’ (Parnell 1993, mentum through the 1930s, driven by the rise of a ‘minerals-energy complex’ underwrit-
p. 485). The end result was the 1919 Public Health Act. In line with their requests, local ten by the establishment of giant parastatals like Eskom and the Iron and Steel Corpora-
authorities were indeed granted more powers to finance and carry out slum clearances tion (ISCOR) in the 1920s (Fine and Rustomjee 1996). The metal-working industry’s star
and public health programmes. Although the Act did not address wider principles of town rose quickly, becoming the largest sector by value of total output by the time war was
planning, it did include measures to enable the control of building coverage, and to zone declared. Moreover, the swelling urban workforce and middle class represented markets
urban areas for particular kinds of land use (Parnell 1993; Smit 1989). that encouraged the growth of consumer-oriented industries in sectors like food, bever-
The practical significance of the 1918 Conference was that it enabled a wide range of ages, and tobacco, and, to a lesser extent, in textiles and apparel (Freund 2019).
24 actors, including technical experts, to be consulted in relation to a discrete problem. It The expansion of manufacturing and mechanization set in motion by these develop- 25
collected different viewpoints and kinds of evidence, in the form of both written and oral ments saw the growth of semi-skilled jobs, many of which were taken by Africans, In-
testimony, to help arrive at a consensus on appropriate policy processes and technical dians, and Coloureds (Crankshaw 1997; Maylam 1990). Yet opportunities were unevenly
solutions. But, as with the expert commission, there was also an important political and distributed. By the late 1930s, two facets of the ‘urban native question’ had come to domi-
symbolic function. By providing a common platform for different kinds of professionals, nate South African politics. The first was the large scale of poverty experienced by urban
levels of government, and public interest groups to engage with a national process of Africans. The second was the perceived instability of African family life in the townships,
policy reform, the Conference offered a way to overcome a political impasse, and thereby supposedly encouraging social dislocation, unrest, and low worker productivity (Posel
to legitimate the state’s subsequent actions. In this sense, it can be seen as an early prec- 2005). Expanded production arising from the needs of the war economy — notably in the
edent for another mechanism of reform: the post-apartheid consultative policy forum, metal and engineering sector — acted to accelerate the emergence of both industrially
which we discuss later in this chapter. employed and unemployed urban populations (Crankshaw 1997). Meanwhile pressure on
the housing supply increased, while potentially lucrative urban land was occupied and
settled irregularly. A sense of urgency arose as calls for state intervention intensified
Post-war reconstruction and apartheid (Mabin and Smit 1997).
For a loose alliance of social reformers comprising liberals, academics, urban African
The conclusion of the Second World War was another historical moment that offered leaders, missionaries, and urban administrators, the war appeared to present a window
South African leaders an opportunity for major governance reform and institutional of opportunity to realize the ideal of a ‘racialized welfare state’. Serving the needs of a
restructuring at multiple scales. While the War was a global conflict, in South Africa it bounded urban population through a more modern, centralized, and interventionist mode
nonetheless consolidated and highlighted a range of significant national and urban po- of government, this ideal took root amid the socio-economic hardships of the 1930s (Posel
litical, economic, and social transitions. These dynamics, in turn, encouraged massive 2005). These reformist ideas merged with a broader global enthusiasm for the benefits
state investments in wartime and post-conflict reconstruction and reform. Indeed, Fre- of ‘scientific’ state-led planning of both economy and space (urban and rural) to build
und (2019) has characterized the period 1939 to 1945 as one when a ‘developmental state’ modern societies (Freund 2019). In South Africa, these ideas found their spatial corre-
form, intimately tied to the process of industrialization, was very nearly realized in South late in new and ambitious projects of urban development. Indeed, the industry-oriented
Africa. It was an ambition, however, that would be foreclosed by the removal of the Smuts interventionism and paternalism of the Smuts wartime government could be seen in the
government by an all-white electorate in 1948. planning and development of ‘company towns’ like Vanderbijlpark, laid out in 1941 on land
The central urban problematic defining the wartime and post-war period remained purchased by ISCOR (Freund 2019). Designed according to the latest principles of mod-
that of how to manage the familiar issue of African migration and residency, even if this ernist town planning, these new towns set aside areas for whites, as well as separate
was overlaid with new kinds of realities and demands linked to the country’s rapid indus- accommodation and service standards deemed appropriate for low-waged African work-
trial expansion. The shifting dynamics of economic production and labour demand ap- ers. They also incorporated obvious class-based inequalities within race groups, reflect-
peared to call for strong state control over the economy and its spatial distributions. The ed in the spatial layout and service levels allocated to different areas and categories of
state increasingly sought to manage these dynamics through highly top-down modes of employee (Freund 2019).
regional and urban spatial planning. While there was consensus and continuity before Wartime developments had the effect of reemphasizing a range of divisive political de-
and after 1945 in emphasizing centralized government planning and control, and around bates. Such debates focused on the desirability of different forms of segregation, wheth-
a broad policy of urban racial segregation, major political debates and points of conten- er urban Africans should indeed be regarded and accommodated as permanent settled
tion included the familiar dilemma of whether the African urban workforce should be residents, as well as the broader issue of how to respond to the massive restructuring of
settled and ‘stabilized’, or whether the state should remain committed to a system of the industrial workforce. The response from the Smuts government to these questions
 and debates was familiar: the appointment of a commission, specifically the Native Laws struments to give life to the Sauer Commission’s recommendations (Maylam 1990). The
(Fagan) Commission, in 1946. Reporting two years later, it concluded that state policy strict implementation of pass and influx controls, however, were arguably not intended
should look to facilitate and encourage the stabilization of the African labour force. Ac- to perpetuate temporary migration so much as to reproduce differentiated forms of la-
cordingly, influx controls should be relaxed, and appropriate facilities (including housing) bour power — to stabilize a certain (urban) section of the African workforce against that
provided to enable African workers to lead a permanent and settled life in urban areas. comprising temporary migrant labourers (Hindson 1987). As in previous decades, hous-
To increase regulatory efficiency, moreover, urban administrative structures should be ing remained a key instrument in enforcing racial segregation (legally enforced and en-
rationalized, notably through the establishment of a centralized system of labour control. trenched via the 1950 Group Areas Act) and controlling how Africans might inhabit and
Overly ‘directive’ forms of state intervention were explicitly rejected (Evans 1997). move about urban areas. Popular resistance to this regime of control — and the extent
Despite its acceptance of African urban settlement, the Fagan report nonetheless to which the state was willing to enforce its workings through violence — were visibly
recognized that ‘migratory labour cannot be prohibited by law or terminated by adminis- expressed in the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 (Freund 2019).
trative action’. This pragmatic position reflected not only the dynamics of urban change Classic Verwoerdian apartheid of the late 1950s and 1960s sought to contain the proc-
unfolding at the time, but also the particular labour needs of different economic sec- ess of African urbanization as one element of a larger, ‘purist’ vision of territorial and
tors: secondary industries required skilled and therefore more stabilized labour, while the economic racial separation (Kuperus 1999; Morris and Hindson 1992). At the regional
26 mines continued to depend on the migrant system (Maylam 1990, p. 65). While the Fagan level, this vision was to be secured through the creation of ethnically-defined and ‘self- 27
report represented a notable move away from the Stallardism of the 1923 Urban Areas governing’ African ‘homelands’, pursued alongside a policy of industrial decentralization,
Act and subsequent legislation like the 1937 Native Lands Act (Davenport 1970), it was a which aimed to distribute economic activity and employment and thus prevent African
shift that would never materialize in practice. movement into towns and cities (Todes 2013). At the urban scale, the objective was to
The 1948 election of the National Party was not necessarily a defining ‘watershed mo- ‘compress’ classes along racial lines, locking distinct class groups into singular geo-
ment’ in South African history. There were certainly continuities between the new apart- graphical and social spaces. An ambitious government programme constructing large,
heid regime and previous state logics and practices, including that of urban racial seg- concentrated African townships — removed from white residential areas, but close to
regation. Like its wartime predecessor, the post-1948 government remained committed industrial centres of employment — served as a principal means of achieving this objec-
to the ideal of a more interventionist and centralized state linked to the need for various tive (Freund 2019; Maylam 1990; Morris and Hindson 1992), and also represented a notable
forms of social ‘upliftment’, albeit for different political and ideological ends than those departure from previous policies that favoured the development of small, dispersed loca-
propounded by social-welfarist reformers in the late 1930s and early 1940s (Posel 2005). tions. At the community level, the central state in this period preferred the black labour
There was, however, one critical policy shift: an enthusiastic re-embracing of the Stal- force to be accommodated in migrant hostels rather than in settled family units (Freund
lardist notion that Africans should be regarded as ‘temporary sojourners in urban areas’ 2019). Significant investments in transport infrastructures and services were critical to
(Maylam 1990, p. 68). The Sauer Commission, which set out the National Party’s position enabling this broader ‘purist’ vision that allowed people to access places of work, resi-
on the ‘colour question’ in a 1947 report, signalled the revival of this brand of segregation- dence, and recreation, while minimizing interactions between races (Freund 2019; Mc-
ism. Yet depicting the Sauer report’s recommendations as simply a return to a predefined Carthy and Swilling 1985; Pirie 1986; Schensul and Heller 2010).
Stallardism fails to adequately capture the reality. In fact, the Sauer report’s recommen- The post-war era of reconstruction and apartheid also gave rise to a distinct mecha-
dations were the outcome of an ‘unresolved conflict’ between competing conceptions of nism of policy reform: the permanent advisory commission. Here the key example is the
apartheid within the nationalist alliance: one seeking the ‘purist’ ideal of ‘total segrega- Natal Town and Regional Planning Commission (NTRPC). Established in 1951 through
tion’; the other, a more ‘practical’ position, looking to retain ‘uninterrupted access to an the energies of several key provincial administrators and planning officials, the NTRPC
abundant supply of cheap African labour’ (Posel 1991, pp. 53–60). The Sauer report thus was influenced by wider post-war reconstructionist thinking and British enthusiasm for
espoused, and attempted to resolve, an ‘internally contradictory and ambiguous’ combi- ‘the idea of a commission as an instrument of public reconstruction’ (Harrison and Mabin
nation of ideals and modalities underpinning apartheid (Posel 1991, p. 60). 1997, p. 26). While primarily an advisory body to the provincial government, the NTRPC
The shift in emphasis endorsed by the Sauer Commission was accompanied by a con- also played a limited role in approving developments and in funding and producing new re-
certed push to centralize government power. The national state increasingly took upon search. One of its significant contributions was to link local thought and practice around
itself the responsibility to regulate the presence and life of Africans in urban areas (Har- planning with international trends (Harrison and Mabin 1997). As such, it addressed itself
rison et al. 2008; Maylam 1990). Centralized control was promoted through an aggres- to a wide range of spatial planning and development issues, in the process pioneering
sive process of public sector reform and transformation — what would now be termed a more rational and scientific approach to regional planning in the province of Natal —
‘state capture’ — involving the installation of Afrikaner apparatchiks in key public and something unrivalled in the national context at that time.
parastatal agencies, such as the railways (Cameron 2009; Iliffe 1999; Posel 1999). As local Comprised of ‘persons from outside government’, who advised and decided on a
authorities found their powers and autonomy increasingly eroded by the direct interven- range of planning matters, the NTRPC’s efficacy was based in part on the strength of
tions of central departments, divisions and conflicts between local and central officials its leadership. Taking the form of several successive chairpersons, these leaders shaped
became more common (Maylam 1990). the Commission’s research agenda, and were able to both defend and provide continuity
Strict influx controls, further restrictions on African rights to permanent urban to the institution’s particular ‘ethos’ and approach (Harrison and Mabin 1997, p. 28). But
residency, and state-led removal and resettlement programmes emerged as the key in- the NTRPC’s real contribution lay beyond the individual personalities and expertise of
 its leaders. It was the Commission’s ability to articulate its own role and approach within Riekert report evinced an acceptance of the fact of African urbanization, it also sought a
a clear philosophy of planning that enabled its officials to make consistent policy state- continuation and strengthening of controls over black movement and residence (Feinstein
ments and decisions. As an institution, the NTRPC was thus able to provide unique and 2005). It advocated distinguishing the needs of African ‘insiders’ enjoying freedom of move-
significant intellectual and technical support to planning officials. As Harrison and Mabin ment and the right to live in urban areas, from those of rural ‘outsiders’, who would be
argue: prevented from moving to urban areas through strict controls over employment and accom-
modation (Feinstein 2005; Harber 2013). In this sense, the Riekert report echoed the debates
It was the presence of the Commission as a quasi-autonomous body and the sup- and categories taken up by the Fagan and Sauer Commissions three decades earlier.
port of the Commissioners that provided planning officials with a level of auton- With respect to spatial-economic policy, from 1982 the state’s industrial decentraliza-
omy within the bureaucracy that enabled them to undertake planning that was tion programme was revised and expanded, again in support of homeland development,
arguably more innovative and successful than in the other provinces (1997, p. 26). albeit now framed within the objectives of ‘regional development’ targeting both home-
land and adjacent white areas. Indeed, the basic policy of industrial decentralization as
We can see that the NTRPC’s role as a permanent, quasi-independent, and collective ad- a means to channel growth outside of core metropolitan areas would remain an agenda
visory body and thought leader differed from that of the short-lived and expert-led com- of the post-apartheid state. Although removed as official policy in 1996, this logic of de-
28 mission more commonly found in the history of South African urban reform. Here we can centralization — of ‘spreading’ economic development and job creation across territorial 29
note one key point of difference: The NTRPC held a particular philosophy and normative space to reduce regional inequalities — arguably continues to retain some influence over
position, from which it was able to exercise consistent influence over policy and planning South African developmental thought, strategy, and practice (Todes 2013).
decisions over an extended period. The expert commission, by contrast, sought to arrive At the urban scale, a key objective of late apartheid ‘reform’ involved fostering a ‘black
at a normative position in the circumstances of a policy dilemma or impasse, and to as- elite’ in the townships to act as the state’s ‘junior partners’ (Freund 2019, p. 143). Moreo-
sess the implications of that decision for future policy decisions, across a wide range of ver, state interventions increasingly facilitated class differentiation and the emergence
government sectors and functions. of ‘socially demarcated residential areas with differential access to urban services’
(Morris and Hindson 1992, p. 46). Reform also involved developing a segregated system
of local government, with urban areas divided between local authorities administering
The crisis of apartheid separate ‘white’ and ‘black’ areas (Palmer et al. 2017). But many residents refused to co-
operate with the underfunded ‘puppet’ local authorities serving ‘black’ areas. Resistance
The 1970s was a period of transformation in South Africa, marked by growing economic increased through the 1980s, becoming more violent towards the end of the decade as the
and social crises. It was an era of soaring unemployment among African workers, an apartheid system disintegrated. The implications of these trends for urban policymaking
upsurge in labour militancy, and an intensification of popular urban protest against apart- and governance reform in post-apartheid South Africa are discussed in Chapter 2.
heid policies, the most obvious manifestation being the Soweto Riots of June 1976 (Crank- In this period of protracted crisis, the apartheid government’s approach to address-
shaw 1997). In this context, the state’s agenda increasingly focused on the imperative of ing the imperatives and dilemmas of urban reform largely relied on the familiar model of
maintaining control in the face of mounting opposition and economic downturn. the expert commission. Aside from that chaired by Riekert, another major commission
From the late 1960s, the government’s policy of industrial decentralization began to produced the Wiehahn report in 1979, which recommended various reforms to labour rela-
shift from the Verwoerdian focus on developing areas bordering the ‘homelands’ (specifi- tions, in part as a response to the rise of (then illegal) black trade unionism (Harber 2013).
cally those located nearer metropolitan areas) to one of controlling metropolitan growth, Yet the political and material conditions of the late 1970s and 1980s also saw another and
and in particular the growth of the urban African workforce. Industrial decentralization quite different kind of reform initiative rise in significance: the independent or non-gov-
would now be pursued in support of homeland development. In response to protestations ernmental development organization. Here the key example was the Urban Foundation,
from business interests, in 1971 a commission recommended that the government reduce established by South African ‘big business’ interests in the wake of the Soweto Riots. A
metropolitan growth controls and boost incentives for industrial decentralization (Todes think-tank and lobby group, with close informal ties to the liberal opposition Progressive
2013). Meanwhile, money and concrete were poured into the country’s system of motor Party, the Urban Foundation ‘piloted new approaches to low-cost housing’, attempting
highways, seemingly encouraging decentralization by making remote homelands more to ‘steer the state towards more laissez-faire approaches to housing and urban develop-
accessible (Jones and Inggs 1999). ment’ (Harrison et al. 2008, pp. 39–40).
As the 1970s wore on, these measures did little to prevent South Africa from sliding The Urban Foundation played a particular role in the context of a governmental sys-
into long-term economic decline and social unrest, or indeed to stem the growth of black tem that was increasingly incapable of controlling urban processes or, indeed, of for-
urban populations. By the end of the decade, the apartheid state was forced to accept the mulating a credible and popular response. While its role was often that of a think-tank
inevitability of African urbanization. ‘Reform’, initiated under the state leadership of P. — researching and providing evidence for alternatives to the apartheid vision and modus
W. Botha, entailed attempting to channel the urban process in an ‘orderly’ manner, while operandi — it also played a more direct advisory role. As Harrison et al. (2008) note, as
clinging to a faltering system of influx control (Morris and Hindson 1992). systems of influx control began to break down in the early 1980s, the Foundation was
Such changes were endorsed by the 1979 report of the Riekert Commission, for example, ‘instrumental in assisting the state to develop new legislation for rapid land release for
which sat to assess various legislative issues affecting manpower utilization. While the urban development’ (Harrison et al. 2008, p. 42).
 As an example of an independent development organization, the Urban Foundation What were the key mechanisms of governance reform in this context of heated post-
represents another kind of mechanism for driving governance reform. Characterized by apartheid contestation? Let us reflect on the example of a critical sectoral component of
the status of the ‘critical outsider’, this mechanism takes the form of an institution pro- broader urban policy: housing. The opening of multiparty negotiations after 1990 fostered
viding constructive critique of government policy and practice, as well as credible alter- a new kind of mechanism, namely, the consultative forum. An important example was
native solutions to public problems. Differing from the advisory role performed by quasi- the National Housing Forum (NHF), established in 1992. Described retrospectively as a
autonomous institutions like the government commission, the independent development ‘totally new concept in the South African development environment’, the NHF ‘provided
organization is less constrained by the underlying structure and ideology of the state. the space for a legitimate and consensual process of negotiating a new housing policy,
Moreover, the legitimacy of something like the Urban Foundation did not emerge from involving all the necessary stakeholders and not merely organs of government’ (Adler and
the strength or recognition of its individual leadership, from its institutional location, nor Oelofse 1996, p. 109). With the existing housing scheme (associated with the apartheid
from any underlying normative philosophy, but rather from the quality of its technical government) thoroughly discredited, the country faced a ‘housing policy vacuum’. The
expertise and recommendations. NHF was seen as one means to ‘gather the resources and housing expertise’ required to
develop a policy that was held as legitimate and suited to the context of a new democratic
nation (Adler and Oelofse 1996, p. 109).
30 Democratization By 1995, discussions within the NHF had produced democratically agreed policy 31
guidelines in the form of the Department of Housing’s White Paper. The new govern-
A third key period of urban governance reform arose from the fall of apartheid, and the ment’s capital subsidy scheme, the Provincial Housing Boards that allocate the subsidy,
shift from white minority rule to a representative South African democracy. The context the policy-oriented National Housing Board, the 1995 Development Facilitation Act, plus
for this transition was one of rapid and uncontrolled urbanization. The removal of influx a range of end-user financing initiatives, were all developed from the efforts of the NHF
controls during the 1980s led to the rapid migration of African people into South African (Rust 1996). However, the process was not straightforward, and resultant policy guide-
cities, aggravating problems of overcrowding and the growth of informal settlements. lines were the outcome of intense debate within different sectors of the NHF. Vanessa
Protest action had rendered many urban spaces practically ‘ungovernable’ by the end Watson, an urban planner and member of the Forum’s Working Group 5, recalls a debate
of the decade. Moreover, the state now had to serve the entire population, rather than over the proposed capital subsidy scheme:
particular interest and race groups. It also had to rapidly elevate the lot of vast numbers
of people who had been structurally disadvantaged by apartheid policies. Urban reform There was a ‘breadth versus depth’ debate around the use of housing subsidies.
interventions of this period can be roughly grouped into two phases: an initial post-1994 The ‘breadth’ position said the policy should spread the subsidies as evenly as
drive to universalize access to housing and basic urban services, and a subsequent pe- possible across as many people and households as possible, which meant provid-
riod of reflection on the developmental impact of government policy, particularly with ing a small plot of land and a basic house to each. The ‘depth’ position argued for
respect to spatial form (see Chapter 2). an integrated human settlements approach, recognizing that some types of hous-
The conditions and imperatives of a newly democratic nation had at least three major ing would cost more than others. Well-located affordable housing would need a
implications for the work of government. First, the state assumed a commitment to high- much bigger subsidy, meaning you could only give out a limited number of sub-
level social and political objectives of creating a universal franchise, progressively re- sidies. The World Bank was heavily involved through the Urban Foundation, and
alizing broad-based socio-economic rights, promoting racial and economic integration, they liked the ‘breadth’ approach, because if you gave each person their tiny plot
encouraging sustainable development, and reducing poverty and inequality (Palmer et of land, they could have freehold tenure. Whereas if you went for ‘depth’, and were
al. 2017, p. 22). Second, it needed to implement an ambitious programme of public sector building three-story walk-up apartments, it would be much more difficult to give
5
reform to overcome the country’s inheritance of racialized and fragmented governmental freehold tenure — you might have to go for rental.5 Interview with Vanessa
structures. The ‘old regime’ was characterized by top-down administrative and manage- Watson, Cape Town, 12
rial practices, unequal allocation of financial and human resources, and widespread dis- Ultimately, the ‘breadth’ position on subsidies won out, forming the basis of the NHF’s September 2018.
regard for principles of public accountability (Kuye 2006). Third, it entailed a commitment final recommendations. This resolution has fundamentally shaped housing policy and de-
to decentralization as a response to the controlling and coercive nature of the apartheid livery in post-apartheid South Africa. Yet this debate — in this instance played out around
state, and as a way to reorient the public sector towards improved service delivery and the specific issue of subsidies — had much wider resonance in relation to the post-apart-
the promotion of rapid socio-economic development. heid urban question. It signalled a disagreement between those arguing that the future
Forging a new system of local government and administration meant facing the chal- of South African cities should be oriented around the objectives of infill, higher density,
lenge of integrating and aligning the policy and legal systems of the reasonably func- and better urban quality, and those in favour of a maximized redistribution of resources.
tional and effective municipalities serving ‘white’ areas, and the under-capacitated and Indeed, echoes of this ‘depth versus breadth’ debate still remain. A contemporary ver-
discredited authorities in ‘black’ areas. The system that ultimately emerged ‘was both sion divides those, like the Cities Support Programme, arguing for the spatial targeting
informed by the past and was intentionally designed to break with the unequal legacies of state investments in central urban areas, and those who see the universal provision
of inherited municipal practices’ (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 23). These dynamics are discussed of basic services (to people wherever they reside) as the fundamental priority of develop-
in greater detail in the following chapter. mental government (see Chapter 6).
 The NHF represented a particular mechanism of policy reform, perhaps unique at dimensions of governance reform. It takes time and effort for particular problems to find
the time, albeit with predecessors (the Public Health Conference of 1918, it could be their place at centre stage in the public and political sphere. Likewise, momentum for im-
argued, entailed a similar logic of multiparty negotiation to produce a framework re- plementation may build slowly over the decades following key policy moments and shifts.
sponse to a discrete policy problem). That is, as a mechanism of reform, the consulta- It is in this process that contradictions and inconsistencies are identified and confronted
tive forum is characterized by the assembling of a wide range of competing interests in a pragmatic sense. Reform is rarely a once-off event, and never a perfectly prede-
and technical expertise, in a non-hierarchical manner, in order to reach consensus on signed solution.
the policy options available to address a particular problem (in this case, the ‘housing In this chapter, we have outlined four kinds of mechanisms of reform that have played
crisis’ and ‘policy vacuum’). Even if consensus could not be reached on every issue important roles in driving urban policy and governance in South Africa. These include the
(such as the proposed system of capital subsidies), the legitimacy and value of the NHF commission, the conference, the independent development organization, and the con-
lay in the very means by which it strove for that end. Indeed, as the Chairperson later sultative forum. Each has its own preconditions, emphasis, and utility. In relation to these
reflected, ‘the collaborative impetus that the establishment of a national housing forum mechanisms, CSP is specific in certain ways. First, it occupies a specific institutional
provided may have been the most important factor in addressing the conflict of those location with a particular kind of structure. While located in the National Treasury, and
times’ (Molobi 1996, p. xi). thus inside the state, CSP is not staffed by officials, and it executes its municipal sup-
32 The challenges of crafting a new, democratic, and effective local government system port activities by drawing upon external experts and consultants. Second, CSP does not 33
in South Africa have also brought into being a new kind of initiative: the municipal sup- target a single problem, sector, or level of government. Rather, it addresses a range of
port programme. The historical evolution and range of such programmes are described urban and governance problems, and takes a systemic and intergovernmental approach
in more detail in Chapter 2. As a particular kind of mechanism for urban governance to reform. Third, CSP does not focus exclusively on developing new policy or legislation,
reform, municipal support programmes are unique in that they address themselves to the although this is one of the areas in which it works. Its strategic approach aims to drive
capability of the local state, attempting to align the capacity of municipalities with the changes to urban practice that, it is hoped, will gain traction within government, carry-
expectations of overarching social, economic, and political objectives. The CSP emerged ing policy reforms in their wake. Fourth, CSP, like other post-apartheid government sup-
directly from the logic of this new kind of reform initiative, albeit with important differ- port programmes, is not intended to be a permanent entity, but neither is it a once-off or
ences — something discussed in greater detail in the following chapter. short-term event like the expert commission. It entails the provision of ongoing support
as a catalytic measure: that support is strategically targeted and specifically intended
to build the systems and capacity necessary for municipalities to drive their own devel-
Conclusion opmental destinies more confidently and effectively. This can be contrasted with other
mechanisms that tend to address the content of governance reform, but not the govern-
This chapter has provided a basic outline of the history of national urban reform initia- ance capability required to drive it through. The nature of the CSP’s institutional setup,
tives in South Africa. This has been done as a way to contextualize the specific agenda location, and strategy will be laid out more clearly in Chapter 3.
and distinctive approach of the National Treasury, and CSP in particular, which will be Looking back over the past century, one can recognize continuities and changes in the
elaborated on in the chapters that follow. kinds of instruments with which central governments have attempted to give effect to
The historical perspective provided in this chapter reminds us that interest in urban the reform agendas developed by the mechanisms outlined above. In the early decades of
governance reform has often emerged at times when the country faced policy, regula- the century, colonial officials had access to several key ‘levers’ by which they could direct
tory, and fiscal problems stemming from major territorial, political, and institutional tran- urban development according to an emerging national agenda. Initially, they sought to
sitions. These included the process of colonial unification in the early twentieth century, regulate migration and to enforce the development of segregated townships under their
the mid-century shift towards formal ‘apartheid’ policy, and more recently that of post- central oversight and authority. Later, public health legislation fed off concerns around
apartheid democratization. It reminds us, too, that governance reform is always informed sanitation and disease as a pretext to securing legal powers to evict people from over-
by changing notions around the role of the state, and by the pursuit of new political agen- crowded areas, and more generally to regulate the physical parameters of urban density
das linked to the rise of different kinds of political-economic alliances or growth coali- and building coverage. Restricting African ownership of urban land, clearing slums, man-
tions. To this extent, we have seen that there is always a close relation between how one aging urban density, and developing low-income housing were all key instruments that,
manages cities and wider national questions, interests, and objectives. What is more, taken together, enabled the exclusion of Africans from central urban areas, while at the
reform processes are always internally contested within the state, and are fundamentally same time benefiting and protecting the white working class. All this was underpinned
shaped by the nature of those contestations. by a segregated fiscal framework that was used to finance interventions in the urban
This suggests additional general points about how we should understand programmes built environment. Following the Second World War, apartheid urban reform rested on the
of urban governance reform. For one, reform efforts are inevitably historical. Building development of housing, in the form of an ambitious programme of township construc-
unevenly on what has come before, some ideas and practices ‘stick’ and overlay others. tion and investments in transport infrastructures, alongside the strict enforcement of
As such, residuals of previous regimes always appear in more recent interventions. Not residency and influx controls.
everything is new, although that is something we might frequently tell ourselves. This With the disintegration of apartheid, and the rise of a democratic state committed
realization leads to a related point around the importance of recognizing the temporal to ambitious objectives of redress and development within a rights-based framework,
 the nature of the South African social contract has come to rest largely on the deliv- References
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 Chapter 2

Post-Apartheid
Urban Policy
and the Genesis
36 of the CSP 37

The previous chapter presented a broad historical overview

of national-level urban reform in South Africa, and sought to
contextualize the CSP within that longer history. This chapter sets
out the more immediate forces giving rise to the CSP in the post-
apartheid or democratic era.

Following Palmer et al. (2017), the discussion is structured and developed according
to several discrete historical periods: a pre-democratic phase (late 1980s to 1994); a
democratization and reorganization phase (1994 to 2000); a growth and implementa-
tion phase (2001 to 2008); and a decline phase (2008 onwards). Each period is discussed
in terms of its major political-economic trends, including shifts relating to national
spatial development strategy and urban policy, as well as major reforms targeting the
public sector, intergovernmental relations, and the fiscal system surrounding local
government.

The pre-democratic era (1980s to 1994)

The emergence of South Africa’s current system of local and urban government, in its
particular shape and form, can be traced back to the discussions and negotiations that
took place in the twilight years of apartheid, from the 1980s to 1994. This was a period
of major economic and political instability and uncertainty, marked by a radical diver-
gence of opinion on the form the country’s political future should take. It was a time City of
when a discredited and largely incapable apartheid-era state confronted widespread Johannesburg: The
demands for urgent policy and practical reform. Moreover, it was the period when some Eland sculpture by
of the key ideas that would ultimately constitute and shape the South African local Clive van den Berg

GUTO BUSSAB
government system and reform agenda were born. against the backdrop
of mixed use
development.
 Political-Economic Trends As a result, by early 1990 — around the time that opposition political movements were
unbanned — hundreds of local-level negotiations were taking place across the country,
The demise of formal apartheid policy and the unbanning of opposition political parties some of which were formalized through the establishment of local negotiating forums.
fostered a widespread sense of energy and enthusiasm to create a new democratic dis- Many such forums were supported by research and policy advice provided by non-gov-
pensation for South Africa. This demanded an ambitious programme of public sector re- ernmental organizations (NGOs), including those linked to the Urban Sector Network. It
form. However, reforms had to take place in the context of a stagnant economy, and amid was soon realized, however, that the issues being debated in local negotiating forums
a racialized, fragmented, discredited, and incapacitated state. For local government in transcended local boundaries, and that a wider platform was needed to connect these
particular, this process of reform had to overcome the stark legacies of an institutional initiatives (Van Donk and Pieterse 2006).
system deeply divided between economically weak homelands and urban areas governed In response to this challenge, a National Local Government Negotiating Forum
by ‘black local authorities’, and relatively capacitated municipal governments serving (NLGNF) was set up in 1993, consisting of a statutory side — national and provincial rep-
‘white’ areas (Palmer et al. 2017). resentatives, as well as organized associations of local governments — and a non-statu-
During the 1980s, South Africa’s ‘harsh anti-urban regime’ had begun to unravel tory side represented by the South African National Civic Organization (SANCO) (Cam-
through a range of social, political, and economic frictions (Turok 2012, p. 11). In the early eron 1999). Participants on the non-statutory side included technical advisers drawn from
38 part of the decade, firms and ordinary people increasingly disregarded the state’s convolut- NGOs that had supported the civics movement in the 1980s. Many brought with them a 39
ed and draconian movement and employment controls, enabling urbanization to continue ‘strong local perspective’, emphasizing the importance of effective decentralization and
despite invigorated official efforts to reclaim control. The formal repeal of pass laws in 1986 responsive place-based governance (Van Ryneveld 2006).
then cleared the ground for an uptick in urbanization rates. From 1980 to 1991, the urban Meanwhile, it was becoming clear that questions of local government and decentrali-
share of the total population increased from 42.5 to 45.6%. By 1996, this rate had shot up to zation were a major sticking point in broader national multiparty negotiating processes
53.4% (Turok 2012). Rapid urban growth, in turn, drove the growth of informal settlements (Cameron 1999). The reason was that some interests saw decentralization as a means to
and urban poverty. Meanwhile, civil resistance to the apartheid regime, in the form of rent secure or retain power in the face of a national government that they stood little chance
and service boycotts, as well as increasingly violent protest, had effectively rendered many of controlling (Van Ryneveld 2006). The broad terms of the debate were as follows: The
homeland and township areas ‘ungovernable’. Black local authorities in urban areas faced National Party (NP) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) both argued for a federal-type
a fiscal crisis, fostering a collapse of infrastructure systems and the deterioration of social structure, desiring a significant degree of autonomy for subnational ‘states’ as a way to
and physical conditions (Turok 2012). At the same time, national economic growth had stag- shore up their regional centres of political influence and support (Palmer et al. 2017; Van
nated, averaging just 0.3% per annum between 1990 and 1994 (Makgetla 2004). By the early Ryneveld 2006). The ANC, by contrast, attempted to deflect this debate by focusing on
1990s, South Africa faced a massive backlog in the delivery of urban services. The housing the question of decentralization or, more specifically, the question of how to develop a
shortage alone was estimated to be in the region of 1.5 million units in 1995. How to respond constitutional basis for decentralization that would include appropriate roles for both lo-
to this enormous challenge was a question that shaped the design and emergence of a pub- cal and national government. Philip van Ryneveld, then a young financial expert who was
lic sector and intergovernmental system for effective service delivery. active in the Black Sash, helped draft the ANC discussion document on ‘regional policy’,
The pre-democratic era was also a time of political and strategic uncertainty over how which formed the basis of the party’s position on decentralization heading into the con-
the country should respond to the highly unequal spatial landscapes created by apart- stitutional negotiations. He recalls the thinking of the time:
heid. The apartheid state’s plans for spatial development were informed by its industrial
decentralization policy, under which financial incentives were used to encourage firms It was about putting local government onto the agenda. But not just local gov-
to locate in peripheral areas within or close to the homelands (Harrison et al. 2008, p. ernment; it was also about metropolitan government. Our view at the time was
103). This policy effectively represented an anti-urban position, its main objective being that it was important to have alternative centres of power to national government.
to reduce the number of African people migrating to towns and cities (Turok 2012). The But those alternative centres of power were not going to be, or shouldn’t be, the
‘top-down’ policy of regional industrial development would be cast out as official policy in provinces. They should really be the big cities, because the big cities would have
1996 (Todes 2013). It was superseded by the more ‘bottom-up’ objectives and modalities resources to in fact be a valid alternative centre of power. Whereas provinces are
of ‘local economic development’, which emphasized the role that localities and munici- more like decentralized national governments, cities are something else. That is
palities play as ‘sites and agents of economic development’ (Nel and Rogerson 2016, p. where the resources are; where people generate activity, debate. So, cities were
2; Rogerson 1994). However, generally speaking, the period leading up to 1994 gave little really the alternative sources of power, and we had to govern them well, apart from
clarity over the precise role that cities and towns should play in the plans and interven- the fact that the economy is increasingly located in the cities. So, pushing on the
tions of a new democratic government. idea of the cities — and in particular pushing on the idea of metropolitan govern-
ment — that was not an idea that previously existed in South Africa, really, and we
Public Sector and Intergovernmental Reform brought it into this document.6
6
Interview with Philip
By the late 1980s, the crises of finance and legitimacy facing black local authorities forced Yet there was still debate over precisely how the notion of metropolitan government van Ryneveld, Cape
local negotiations as a means to help resolve the crisis (Van Donk and Pieterse 2006). should fit within a wider constitutional structure of the public service: Town, 23 May 2018.
 We were really concerned that these metropolitan governments at a local govern- In the pre-democratic era of political-economic uncertainty and institutional flux, the
7
Interview with Philip ment level would become a victim of provincial power. So, we wanted metropolitan question of whether local government had the capacity, credibility, and will to drive de-
van Ryneveld, Cape governments to be provinces in their own right.7 velopment and effective delivery had no certain answers. The provision of technical sup-
Town, 23 May 2018. port for local community or place-based initiatives often fell to NGOs like those affiliated
Ultimately, this proposal was not accepted. The ANC’s regional policy document, finalized to the Urban Sector Network, which in the 1980s started working with civic organiza-
in March 1993, agreed that the creation of metropolitan governments in some parts of the tions, giving technical support to the formulation of civic strategies and programmes
country was ‘essential to the cause of unifying, deracializing and democratizing cities in (Van Ryneveld 2006). These NGOs included Planact, based in Johannesburg, the Founda-
addition to the more efficient and effective provision of affordable services’. Metropolitan tion for Contemporary Research (FCR) and Development Action Group (DAG), both in
governments in places like Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban, it was argued, will Cape Town, the Built Environment Support Group (BESG) in Durban, and Afesis-corplan
‘necessarily be large, populous, and relatively powerful’. However, metropolitan govern- in East London. Many of these organizations secured funding from international donor
ment was to be seen as ‘a form of local government’, located in a third tier, below that agencies (Van Ryneveld 2006).
of regional or provincial government (ANC 1993). This early debate over decentralization The apartheid state itself recognized that, occasionally, circumstances might call for
shows that policymakers had been thinking about the need for metropolitan government, formal state structures and processes to be bypassed for the sake of delivery. In order to
40 as a particular form of government for South Africa’s large cities, prior to any significant accelerate urban land development for low-income groups, in 1990 the Independent Devel- 41
involvement from multilateral agencies, and that this thinking was deeply imbued with opment Trust, a development agency that pioneered the use of housing subsidies and site-
the political strategies and tactics of the multiparty negotiations. and-service programmes in South Africa, was established with public funding (Harrison
While at one point during the constitutional negotiations, the local government lobby et al. 2008). Ultimately, as new local government structures started to take shape, inter-
appeared to be winning out in securing increasing powers for municipal government. The national donor funding increasingly switched to supporting state structures, and the role
IFP and NP, realizing the political implications of this shift, re-engaged and managed to and influence of NGOs in developing local strategies, plans, and projects would gradually
secure some key functions for the provinces (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 32). Ultimately, ANC become less significant. However, problems of local state capacity would remain a con-
negotiators were forced into a compromise, accepting a quasi-federal model of govern- sistent concern over successive rounds of reform, as we discuss below.
ment that would secure a degree of autonomy for provinces, but also promote progressive
devolution of functions to local government (Palmer et al. 2017).
Returning to the specific question of local government reform, within one year the Local Government Financial Reform
NLGNF had negotiated a national framework to guide the shift towards a new local gov-
ernment system: the Local Government Transition Act (LGTA) of 1993 (Van Donk and Pie- The multiparty negotiations for local government, described above, included various
terse 2006). The LGTA recognized the demand for local government to become an autono- debates around how to develop an appropriate financial system to underline the future
mous sphere of authority, and the Act’s framework and implications were soon entrenched phases of the municipal transition. The ANC, for one, was actively involved in conducting
in the interim Constitution of 1993 as Chapter 10 (Van Donk and Pieterse 2006). The Act research and producing policy proposals in this area — again, much of this work was done
envisaged a three-phase transition period for local government, consisting of pre-interim, by former NGO staffers (Palmer et al. 2017). While the funding of rural local government
interim, and final phases (see Table 2.1). In the pre-interim phase, leading up to the first had to be ‘established from scratch’, for urban areas the issue was rather different — the
local government elections in 1995–96, over 800 new local authorities were established, problem was more about building upon the inheritances from the old regime in a way that
taking a variety of different forms, and paving the way for later rounds of reform. promoted new principles of equity (Whelan 2002). When negotiations commenced:

Table 2.1 Phases of Local Government Transition as Envisaged by the 1993 LGTA Professional municipal bureaucracies had been in place for more than a century,
(after Van Donk and Pieterse 2006) the property tax was well established, as was the notion of payment of fees for
services. There was a history of municipal borrowing and even a history of issuing
Phase Period Activities municipal bonds. (Van Ryneveld 2006, p. 164)
Pre-interim 1993 to 1996 Local negotiating forums become statutory structures
advising on: Some discussions focused on confronting the non-payment for services, which was fos-
l The establishment of transitional local councils
tering internal debt in many urban ‘black’ local councils. Others focused on the desired
nature and form of internal redistributive mechanisms, with the link to municipal finan-
l Defining municipal boundaries
cial viability being made (Whelan 2002). This included debates over service standards
l Establishment of a financial system and tariff structures to allow for cross-subsidization from wealthier to poorer groups
and places. Issues of local government finance and equity were played out in significant
Interim 1996 to 2000 l Establishment of transitional local councils
debates over the amalgamation and demarcation of municipalities. The notion was that
l Finalization of local government legislation existing revenue bases in former ‘white’ local authority areas might be used to finance
the extension of services to other areas (Whelan 2002, p. 235). This had been the logic
Final 2000 onwards New local government system to be fully operationalized
 underpinning the anti-apartheid slogan, ‘One City, One Tax Base’. It was, in other words, struction and Development Programme (RDP), an ambitious plan that stressed the ur-
a question of how poorer areas might be able to gain equitable access to revenue bases gency of development for the task of establishing a more equal society and strengthening
of which they formed a functional part, but from which they had been politically excluded democratic rule. Conceiving of development as being ‘primarily a task of the state’, the
(Whelan 2002). The idea that functional urban areas and systems should be defined as RDP emphasized the importance of service delivery to meet basic human needs, along-
the basis for creating interim municipalities was a key principle established during these side the provision of shelter, as the wellspring of wider socio-economic progress (Chipkin
negotiations (Van Ryneveld 2006, p. 168). 2002, p. 57). The Programme set out ambitious service delivery commitments and numeri-
Constitutional negotiations also involved debates that would have important implica- cal targets including, famously, that of building one million houses in five years. In order to
tions for the intergovernmental fiscal system. ANC representatives argued, against the assist the state with rapid service delivery, the Development Facilitation Act was passed
federalist position in favour of the devolution of tax revenues to the provincial level, that in 1995. In part, this legislation was a statement of mistrust in the capacity of local gov-
a starting point should be strong local control over the use of public resources. This was ernment to execute appropriate urban planning and development processes.8 8
Interview with Stephen
seen as critical to promoting democratic principles of equity and accountability. Yet, it However, the post-apartheid state’s strategic development agenda soon shifted away
Berrisford, Cape Town,
was argued, proper national oversight and redistributive mechanisms should also be cre- from the RDP’s strong emphasis on state-led development. 1996 saw the adoption of 23 May 2018.
ated, allowing the bulk of taxes to be collected at the national level and fairly distributed Growth, Employment, and Redistribution (GEAR) — a strategy representing a more mar-
42 to other levels of government through fiscal transfers. Many of these ideas came to in- ket-friendly ‘neoliberal’ macroeconomic perspective, which stressed the important role 43
form the interim and final Constitution, and continue to structure the local government played by non-state actors, especially the private sector, in development (Chipkin 2002).
fiscal system to this day (Van Ryneveld 2006). According to Chipkin (2002), GEAR emerged from a reassessment of the state’s capacity
to deliver on its constitutional commitments, and from a ‘reading of the theory of the Na-
tional Democratic Revolution in light of a world capitalist system’. At a broad level, GEAR
Democratization and reorganization sought to promote rapid economic growth and employment, thereby attacking poverty
(1994 to 2000) and inequality, by encouraging a rapid expansion of private sector investment while re-
ducing the budget deficit and inflation, easing the balance of payments, alleviating barri-
ers to trade, and liberalizing flows of capital (Streak 2004). GEAR also re-emphasized the
The period between 1994 and 2000 was characterized by measured economic recovery in importance of ‘developmental local government’ (Chipkin 2002, p. 57). This landed munici-
the context of major institutional restructuring and an ideological and macro-policy shift palities with a role that was ‘less administrative and technocratic’ and more ‘strategic
towards a more market-friendly and growth-oriented position. Significantly, these years and political’. Now, the challenge facing local governments was less about building their
of ‘democratization’ saw a number of critical changes made to the intergovernmental own institutional capacity to lead development and economic growth, and more about
system to bring it into alignment with the ambitions and stipulations of the country’s providing the conditions to facilitate growth by forming relationships and partnerships
new democratic Constitution. Moreover, important work was done on developing a fiscal with a range of local actors and institutions (Chipkin 2002, pp. 57, 60).
framework to enable an efficient and effective local government sector. With the RDP and GEAR giving little clarity on the spatial priorities for urban and
national development, the democratization period also saw the first concerted efforts
to develop a national urban policy for South Africa. While the RDP document advocated
Political-Economic Trends for a ‘strong rural development effort’, it also recognized that economic activities were
concentrated in cities, and thus called for an ‘urban development strategy’ to renew eco-
The relative sense of security brought on by South Africa’s largely peaceful national nomic growth, promote equity, and ensure long-term sustainability. Accordingly, the RDP
democratic elections of April 1994 marked the start of a period of measured growth and Office began work on an Urban Development Strategy (UDS), to fit alongside a rural
recovery. Between 1994 and 1997, South Africa’s average annual GDP growth picked up counterpart. Published in draft form in late 1995, the UDS was ‘the most comprehensive
to 3.4%, before slowing to 2.1% in the final years of the decade, partly as a response to the statement of how post-apartheid cities and towns would develop’ (Bond 2003, p. 49). Part
East Asian crisis, the effects of which were felt from 1998 onwards. However, this growth of its intention was to introduce a greater policy focus on urban spatial integration and
only marginally outstripped the rate of population increase. One of the more worrying densification that would, in turn, enable an interrogation of the housing policy’s emphasis
trends was a concomitant rise in unemployment. Between 1995 and 2002, unemployment on a low-density, single-site, and top-structure model.9 In contrast to the RDP document, 9
officially leapt from 16% to 30.5%. In the same period, the share of the informal sector in the Strategy took a guarded view of the state’s financial capacity to provide local serv- Interview with Crispian
Olver, Cape Town, 28
total employment climbed from 17% to 20% (Makgetla 2004). This economic ‘recovery’ ices, and thus avoided making commitments about the state’s role in managing urbani-
September 2018.
took place in a context of ongoing rapid urbanization, with the total urban share of the zation. It recommended the removal of industrial decentralization subsidies, with public
population rising from 53.4%, in 1996, to 56.6%, in 2001 (Turok 2012). investment to be directed according to ‘the economic or functional base and potential of
‘To be effective post-1994’, Palmer et al. write, ‘the state had to challenge not only an area’ (Bond 2003, p. 50). It emphasized cost recovery for infrastructure services; that
the overarching institutional systems of racialized control in South Africa, but also over- is, consumers should pay for services where they can, and where they cannot, they should
come other spatial drivers of structural inequality, including the century-long distortion receive lower levels of service. The UDS also sketched out a basic fiscal agenda for urban
of urbanization patterns’ (2017, p. 25). The ANC’s answer to this challenge was the Recon- development, suggesting that housing supply finance should be secured through provid-
 ing additional positive incentives and support to private banks (Bond 2003). late 1990s, including the Municipal Demarcation Act and Municipal Structures Act, both
The promise of the UDS was soon foreclosed, however, when the RDP Office was passed in 1998, and the Municipal Systems Act of 2000. The Systems Act is significant
precipitously closed in 1996. The Ministry of Housing took over responsibility for the for establishing the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) as the keystone within the local
UDS, toning down its original ambitions into an Urban Development Framework (UDF). government architecture for promoting and implementing public participation, internal
Launched in 1997, the Framework ‘merely codified and softened the UDS’ according to institutional reform, as well as intergovernmental coordination and alignment around
Bond (2003, p. 49). Designed to encompass a range of other discrete policies, it posited development processes (Parnell and Pieterse 1999).
an ideal urban end state and a related set of concrete development goals — all oriented Reform of the local government sector took place in the context of a wider process
around the central implementing notion of ‘integrated planning’ (Pieterse 2003). The UDF, of public sector transformation in South Africa (Tshandu and Kariuki 2010). A series of
however, failed to receive ‘widespread acknowledgement’ within either the state or civil policy documents and legislation, including the RDP and the 1996 Constitution, had set
society (Pieterse 2003, p. 123). This was largely due to its institutional location, its cross- out the ANC-led government’s intention to create a new public service, comprising a uni-
cutting orientation, its conceptual fuzziness around key notions like ‘integration’, and form and ‘consolidated corps of public servants’ that was broadly representative of South
its ‘lack of a political champion’ (Harrison et al. 2008, pp. 105–6; Pieterse 2003). Pieterse African society in terms of race, class, and gender, and equipped to improve the lives of
recognized several ‘practical failures’ attending the implementation of the UDF: inad- citizens through better service delivery (Kuye 2006, p. 294). This meant forging a service
44 equate intergovernmental coordination, the inefficacy of spatial planning instruments with a developmental and service orientation; one able to operate according to principles 45
to drive spatial re-ordering, as well as ‘limited policy and programme capacity at local such as professionalism, impartiality, transparency, accountability, public participation,
government level’ to execute participatory and integrated planning (2003, p. 136). A sec- responsiveness, effectiveness, and efficiency. To promote transformation, the ANC in-
ond failing was that the consensus-based political approach embedded within the UDF troduced an affirmative action policy to facilitate the entry of Africans, women, and the
was insufficient to transcend the competing interests that would need to be marshalled disabled into public positions (Cameron 2009). Meanwhile, the influence of GEAR was
to overcome apartheid urban spatial patterns. Moreover, neither the UDS nor the UDF felt in efforts to cut public expenditure and ‘rightsize’ the public service (Cameron 2009).
included sufficient attention to the kinds of institutional processes and mechanisms re- From 1996, voluntary severance packages were offered to encourage existing staff to re-
10 quired to drive their implementation.10 tire, and led to an exodus of many skilled and experienced officials (Cameron 2009; Franks
Interview with Crispian
Aside from the UDF, the National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP) was also 2014). Between 1995 and 2000, the total number of staff comprising the public service
Olver, Cape Town, 28
September 2018. developed during the late 1990s, although this would only be accepted as policy in 2003, shrank from 1,267,766 to little over one million (Cameron 2009).
and is discussed in more detail below. Significantly, the 1998 White Paper on Local Government introduced a range of ele-
ments that reflected a more general governance trend towards the tenets and practices
of New Public Management (NPM): an approach to public administration that had be-
Public Sector and Intergovernmental Reform come dominant, globally, by the late 1980s and 1990s (Harrison et al. 2008; also Palmer
et al. 2017). Whereas ‘traditional’ approaches to public administration rested on bureau-
South Africa’s new democratic Constitution, promulgated in 1996, reasserted the defi- cratic hierarchy and strict rule-based management, many considered NPM a better and
nition and arrangement of the intergovernmental system into autonomous ‘spheres’, as more flexible approach to enabling developmental government and public sector trans-
opposed to a hierarchical arrangement of ‘tiers’, as well as the state’s commitment to formation under a new democratic dispensation (Chipkin and Liepietz 2012). The logic
progressive decentralization. The document set out a specific distribution of functions behind this approach is to foster a public service that, while retaining deep capacity, is
between the three spheres of national, provincial, and local government. As indicated leaner and more flexible in its mode of operation, able to act responsively as local issues
above, the final form for this distribution was shaped by multiparty negotiations between and challenges emerge.11 11
those advocating for centralization (a core group of the ANC), a more federal arrange- The influence of NPM ideas was felt across the wide range of post-apartheid public Interview with David
ment (the NP and IFP), or strong local government (the civics movement) (Palmer et al. service policies, particularly in their emphasis on ensuring financial efficiency, using in- Savage, Cape Town, 30
May 2018.
2017, p. 31). Provincial governments managed to secure some powers, including those of centives and sanctions to improve government performance, implementing results-based
housing, healthcare, and education. Moreover, the Constitution provided for the estab- management, reducing procedural rules to allow managers more discretion, forming pub-
lishment of a National Treasury, and set out the basic agenda for public budgeting reform. lic-private partnerships, corporatizing departments into free-standing units, streamlin-
The implications of this fiscal agenda for local government financing are discussed below. ing the public sector to reduce the wage bill, as well as using contracts to ‘delineate lines
The system of local government continued to undergo important changes after 1994. of responsibility and accountability’ (Cameron 2009; Palmer et al. 2017, pp. 111–12). In the
The interim phase of local government, which followed the municipal elections of 1995– field of budgeting, in principle NPM reforms promoted a shift from line-item budgeting to
96, saw the establishment of a large number of transitional local councils. Single-tier lo- programme budgeting, and sought to give managers more financial discretion while also
cal government structures were created in larger cities and towns, while in six metropol- making them more accountable (Cameron 2009). The 1999 Public Finance Management
itan areas a two-tier arrangement was made (Van Donk and Pieterse 2006). Meanwhile, Act was a key piece of legislation introducing an NPM-inspired performance-based ap-
the final dimensions of the local government system were deliberated by a White Paper proach, with a concomitant shift in focus from ‘inputs and rules’ to ‘outputs and respon-
Working Committee set up in 1996, ultimately giving rise to the 1998 White Paper on Local sibilities’ (Cameron 2009, p. 920).
Government. The White Paper formed the basis of the local government legislation of the The introduction of ideas and practices associated with NPM had important implica-
 tions for local government. One measure of their influence was the shift from the town grant mechanisms) rather than by manipulating the financial sector (Van Ryneveld 2006).
clerk to municipal manger as the designated head of municipal administration. With this Meanwhile, the National Treasury was also starting to show a concerted interest in
change, career administrators, tasked primarily with administrative and regulatory activ- local government finance. Officials in Treasury (then the Department of Finance) were
ities, were to be replaced with contracted managers performing ‘the role as both a CEO largely responsible for drafting the sections of the 1998 White Paper on Local Govern-
and as an active agent of development in the municipality’ (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 113). The ment that addressed municipal finance. This work consolidated some of the thinking
implications of this broader shift towards elements of NPM practice in urban governance that had emerged during constitutional negotiations and later discussions, including
are elaborated elsewhere in this book. those informing the MIIF. The White Paper pointed to the need to balance growth and
The creation and consolidation of a new intergovernmental system and public service redistribution, to accommodate differences across the full range of municipalities, and
raised a critical new question: how should new or transformed local governments be sup- further emphasized municipal borrowing as a means of raising revenue for capital ex-
ported? The urban policy debates of the 1990s collectively called for supply-side support penditure (Van Ryneveld 2006). Moreover, it called for a properly constructed ‘equitable
measures and training to foster radically new institutional processes and developmental share’, in line with the provisions of the Constitution, to inform the allocation of funds
competencies at the local level (Parnell and Pieterse 1999). Moreover, as indicated above, from national to local government to enable the latter to provide basic services to low-
the key technical and policy support roles played by NGOs gradually declined in signifi- income households at affordable rates. The Equitable Share System was ultimately in-
46 cance after 1994, and the attention and finances of international donors increasingly tar- troduced in 1998. 47
geted the programmes of the newly elected government.
The local government support programme, as a particular kind of reform intervention,
took shape in this context. The 1998 White Paper on Local Government set out the national Growth and implementation (2001 to 2008)
state’s responsibility to provide a framework for municipal capacity-building and support,
and to undertake monitoring and oversight of local government (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 75). The period between 2001 and 2008 was one of guarded economic growth and progress
At the time, national support for a new dispensation of developmental local government with respect to strategic spatial planning at the national level. It was also the ‘final’ phase
was focused in the Department of Land and the Department of Constitutional Develop- of local government restructuring — one that witnessed the rise of dedicated national
ment. The former worked to ‘establish a unified code of planning’; the latter to develop programmes for municipal support, as well as significant energy to reform the system of
‘support structures and guidelines on how municipalities can achieve specific aspects local government financing.
of the new dispensation’ and thereby deliver on their constitutional obligations (Parnell
and Pieterse 1999, p. 80). These kinds of intergovernmental interventions would grow in
importance as the local government transition proceeded. Political-Economic Trends

The 2000s were a period of reasonable economic growth. Despite the global shockwaves
Local Government Financial Reform sent out after the dot-com bubble and 9/11 attacks, annual GDP growth averaged 4.3%
between 2001 and 2007, with employment growing by an average of 1% per year (IDC
The period between 1994 and 2000 saw significant effort devoted to developing a new fiscal 2013). These upward trends were mainly driven by the growth of tertiary sectors such as
framework for local government. This built on work that had been undertaken progressively retail, transport, and financial services (Du Plessis and Smit 2006). The total urban share
since the early 1990s by the ANC and, after 1994, the ANC-led government. In 1995, the De- of the South African population continued to grow — the figure sat at 60.2% by 2007, up
partment of Housing and the Ministry of Reconstruction and Development launched the from around 57% at the start of the decade (UNPD 2008).
first iteration of a Municipal Infrastructure Investment Framework (MIIF), which fed into The period was also characterized by several key macro-policy trends pertaining to
the 1996 Urban Development Strategy described above (Bond 2003). Drafted by a team of development. Swilling (2007) outlines these as follows: a shift from ‘crude neoliberalism’
South African consultants working with a World Bank delegation, the MIIF was the first to a more ‘developmental state’ approach, from aspatialism to an economic development
systematic and comprehensive financial analysis of the implications, for the country as a strategy based on productive city-regions, as well as from conservationism to sustain-
whole, of different options for municipal infrastructure investment (Mosdell 2006). It pro- able resource use. Reflecting the global influence of thinking and practice associated
posed a set of ‘financial mechanisms and an institutional approach’ designed to confront with the ‘new institutional economics’, these policy trends all highlighted that improve-
deficits in service delivery by securing information on these backlogs and proposing how ments to the quality of institutions are key to driving development. Moreover, in 2004 it
new services might be delivered and financed (Van Ryneveld 2006, p. 171). It also posited was decided to award South Africa the hosting of the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup — a
a ten-year programme to confront service backlogs, to be accompanied by an appropriate decision that had important implications for the nation’s economy and cities, providing
investment programme funded by both local revenues and national grants. Many of the an impetus for a massive programme of state investment in urban infrastructure.
principles contained within the MIIF have remained ‘prominent ideals’ in South African ur- The years between 2001 and 2008 saw some advances made in national-level plan-
ban policy debates (Van Ryneveld 2006). These include the notion that capital expenditure ning, particularly in the form of the National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP).
should be financed through municipal borrowing, with current expenditure financed by cur- Although largely written in 1999, the NSDP was not approved as policy until 2003. It had
rent income, as well as the notion that redistribution is best achieved through subsidies (via been developed soon after the macro-policy shift from RDP to GEAR, in the wake of the
 UDS and UDF, and at a time when Johannesburg’s municipal government was facing a fi- rienting their financial systems to a more fiscally sustainable path; and living up to the high
nancial crisis, threatening to undermine the city’s core role in the national economy (Har- standards set by the legislated notion of ‘developmental local government’ — all while try-
rison et al. 2008). In keeping with previous policy trends, the Perspective took a ‘strongly ing to produce IDPs to effectively guide their future activities (Atkinson 2003). Often these
pro-growth stance’, advocating the allocation of resources to areas with economic ‘po- pressures led to ‘institutional overload’, with many municipalities unable to overcome sys-
tential’, and recognizing the important role that major urban agglomerations play in eco- temic ruptures to fulfil their constitutional obligations for delivery and development (Pi-
nomic development (Harrison et al. 2008, p. 105). eterse 2004). The situation was not helped by the setting of ambitious numerical targets
While the NSDP emphasized the importance of cities for wider national development, and commitments — such as those of the RDP — that effectively skewed municipal trans-
for the most part it avoided the debate over whether rural or urban development should formation objectives towards the rapid delivery of physical infrastructures (Pieterse 2004).
be prioritized. It also appeared to be contradicted by other state policies and plans. While Moreover, it was becoming increasingly clear that local governments were operating in a
the NSDP talked about focusing investments in areas of greatest potential, the Integrat- wider context of fragmented sectoral policy initiatives. Many of these sectoral initiatives
ed Sustainable Rural Development Framework (ISRDP), approved in 2001, committed to a had been formulated without the active participation of local governments themselves, or
different emphasis: expenditure in poor rural areas (Harrison et al. 2008, p. 105). Likewise, an appropriate understanding of the specificity of municipal (versus national and provin-
a Geographic Spread Programme, launched in 2005, seemed to undermine the basic stra- cial) government. These factors complicated what the constitutional mandate for develop-
48 tegic and spatial rationale of the NSDP. mental local government meant in practice (Pieterse 2004). 49
Despite these ambiguities, the Mbeki government showed real interest in promoting Such dynamics placed more emphasis on the importance of local government support
integrated governance and strategic policy oversight, and in formulating a concerted programmes as a key mechanism to drive better municipal implementation and perform-
response to urban development problems. In 2001, for example, the Policy Coordination ance from the national level. After 2000, as the local government transition entered its
and Advisory Services (PCAS) unit was formed within the Presidency, under the influ- ‘final phase’, the Mbeki government, in the form of DPLG, anticipated that municipalities
ential leadership of Joel Netshitenzhe, with a focus on improving the coordination and would require support for integrated development planning, and an ‘elaborate system’
coherence of government policymaking. Among other responsibilities, PCAS was tasked was put in place to assist with the production of IDPs. This included the establishment of
with overseeing the NSDP. In the same year, the state launched an Urban Renewal Pro- Planning and Implementation Management Support (PIMS) centres throughout the coun-
gramme (URP) — an initiative that had a precedent in President Mandela’s Special In- try, at the district municipal level, to assist local councils specifically with the execution
tegrated Presidential Projects (SIPPs). The URP involved the selection of eight ‘nodal of their IDP processes (Atkinson 2003, p. 5). Many other municipal support measures have
points’ for large projects of upgrading and development. These were intended as pilot been put in place from the national level. These have variously targeted systemic reform,
projects, laying the foundations for a national urban renewal programme to follow. Apart provided hands-on support to local governments, or both, in varying degrees. Some are
from reaffirming the state’s commitment to a central idea of urban integration, the URP briefly described below.
did little to provide an overall strategic direction for urban policy (Pieterse 2003). An early example of a national capacity-building and support programme for local gov-
Another key policy shift came with the adoption of the ‘Breaking New Ground’ (BNG) ernment was the donor-supported Consolidated Municipal Transformation Programme
strategy in 2004. This aimed to reorient the state’s built environment interventions away (CMTP), which ran from 2003 to 2009, aiming to support the emergence of municipalities
from the mass delivery of houses towards the development of sustainable integrated capable of driving democratic participation, and offering affordable and financially sus-
human settlements, involving an increase in the quality and size of houses, as well as tainable service delivery (Linkd Environmental Services n.d.). In 2004, another key initia-
providing greater choice in housing typology and tenure (Palmer et al. 2017). A range of tive, Project Consolidate, was put in place by DPLG. Originally intended to run for two
new funding and subsidy instruments was launched to broaden the approach to housing years, the Project took the form of a ‘hands-on local government engagement programme’
and settlement development, including the upgrading of informal settlements. BNG also (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 91). It comprised two major components: direct support targeted
emphasized the importance of devolution and accrediting municipalities with the admin- at 136 municipalities to build their capacity to perform their mandate, on one hand, and
istrative function to provide housing (at the time this was a provincial function). However, ‘systematic refinement of policy, fiscal, and institutional matters’, on the other (Palmer
efforts to devolve the housing function ultimately proved relatively ineffectual (Palmer et et al. 2017, p. 93). Project Consolidate’s model of support drew on partnerships and skilled
al. 2017). Moreover, the shift to BNG was unable to prevent a general decline in the rate of service delivery facilitators (often consultants). The facilitators either focused on a par-
housing delivery in the late 2000s. ticular municipality or a particular field, such as fiscal management, to be deployed to
municipalities as demand required (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 93).
A third support initiative took the form of a Local Government Five-year Strategic
Public Sector and Intergovernmental Reform Agenda (LGFYSA), designed as an extension of Project Consolidate, and run by DPLG’s
successor, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA).
In the early 2000s, the growing economy supported rapid increases in the extension of shel- While Project Consolidate was a more ad hoc response, the LGFYSA aimed to systema-
ter and basic services. It was nonetheless the case that municipalities had been tasked tize and locate its lessons within the operational systems of government. The focus of
with new, wide-ranging roles and responsibilities in the context of a newly redesigned and support therefore shifted from ad hoc deployments of capacity to ensuring that weaker
untested institutional and regulatory system. Local officials faced a profound challenge: municipalities had the necessary fiscal and other resources to recruit and appoint ap-
amalgamating transitional local and rural councils into single, larger municipal areas; reo- propriate personnel. The LGFYSA (which focused on the period 2006 to 2011) addressed
 five key performance areas of local government transformation: municipal transforma- Moreover, throughout the 1990s national transfers to local government had been car-
tion and institutional development, basic services and infrastructure, financial viability ried out in a fragmented manner. So, in 2004 the National Treasury and DPLG introduced
and management, local economic development, and good governance and community the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG): an integrated formula-based grant for munici-
participation (WCPG 2010). pal infrastructure (Palmer et al. 2017, pp. 38–9). While transfers made through the Equita-
A fourth programme, Siyenza Manje, was a partnership between the Development ble Share were intended to finance the operating costs of providing basic services to poor
Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), National Treasury, DPLG, and the South Africa Local households, the MIG was designed to eliminate infrastructure backlogs in poorer areas
Government Association (SALGA). Managed by the DBSA, and running from 2006 to (Van Ryneveld 2006).
2013, the programme spent just under R1 billion in leveraging external expertise in the From around 2003 to 2007, the National Treasury hired a team of consultants to con-
form of a task force of project managers, engineers, and financial specialists, who were duct a large-scale review of the local government fiscal framework. ‘The expectation from
deployed to local governments as required. The primary focus was on service delivery — Treasury’, explains Philip van Ryneveld, the core consultant on the project, ‘was really to 12
overseeing and accelerating project implementation and infrastructure spending in al- talk about how local government was going to be financed’.12 As part of the process, the Interview with Philip
most 200 vulnerable and under-performing municipalities (Genesis Analytics n.d.). Build- team developed a more detailed classification of South African municipalities, into A, B1, van Ryneveld, Cape
Town, 23 May 2018.
ing institutional capacity was a secondary focus. The ‘ultimate aim’ of the programme, B2, B3, B4, C1, and C2 categories (see Table 3.1), in order to more accurately understand
50 write Palmer et al., ‘was to have a fully fledged technical department at the municipality the fiscal dynamics of local governments across the country, as well as to reflect munici- 51
by the time the task force left’ (2017, p. 93). pal differences in revenue-raising capacity and financial need. This system of categoriza-
Other support efforts included drawing technical expertise into municipalities through tion has remained a key part of local governance policy discourse. The consultancy team
the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA). Launched in 2006, JIPSA aimed also undertook research into reforming the Equitable Share, Regional Services Council
to secure the skills necessary for the implementation of the Accelerated Shared Growth (RSC) levies, as well as property taxation. A particular area of work concentrated on the
Initiative for South Africa (Mouton 2008). Arguably, however, these programmes lacked possible introduction of a local business tax:
several key aspects. The selection of municipalities in Project Consolidate, for example,
was not based on ‘a sound assessment of municipal capability’. Moreover, it was top- We did some interesting work for this project, and we drew on an international
down, driven by national government without extensive consultation at the local level economist — a guy called Richard Bird — and came up with a proposal for a lo-
(Palmer et al. 2017, p. 93). Siyenza Manje, by contrast, arguably focused too much on cal business tax, and the technical details of a local business tax. Now, that is an
providing technical support, rather than the reform of leadership and governance issues. idea that has come and gone since then, and hopefully is returning. But it floats
Unclear assignment of obligations on the part of specialist facilitators and municipali- around, still, in the discourse of National Treasury about a second general form of
13
ties also created problems. In addition, the programme had consequences for organi- tax revenue for local governments.13 Interview with Philip
zational transformation in the local government sector. It assembled a team of around van Ryneveld, Cape
100 specialists, many recently retired. The attractive nature of the contracts offered to In 2006, the RSC levies — an apartheid-era tax on local businesses introduced in 1987 — Town, 23 May 2018.
these specialists drew many qualified technical professionals from their public posts into were eliminated. Up to that point, RSC levies had constituted a fairly significant propor-
early retirement. When the programme was closed in 2013, its financial specialists were tion of municipal operating revenue (Van Ryneveld 2006). Despite subsequent proposals,
referred to the National Treasury, with the technical specialists transferred to the new the government has not approved the introduction of a new local business tax (see Chap-
Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (Palmer et al. 2017, pp. 93–4). ter 8 for further discussion).
However, this work being undertaken for Treasury was about more than taxation and
revenue. As Van Ryneveld explains:
Local Government Financial Reform
One of the critical things is that, in my view, we shouldn’t just be talking about
The period between 2001 and 2008 saw ongoing refinements to the system of munici- how we raise money. We should be thinking about the balance between income
pal finance. Key legislation passed in this period, driven by the stipulations of the 1998 and expenditure. If you are going to do that you need to think about what local
White Paper on Local Government, included the 2003 Municipal Finance Management Act governments should be doing. Are all the functions that currently lie with local
(MFMA), which codified the ideas of the MIIF, and created a framework for municipali- government the right functions? There is no point in going into all sorts of com-
ties to borrow money, specifically prohibiting the use of borrowed moneys to finance plex designs for a set of funding instruments, and then after having done that,
current expenditure (Van Donk and Pieterse 2006; Van Ryneveld 2006). A second piece deciding two years later that we shouldn’t be doing the things we are doing. This
of legislation was the 2004 Property Rates Act, which established a uniform property linked into my experience of a confusion between provinces and cities, between
rating system across South Africa (Van Donk and Pieterse 2006, p. 114). Further refine- who was responsible for what. We were trying to come up with some sort of ap-
ments were also made to the Equitable Share system, whereby the notion of ‘revenue- proach to that. We actually, for this project, developed the concept of the need for
14
raising capacity’ was introduced to the formula as a means to reduce the proportion of a distinction between the built environment functions and the social services… Interview with Philip
grant funding flowing to better-resourced municipalities in favour of poorer ones (Van the one has to do with the management of space, the other has to do with the van Ryneveld, Cape
Ryneveld 2006). management of people.14 Town, 23 May 2018.
 The proposal, in essence, was that city and metro governments should be responsible for
built environment functions, while provinces should be responsible for social services. Built Decline (2008 onwards)
environment functions were defined as ‘anything to do with the management of space’,
15 including planning, housing, and transportation, and the infrastructures and services that After the election of Jacob Zuma as ANC President in December 2007, and subsequently
Interview with Philip underpin those activities.15 Social services, by contrast, included things like education as the President of South Africa in 2009, the country entered a period characterized by
van Ryneveld, Cape and healthcare. These ideas and proposals constituted an early part of a wider policy shift renewed political and institutional instability, a stagnant if not recessive economy, and a
Town, 23 May 2018.
in South Africa. In 2011, for example, the National Treasury’s Local Government Budgets lack of strategic clarity in development policy. In part, this instability was related to the
and Expenditure Review dedicated a chapter to ‘cities and the management of the built damage wrought by aggressive projects of state capture, and the creation of a ‘shadow
environment’. It mirrored the earlier work done in Treasury on municipal fiscal manage- state’, pursued by Zuma’s faction within the ruling political alliance (Swilling et al. 2017).
ment, stating: While there were nominal moves to reorient South African policy towards a definite ur-
ban development agenda, these came up against a political reorientation that effectively
Government recognizes that large urban municipalities need to play a leading role empowered rural power bases and elites, thereby nullifying any real policy shift towards
in the management of the built environment. Cities already have the responsibil- a more city-focused approach. The question of local government capacity remained an
52 ity for the provision of basic services and associated infrastructure. However, to important one in this period, and the state launched several renewed efforts to drive bet- 53
effectively manage the built environment, large municipalities need to be estab- ter municipal performance. The CSP constituted one aspect of these efforts.
lished as the centre of planning and service delivery coordination. In particular,
this requires greater responsibilities for cities in land-use management, the de-
velopment of human settlements, and the provision of public transport services. Political-Economic Trends
(National Treasury 2011, pp. 210–11)
Jacob Zuma’s ascension to the Presidency in 2009 came only a few months after the first
This kind of differentiated logic, emphasizing the primacy of municipal government for major shocks of the 2008 financial crisis had begun to shake the foundations of the global
managing built environment processes, has been a central starting point for the National economy, resulting in his term-of-office being characterized by a South African economy
Treasury’s recent agenda and work programme focusing on cities and urbanization, and struggling in the midst of the ‘Great Recession’. South Africa entered the financial crisis
has underpinned the logic of the CSP. Treasury’s interest in supporting the planning and in a highly vulnerable position, with a large current account deficit, high interest rates,
development of the local urban built environment was deepened with the 2006 launch and high inflation (Padayachee n.d.). As such, the economy promptly went into recession
of the Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant, which focuses on funding local in 2008/09 for the first time in 19 years, and unemployment levels shot up — nearly a mil-
projects that improve quality of life in South Africa’s township areas. In addition, not long lion jobs were lost in 2009 alone (Rena and Msoni 2017), with those working in the informal
after the introduction of the MIG, Treasury officials took steps to differentiate the munici- sector suffering disproportionately (Rogan and Skinner 2017). Between 2008 and 2012, an-
pal grant framework, a process described in greater detail in Chapter 4. The result was nual GDP growth averaged 2.2%, and in late 2018 the country entered a technical reces-
the MIG-Cities grant, made available to South Africa’s large cities from 2007. This grant sion. In 2018, unemployment sat at 27.2% (33.6% for people aged between 25 and 34), up
sought to assist cities with the consolidation of their responsibilities to manage the built from a low of 21.5% at the end of 2008 (Niselow 2018). South Africa’s ratio of trade to GDP
environment, giving them greater flexibility to apply capital funding across a range of in- fell from 73% in 2008, to 60% in 2016 (Bond n.d.). Agriculture, mining, and manufacturing
frastructure-related investment areas, including housing, public transport, and land-use sectors all suffered declines. Financialization of the economy, having already been a clear
management (PDG 2015). MIG-Cities was created based on the realization that larger, trend of the 1990s and 2000s, increased further. The crisis and recession brought an end to
more capacitated metros did not require the degree of regulation and support that was South Africa’s major ‘housing bubble’, with real house prices remaining volatile thereaf-
needed by smaller municipalities struggling to spend the MIG. Rather than being allo- ter (Karwowski 2018). Moreover, it led to the contraction of tax revenue, placing more fis-
cated based on the approval of particular projects, MIG-Cities was disbursed through ap- cal pressure on a state system overburdened by service delivery backlogs. The injection
proval of the metro’s overall integrated plan for the development of the built environment of capital associated with the preparations for the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup failed to
alongside its capital investment programme (SALGA 2015). As a performance-oriented compensate for depressed economic trends. More recently, poor economic performance
outcomes-based grant, introduced in line with international best practice for public fi- has been aggravated by the effects of a major nationwide drought that has scorched the
nance, MIG-Cities sought to improve the capacity of larger cities to deliver positive urban country since 2015, driving a decline in agricultural productivity.
outcomes (PDG 2015). Within this wider context, South Africa’s urban areas have experienced several key
Meanwhile, the imminent hosting of the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup led to the first trends. The United Nations estimated that the country’s urbanization rate had grown to
major investments in public transport infrastructure and systems since 1994 (Palmer et 66.4% by 2018 (UNPD 2018). Urban municipalities have faced increased financial stress,
al. 2017). In 2007, the Government released its Public Transport Strategy, complemented often as a consequence of being saddled with the burden of expensive investments as-
by new fiscal transfers in the form of the Public Transport Infrastructure and Systems sociated with the 2010 World Cup, coupled with general economic downturn. One reflec-
Grant and Public Transport Network Operations Grant. The implications of these trends tion of a decline in municipal state capacity has been the growing frequency of serv-
are discussed in Chapter 10. ice delivery protests, which over the past decade have become increasingly violent and
 overwhelmingly concentrated in urban areas (Chigwata et al. 2017). Moreover, a sense of Public Sector and Intergovernmental Reform
general disillusionment with the ruling ANC’s governing record was borne through the re-
sults of the 2016 local government elections, in which the ANC lost control of three major The South African political sphere has experienced profound instability in the wake of
South African cities to opposition coalitions. Jacob Zuma’s rise to power. Following the bitter battle fought between the political fac-
Since 2008, however, important progress has been made in defining a more coherent tions aligned to Mbeki and Zuma, ‘public sector reform’ took on a particular meaning
spatial strategy for national and urban development. In principle, the NSDP provided a — government departments and state-owned enterprises were systematically targeted,
key point of departure for a new national urban development strategy, yet its acceptance with individuals linked to the political networks surrounding Zuma and his ‘business
and implementation was seemingly blunted by ongoing debates over the prioritization of associates’, the Gupta family, being installed in key positions (Swilling et al. 2017). Few
rural or urban development, concerns about rapid urbanization, and questions of spatial national government departments were able to withstand these efforts. The National
equity (Harrison et al. 2008, p. 106). Yet Mbeki’s efforts to centralize policy coordination Treasury — widely regarded as having ‘held the line’ against aggressive state capture
in the Presidency were dealt a blow when Zuma’s government disestablished the Policy and corruption — eventually fell victim when, in March 2017, Pravin Gordhan was re-
Coordination and Advisory Services (PCAS) unit and redistributed its functions. The rea- placed by Malusi Gigaba (a politician closely linked to the Zuma camp) as Minister of
sons were political: PCAS was an ‘Mbeki creation’, after all, and Joel Netshitenzhe, its Finance.
54 powerful head, presented too great a threat to Zuma within the ANC and state system A side effect of economic and political instability has been a general decline in the 55
(Hirsch 2019). The NSDP was left without a home. institutional capability of the South African state, resulting in both frequent protests
In 2009, a National Urban Development Framework was presented to Cabinet, but and electoral backlashes against the ANC (Palmer et al. 2017). Yet one of the ironies of
was referred back for further work. In 2012, however, the new National Development Plan the ‘decline phase’ is that state capability has been eroded at precisely the time when
(NDP) refocused attention on the need for a coherent national spatial policy. It did so in government has attempted to implement a performance-oriented approach to govern-
a chapter addressing the transformation of human settlements and the national space ance. In 2009, for example, the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation
economy, which proposed the development of a National Spatial Framework (Harrison (now the Department of Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation or DPME), located in
2014). As such, in early 2013, an Inter-Ministerial Committee initiated the preparation of Zuma’s Presidency office, released its Improving Government Performance document,
an Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF) under the leadership of COGTA. which provided a ‘broad strategy for assessing the performance of government as a
This document was eventually approved in 2016. whole’ (Palmer et al. 2017, pp. 82–3). More specifically, it outlined an approach whereby
Although the years of the Zuma Presidency were characterized by a nominal recogni- politically agreed outcomes, linked to the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF),
tion of the urban agenda, this by no means translated readily into practice. Zuma’s power would be developed into a series of outcome indicators and measures, with necessary
base within the ruling ANC alliance was largely concentrated in rural areas, and this activities to achieve these outcomes listed alongside required inputs. These, in turn,
alignment acted to impede progress towards a development strategy affirming the eco- were to be consolidated into a series of delivery and performance agreements to inform
nomic primacy and specific support needs of large cities. Moreover, the process of state the priorities and work of the various sectors, spheres, and institutions of government.
capture often acted to foster institutional fragmentation within the state, driving even These provisions were given life through the National Outcomes Approach, adopted in
deeper divides between line departments and ministries, and encouraging the persist- May 2010, which set out 12 outcomes and a range of delivery agreements applicable to
ence of fragmented modes of urban spatial development. all three spheres of government. Outcome 9 (‘responsible, accountable, effective, and
CSP took shape within this context of a nominal and contested recognition of the spe- efficient local government’) pertained specifically to the municipal sector. Achieving the
cific needs and advantages of urban areas and urbanization as a whole. It also emerged targets linked to Outcome 9 largely depended on the leadership of the Department of
alongside the rise of ‘spatial transformation’ as a key policy discourse of the government Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), a department that unfortu-
and ANC. Transformation has long been a key strategic discourse for the ANC, but only nately suffered from major political and institutional instability in the period between
in recent years has space become an explicit and foremost aspect of that transforma- 2009 and 2014 (Palmer et al. 2017).
tion agenda (Joseph 2015). One can trace the emerging and growing urgency of urban The post-2008 period has also seen the launch of a number of new initiatives to sup-
spatial transformation as a strategic policy concept through a series of key official docu- port and enhance the capability of municipal government. The Local Government Turna-
ments. While the NDP committed the government to driving spatial transformation in round Strategy (LGTAS), introduced in 2009, has been key in this respect. It was designed
South African cities, the IUDF is also framed around the need for progressive socio-spa- to address a range of issues confronting local governments, including systemic policy
tial change and integration in urban areas. Legislative reforms such as the 2013 Spatial and legislative matters, political factors, shortcomings in the accountability system, ca-
Planning and Land Use Management Act, ongoing discussions around the devolution of pacity and skills constraints, poor intergovernmental support and oversight, as well as
built environment functions, as well as renewed debates surrounding land reform, have problems with the intergovernmental fiscal system (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 94). The Strat-
added urgency to the spatial agenda (Joseph 2015). Increasingly, spatial transformation egy identified four classes of municipalities, each to be targeted according to spatial,
has been articulated in policy discourse as a prerequisite for boosting urban productivity social, economic, and municipal capacity indicators that were, however, not related to
and economic growth in order to realize South Africa’s ‘urban dividend’ (National Treas- performance. Each sphere of government was allocated specific roles and responsibili-
ury 2017; SACN 2016). This has been a particular emphasis in the recent thinking of the ties in driving improved municipal governance. One of the more important contributions
National Treasury; one that has underpinned CSP’s strategic and practice agenda. of the LGTAS was the development of an implementation structure. This structure in-
 cluded: ‘a special ministerial advisory and monitoring structure, a national coordinating Local Government Financial Reform
unit to oversee progress, an intergovernmental working group to support implementation,
technical service units, and a rapid response team to attend to critical interventions’ The post-2008 period has witnessed ongoing refinements to the municipal fiscal system.
(Palmer et al. 2017, p. 94). In 2011, the Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG) replaced MIG-Cities, com-
Another key initiative has been the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA), bining the latter with a portion of the provincial Human Settlements Development Grant
launched by COGTA in 2012, which provides technical support and assistance to (HSDG). The USDG inherited the performance-oriented outcomes-based structure and
strengthen internal local government capacity for delivering and maintaining infrastruc- approach of MIG-Cities. Likewise, as a Schedule 4 grant administered under the Division
ture (Palmer et al. 2017, pp. 94–5). MISA has done this through the deployment of technical of Revenue Act, the USDG sought to guarantee metros more flexibility and discretion
specialists (many taken over from the Siyenza Manje programme), the appointment of in how they spent their infrastructure grant funding. This funding was to be released to
professional service providers, and by providing limited support for municipal operations municipalities only upon approval of a multisectoral Built Environment Performance Plan
and maintenance functions. (BEPP) linking the city’s infrastructure investments with its strategic plans and longer-
Most recently, in 2014 the new Minister of COGTA introduced a ‘Back to Basics’ pro- term spatial outcomes (see Chapter 6).
gramme, following a Presidential Local Government Summit hosted in September 2014. The transition from MIG-Cities to USDG unfolded against the backdrop of the Na-
56 The programme sought to address a range of local state capability issues, including tional Outcomes Approach, which included targets related to the upgrading of informal 57
a collapse in core municipal infrastructure services, inadequate responses to service settlements and the devolution of the housing function to metros (SALGA 2015). The pri-
delivery challenges, growing distance between public representatives and citizens, mary motivation behind the introduction of the USDG was that MIG-Cities did not place
poor municipal financial viability, skillsets not living up to requirements, as well as a sufficient emphasis on the upgrading of informal settlements, nor did it provide for the
broader breakdown in the principles and values of good governance (Palmer et al. 2017). purchasing of land for new settlements (PDG 2015). A widespread ‘backlog of bulk and
It identified a number of support initiatives addressing governance, staffing, planning, connector infrastructure constraining housing delivery and compounding the growth of
financial management, procurement, and service delivery. It further set out a differenti- informal settlements’ had also encouraged policymakers and officials to consider how
ated framework for support based on four priorities. First, providing hands-on support infrastructure investments could be better targeted at the development of sustainable
to weak municipalities. Second, enabling functional municipalities to raise their level human settlements (PDG 2015). The design of the USDG was thus directly informed by
of performance by building strong municipal administrative systems and creating real- broader policy trends, including that of devolving built-environment functions to metros,
time monitoring systems. Third, incentivizing well-functioning municipalities by reform- and the shift from housing delivery to human settlements development (PDG 2015).
ing regulatory oversight and monitoring, in particular by allowing them more control
and discretion over resources and grant funding. And fourth, launching a robust and
targeted response to dealing with problems of fraud and corruption (Palmer et al. 2017, Conclusion
p. 96). The CSP has also taken shape during this period, and its evolution is described in
more detail in Chapter 4. The CSP has taken shape among all the trends, dynamics, and agendas described in the
The ‘decline phase’ has also seen important legal reforms made to the intergov- sections above. It has emerged within a political-economic environment characterized by
ernmental system for urban planning and governance. The most important of these economic stagnation, aggressive processes of state capture, a growing albeit contested
emerged from a Court challenge made by the City of Johannesburg against the Gauteng recognition of the need for a coherent national spatial policy and development strategy,
Provincial Planning Tribunal, whereby the City sought to have the 1995 Development Fa- as well as a political context emphasizing the need for urban spatial transformation. CSP
cilitation Act (which allowed for provincial tribunals to approve local development appli- has also been fundamentally influenced by a wider reform agenda associated with the
cations and bypass municipal planning structures) declared invalid. With the first Court public sector and intergovernmental system. This agenda has been characterized by a
application made in 2008, the Constitutional Court eventually handed down its verdict in desire to arrest declines in municipal capacity, and thereby forgo the heightened political
June 2010. With it, the ‘legal uncertainty that had plagued planning law-reform for more risks associated with poor service delivery; by a shift to a more performance-oriented
than a decade cleared’ (Berrisford 2016). This uncertainty related to whether local plan- and outcomes-based approach to governance; by the rise of local government support
ning and locational decisions should be the preserve of municipalities or another level of and capacity-building programmes; by increasing National Treasury interest in local gov-
government. The Constitutional Court judgement decisively affirmed the independence ernment financial questions, particularly through grants consolidation and the differen-
of the local government sphere, and planning as a municipal (rather than provincial) tiation of municipal support; and by reforms specifically targeting the intergovernmental
16 function. In doing so, it effectively overturned a century-old South African legal tradi- system of planning and development.
Interview with Stephen tion that gave provinces authority over local planning decisions.16 Parliament was given This chapter has not attempted to describe the more detailed, personal stories of how
Berrisford, Cape Town, two years to either remedy the defects of the Development Facilitation Act or enact new a cohort of people within National Treasury started to become increasingly interested in
23 May 2018. legislation. The result was the passage of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Manage- urban municipal finance issues, and how this cohort gradually managed to establish the
ment Act in 2013. The implications of these reforms for the work of CSP are discussed parameters and modalities of a Treasury programme dedicated to supporting large South
in Chapter 6. African city governments. The following chapter goes on to present that story.
 Genesis Analytics (n.d.) ‘An Evaluation of the Siyenza Nel, E., and Rogerson, C. M. (2016) ‘The Contested Trajec- Swilling, M. (2007) ‘South African Cities in the Second
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 Chapter 3

What Is the
CSP?
This chapter introduces the basic dimensions of the Cities Support
Programme (CSP). It sets out the Programme’s spatial and thematic
60 focus, its institutional structure and location within National
Treasury, the key elements of its strategy, and its mode of working.
61
The chapter seeks to provide an accessible introduction to the CSP
as the starting point for a series of more in-depth explanations of its
specific work areas, which are given in Chapters 5 through 12.

Over the past half-decade, the CSP has developed a reputation in governance and aca- City of
demic circles (Cirolia and Smit 2017). However, it may not be clear to all stakeholders Johannesburg: A
exactly what its strategy and role is, and how the sum of its parts fit together within an view of the central
overarching strategic frame. It is worthwhile capturing precisely what the CSP is, as a business district,
particular kind of platform and approach to city support and urban governance reform. with Hillbrow Tower
This information may be of interest to other stakeholders, both in South Africa and else- in the foreground.
where, who are engaged in processes of governance reform, or who are generally keen to
understand the current landscape of urban thought and practice.

Where?
Established in 2011, in essence the CSP ‘works with metropolitan municipalities, national
departments, provincial governments, and other stakeholders to facilitate faster and more
inclusive urban economic growth’ (National Treasury 2018a, p. 60). Spatially, CSP focuses its
work efforts on South Africa’s eight ‘metropolitan municipalities’, namely: Buffalo City, City
of Cape Town, City of Johannesburg, City of Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Mangaung,
and Nelson Mandela Bay (see Figure 3.1). The ‘metros’, as they are known, are classified as
‘Category A municipalities’ under the South African Constitution and the country’s array
of post-1994 local government policy documents and legislation.17 The Constitution defines
17
Category A municipalities as having ‘exclusive municipal executive and legislative author-
This includes the
ity in its area’. Metros differ from Category B and C municipalities, or local and district 1998 White Paper on
municipalities (covering rural areas, towns, and smaller cities), which nearly always overlap Local Government,
in space and share various service delivery functions. In practice, therefore, the metros are which informed and
the only municipalities in the country served by a single tier of local government (Palmer et shaped the Municipal
Structures (1998),

GUTO bussab
al. 2017, pp. 49–51). A more detailed system of municipal classification, developed by na-
Demarcations (1998)
tional government in the early 2000s, takes account of the size of municipalities in terms of and Systems (2000)
budget, population, and the percentage urban population, and is provided in Table 3.1. Acts.
 Figure 3.1:
Location of the Metropolitan Municipalities
in South Africa

62 63

Buffalo City

City of Cape Town CITY OF

TSHWANE
City of Johannesburg

City of Tshwane city of

CITY OF EKURHULENI
CITY OF Ekurhuleni JOHANNESBURG

eThekwini

Mangaung

Nelson Mandela Bay

MANGAUNG
eTHEKWINI

BUFFALO
CITY

CITY OF
CAPE TOWN NELSON MANDELA
BAY
 Table 3.1 Types and Descriptions of South African Municipalities Addressing the specific needs and challenges of South Africa’s large cities, as CSP
has done, accords directly with the wider approach encouraged by National Treasury
Municipal Municipality Criteria and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA). For at
category type least the past decade, both departments have argued in favour of a differentiated ap-
proach to municipal financing and planning support (DPME 2018). The Local Government
A Metro Large urban complexes with populations over 1 million
Turnaround Strategy of 2009, for example, argued for the identification and targeting of
B1 Local municipality With large budgets and containing secondary cities spatially differentiated support needs among all municipalities (COGTA 2009). Moreo-
ver, demand for a differentiated approach to devolution, planning, and intergovernmental
B2 Local municipality With a large town as a core
support within and between urban and rural areas was a consistent emphasis of South
B3 Local municipality With small towns with relatively small population Africa’s National Development Plan (NPC 2013).
and a significant proportion of urban population, but Figure 3.3 sets out the desired approach that national government seeks to take when
engaging with municipalities in a differentiated manner. In general, the argument goes,
with no large town as a core
the allocation of national financial resources to local governments should reflect their
64 B4 Local municipality Mainly rural, with communal tenure, and with at most capacity to raise their own revenue. Greater financial and technical support from national 65
one or two small towns in their area and provincial government should be targeted at less capable municipalities. By con-
trast, more capacitated and capable local governments should be assisted through the
C1 District municipality Are not water service authorities
development of better regulatory instruments and performance incentives (after Palmer
C2 District municipality Are water service authorities et al. 2017, p. 79). In this approach, the most pressing issues affecting larger and more
capacitated municipalities centre on the need to further integrate the provision of infra-
The metros are responsible for governing South Africa’s largest and most populated ur- structure-intensive services, notably public transport and housing, and to improve the
ban areas — places that contribute the greatest portion of economic value to the national control that local governments have over these functions through progressive devolution
fiscus (see Figure 3.2). For this reason, CSP seeks to frame and present the country’s large (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 54). They are thus primarily regulatory challenges, although direct
cities as ‘critical national assets’. Yet, aside from being places of economic potential, the support is still undoubtedly needed in many cases. This rationale has directly informed
metros also face specific and acute challenges relating to socio-economic and spatial and shaped CSP’s work agenda.
inequality, unsustainable resource use, and ecological damage. That being said, South Af-
rica’s large urban municipalities are often those with the most elaborate and capacitated Figure 3.3: Differentiation Framework for South African Municipalities
institutional systems to deliver services to local populations, and to raise revenue locally.
Redistributive

Excellent
Figure 3.2: Percentage Contribution of Metropolitan Municipalities to the South African National Fiscus
Resource Allocation

Regulation &
Incentives
In South Africa as
elsewhere, cities drive

Adequate
national economic growth.

Organisational capability
The numbers are striking.
57% The eight metropolitan

Support & Intervention

Inadequate
municipalities contribute
57% to the national
economic output
(source: National Treasury 2018b)

Problematic
CSP’s strategic approach proceeds from an understanding that the specific challenges Environmental capability
faced by the metros can be differentiated from those of secondary and emerging cities,
towns, and rural areas. It is not an approach that denies the importance of rural devel- Mostly Rural Towns & Farms Cities
opment in favour of an ‘urban bias’. Rather, it recognizes that large urban local govern- Specialized powers
& functions
ments operate within qualitatively and quantitatively different political, economic, and Specialized rural
institutional environments than their smaller and rural counterparts. It follows that they Specialized metro
have different kinds of support requirements and regulatory needs.
(source: Palmer et al. 2017, p. 78)
 Figure 3.4: C
 haracteristics of South African Metropolitan Municipalities
CITY OF
CITY OF EKURHULENI
JOHANNESBURG
POPULATION 3 379 104
POPULATION 4 949 347
TOTAL REVENUE R29 592 000*
TOTAL REVENUE R42 978 000*
TOTAL AREA 1 975 km2
66 TOTAL AREA 1 645 km2 67
intensity of poverty 44,7%
intensity of poverty 44.1%2
Number of households 1 299 490
Number of households 265 561
People per household 2,6
People per household 3
Percentage of informal dwellings 18.7%
% of informal dwellings 11.7%

population groups
population groups
Indian/
Coloured Asian Area Precentage
Coloured Indian/ 2.5% 2%
Area Precentage
5.3% Asian URBAN 99.4%
White
4.4% URBAN 99.8% 13.7%
White TRIBAL/ TRADITIONAL 0%
9.8%
TRIBAL/ TRADITIONAL 0%
Black FARM 0.6%
African
FARM 0.2%
Black 81.7%
African
80,5%

* Audit outcome from 2016-2017 as reported in SACN (2018). Statistics South Africa (2016) * Audit outcome from 2016-2017 as reported in SACN (2018). Statistics South Africa (2016)
 CITY OF TSHWANE MANGAUNG

POPULATION 3 275 152 POPULATION 787 803

TOTAL REVENUE R28 091 000* TOTAL REVENUE R6 801 000**
TOTAL AREA 6 345 km2 TOTAL AREA 6 284 km2
intensity of poverty 43.1%2 intensity of poverty 41.1%
68 69
Number of households 1 136 877 Number of households 265 561
People per household 2.9 People per household 3
Percentage of informal dwellings 16.4% Percentage of informal dwellings 11.7%

population groups population groups

Area Precentage
Indian/ Indian/ Area Precentage
Coloured Asian URBAN 92.3% Coloured Asian
1.9% 1.6% 3.5% 0.2% URBAN 90.6%
TRIBAL/ TRADITIONAL 5.5% White
White
10.8% TRIBAL/ TRADITIONAL 6.9%
17.4%
FARM 2.2%
Black Black FARM 2.5%
African African
79.1% 85,5%

* Audit outcome from 2016-2017 as reported in SACN (2018). Statistics South Africa (2016) * Audit outcome from 2016-2017 as reported in SACN (2018). Statistics South Africa (2016)
 ethekwini buffalo CITY

POPULATION 3 702 231

POPULATION 834 997
TOTAL REVENUE R30 571 000*
TOTAL REVENUE R5 628 000*
TOTAL AREA 2 291 km2
TOTAL AREA 2 536 km2
70 intensity of poverty 40.8%2 71
intensity of poverty 42.8%
Number of households 1 125 767
Number of households 253 477
People per household 3.3
People per household 3,3
% of informal dwellings 13.3%
Percentage of informal dwellings 24.9%

population groups
Area Precentage population groups Area Precentage
URBAN 84.8%
Coloured URBAN 82.3%
Indian/ Coloured
2.1% TRIBAL/ TRADITIONAL 14.7% 23.9%
Asian TRIBAL/ TRADITIONAL 16.5%
17.7%
FARM 0.5%
FARM 1.3%
Black
African White Black
74% 6.2% African Indian/
59.9% Asian
1.2%

White
15%

* Audit outcome from 2016-2017 as reported in SACN (2018). Statistics South Africa (2016) * Audit outcome from 2016-2017 as reported in SACN (2018). Statistics South Africa (2016)
 NELSON MANDELA CITY OF
BAY CAPE TOWN
POPULATION 1 263 051
POPULATION 4 005 016
TOTAL REVENUE R8 919 000*
TOTAL REVENUE R36 383 000*
TOTAL AREA 1 959 km2
TOTAL AREA 2 445 km2
72 intensity of poverty 42,3% 73
intensity of poverty 39.3%
Number of households 368 520
Number of households 1 264 949
People per household 3,4
People per household 3.2
% of informal dwellings 6,9%
Percentage of informal dwellings 17.6%

population groups
population groups
Indian/
White Asian
6,9% 0,9% Coloured Area Precentage
Coloured
Area Precentage 39.9%
6,7% URBAN 99.8%
URBAN 97,7%
TRIBAL/ TRADITIONAL 0%
Black TRIBAL/ TRADITIONAL 0% Black
African African FARM 0.4%
85,4% FARM 2,3% 42.6%

Indian/ Asian
White 1,1%
16,5%
* Audit outcome from 2016-2017 as reported in SACN (2018). Statistics South Africa (2016) * Audit outcome from 2016-2017 as reported in SACN (2018). Statistics South Africa (2016)
 While there are clear differences in scale and capacity between the metros and other Treasury 2012, p. 7). In other words, through CSP, Treasury seeks to support the transfor-
kinds of settlements and local governments (both in terms of the challenges they face mation of South African cities from their current fragmented, exclusive, and low-density
and the support measures they require to help them address those challenges) the metros spatial forms to more compact and integrated forms (DPME 2018). The premise is that:
themselves also differ substantially from one another according to factors such as land
area, population size, economic productivity, poverty rates, revenue, and institutional ca- Inclusive urban growth requires a focus on key result areas at the city and inter-
pacity (see Figure 3.4). Given these variations and characteristics, from an early stage governmental level. Well-governed cities enable practical, time-bound actions
CSP resolved to take a differentiated approach to working within and between the met- to be taken to transform the urban spatial form, which in turn will enable more
ros — an approach that has sought to align CSP’s interventions ‘with the existing levels inclusive, productive, and sustainable cities to be built over time, and contribute
of capacity within each metro’ (DPME 2018, p. 6). Nhlanhla Mncwango, CSP City Com- to faster and more inclusive economic growth. At the intergovernmental level,
ponent Lead, explains how the uptake of this differentiated approach was linked to the the alignment of policy, fiscal, regulatory, and support mechanisms will create
definition and development of ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ projects: an enabling environment for city transformation to achieve these economic im- 19
pacts.19 From the CSP website,
https://csp.treasury.
We took a differentiated approach in terms of the size of a municipality, the size of
74 their budget, and their capacity to deliver. We would look at their capital perform-
gov.za/Programmes/
Pages/default.aspx, 75
ance, their capacity to deliver, and also the size of the challenges that they faced How? accessed 12 June 2018.
in terms of different backlogs like water, sanitation, and particularly informal set-
tlements. So, that was how we approached the issue. But now that we have the CSP operates according to the assumption that in order to help cities reach their full
eight metros in the CSP, we understand that some metros are not the same size socio-economic development potential three key areas of work are required, with each
as others. The way that they respond to support, and the way that they want to cutting across a range of traditional built environment sectors or functions. This work
engage with the reforms are different. Even the larger metros don’t respond in the includes, firstly, helping to provide a strong fiscal framework to ensure that public re-
same way. So, what we did in our approach was to say that there would be ‘supply’ sources are managed efficiently and allocated strategically, including through the intro-
projects. Supply projects are projects that will be made available to everybody. duction of greater performance incentives into the system of intergovernmental grants to
They are reform related, like the Built Environment Performance Plans, the Sub- reward integrated planning and development. Second, CSP aims to create an enabling
national Doing Business support — they are implemented across all of the metros intergovernmental environment for city transformation through policy and regulatory
because they all have got to go through those reforms if they are to be the engines reforms, including the devolution of key built environment management functions to the
of the economy. municipal level. And third, CSP seeks to provide an integrated programme of city imple-
mentation support, which includes specialized technical assistance, peer learning op-
But then, we realized, there should be programmes that are demand-led. These portunities, and collaborative performance reviews (DPME 2018; National Treasury 2012).
are programmes that the city itself must demand. We take into account the city’s CSP focuses its activities on the points where these work areas intersect, as indicated
capacity to articulate its demand for support. We also look at its absorb-take ca- by Figure 3.5.
pacity — can it absorb the support? Are they going to carry that support that we’re
providing? To some extent, we’ve been doing this through trial and error, because Figure 3.5: The CSP Venn Diagram
the big issue is to draw all of the metros together and bring them forth. The uptake
18 has not been the same across the spectrum. Some metros take the largest share.
Interview with But they are the most vocal, if you like.18
Nhlanhla Mncwango,
Pretoria, 22 May 2018. FISCAL
The range and emphasis of CSP’s interventions in each metro therefore differ substan- FRAMEWORK
tially depending on the nature of the local political and strategic environment, the kinds of
personal relationships forged between city officials and CSP team members, and so on.
All activities are, however, framed within a common strategic perspective. This overarch-
ing strategic frame is introduced and described below.
CSP
ENABLING CITY
What? ENVIRONMENT IMPLEMENTATION
SUPPORT
What exactly do National Treasury and CSP seek to bring about or achieve? In essence,
‘the objective of the CSP is to support the spatial transformation of South African cities
to create more inclusive, productive, and sustainable urban built environments’ (National (source: DPME 2018, p. 44)
 David Savage, CSP Programme Manager, recalls the strategic thrust of the original CSP Programme’s key arguments, and has enabled its work to gain traction at multiple lev-
22
framework document, published by the National Treasury in 2012: els.22 A third point of critique could be that while CSP’s structure resonates with the core Interview with
capabilities required by city governments and leaders, it does not necessarily match well Nishendra Moodley,
I think the point that we were trying to make in that document was that if you want with the structures and functions of the state — there are no single official departments Cape Town, 4 July 2018.
an effective support programme, you shouldn’t think of it as just a small-scale sup- responsible for climate resilience or economic development, for instance.
port programme giving technical assistance here and there. You have to see these One could make the case for CSP’s organizational approach as being good or bad.
23
big flows of cash as being part of your programmatic response. You have to see Undoubtedly there are tensions involved, which have been recognized by the CSP team.23 Interview with
your whole regulatory environment, from your National Housing Code, your build- Collectively, these lines of critique all signal wider questions concerning the challenges Nishendra Moodley,
ing regulations — all of that — as generating the outcomes you see now. So, the and appropriate design of city support and reform interventions. Leaving aside these Cape Town, 4 July 2018.
money, the policy, and the regulatory tools — as well as the support — those are questions of institutional structure and design for the moment, in the following section
the factors that need to converge. So, the point we were making is that there are we attempt to explain CSP’s overall strategic approach. We ask: how exactly has CSP
large flows of money and we have not been conscious of that, and they often cre- envisaged the process by which urban spatial transformation can and should happen?
ate countervailing incentives to our stated objectives. So, that was the basic point What is the understanding of change that has underpinned its strategy?
76 that we were trying to make, to set up that triangle of instruments that should be 77
aligned — the Venn diagram — with CSP in the middle: much smaller, but leverag-
20
Interview with David ing, or guiding, or aligning those things.20 Theory of Change
Savage, Cape Town, 30
May 2018. More specifically, CSP implements its support to the eight metros through five thematic Chapter 2 described the emergence of the CSP as a connection, consolidation, refinement,
work ‘components’. These are: Core City Governance, Human Settlements, Public Trans- and scaling-up of a range of existing interests and initiatives circulating within South Af-
port, Economic Development, and Climate Resilience. The objectives of these compo- rica’s urban governance space. As the CSP platform developed and matured in the months
nents, and the specific means by which these objectives are to be achieved, are described and years after its inception, some concerns about the coherence of its strategy and work
in detail in Chapters 5 through 12. Three of these components — namely Core City Gov- programme gradually emerged (DPME 2018; Timm 2014). The programme management team
ernance, Economic Development, and Climate Resilience — are specifically defined as responded by consolidating CSP’s work into a more coherent ‘theory of change’. This term
‘transversal’, meaning they simultaneously address, and are addressed by, all the other describes a notion and practice that emerged out of the fields of programme planning and
components. Transversality, in this sense, means seeing better outcomes of governance, evaluation research in the United States in the mid-1990s, as researchers sought to explain
economic strategy, and climate response as fundamentally rooted in and distributed the failure of complex initiatives to produce their intended outcomes as being a result of poor-
across the full range of built environment, regulatory, fiscal, and policy systems. ly articulated assumptions of how change should unfold over time (Anderson 2004; Stein and
Yet the seeming neatness of the structure described above masks the real complexity Valters 2012). Programme planners, researchers argued, had paid too little attention to the
of the CSP’s work within and between each thematic component, and across the met- intermediate steps and changes necessary to produce intended long-term outcomes. A the-
ros. Indeed, there has been considerable variation in the number, duration, and scale ory of change was therefore defined as ‘a way to describe the set of assumptions that explain
of projects pursued within the various components. The Core City Governance work, for both the mini-steps that lead to the long-term goal of interest and the connections between
example, consists of five sub-components coordinated by four different CSP team mem- programme activities and outcomes that occur at each step of the way’ (Anderson 2004, p. 2).
bers. Moreover, the individual Component Leads work across different cities according to Globally, institutions of all kinds, both public and private, have increasingly been asked
the local demand for specific expertise and support linked to particular projects. to articulate their theory of change as a tool to enhance the evaluation and improvement
CSP’s component-based structure has enabled it to work according to a thematically of their performance. Jeremy Timm, CSP’s Strategic Support Manager, who leads the
coherent approach, and to address some of the core capabilities that need to exist within Programme’s processes of internal evaluation and systems development, explains CSP’s
the urban governance system. Some of the thematic definitions of its components are pragmatic approach:
admittedly broad, however. The Core City Governance Component, for example, addresses
a wide range of issues, from city leadership skills to the capabilities required to deliver and We have taken a simple view of a theory of change, which is to think of it as a
manage large-scale infrastructure programmes. This broadness is not necessarily detri- story — can we tell the story of what we want to see? Then, can we develop a pro-
mental, but there are certainly other approaches available that could potentially be more gramme that contributes to the change that we want to see?
effective as a way to drive intergovernmental reform. It is possible that CSP’s work on fi-
21 nancial and fiscal reform, for example, could be situated outside the Core City Governance Developing CSP’s theory of change was in many ways a retrospective consolidation and
Interview with Component as a distinct set of cross-cutting problems and transversal interventions.21 rearticulation of the implicit assumptions that had shaped its strategic approach and
Nishendra Moodley, A second possible point of critique, related to the above, might hold that CSP has work programme since its inception and establishment:
Cape Town, 4 July 2018.
attempted to take on too many projects, or has tried to cover too much ground with its
activities in a way that has not always been strategic. This is plausible, but a counter- Our theory of change is almost like our spine, in everything that we do. So, we talk
argument would be that the scale of CSP’s ambition has itself drawn attention to the about what we ultimately want to see: the reduction of urban poverty and inequal-
 ity. In order to do that, we’d like to see our cities being inclusive, productive, and
sustainable. In order for them to be inclusive, productive, and sustainable we need
to see a change in the spatial structure of our cities. In order to get that right, our
cities need to be well governed, in terms of leadership and capability and the way
in which they partner with other stakeholders. And our inter-governmental system
needs to enable that to happen and not stand in the way — particularly from a fis-
24 cal and financial point of view, as well as a policy point of view.24
Interview with Jeremy
Timm, Pretoria, 22 May Timm’s pithy explanation presents the basic coordinates of CSP’s theory of change,
2018.
which is represented graphically in Figure 3.6. But several other key points are notable.
A more specific set of strategic and practical imperatives cuts across all of CSP’s work
areas. The first relates to the development of a knowledge base. The argument goes that
we need to know the ‘lay of the land’ with respect to urban governance reform — a bet-
78 ter understanding of the current national and international context of urban change and 79
good urban practice — before we can be confident about how to intervene. The second
imperative is more strategic. CSP understands that it needs to conduct activities at both
urban and intergovernmental (national and provincial) levels in order to deliver real im-
provements in governance and spatial transformation. More specifically, leadership and
visioning issues are critical to unlocking and driving an agenda of urban spatial transfor-
mation, and for this to happen, city political and administrative leaders require special
kinds of support. The third imperative is practical. CSP holds that the key to driving urban
spatial transformation, and hence inclusive economic growth, is the planning and imple-
mentation of transit-oriented development (TOD). TOD can, in turn, be delivered through
spatial development frameworks such as the Urban Network Strategy, and through par-
ticular instruments like the Built Environment Performance Plan (see Chapter 6).
The fourth imperative relates to CSP’s strategy for policy reform. While the Pro-
gramme aims to influence policy, it does so from a practice-led perspective. Rather than
acting as a policy think tank or lobbying organization, dedicated to researching and draft-
ing new policy documents and building political support across departments for their
passage through government, CSP’s main approach has been to gain political traction
through the introduction of new practices. In part, this approach emerged from a realiza-
tion that the capacity for policy to influence practice was being inhibited by a broader col-
lapse in public sector management in South Africa. Yet there is also a specific intellectual
agenda at work here. For CSP, better practice does not or should not necessarily follow
policy in a simple linear way — with this approach, change would arguably take too long
to appear, and in any case, new policies will never have the comprehensiveness or fore-
sight to avoid producing unintended and harmful outcomes. Instead, CSP understands
that wider policy change and support can flow from practical reforms and their effects
‘on the ground’ in terms of creating new precedents and building alliances of committed
actors and institutions. It is through the introduction of specific tools and practices — like
a new municipal infrastructure grant, a new kind of performance-based plan, or a tool for
measuring the fiscal impacts of municipal investment decisions — that real change in the
behaviour of municipalities can best be realized.
eThekwini: Vistas of In sum, it is perhaps the manner in which CSP seeks to provide a platform for the sydelle willow smith
various typologies interplay of activities and partnerships at multiple levels, and in various domains of gov-
from informal to ernance — the systemic, practice-led nature of its activities — that sets its strategic
state provided and and interventive approach apart from other city support and reform initiatives in South
informal housing. African history. Yet other specificities of this approach are defined by institutional loca-
 Figure 3.6: The CSP Theory of Change (source: CSP, 2017

Activities Outputs Intermediate Intermediate outcomes Impact

outcomes
Toolkits &
Support provided to Well governed Inclusive
guidelines
cities in line with plans Cities Cities
(BEPP, & CSIP)
Vision & leadership New housing options
Technical support
to initiate & drive with social diversity
80 Leadership support
81

Institutional arrangements
spatial restructuring

Reporting & evaluation

Affordable &
Diagnostic & analytical efficient public
Spatial planning &
studies Capability to transport services
project prioritization
plan & manage
urban spatial Integrated public
IG Project pipeline transport system
Pilots and case studies transformation
Capital funding Social facilties
Citizen involvement and services
Policy support Implementation & a partnership- Urban economic
based approach growth and a
Innovation & Urban management to the financing, reduction of
Peer review & appropriate practice packaging & delivery inequality and
Compact cities &
benchmarking gathered, generated of catalytic projects Productive
transformed urban poverty
and shared in spatially targeted Cities
space
areas
Platforms convened Growing city
Grant design &
for city advocacy and economies
implementation support
lobbying within the Established
support Increased city
intergovernmental system integration zones
Enabling productivity
Environment
Workshops, seminars Increased use of
& courses
for City
renewables
Transformation
Recommendations made
to the intergovernmental
Assignment of
Facilitation, coaching system to create an
human settlements Sustainable
& mentoring support enabling fiscal framework
for city transformation
and public transport Cities
functions to cities
Increased use of
Discussion forums renewable energy
Restructured fiscal &
financial framework Improved water
Advocacy & lobbying Recommendations made to support urban resource management
with a city lens to the intergovernmental growth
system to create an Resource efficiency
enabling policy, regulatory
and support environment Recycling
Engaging with
stakeholders & partners
 tion — in particular, the Programme’s situation within South Africa’s National Treasury. Being housed within Treasury, closely aligned to the work of the IGR Division – both
This institutional context is discussed below. in terms of institutional reform and through the personal connection and support of the
DDG – brings important benefits. It enables the CSP team to support existing Treasury
Institution functions, and to influence wider departmental processes of policy and fiscal reform. It
also allows the team to draw upon the range and depth of specialist intellectual and tech- 25
Institutionally, the CSP falls within the Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Division of nical capacity housed within Treasury.25 Another benefit is more outward-facing. National Interview with Andrew
National Treasury, the division with primary responsibility for overseeing local govern- Treasury’s reputation and authority lends legitimacy and weight to the CSP, enabling its Donaldson, Cape Town,
ment fiscal and related issues (see Figures 3.7 and 3.8). Rather than a permanent unit team to ‘open doors’ and engage with the metros more consistently and intensively than 5 June 2018.
or directorate, CSP operates as a ring-fenced Programme Management Unit. The CSP might have been the case otherwise.
Programme Manager reports to Malijeng Ngqaleni, the Deputy Director General (DDG) of Yet, being situated within National Treasury also has its downsides — it can have the
the IGR Division. Appointed to this position in 2013, DDG Ngqaleni had already played a effect of making some governmental departments and stakeholders, who may be wary of
key role in conceiving of and establishing the CSP (see Chapter 4). As DDG, she assumed the Treasury’s perceived influence over policy and practice, reluctant to engage with CSP
overall accountability for the Programme, overseeing and helping to determine its stra- (DPME 2018). In certain official circles, Treasury has something of a reputation for the impe-
82 tegic direction within the broader strategic framework of the IGR Division and National rious enforcement of fiscal rules and regulations in relation to sector departments and other 83
Treasury. CSP works through IGR’s Chief Directorate of Provincial and Local Government spheres of government. This has presented particular challenges to the CSP team, and they
Infrastructure for matters of operational and financial management accountability. The have consciously and actively tried, with varying degrees of success, to cultivate a different
CSP Programme Manager participates in senior management meetings within the IGR approach and attitude to their engagements: one that listens and responds to the experi-
Division, but they are employed by contract, without the status of an official. They conse- ences of sector and city officials, rather than simply enforcing compliance. As one CSP team
quently require approval from a Chief Director or the IGR Deputy Director General for all member reflected, ‘it was a lot of work to change perceptions, about who we are’.26 26
Interview with
financial and related accountability matters (DPME 2018). As the CSP occupies something of a ‘liminal’ institutional space within Treasury, it is
Nhlanhla Mncwango,
not a formal, permanent unit like the other directorates comprising the IGR Division. As Pretoria, 22 May 2018.
Figures 3.7 and 3.8: Institutional Location of the CSP in National Treasury such, the concept of a ‘platform’ is perhaps its most appropriate descriptor. This concept

Corporate Services

Asset & Liability

Constitutional Traditional
Management
court Leaders

Chief Procurement
Office

Public Finance

Budget Office
Cities Director
Ministry Parliament Local Government
Intergovernmental General Cabinet Provincial
Support of
Relations National National Government
Programme Treasury
Finance National Metropolitan District Local
Council of
Assembly Municipalities Councils Councils
Tax & Financial Provinces
Sector Policy

International & Regional

Economic Policy DBSA

Economic Policy

Office of the
Accountant-General

Goverment Technical
(source: DPME 2018)
Advisory Centre
 signals how CSP was designed to drive changes within a wider systemic and governmen- and seeks to affirm, the fiscal, institutional, and political agency that South Africa’s large
tal architecture, and to provide a basis for participation and cooperation between a broad urban municipalities hold to shape their own developmental pathways, and to influence
range of government actors and institutions (National Treasury 2012). Rather than operat- the wider governance environment in which they operate. CSP is about supporting cities
ing according to a predefined strategy and set of priorities, it seeks to provide space for to perform, rather than dictating the terms of their actions. It is about making cities more
contestation over what is more or less important in the domain of city support and gov- capacitated and self-reliant. For another matter, CSP’s approach signals a firm belief in
ernance reform. The notion of ‘platform’ also signals how CSP self-consciously sits in a the importance of technical capacity and competency as a keystone of urban govern-
dynamic governmental and political-economic context, allowing the strategies, partner- ance and better kinds of urban development. Yet it also shows a keen awareness that
ships, and activities deployed for city support to shift in relation to emerging events and simply enhancing technical capacity is insufficient by itself — better planning and project
trends. So, while CSP, as a kind of intergovernmental platform, is supported by a specific implementation, no matter how competent and efficient, will not by itself produce sig-
institution located within Treasury, comprising a particular set of individuals, it does not nificant results in South African cities and the national economy. Technical interventions
operate identically to other government units and directorates. therefore have to be accompanied by, and framed within, real processes of systemic and
Certain benefits arise from these arrangements. CSP team members enjoy a rare de- structural reform. CSP holds no illusions that this is a straightforward or simple process.
gree of flexibility in their capacity to forge new partnerships and projects, without having As one team member put it, ‘CSP is not about good stories. It’s about hard change. It’s
84 to navigate conventional bureaucratic avenues. However, this may also create certain dy- about changing systems’.28 CSP thus brings a ‘systems thinking’ perspective to the whole 28 85
namics within the Treasury environment. CSP can sometimes be perceived as a group of question of urban governance reform in South Africa. Interview with Michael
relative ‘outsiders’; one with suspiciously close relations to the World Bank (thereby po- Arguably, the CSP’s particular brand of strategic logic resembles a kind of ‘radical Kihato, Pretoria, 14
June 2018.
tentially undermining a home-grown intellectual cadre) and claiming the credit of Treas- incrementalism’ — a conviction that while structural revolution is not the answer to the
ury’s work for themselves. CSP’s institutional ambiguity also raises problems of identity country’s problems, neither will tinkering with the technical details of urban governance
and recognition. An external observer would likely find it difficult to pinpoint where exact- be sufficient (Pieterse 2008; Campbell and Cowan 2016). The CSP team maintains a fidel-
ly the CSP begins and ends, because as a platform its partnerships and networks extend ity to the promise of the South African post-apartheid democratic transition, yet refuses
well beyond its immediate team, and indeed well beyond National Treasury’s headquar- to elide past mistakes and deep systemic flaws that continue to reproduce unequal rela-
ters on Church Square in Pretoria. As such, it can be difficult for observers to under- tions between peoples and places. They see radical socio-economic and spatial change in
stand what exactly CSP is, what it does, and what its intentions are. Even if CSP might urban South Africa as an absolute imperative, but also as something that should unfold
see itself as a platform for multi-governmental cooperation, many would simply regard over time, in increments, according to evidence, analysis, and planning, through the provi-
it as a Treasury initiative, which again raises the points about reputation and perception sion of incentives, and the monitoring of performance.
outlined above. Such ambiguity also raises certain risks regarding the sustainability of
reform efforts — will something arranged relatively ‘loosely’, like CSP, be able to achieve
lasting institutional and behavioural change in the intergovernmental system? This re- Team
mains an important question for future research to answer.
Sections 216(1) and (2) of the South African Constitution set out the National Treasury’s Midway through 2017, the CSP team consisted of a total of 14 staff members, comprising
mandate, calling for a public institution that enforces compliance with legislative prescrip- a programme manager, four programme management or administrative staff, and nine
tions to ensure transparency and expenditure control in each sphere of government. Given technical experts. The programme management and administration team handle the day-
Treasury’s mandate, CSP’s logic of why and how we should deliver better urban outcomes to-day project and financial management of the CSP, in addition to setting up operational
is, at root, a fiscal question. This applies in at least three ways. First, CSP operates with the systems and developing appropriate policies and procedures.
assumption that we need to understand and shape the massive flows of capital through The CSP technical team consists of highly skilled and experienced professionals who
27 government, the private sector, and urban systems, if we are to effect real transformative are employed on time-based contracts. The technical team operates according to a ma-
Interview with David change in our cities.27 Second, CSP is committed to the view that reforming the fiscal envi- trix structure. Each of the CSP’s thematic components has a ‘Lead’ who is responsible for
Savage, Cape Town, 30 ronment in which city governments operate is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition to structuring and implementing the projects within that component. Moreover, each Com-
May 2018. driving better urban performance. And third, CSP holds that better financial management ponent Lead operates as a ‘City Coordinator’ for one of the eight metros, in the latter case
within urban local governments, and better urban economic growth outcomes associated being responsible for coordinating the delivery of supply and demand projects in that city,
with the reduction of poverty and inequality, are a means to put cities on a more fiscally and for reporting on work progress. Some staff occupy specialized positions, like the City
mature and sustainable path, and ultimately to increase the total quantum of the national Component Lead, who provides strategic insight and direction as to how CSP should en-
fiscus while reducing the financial burden of capital transfers from national to local govern- gage across the range of metros. Each metro, in turn, is expected to nominate their own
ment. CSP aims to strengthen the capacity of the state, or more specifically, collaborative coordinator from among their official ranks, who is then responsible for enabling the im-
activity within the intergovernmental system, to deliver on high-level goals of socio-eco- plementation of all CSP work programmes within their city. Originally, City Coordinators
nomic equality and to counter the socio-spatial imbalances of the past and present. were intended to spend 60% of their time on direct implementation support to the metros,
What does the CSP’s strategic and programmatic approach represent, beyond a and 40% on engagements with national departments, although this proportion has varied
strictly economic logic of creating value? For one matter, it is a strategy that recognizes, greatly according to metro capacity and dynamics unfolding at the national level.
 It can be a challenge for CSP team members to balance the requirements of working We work with a logic of differentiation where we keep checking the metros, bring- 31
at multiple levels: local and national, urban, and thematic. Some, however, see value in ing them back and saying, ‘how are you responding, how are you engaging with Interview with
the matrix structure and mode of working: this?’31 Nhlanhla Mncwango,
Pretoria, 22 May 2018.
For me, it has been a very useful way of doing things, because you sometimes can When the progress of work in a metro stagnates, or if the relationship is not deemed to be
get caught up in the national issues and the component work, without necessar- working, the team can shuffle Coordinators between different cities, with the hope that
ily understanding how it lands, or what is required at the city level to make things a ‘new face’ might lead to collaborative advantages. Otherwise, being a City Coordina-
work. So, there are trade-offs that need to be made, depending on what is impor- tor entails a long, hard process of patient pushing, and hoping that things will eventually
tant at that particular time and what you prioritize. But I think it has been useful ‘click into place’. Sometimes, cities that have been the strongest partners might change
to do both. The ambitions of the Programme, though, have now required that we a few key leaders and officials, and ‘disappear into the woods’. At other times, things do
need to consider focusing people’s work a lot more. Nevertheless, when you do gel, and the uptake from a metro is surprising. Mangaung, the metropolitan municipality
both the component and city work, you can see much more integration across dif- that oversees the city of Bloemfontein, and that has experienced significant political and
ferent areas of work. It would be a bit more difficult if you just focused on a single institutional turmoil over the past decade, is one example:
86 component. Then you can — if you don’t consciously try to avoid it — become part 87
of that sector, and your work becomes much more siloed rather than integrative. I Then you get Mangaung, internally bitten up by itself. On one hand they are scream-
think the integration that is required at the city level allows you or makes you open ing for help but you are not sure whether they even have the strength or the energy
to the fact that even at the component level there needs to be that integration hap- to pick it up when it comes because they are so bitten up inside. So, you have a City
pening. I think that across the Programme there are some projects that try to do Coordinator who works with them and pushes and gets them around the table and
that, like the work on the Built Environment Performance Plans. That work brings helps them. All of a sudden, they emerge like one of the biggest metros in terms of
the human settlement and transport issues into it. I think then, in that way, the how they pick up support and how they, by themselves, are able to stand.32 32
components are able to ensure that integration is happening. So, I think it may not Interview with
Nhlanhla Mncwango,
be so problematic. We need to constantly be doing those kinds of things to enable Others cities trudge on despite facing profound local political challenges:
29 Pretoria, 22 May 2018.
Interview with integration to happen, not just at city level, but at the national level as well.29
Samantha Naidu, You have CapeTown that, even though it goes through turbulence, is still flying the
Pretoria, 21 May 2018. In retrospect, the model of allocating one CSP technical team member per metro has had kite. Then you have eThekwini, similarly going through their own turbulence, but
significant benefits for the coordination of projects and for ensuring that a single point they are still flying high. They’re flying the kite. So, you have those kinds of oases 33
of contact exists between the Programme and the metro governments (DPME 2018). The of hope.33 Interview with
Nhlanhla Mncwango,
City Coordinators fulfil a vital function, grounding the CSP with a capacity to understand Pretoria, 22 May 2018.
and act in alignment with the institutional culture found in each metro. One CSP team The City Coordinators do not simply dictate to the metros. Their role calls for constant
member highlighted the critical role played by the City Coordinators: interaction and a process of mutual learning. Nhlanhla Mncwango, who also acts as City
Coordinator for eThekwini Municipality, explains:
I think without the City Coordinators there wouldn’t be a CSP. They are the direct
link into the service for us. But very often they are also the agent through which When it comes to leadership on the reforms, the metros put solutions on the table.
the municipalities have access to Treasury, because they can ask, ‘who do I speak So, they also drive the direction of the reform process and help, if you like, to keep
to, who can help me with the problem that I have?’ Of course, lately as we move us in check. eThekwini keeps me in check, with my eye on the goal — what was the
more into the space of linking up with national departments like Transport and main reason that we created CSP? They feel like they were part of the reason why 34
Human Settlements, the CSP City Coordinator is again the link between those CSP was created.34 Interview with
30
departments and the city. 30 Nhlanhla Mncwango,
Interview with Suzette
Pretoria, 22 May 2018.
Pretorius, Pretoria, 22 CSP has been consciously and explicitly designed with an institutional model compris-
May 2018. The work is difficult and demanding. The Coordinators have to hit constantly moving tar- ing a small, core team that draws upon the contracted services of external (that is, non-
gets. Some metros have more of an appetite for CSP’s involvement and activities than governmental) professionals to deliver its projects. External consultants are procured
others. Each metro can have its own ‘DNA’ that determines its priorities, and how offi- through various means. For example, groups of consultants, arranged in various ‘tiers’
cials act and respond to support activities. The situation is not made easier by the internal based on their experience and performance records, are registered on a GTAC database
political churn that affects many local governments, particularly in the context of the po- and can be specifically approached to bid for a certain project, rather than going through
litical factionalism that has gripped South Africa over the past decade. These dynamics an open procurement process.
demand that a City Coordinator keep their ear close to the ground, constantly engaging This ‘outsourced model’ brings certain benefits. It limits the total fixed cost of the Pro-
with their designated metro as a means to refine their strategies and working relation- gramme. Moreover, it enables a high degree of flexibility and responsiveness, as CSP can
ships. As the City Component Lead explains: rapidly deploy local and international expertise according to demand emerging within the
 metros and the intergovernmental system. To work effectively, the model demands an ef- knowledge that sometimes you have to participate in the noise, but focus also 36
ficient procurement process, as well as access to databases of consulting professionals on making sure the important stuff happens, and getting the support you need to Interview with David
and firms. It calls, moreover, for a robust management system to ensure that resources do that’. So, some Coordinators have developed these deep, hidden reservoirs of Savage, Cape Town, 30
are optimally utilized, and to track the delivery of outputs and outcomes (DPME 2018). people behind them, and they have actively built those.36 May 2018.
The CSP operates as a dispersed team. Staff live and work across different South Afri-
can cities, without dedicated office space of their own within National Treasury. The team Building and maintaining these kinds of individual partnerships and networks have been
holds a ‘home week’ once a month, where all members gather in Pretoria, and further organ- critical for the coordinators to get their work ‘to scale’.
izes engagements with the Programme’s implementation partners once a quarter. During 37
‘home week’ meetings, CSP staff update one another on work progress, discuss new devel- ‘RAS are programmes
35 offered by the World
Interview with Suzette opments, workshop new topics, and take collective decisions on important matters.35 On Implementation partnerships Bank to its clients
Pretorius, Pretoria, 22 a more strategic level, in order to promote better coordination of the dispersed technical in middle and high-
May 2018. team, the CSP’s programme management team introduced new internal reporting struc- Other key CSP partnerships have been more institutional and formal. The logic of institution- income countries.
tures and systems as a means to incorporate evaluation and feedback practices into its own al partnering was built into the Programme’s DNA from the start. CSP’s original framework Unlike lending
88 work — a dynamic of self-assessment that is discussed in more detail later in this chapter. document, published in 2012, put it clearly: ‘The CSP will seek to actively cultivate working products, RAS is an
instrument developed
89
A recent mid-term evaluation of the CSP, conducted by the Department of Planning, relationships with other public agencies... Partnerships will take the form of formal frame- to deliver specific
Monitoring, and Evaluation (DPME 2018) in the South African Presidency, found that CSP’s work contracts for programme implementation and MoUs for complementary and ancillary assistance to eligible
programme structure has been relatively efficient in assisting the Programme to meet its activities’ (National Treasury 2012, p. 34). Since then, three key implementation partnerships clients requiring
goals so far. It enables high-level technical expertise to be deployed in a strategic and flex- have been forged: with the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the World Bank, services that cannot
ible manner. Using an ‘outsourced’ or ‘contracted resourcing’ model enables the CSP to and the National Treasury’s Government Technical Assistance Centre (GTAC) (see Table 3.2). be fully funded from
the Bank’s country
procure specialist skills in a way not generally possible within a public service context. Tech- programme. Under
nical consultants who have undertaken work for the CSP, for their part, feel that the model Table 3.2: The Nature and Role of CSP’s Implementation Partnerships RAS programmes,
enables them to access policy and political influence in government, with the backing and the World Bank works
‘clout’ of the Treasury in their corner, while allowing them to retain a degree of critical inde- with countries at their
Partner Role Competence request, providing
pendence from the normal disciplines of public service. Notwithstanding these advantages,
technical advice,
the CSP technical team is small, with each member carrying a complex and heavy work- analytical services,
Development Bank l Programme management DBSA is a key support
load. Team members have found it highly demanding to balance the requirements of both and implementation
of Southern Africa and administration partner with a specific focus
leading a thematic component and coordinating CSP’s activities in their assigned metro. support. The Bank
l Procurement of service on infrastructure delivery, is then reimbursed
Equal attention cannot be given to all matters, and occasionally this can strain the team’s
l Provision of technical support project and programme for the costs of
working relationships with civil society groups, the metros, or other government actors and
l Housed CSP between 2012 preparation, and strategic delivering these
institutions. Moreover, the ‘outsourced model’ renders CSP more reliant on securing exter- advisory services.
and 2014 alignment around climate
nal support through various partnerships (DPME 2018). In the following section, we focus Services are flexible
response
on the nature of these partnerships, and their role within the CSP’s wider strategic agenda. and easily adapted to
World Bank l Provision of technical The Bank supports CSP meet country needs,
and can take many
expertise through a Reimbursable
Partnerships l Fund mobilisation Advisory Services
forms, including the
following: policy
l Procurement of service programme37 (2012 to 2016), advice; analytical
Partnering is central to the logic and modalities of the CSP. Partnerships can take differ- providers and by providing expertise and diagnostic
ent forms: some are of a personal nature, while others are more formal and institutional. across a number of CSP work; donor aid
At an individual level, members of the CSP core technical team have been led to engage coordination; impact
components
evaluation; programme
and mobilize other professionals around themselves — building teams of people with bet- implementation
ter specialist skills and knowledge than they personally hold — to help drive aspects of Government l Procurement of service providers GTAC assists CSP through
support; delivery of
their work programme. This has not simply been a product of circumstance, or a merely Technical l Provision of technical support project management support training; knowledge
pragmatic response to the scale of the workload facing the technical team. Rather, it has Assistance Centre and through CSP’s partnership sharing and peer
been a conscious strategic approach. As David Savage, CSP Programme Manager, puts it: in the Economies of Regions learning.’ See http://
Learning Network (ERLN), www.worldbank.org/
en/region/eca/brief/
We have actively encouraged that initiative… We have said, ‘you are not heroes. GTAC’s research arm
reimbursable-advisory-
You are Coordinators and what you have to do is have a strategic sense around focusing on subnational services, accessed 6
what is important as opposed to what is just participating in the noise… We ac- economic development September 2018.
 The core rationale of these implementation partnerships is threefold. First, to limit the costs The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) is another important stra-
required for the administration and staffing of the Programme. Second, to leverage existing tegic partner. SALGA is an official body, holding a constitutional mandate to oversee
systems and processes, such as those for the procurement of technical advice and exper- the activities of local government. It works to provide advice and support to municipal
tise. And third, to enable the rapid mobilization and deployment of service providers ac- officials, including through the exchange of knowledge. More generally, SALGA enforces
cording to demand, as it arises in time and place (DPME 2018). Forging these partnerships the rights of the local government sector and lobbies for systemic reforms in the interests
has allowed CSP, as a relatively young government programme with limited organizational of that sector. SALGA has been particularly engaged with CSP through the work under-
structures and support systems of its own, to mobilize resources and deploy support more taken in the Core City Governance Component. However, as SALGA represents all local
effectively and timeously than would otherwise have been possible. governments — urban and rural — it is possible that within the Association there exists
some suspicion of the urban agenda espoused by CSP, and the argument that large cities
Strategic partnerships deserve special kinds of attention and support from national government.
There remains room for the strengthening of CSP’s relationships with organizations
The CSP is one of a multiplicity of organizations and initiatives operating within the South like SACN and SALGA, and for the further integration of their respective work agendas
African urban policy and governance space. In order to avoid contributing to a complex of and programmes. At present, it is possible that some overlaps exist in the functions per-
90 uncoordinated initiatives and overlapping mandates, which might lead to a sense of con- formed by these institutions (DPME 2018). This may not necessarily be negative, consid- 91
fusion and frustration among the metros, CSP has actively tried to understand who else ering the scale of efforts required to share knowledge and drive real and effective urban
operates within this context, and to create opportunities to complement and partner with governance reform in South Africa. Yet institutional alignment remains a critical chal-
them where appropriate. One key strategic partner is the South African Cities Network lenge to be considered in the future.
(SACN). Established in 2002, SACN is a network of large South African cities and other
partners that facilitate the exchange of information, experience, and best practices on ur-
ban development and city management. Set up to encourage a sense of cooperation rather Learning
than competition between the country’s cities, SACN provides a platform from which to
define and investigate specialist focus areas on urban questions, and to progressively ad- Over the years, the CSP team has been forced to learn from and adapt with the challenges
vance national urban debates through key outputs like the State of the Cities Reports. The it has encountered. This chapter has pointed to some of the key lessons learnt during that
SACN was an early forerunner in making the argument that cities deserve special govern- time: that operating from an institutional base in Treasury has pros and cons; likewise,
38 ment attention in the face of the strong anti-urban or rural development lobby that came that working with an ‘outsourced’ model can be both beneficial and problematic in some
Interview with Andrew to dominate South African government circles and developmental strategy after 1994.38 respects. CSP has had to adjust and refine itself on the move, and the team has conscious-
Boraine, Cape Town, 25 In many respects, the political traction that CSP has been able to gain on urban reform ly sought to learn from and respond to emerging experiences. This applies equally to how
May 2018. issues has emerged on the back of SACN’s activities, which themselves formed a critical CSP perceives the work that it does, and how it strategizes and manages that work. Jer-
part of a longer twenty-year history of lobbying for a space in which city governments can emy Timm, the CSP Strategic Support Manager, describes how the logic of self-evaluation
contribute to national questions of policy, budgeting, and strategy. and reflexivity was built into the ideology and basic design of the Programme:
SACN’s objectives and activities align closely with those of CSP — so what do these
two institutions do differently? What is their respective ‘value add’? Andrew Boraine, who One of the strange things about many government programmes is that they don’t
played a key role in establishing SACN, explains his understanding of the difference as get evaluated. They start, they stop, and they get reincarnated... With the CSP, we
follows: took a deliberate approach, which was that we want to be observed, commented
on, and evaluated as much as possible. So, we have done a number of things. We
The South African Cities Network is basically owned by the cities, paid for by the started off in about 2004 — there was an internal evaluation of sorts, which was
cities, and tries to lobby upwards effectively while sharing knowledge horizon- just looking at key issues for the benefit of the team itself. So, where are some of
tally. That is its role. It is a learning network first, and a kind of lobby group second. the pressure points? How can we improve them? And, on the basis of that, some 40
We never set up the Cities Network to try to lobby policy because that was too recommendations came through, and the Programme adjusted in that way.40 Interview with Jeremy
sensitive, but it was about how cities learn from each other: sharing best practice, Timm, Pretoria, 22 May
2018.
cooperating, and things like that… organizing mayor-to-mayor peer review and Some examples of key evaluation processes included an internal audit of CSP undertaken
peer exchanges, and so on. CSP, as I understand it, is a much more targeted inter- by National Treasury. Then a team from the World Bank performed a review of the RAS
vention, or set of interventions — more strategic. It is more top-down, although I mechanism that CSP holds with the Bank. More recently, in 2017 and 2018, a significant
think it has evolved to work with cities rather than to parachute in. And it is hugely mid-term evaluation was run through the DPME (2018). Timm describes the latter process:
significant. In the global context, I haven’t come across many federal or national
39 governments that have had treasury departments supporting cities so directly. It We actually joined the evaluation community at DPME and offered our Programme
Interview with Andrew
Boraine, Cape Town, 25
doesn’t happen in most countries. There is often a disdain… cities, you know, are as part of their national evaluation system, and that has just been completed. It
May 2018. seen as subordinate.39 was a long, exhaustive, and very useful process, which has come up with some
 recommendations. Those recommendations have informed the design of the sec- for processes of debate, cooperation, and implementation surrounding city support and
ond phase of CSP and will also go into the Cabinet system. The improvements urban governance reform. The question to which we briefly return in the book’s Conclu-
highlighted in that evaluation then get tracked on a six-monthly basis, for two sion is whether this kind of platform constitutes an approach to reform that is contextually
41 years. So, we have sent progress reports back to DPME on how we’ve attended to relevant and impactful, capable of delivering lasting and effective institutional change.
Interview with Jeremy the recommendations and the improvement plan that came out of that process.41 The description given in this chapter may give the impression that CSP was an entity
Timm, Pretoria, 22 May designed ‘from scratch’, according to a neat blueprint. In reality, the Programme arose
2018.
Timm is clear about the importance of evaluation to the effective functioning and man- from and within a range of historical trends and debates, as discussed in Chapter 2. More-
agement of CSP: over, it has itself evolved as a concept and institution. In the following chapter, we consider
in greater detail how CSP emerged from a longer history of National Treasury interest in
I would say that it has helped us to be contextually relevant and agile. There is al- issues of municipal financial reform and city support.
ways a tension between programmatic rigour and agility to context. We have played
both those sides in the CSP, to varying degrees of success, but we have been agile
enough to be able to adjust our programmatic structures and systems to respond to
92 those findings. We are not perfect, by any means. The evaluation highlighted some 93
42 internal systemic improvements we can make, which are being addressed now. So,
Interview with Jeremy yes, we see evaluation as feedback enabling us to improve constantly.42
Timm, Pretoria, 22 May
2018.
The weight that the CSP team places on documenting, evaluating, and adjusting signals
their commitment to creating a ‘learning organization’. They seek to create an institu-
tional space that is adaptive and responsive to problems as they emerge and change.
While one observer sees this approach as admirable, they point to the possibility that CSP References
might help other organizations, including city governments, to become more competent
and efficient learners on their own terms: Anderson, A. A. (2004) Theory of Change as a Tool for Stra- NPC (2013) National Development Plan 2030 Vision: Our
tegic Planning: A Report on Early Experiences (Washing- Future — Make It Work (Pretoria: National Planning Com-
From aid agencies down to cities, the one question that comes across consistently ton, D.C.: The Aspen Institute). mission).
is, ‘are you a learning organization?’ And not just learning for the sake of doing a book
Campbell, K., and Cowan, R. (2016) The Radical Incremen- Palmer, I., Moodley, N., and Parnell, S. (2017) Building a
on CSP at the end of seven years… but learning by doing on the job. So, reflecting
talist: How to Build Urban Society in 12 Lessons (London: Capable State: Service Delivery in Post-Apartheid South
every month on what has been learned. Does that learning lead to adjusting your
Massive Small incorporating Urban Exchange). Africa (London: Zed).
strategy every month? Because if it doesn’t, then you are not learning. So, how flex-
ible are you able to be? And so, the question I would pose to CSP is: do you want to Cirolia, L. R., and Smit, W. (2017) ‘Fractured Approaches to Pieterse, E. (2008) City Futures: Confronting the Crisis of
be not just an intermediary organization and a translation service — and those are all Urban Transformation: Analyzing Parallel Perspectives in Urban Development (London and New York: Zed).
good things — but do you want to go one step further?... I think if CSP want to really South Africa’, Transformation, 95, 63–84.
Stein, D., and Valters, C. (2012) Understanding Theory of
take themselves seriously as a learning organization and, by doing so, encourage DPME (2018) Implementation Evaluation of the Cities Change in International Development (London: Justice
cities to become learning organizations and to promote relational learning and co- Support Programme (Pretoria: The Presidency). and Security Research Programme).
learning — learning together — that is a whole new ball game.They really have to un- National Treasury (2012) Cities Support Programme: Timm, J. (2014) Review of the Cities Support Programme
43 derstand what that means because it means doing things in quite different ways, and Framework Document (Pretoria: National Treasury). and Strategic Forward-Planning Regarding Its Implemen-
Interview 1. I don’t know whether someone or a group associated withTreasury can ever do that.43 tation and Institutional Arrangements (Pretoria: National
National Treasury (2018a) The State of Local Government
Treasury and GIZ).
Finances and Financial Management as at 30 June 2017
(Pretoria: National Treasury).
Conclusion
National Treasury (2018b) Managing Urbanization to
This chapter has set out some of the basic institutional and strategic elements of the CSP. Achieve Inclusive Growth: A Review of Trends in South
It is an innovative initiative whose activities have been shaped by the changing historical African Urbanization and Suggestions for Improved Man-
and institutional environment in which it has emerged and operated. It has sought to be agement of Urbanization (Pretoria: National Treasury).
reflexive and adaptive when engaging with constantly shifting targets and problems of
governance and urban development. Moreover, it has aimed to provide an appropriate in-
stitutional architecture, and to introduce new governance practices, in order to drive sys-
temic changes. These points define the CSP’s status as an intergovernmental platform
 Chapter 4
Evolution of
the CSP
While the previous chapter outlined CSP’s overall focus, institutional
structure, strategy, and mode of working, this chapter describes
94 the emergence and evolution of the Programme, focusing on the
dynamics within national government, and National Treasury in
95
particular, that have shaped its inception and implementation. We
have attempted to let the CSP team members and Treasury officials
tell this ‘story’ for themselves; as such, we rely extensively on direct
quotations to weave together the CSP’s narrative.

Looking back in time, the CSP’s history can be described according to several overlap-
ping periods or stages. The period before and including 2010 saw the development of the
CSP concept by a small Treasury team interested in urban finance and development
issues. This team comprised key individuals like Malijeng Ngqaleni, David Savage, and
Nhlanhla Mncwango. From 2011 to 2012, the CSP was defined in greater detail, with its
basic institutional parameters established. More detailed programmatic planning took
place between 2012 and 2014. CSP shifted into full implementation mode in mid-2014.
Together, these stages constituted Phase 1 of the CSP, which came to an end midway
through 2018. Soon afterwards, CSP secured official approval for its second seven-year
phase, referred to as ‘CSP 2’.
The following sections describe each stage of CSP’s evolution. We begin with the pe-
riod before 2010, a time of discussion and debate within Treasury over the most appropri-
ate means to structure an intergovernmental fiscal framework to realize South Africa’s
‘urban dividend’. These debates were formative of the CSP, shaping the ways in which
Treasury officials conceived of national problems of urban governance and development,
and delimiting the kinds of practical and institutional responses that they might pose to
those problems.

Conceptualization (before 2010)

The concept that would come to underpin the CSP emerged through two main ‘strands’
of debate and influence. The first strand was the evolving fiscal agenda of the National
Treasury, particularly in relation to municipal finance, unfolding in the post-2000 era. The City of

GUTO BUSSAB
key impetus here was a series of debates within Treasury over the desirability of ‘differ- Johannesburg:
entiating’ the intergovernmental system for grant distribution. The second strand was High density social
more international in scope, drawing in particular from a longer history of World Bank housing development
 involvement in South African fiscal reform. In the following section, we focus on the first ess we started discovering and understanding that the geographic spaces within
46
domain: the discussions within Treasury that ultimately gave rise to a differentiated ap- which the MIG was landing were different themselves, and had to be treated quite Interview with
proach to local government grant management; an approach that called attention to the differently from how we had thought before. So, maybe a water-specific grant was Nhlanhla Mncwango,
specific needs of large cities with respect to financing and support. good, but only for certain municipalities.46 Pretoria, 22 May 2018.

Treasury officials started to take more of an interest in the needs and challenges facing
National Treasury and the differentiation agenda different South African municipalities. Nhlanhla Mncwango describes how this gradually
evolved into thinking around the need for a differentiated approach to municipal financing:
CSP emerged from the efforts and interactions of a particular group of committed peo-
ple working within, or associated with, National Treasury, including Malijeng Ngqaleni, In around 2006, Treasury ran a huge research project looking at understanding the
David Savage, and Nhlanhla Mncwango. Trained as an agricultural economist before nature of municipalities, the nature of the challenges they faced, and where there
joining Treasury in the 1990s, Malijeng Ngqaleni is now (as Deputy Director General of was an opportunity to start to differentiate them according to their sizes and ac-
the Intergovernmental Relations Division) the principal Treasury official overseeing the cording to their problems. So, we found a few things. In terms of the problems,
96 strategic direction of CSP. David Savage, who would later become CSP Programme Man- we found that the metros and some of the big cities faced major problems with 97
ager, was hired by Treasury as a municipal finance expert in 1999. The story presented informal settlements and the backlogs associated with those places — water,
in this section draws largely on the memories and perspectives of Nhlanhla Mncwango, sanitation, and electricity. But when you looked at towns and smaller municipali-
now the CSP Lead City Coordinator. Having joined Treasury’s IGR Division as a young ties, some of which were mining towns, there was a different set of challenges, like
official in the early 2000s, Mncwango’s career has closely followed the kinds of discus- maintenance backlogs.
sions and debates that ultimately gave rise to the CSP. As such, her reflections offer an
ideal entry point to uncovering the thinking that underpinned the rise and evolution of the The question that started coming through was, ‘how do we deal with this chal-
Programme. She begins by recounting her contributions to evolving Treasury discussions lenge in terms of the distribution of grants?’ Is the right response to engage with
around the need to differentiate the intergovernmental grants system: them? So, we started having focused discussions with the six metros as well as
the other larger cities like Polokwane, Mbombela, Rustenburg, Kimberley, Buffalo
I joined Treasury in 2004. At that stage, the only interface Treasury had with local City, Msunduzi, and Mangaung. As we engaged with them, it started becoming
government was through the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), which clearer that we needed to treat them with some form of differentiation.47 47
44 was being implemented from about 2003, and we had a lot of advisors who were Interview with
Nhlanhla Mncwango,
Non-delegated helping to set that up, particularly within the 17 non-delegated municipalities.44 The question was now one of how to take forward a differentiated approach in practice.
municipalities Pretoria, 22 May 2018.
My role was to understand what else Treasury could do in the municipalities, in Treasury officials were starting to engage proactively with the metros and larger cities,
comprised the eight
general. What we did was analyse budgets, particularly the capital budgets for but this was not so simple a matter. There was a sense of mistrust on the part of local of-
metros, nine secondary
cities, and one district infrastructure, and we started to discover that a large share of the budgets was ficials, as well as within Treasury itself:
with which Treasury being spent by the metropolitan municipalities, in particular. At that time there
had established formal were only six metros. At first, local officials were shocked to have been engaged by Treasury in a much
institutionalized more enquiring and collegial manner. We were both learning from each other. They
engagements. All other
We started taking an interest in understanding how that plays itself out, particularly only knew Treasury to come to strike them when there was an issue through the
municipalities have
been delegated to the because we had just implemented the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) in 2004. MFMA, or budget cuts, or a withdrawal of disbursements, and so on. We had an
respective provincial So, part of my initial role was to look at how the MIG was to be implemented accord- arrangement — they reacted as if to say, ‘are you sure you’re from Treasury?’. We
treasuries in executing ing to the Division of Revenue Act, and to help the then Department of Provincial started establishing a very good relationship with the metros. There was now a
this monitoring and and Local Government (DPLG) to set up the main office for the distribution and two-faced Treasury. There was a regulatory, very hard-lined Treasury, and then this
oversight role.
disbursement of their grant.There was a lot of ‘tug-of-war’ between the Department mellow, inquisitive version, just learning to know the cities and asking, ‘how can
of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) and some other de- we help you? How can you help us to understand you, so that we can help you?’.
45 partments, particularly Water Affairs, because the grant — the biggest chunk of the
Interview with grant — had been taken away from Water Affairs, and consolidated into COGTA.45 So, around 2008, we started pushing at the national level, because now we had
Nhlanhla Mncwango, a two-pronged battle, basically. On one hand, the battle was to get the munici-
Pretoria, 22 May 2018.
Consolidation of the grants, however, raised concerns about the efficacy of a one-size- palities themselves to understand that we were willing to work with them. It was a
fits-all approach: shock for them. It took a couple of years for them to fully relax when we were there.
The first time we said ‘Treasury’, you know, people would just sit up immediately,
Previously we had had a variety of separate grants, and now we had just put them and we were preparing for answers that said they were compliant with what we
all into one big pot, under the administration of COGTA. But through that proc- wanted. So, it took us a while to establish that relationship.
 On the other hand, we needed to now shock the national system, to begin to intro- other metros, it was water. So, they could utilize the Grant according to what was
duce the notion that we have to differentiate, even on the MIG. The fact was that required in each space. Whereas, if you looked at the original MIG, that largely
we had just introduced the MIG in 2004. But in 2008 we were saying that we needed said, ‘you can disburse about 50% to water and sanitation, and then you can see
to differentiate, even in the way that we were disbursing the MIG. Other people how to distribute the rest’. So now, it was at the discretion of a municipality as to
were saying to us, ‘you guys are mad. You’ve been pushing so hard for grant con- how to disburse that portion. But we could not rest because the battle was not 51
solidation, and now you are pushing for proliferation?’. And we did ask ourselves, concluded. We just said, ‘let’s hold this space, for now, in this web’.51 Interview with
Nhlanhla Mncwango,
‘are we thinking straight?’. But we thought: ‘we have worked with the metros. It has
Pretoria, 22 May 2018.
taken us about three years to work with them’. So, then it started — huge fights The reformers within Treasury realized that a crucial aspect of winning this ‘battle’ was
48
Interview with started at the national level. There was drama upon drama, even within Treasury.48 to create a space for cities to utilize their own agency, and to argue effectively for their
Nhlanhla Mncwango, interests. They started to consider the need for a city-focused advocacy and lobbying
Pretoria, 22 May 2018. The debates and disagreements within Treasury occasionally involved Public Finance platform:
and Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) officials. There was some suspicion over the new
fiscal reform agenda emerging from within the IGR Division. Moreover, the issue of pre- In 2008, we considered establishing a City Budget Forum because there was a
98 49 cisely where an urban-focused support and reform agenda should sit within the wider need for a forum to bring the cities into national conversations around budgets… 99
Interview with institutional architecture of Treasury was a contested one.49 Yet the major battles were Previously, we would engage with provinces, through the provincial treasuries. We
Nhlanhla Mncwango, those fought outside Treasury offices, as Nhlanhla Mncwango remembers: had the budget councils and budget forums. We would engage at a national level,
Pretoria, 22 May 2018. but there was no forum to pull in the cities and municipalities. They just received
We believed that we needed some form of an urban development grant, because their share when the division of revenue was concluded. So, we thought, ‘look, let’s
there was an urban agenda there, and we needed to pursue the unique issues that establish something called a City Budget Forum, where we bring together the City
cities were grappling with. It was intense. We were in Parliament introducing the Managers, the Chief Financial Officers, and the various heads of infrastructure
plans for differentiation, and I remember making those presentations to the clus- services’. Then, while we were working through the system we thought, ‘let’s bring
ters, nationally, and then going back to convince the municipalities, saying, ‘we’re the planners into the room’. So, we brought in the planners too. It started growing
fighting this battle’. and became a platform within which the metros could express their issues and
their challenges, and that is where we created a framework for developing the 52
So, on one hand they had a battle, but it wasn’t open and fought openly, particu- Built Environment Performance Plans.52 Interview with
Nhlanhla Mncwango,
larly with the metros. Meanwhile, eThekwini was becoming strongly vocal about
Pretoria, 22 May 2018.
these things and was saying, ‘we want national government to understand us’. We While this targeted and differentiated approach to the grant system was taking shape,
50
were saying, ‘we understand you’. Well, now we needed to join forces to go and the notion of launching a dedicated national support programme for larger urban munici-
Interview with Sharon
Lewis, Pretoria, 15 introduce this idea, and convince everyone of this whole agenda.50 palities was also gaining traction within Treasury. Officials mulled over the prospects of
November 2018. launching a municipal infrastructure delivery support programme for larger cities, along
the lines of the Infrastructure Delivery Improvement Programme that had been avail-
By this time, Mncwango and a small group of officials within Treasury were becoming the able to provincial governments from 2004. As we will see below, these ideas ultimately
flag-bearers of this new reform agenda. Yet it was unclear what form this agenda should morphed into a proposal for a Large Cities Support Programme, a forerunner of the CSP
take in practice. The way it was first articulated, in terms of the question of grant distribu- concept.
tion, was in the form of a MIG-Cities programme, envisaged as a grant applicable only to In time, the energy behind the MIG-Cities programme shifted to the creation and im- 53
the metros. It was, moreover, to take the form of an urban development grant to be used plementation of the Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG).53 The latter was in- Interview with
largely at the discretion of local officials; in other words, its distribution would not be di- troduced in 2011, replacing MIG-Cities (see Chapter 2). The USDG would become a key Nhlanhla Mncwango,
Pretoria, 22 May 2018.
rectly conditional on particular kinds of sectoral interventions. MIG-Cities was eventually component of the CSP’s strategic agenda to improve municipal performance by linking
introduced in 2007 (see Chapter 2). Mncwango describes the logic of the programme, and grant disbursements to a spatially-targeted plan in the form of the Built Environment
some early experiences arising from its implementation: Performance Plan (see Chapter 6).
The debates around grant differentiation that took shape within Treasury were possi- 54
We were working with COGTA. They understood us, but we were managing MIG- bly a first in the South African government context.54 In sum, and as outlined above, these Interview with Malijeng
Cities fromTreasury. All they did was disburse the charges, but we were setting up debates centred on two key questions. The first was how government should differentiate Ngqaleni, Pretoria, 15
November 2018.
the policy framework for it, how it would work, and COGTA were feeling relaxed between municipalities based on their existing levels of capability. Indeed, by 2006 the
about it. And the cities were thrilled, because the Grant wasn’t about pursuing the Siyenza Manje programme — designed to provide ‘hands on’ support by deploying techni-
individual sector issues. We were saying, ‘this is an overall urban infrastructure cal experts to low-capacity municipalities — had already started to identify and address
grant that you can utilize at your own discretion, depending on the key issues that some of these specific capacity challenges (see Chapter 2). The second question was
you are facing’. In Ekurhuleni, at that time, the biggest issue was around roads. In how to disburse grant funding in order to best respond to the various challenges faced
 by local governments. These challenges related to the agenda of social development, The World Bank’s interest in being involved in the South African city support space
56
through addressing service delivery backlogs, as well as to that of promoting urban and emerged in part from these kinds of personal connections and relationships.56 Aside from Interview with Crispian
national economic growth. As such, Treasury interest in an ‘urban agenda’ — a recogni- Savage, Roland White is a South African and former Treasury official who subsequently Olver, Cape Town, 28
tion of the specific challenges and potentials exemplified by South Africa’s large urban joined the Bank, and who currently leads its global work on city management, finance, September 2018.
areas — emerged not from an ideological attachment to an ‘urban bias’, and a concomi- and governance. Through these connections, the Bank maintained a keen interest in
tant neglect of rural development (Bates 1981; Lipton 1977), but rather from a desire to op- South African urban policy issues, while Treasury kept a longstanding relationship with
timize Treasury engagement and support across the entire local government sector. What the Bank in the realm of technical advice.
is important to note is that the CSP’s particular agenda and work programme emerged However, it would be a mistake to reduce the emergence of the CSP simply to a series
at the confluence of these different flows of ideas within Treasury and national govern- of personal connections linking Treasury and Bank officials, and to the influence of the
ment more broadly. Yet it was also influenced by Treasury’s particular engagements and latter. Rather, the World Bank-National Treasury relationship that has given rise to the
relationships with international institutions, which is the subject of the following section. CSP was the product of a pragmatic demand from Treasury officials to access global
expertise in the fields of city support and urban governance reform. Simply put, the Bank
was able to provide the kinds of expertise that Treasury required, in a way that other or-
100 Engagement with international partners ganizations and agencies were not. That pragmatic assessment and decision has had 101
important implications. The CSP’s close relationship with the Bank has been the subject
Aside from the debates and thinking that evolved within Treasury prior to 2010, a second of an overarching current of critique running throughout the duration of the Programme,
key set of influences giving shape to the CSP ‘concept’ came from external sources, no- and has helped to generate a significant degree of systemic resistance to its activities.
tably international development agencies working in the domain of government support. That resistance has mainly been felt at the national level; generally, metro officials have
In particular, the World Bank has had significant influence on CSP’s strategic and practi- welcomed World Bank support, not only because the cities ‘get direct access to deep
cal agenda. This influence has largely been felt in the realm of technical and analytical expertise’ from this arrangement, but also because the Bank has a reputation for ‘getting 57
capacity rather than through the imposition of any crude development ideology. In many things done’.57 Interview with David
cases, the Bank has been able to provide high-quality expertise on global best practice Savage, Cape Town, 30
May 2018.
for intergovernmental fiscal management, including fiscal transfer systems, infrastruc-
ture financing, property market analysis, and a range of other critical governance issues. International study tour
As briefly mentioned in Chapter 2, the Bank’s involvement in the definition of the
South African intergovernmental fiscal framework reaches back to the early 1990s. Often Malijeng Ngqaleni describes how Treasury discussions around grant differentiation, out-
the quality of the technical advisory services provided by the Bank’s foreign consultants lined above, gradually morphed into the notion of a support programme:
was of a world-class standard. They brought international scope and experience to the
emerging discussions around South African urban fiscal policy (Van Ryneveld 2006). In One thing led to another. We had started reforming the grants. We had created the
55 the context of the CSP, the person who was the primary inheritor of that knowledge has USDG. And we had already set up the City Budget Forum, which was a platform
Interview with Crispian been David Savage.55 to bring cities together to engage on city-related issues with regard to financ-
Olver, Cape Town, 28 David Savage joined the World Bank in 2003, having worked in National Treasury since ing, policies, regulation, and so on. So, we already had that, and in the process it
September 2018.
the late 1990s where, as the Director of Municipal Infrastructure Finance, he had respon- became very clear that we needed to be much more systematic with our engage-
sibilities including acting as the Treasury interface with Johannesburg while the City’s ment with the World Bank, in terms of what it could look like to have a much more
Egoli 2002 plan was in preparation. Savage was appointed as a Senior Institutional Devel- programmatic approach to supporting cities at a government-wide level. So, it be-
opment Specialist for the Bank’s Water and Sanitation Programme based in New Delhi, came something that evolved as we worked with the cities and with the national
India. There he worked with Junaid Ahmad, a Bangladeshi economist who, since the early departments at the time — and sometimes those relationships could turn on and 58
1990s, had helped develop the Bank’s approach to infrastructure development in Africa off — but it was a huge effort to do that.58 Interview with Malijeng
and Europe, and who had also spent some time working in South Africa. Later, Savage Ngqaleni, Pretoria, 15
November 2018.
was part of the team that helped to design and implement the Bangladesh Local Govern- While these discussions were taking place within Treasury and with the World Bank,
ance Support Programme between 2006 and 2012. From 2007, he returned to South Africa, and the need for some kind of support programme addressing urban infrastructure de-
working as an independent public policy consultant, specializing in public finance issues. velopment and intergovernmental fiscal reform was increasingly being recognized, a
He operated in close collaboration with Treasury officials, a great deal of whom he knew key moment arrived when a group of Treasury officials decided to arrange an interna-
from his previous stint in Pretoria, and was involved in many of the discussions surround- tional study tour. More precisely, they decided to undertake a set of week-long tours to
ing local government fiscal reform outlined above. Savage brought with him a degree of several selected countries to learn how other national or federal governments engaged
international experience with local government support programmes. He also brought a with their cities. So, in 2010, handpicked teams of officials and consultants travelled to
certain perspective on how South Africa should go about addressing its municipal and China, India, Canada, and Brazil to review different national models of city management
infrastructural finance issues. and their lessons for South Africa. Among those chosen to lead the tours were Nhlanhla
 Mncwang and Jan Hattingh, (currently the Treasury’s Chief Director of Local Govern- by them, crying most of the time, wanting to quit sometimes. But you wake up the 60
ment Budget Analysis), with David Savage taking part as well. following day and say, ‘I’m going back’. 60 Interview with
The countries selected for the study tour all demonstrated different kinds of insti- Nhlanhla Mncwango,
tutional and fiscal relationships between central and local governments. China, on one Once finalized, the proposal for the Large Cities Support Programme was sent as a let- Pretoria, 22 May 2018.
hand, uses a model comprising a strong central government with the local state, as a ter of request to the World Bank by the Director General of National Treasury. The thrust
direct representative of the central state, playing a dominant role in the economy in terms of the document was that Treasury and national government needed support to develop
of both managing economic activities and providing social services such as health and a ‘more nuanced understanding of the role of cities in driving economic growth and em-
education (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 133). India, Canada, and Brazil, like South Africa, exem- ployment’ (Timm 2014, p. 6). The proposal responded to concerns already raised in the
plify a more quasi-federal structure that secures greater powers and independence for Local Government Budget and Expenditure Review, published in 2008, around the dynam-
subnational government. Overall, the study tours revealed several key lessons. First, they ics of poverty in, and the fiscal position and management of, South Africa’s large cities.
showed that sustainable infrastructure investment depends on strong institutions of ur- That report had highlighted growing problems of grant dependence among the metros,
ban governance, rather than simply the availability of resources. Second, that effective linked to the removal of the Regional Services Council levy and the provision of large city
city management is a product of both the institutional form of cities and the enabling infrastructure grants linked to the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup (National Treasury 2008).
102 environment (stipulating and shaping governmental roles and responsibilities, functions, Lessons from the 2010 study tours were also incorporated into the 2011 publication 103
accountability issues, as well as the fiscal framework) in which they operate. Third, that of the Local Government Budgets and Expenditure Review. The Review set out the Govern-
South Africa required new approaches to supporting cities at the national level. Fourth, ment’s commitment to reviewing ‘the existing institutional arrangement and fiscal frame-
that appropriately incentivized fiscal transfers can play an important role in driving im- work to strengthen the management of South African cities’, noting that ‘the programme
provements to the effectiveness and performance of urban governance. Fifth, that more explicitly seeks to differentiate cities from other municipalities in order to recognize their
should be done to encourage the formation of municipal partnerships with the private specific contexts and needs’ (National Treasury 2011, p. 226). Moreover, it reaffirmed a
sector. And finally, that citizens’ voices and agency can be an important driver of change commitment to devolution, arguing that large urban municipalities should be assigned
and better governance (DPME 2018). with housing and public transport functions to enable them to plan, invest, and imple-
The findings of the study tours fed into a concept note, circulated around Treasury, for ment built environment services in an integrated and coordinated way, and that these
a proposed Large Cities Support Programme: local governments should be supported to utilize their own revenue potential (National
Treasury 2011, pp. 227–231). This was further evidence that the political environment with-
We came back with a mix of experiences. We shared these experiences; we cre- in Treasury was gradually tilting in favour of a dedicated support programme for large
ated a concept document. It started circulating in the system around 2011, and South African cities.
at that time we were now saying, ‘no, let’s rather go for a Large Cities Support
Programme’. Because now the National Development Plan was in place, and it
was articulating very strongly that we as government have not responded to the Definition (2010 to 2012)
problems found in large cities. We have been disbursing grants, but while we have
made some progress, we haven’t changed the urban spatial landscape. We still As the excitement of hosting the 2010 World Cup subsided, Treasury attention refocused
have major disparities across urban spaces, and we need now to refocus the man- on working towards a closer definition of the scope of the proposed support programme
ner in which we disburse grants, and we need to create stronger partnerships. for South Africa’s large cities. At this stage, the fledgling ‘CSP team’ comprised Malijeng
Ngqaleni, Nhlanhla Mncwango, and David Savage. In the first quarter of 2011, that team
It was like, ‘here we go again’. It was energy, upon energy, upon energy. We started was augmented with the appointment of Yasmin Coovadia and Samantha Naidu. Coo-
developing the Large Cities Support Programme. By now, the USDG was in place, vadia was initially seconded to the national Department of Human Settlements, where
and we started engaging on supporting the metros to work on developing their she worked on establishing the Urban Settlement Development Grant (USDG) and the
59 Built Environment Performance Plans.59 production of the first Built Environment Performance Plans by local governments (see
Interview with Chapter 6) (Timm 2014).
Nhlanhla Mncwango, The Large Cities Support Programme concept document went through multiple — at For the CSP team, 2011 was also a year characterized by energetic engagement with
Pretoria, 22 May 2018.
least fifteen — iterations. The process was personally exhausting for the Treasury team donor partners. A World Bank mission visited South Africa in response to the Director
driving the process. Nhlanhla Mncwango recalls the toll that it took: General’s letter of request. The first draft of the CSP framework document was prepared.
At the time of its writing, national government’s outcomes approach was starting to be
When I look back, remember that I was actually going to leave Treasury in 2011, implemented, and while the process to craft the National Development Plan had been
because I was so tired. It had been a race from about 2006. It started slowly in launched, there was no clear institutional focus or home for the urban agenda. Moreover,
2004, but by 2006 it was spinning. We were churning things out, moving papers, there was a level of strategic confusion around how national economic development was
appearing in this committee in Cape Town, convincing these guys, convincing the being or should be driven (Timm 2014, p. 8). The framework document attempted to bring
clusters, convincing the national sector departments, fighting them, being fought some clarity to the situation, articulating the importance of securing the future role of
 South African cities within national economic and social development (National Treasury and metros to agree on key support projects that could be undertaken to address these
2012, p. 3). It further identified the City Budget Forum as ‘the most appropriate location gaps. These would later be defined as ‘demand projects’ — those informed by the spe-
for the coordination of the entire CSP programme at a national level’. The Forum was to cific needs of the metros. The Capacity Needs Assessment’s findings were compiled into
be expanded to include all partnering cities. a metro Capacity Support Implementation Plan (CSIP), a document that is updated on a
The draft CSP framework document had been prepared with the expectation that the yearly basis. Meanwhile, CSP developed a series of ‘supply projects’, to be provided to all
Programme would be funded by a large loan from the World Bank, accompanied by rel- metros and driven by the CSP at the national level. Yasmin Coovadia describes the think-
evant technical assistance. However, towards the end of 2011, a decision not to allow bor- ing that informed the CSIP process, and how this linked with CSP’s work on planning and
rowing from the World Bank was taken by then Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan. This grant reforms:
had major implications for the CSP. It was decided that the Programme team would do
the best that could be done with the resources available. These resources comprised the At that time, we had started working on identifying indicators to define and meas-
remainder of the Siyenza Manje funds, a municipal capacitation account administered ure spatial transformation, as well as going through very structured interviews in
by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (see Chapter 2). With these financial limi- each metro, to ask about the major obstacles to achieving spatial transformation,
tations in place, the CSP team’s focus shifted to ad hoc implementation of its projects. whether they were institutional, planning related, financially related, or whatever.
104 In that way, the cities came up with what they called the CSIP. 105
Planning (2012 to 2013) In the meantime, we had the USDG and BEPPs and things like that going on. So,
we decided that if you are providing guidance on what you want to find in the BEPP,
2012 was characterized by a shift in the conceptualization of the CSP from a donor-driven and if that skill or capacity did not exist in the city, you could go back to the CSIP
initiative to a South African-owned programme. The CSP framework document was final- to identify it. So, we used the CSIP then as a key component of the BEPPs to say,
ized early in the year. While Minister Gordhan mentioned the CSP in his annual budget ad- ‘we are asking you to do something different, in a different way, by thinking differ-
dress, memorandums on the CSP were not taken through Cabinet. A key insight reached ently’. Anything that requires that kind of change needs to be supported. Because,
over the course of the year was that the focus should be on the metros to drive the CSP, actually, we didn’t have all the answers. We still don’t have all the answers. But if
rather than relying on national government departments. A draft results and governance you work together on identifying what the issue or challenge or problem is, then
framework was prepared, and negotiations were started on establishing a Reimbursable you will find the solution together. Because there must be a way forward. However
Advisory Services (RAS) mechanism with the World Bank (Timm 2014; DPME 2018). good or bad, there must be a way forward. If you allow space for innovation and
For the CSP team, 2012 saw more structure introduced through the assignment of space for mistakes, then that is fine. Change doesn’t happen overnight.61 61
team members to various components and cities, as well as the ‘appointment’ of city of- Interview with Yasmin
Coovadia, Pretoria, 22
ficials as CSP leads within their municipalities. The second half of the year witnessed the Until the end of 2013, there was a strong sense that the CSP team was leading cities and
May 2018.
start of the process to develop South Africa’s Integrated Urban Development Framework national departments by putting a lot of energy into the system (Timm 2014). The end of
(IUDF) and the establishment of an institutional ‘alliance’ between Treasury, COGTA, 2013, and the first half of 2014, saw the ongoing implementation of projects, the undertak-
SACN, and the German international development agency, GIZ. The first CSP Executive ing of reviews of progress achieved (see Chapter 3), as well as detailed planning to guide
Leadership Programme was also held in 2012, and proved to be a key moment in defining the Programme’s formal implementation phase.
the ‘brand’ of the CSP, by combining a focus on urban leadership capacity with the devel-
opment of technical capabilities (Timm 2014, p. 7).
2013 was characterized by a greater degree of city participation in the CSP. There Implementation (2013 to 2018)
were a number of key events that appeared to further emphasize the importance of cities
in the national political space, including the State of the Nation Address given by Presi- CSP’s full implementation phase began in 2013. At that stage, a critical component of the
dent Jacob Zuma. Meanwhile, Malijeng Ngqaleni, who played such a key role in concep- Programme’s strategic and practical agenda fell into place, when National Treasury took
tualizing and driving the CSP, was appointed as Deputy Director General of the Treasury’s over responsibility for the Built Environment Performance Plan from the Department of
IGR Division. CSP also received its first allocation of funding in the government’s Medium Human Settlements (see Chapter 6). Treasury and CSP could now exercise some influ-
Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). At this stage, the CSP team looked to develop ence over the budgeting and planning activities of the metropolitan municipalities. At the
a closer relationship with the South African Cities Network, while an ‘alliance’ was also same time, Treasury introduced the Integrated City Development Grant, linking it to the
forged with the Neighbourhood Development Partnership Programme, also located with- Built Environment Performance Plan as a way to incentivize better municipal perform-
in Treasury. Moreover, a draft agreement between Treasury and the national Department ance. Ensuring this kind of link between fiscal and planning reform would emerge as a
of Human Settlements was prepared. central principle, objective, and modality of the CSP.
2013 also saw the initiation of a Capacity Needs Assessment process within each of The shift in emphasis towards implementation of projects, rather than their con-
the metros. The Assessment identified ‘gaps’ in each municipality that were seen to be ceptualization and design, enjoined a more proactive approach to managing the Pro-
hindering the process of urban transformation. The process also helped the CSP team gramme internally. In particular, the team’s early experiences fostered a commitment
 to developing a more disciplined programmatic approach to their work, and to taking agenda and NUPs, its genealogy is in fact deeply connected to dynamics within national
that work ‘to scale’. government and the wider South African political sphere.
In the years after Jacob Zuma’s 2009 election as President of South Africa, efforts to
There was this key moment where we realized, well, if everyone is just floating consolidate his allied political networks’ power base led to a realignment of institutional
around, we are not going to get any scale here. We are going to convince ourselves power and capacity within the state. The primary objective of these manoeuvres was to
and we will have our own little echo chamber, but that is not necessarily going to seek out and extract rents. The preference, for Zuma’s bloc, was for ad hoc modes of
62 make an impact. So, we needed to have a much more disciplined programmatic governance executed through a range of informal centres of power, rather than through
Interview with David approach. Then the challenge became: how do you get this to scale?62 strong central policy coordination, as the former option would facilitate the process of 66
Savage, Cape Town, 30 removing and installing political allies and extracting rents.66 Interview with Crispian
May 2018. Olver, Cape Town, 28
A conscious decision was taken to make CSP more extroverted, putting the Programme In practical terms, this meant two things. First, the power of the Executive was sig-
more firmly in the public mind: nificantly undermined — a process that included the hollowing-out of the Cabinet, to be September 2018.
replaced by a constellation of more informal ‘kitchen cabinets’ that provided decision-
We decided that, firstly, we are going to stop hiding out and pretending we’re not making advice upon demand (Swilling et al. 2017, p. 3). Second, individual departments
106 here. Secondly, we are going to bring programme management discipline to the were also targeted, with any obstructive leaders removed or suspended, and compliant 107
63 table: people are going to do things that they undertake to do, and they are going pro-Zuma replacements installed. The objective was to ensure that large procurement
Interview with David to do them at a quality, and they are going to do them in the public eye.63 deals would pass through and grease the hands of a channel of friends and allies con-
Savage, Cape Town, 30 nected to the President. Any interest in ensuring coherence in wider strategic discus-
May 2018. Project implementation accelerated over the course of 2014. Yet the Programme team sions around national and urban development was quickly lost.
was still not operating at full capacity. This would finally arrive with the appointment In this context, Treasury, under Minister Pravin Gordhan, emerged as one of the few
of Component Leads for the Economic Development and Climate Resilience themes in departments with the will and capacity to hold out against aggressive state capture. In
2014 and 2016, respectively. With the full team in place, momentum built behind the work time, Treasury became the ‘prize’, as it retained control over a key unit (the Financial
process. For team members, their work became increasingly exciting and energizing as it Intelligence Agency) that was capable of tracking and reporting irregular financial flows.
64
started to gain traction with the metros and other government entities, as new partner- Treasury also emerged as the principal obstacle to the ‘project of centralizing the man-
Interview with ships and relationships were established, and as the various pieces of the overall Pro- agement of rent’ (Swilling et al. 2017, p. 16). These dynamics fostered an atmosphere of
Nishendra Moodley, gramme started to fit together.64 More details on the various dimensions of CSP’s project profound mistrust and suspicion between departments and officials. Gradually, the state
Cape Town, 4 July 2018. work are provided in Chapters 5 to 12. reverted to a set of fragmented departments, and Mbeki-era initiatives to promote inte-
CSP was never intended to be a permanent entity, and its first phase of funding was grated and cooperative governance unravelled.
scheduled to end in 2018. As such, CSP entered a transition phase in July 2018, during The process of capturing and fragmenting the state had important implications for
which the programme management team started to devote more attention to learning the national spatial development agenda. Now the power of the Office of the Presidency
from and institutionalizing the recommendations of a government evaluation undertaken to drive any kind of spatial vision was significantly curtailed with the disestablishment
over the course of 2017 (DPME 2018). More of a focus was placed on moving CSP forward of the Policy Coordination and Advisory Services, the unit tasked with overseeing imple- 67
into a new phase, one of far more proactive engagement with stakeholders to ensure that mentation of the NSDP.67 Line departments quickly lost leadership and technical capacity; Interview with Crispian
the Programme’s recommendations, positions, and reforms would find an institutional one key example being the Department of Water Affairs (Palmer et al. 2017). Meanwhile, Olver, Cape Town, 28
September 2018.
and political home within the intergovernmental system. If the first phase of CSP was the Department of Human Settlements started to pursue its own spatial policy agenda,
65 about codeveloping technical outputs and solutions, then ‘CSP 2’ is likely to be about most famously in the 2014 announcement of the Department’s ‘megaprojects’ strategy
Interview with Jeremy ‘embedding ideas and practices within human systems’.65 for urban housing and settlement development. There were other worries, too. The na-
Timm, by telephone, 4 tional Department of Transport was disbursing and implementing urban public transport
December 2018.
grants — intended for the development of bus rapid transit systems — in ways that were
The Integrated Urban Development Framework starting to concern Treasury officials (see Chapter 10). The context was thus: an absence
of overall strategic direction and purpose in development policy; an increasing tendency
In 2016, the South African government approved the country’s new Integrated Urban for departments to either ‘go rogue’, or to focus single-mindedly on rent extraction; and
Development Framework (IUDF) (COGTA 2016). Alongside the political transition from all of this in the midst of a general decline in state technical and leadership capacity.
the presidency of Jacob Zuma to that of Cyril Ramaphosa, the adoption of the IUDF has President Zuma did make some rhetorical commitments to a more space-sensitive
signalled the potential for an urban agenda to find real political traction, bringing South strategy, endorsing, for example, the spatial agenda implied by the National Development
Africa into line with global processes and agreements like the New Urban Agenda and Plan, which highlighted problems of urban spatial development and fragmentation. How-
the growing expectation that all countries should formulate and operate some form of ever, in retrospect it is clear that there was no real political will to drive the implementa-
National Urban Policy (NUP). While the IUDF may seem to have been the logical outcome tion of a common and purposeful spatial vision. At least part of the reason was that the
of increasing academic and political recognition of the importance of the global urban power base of Jacob Zuma and his factions within the state included an important rural
 constituency. Within the ANC, this power was increasingly concentrated in the ‘Premier In line with this conviction, CSP declined to second some of its team members to work
League’ — a network of party bosses and Zuma loyalists representing the provincial par- full time on the IUDF, wary that this would not ‘set the right relationships’. Rather, the
ty machines in more rural regions of the country (Swilling et al. 2017). It was in this context CSP leadership argued that the IUDF should entail the development of its own ‘organic
of state fragmentation, and where any sort of urban agenda was rapidly losing ground capability’ and ownership within COGTA.71 71
to a de facto rural centre of political power, that a renewed push for some kind of urban If not keen to assume a leadership or coordinating role, then what is the precise Interview with David
transformation agenda came to the fore. value that CSP sees in the existence of a policy umbrella like the IUDF? Samantha Savage, Cape Town, 30
May 2018.
The process to create a ‘shadow state’ within the formal government apparatus start- Naidu explains:
ed to accelerate just as CSP was consolidating its implementation agenda. By that stage,
the decision had already been taken to locate the CSP within Treasury, rather than to dis- The IUDF is something that can raise the profile of CSP. The CSP was always
tribute its functions across a range of national departments (DPME 2018). In some cases, seen as a programme that would provide lessons to influence the broader policy
this had already generated conflicts — of the political turf battle variety — with other de- framework of the IUDF, as well as its implementation. And more recently, over the
partments wary of a Treasury perceived to be overstepping its role in policy issues. In May last year or so, it has become recognized as one of the key programmes that will
2014, Pravin Gordhan was removed as Minister of Finance. By late 2015, Treasury came support the metros within the IUDF framework. A lot of the work that we are doing
108 under an even more forceful attempted takeover by Zuma-aligned networks, when the now gets reported under the IUDF. Reporting for CSP is now being captured at 109
Gupta brothers personally offered the Deputy Minister a promotion to the helm of Minister. a Cabinet level, even though CSP is a Treasury rather than Cabinet programme.
Treasury, ultimately, became increasingly isolated in the political sphere, while CSP was What emerges from the Programme is now going to Cabinet within the auspices 72
Interview with
also starting to feel isolated in the urban policy space. Treasury and CSP responded by en- of the IUDF. So, in that way, it has been able to elevate the Programme.72
Samantha Naidu,
gaging with COGTA, alongside other key organizations like SACN and SALGA, in pushing Pretoria, 21 May 2018.
68
for a more global urban framework that would give its work some political and policy cover Moving forward, there will have to be greater clarity in the way that CSP defines its pre-
Interview with and support.68 Moreover, Treasury officials were also increasingly interested in developing cise roles and responsibilities in relation to those of other organizations, and in relation to
Samantha Naidu, a common urban agenda that would include both large and secondary cities. processes like implementing the IUDF.73 As CSP’s own experience shows, avoiding con- 73
Pretoria, 21 May 2018. Interview with
Dr Crispian Olver, who was appointed to head the committee overseeing the produc- fusion in content and responsibility in the space of city support and reform is critically
Samantha Naidu,
tion of the IUDF, sees several factors as driving the process: important, particularly from the perspective of the metros, which often bear the greatest Pretoria, 21 May 2018.
brunt of strategic and functional fragmentation within the intergovernmental system.
About two or three years ago, Treasury suddenly ‘leant in’ very actively into the
COGTA framework, and that leaning in coincided with a stream of work coming
out of the SACN, where they were looking at intermediate cities as a category, and Conclusion
they did some really cutting-edge work on intermediate cities. So, the government
moment for the IUDF came from Treasury leaning in, SACN driving it, and a really In this chapter we have described the process by which a National Treasury programme
bright spark being recruited into COGTA called Modjadji Malahlela. With Modjadji of support for large South African cities was incepted and implemented, and how the
69 and Andries Nel in COGTA, and with SACN and Treasury, they had sufficient mo- resulting initiative, CSP, has shifted the focus of its work over the past eight years of
Interview with Crispian mentum to drive an IUDF programme.69 its formal existence. The CSP team has been led to change its approach and empha-
Olver, Cape Town, 28 sis as its work programme has matured, and in response to emerging dynamics in the
September 2018. David Savage describes how Treasury and CSP have tried to play an encouraging but not South African political sphere. Indeed, one of the insights emerging from this story is the
an outright leadership role in the IUDF process: tension that underpins the creation and operation of any intergovernmental reform and
support platform like the CSP. That tension relates to the necessary balance between
Early on, as we were positioning CSP as an implementation support programme, ensuring programmatic rigour, on one hand, and maintaining flexibility and responsive-
we realized that we needed a policy umbrella, and thatTreasury couldn’t provide the ness to context, on the other. In retrospect, it seems that CSP has, to some extent, been
policy umbrella; it needed to sit in a national department somewhere. So, what Mali- able to ensure an appropriate balance between these competing imperatives, although
jeng Ngqaleni did is take Yunus Carrim off on a study tour to Germany where, along the real test will be whether or not South African cities can decisively shift their govern-
with Modjadji Mahlalela, she spent two weeks convincing Carrim that we need an ance and development trajectories towards more productive, sustainable, and inclusive
IUDF, and then he went for it, because he can do those things quite well. So, he forms. Exploring these kinds of tensions — with a view to understanding which kinds
committed to it. Then once he’d done that, we as CSP leant in very heavily behind of institutional and political approaches are more or less effective at providing support
the process, not wanting to take it over at all, but just to make sure that it moved and driving reform in different contexts — is an important issue for future researchers
70 ahead and delivered a result. I think COGTA may have been a bit suspicious about to address.
Interview with David our intentions there. We made it clear that, really, we didn’t want this space. We just We have shown that the idea, structure, and modality of the CSP platform emerged
Savage, Cape Town, 30 needed the policy umbrella to be in place, and that we had an interest in that um- from an array of influences and debates within Treasury and the wider city support envi-
May 2018. brella succeeding.70 ronment. It is critical to recognize that the creation and evolution of CSP were not simply
 expressions of an ‘urban bias’ held by local officials or imposed by foreign experts. In
fact, a specific support agenda targeting South Africa’s large cities arose as an organic References
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urban municipalities. More research remains to be undertaken on exactly what kinds of tation and Institutional Arrangements (Pretoria: National
municipal investments, as well as intergovernmental support and cooperation, can give Treasury and GIZ).
life to a more productive and sustainable relationship between urban and rural spaces,
UN-Habitat (2017) Implementing the New Urban Agenda
settlements, and processes.
by Strengthening Urban-Rural Linkages (Nairobi: UN-
In the chapters that follow, we delve deeper into the specific activities and projects
Habitat).
undertaken by the Programme since 2012. We begin by outlining CSP’s work on the Core
City Governance Component and, in particular, its efforts to enhance the leadership and Van Ryneveld, P. (2006) ‘The Development of Policy on the
governance capacity of South Africa’s large urban municipalities. Financing of Municipalities’. In Pillay, U., Tomlinson, R.,
and Du Toit, J. (Eds), Democracy and Delivery: Urban Policy
in South Africa (Cape Town: HSRC Press), pp. 157–184
 Chapter 5

Leadership and
Governance
Aims and Ensure that appropriate leadership and
objectives management vision and behaviours exist to enable

112 transformation of South Africa’s cities

113
Strategy Build individual and team leadership capacity
to create a cohort of effective urban leaders
across South Africa to drive the creation and
implementation of long-term strategic visions for
urban spatial transformation

Work areas l Strengthen the agency of senior officials and

politicians to lead programmes of spatial
transformation
l Expand modalities of citizen engagement
l Strengthen integrity frameworks

Key projects l Executive Leadership Programmes

l Leadership coaching and support
l Citizen engagement
l Integrity strategies

In this chapter we discuss CSP’s work focusing on city leadership and governance, a sub-
component of the Core City Governance Component, and a key leg of the Programme’s
overall strategy to promote urban spatial transformation. CSP’s agenda to enhance the
technical and knowledge capacity of urban leaders forms part of a wider global recognition
of the importance of leadership for sustainable urban development (Fullan 2005; Haus et al.
2005). Its work on citizen engagement moves beyond the latter’s more conventional framing
in relation to participatory planning practice, and rather seeks to reposition that engage-
ment to have a maximal systemic effect on driving better urban governance through civic-
led oversight and accountability. CSP’s work on integrity strategies, meanwhile, represents
an attempt to instil and foster traditional public sector values in an urban governance en- Manguang: The

GUTO BUSSAB
vironment plagued by maladministration and corruption, and in part as a reaction to the sprawling city lights
managerialist emphasis of post-apartheid reforms inspired by the New Public Management oif Bloemfontein at
(see Chapter 2). Taken together, the various projects of this sub-component arguably repre- dusk.
 sent a shift towards the ideas and practices of New Public Governance, although in a way urban leaders to emerge at the city and national levels. Once a critical mass of effective
that is very specific to South Africa’s historical trajectory. urban leaders exists, it is assumed that meaningful urban change will follow across the
Evidence suggests that CSP’s work on leadership — particularly through the provision urban governance system, thereby producing wider national-scale benefits.
of leadership coaching support and the organization of annual Executive Leadership This urban leadership agenda also involves providing civil society with tools and proc-
Programmes — has been welcomed and appreciated by the metros, and has been rela- esses to effectively hold their leaders to account, and to drive changes in governance
tively effective in promoting positive shifts in long-term city visioning practices. Work on behaviour. Indeed, a commitment to the agency of civil society as a means to transform
citizen engagement, accountability, and integrity strategies will, inevitably, take longer municipal governance and promote better urban outcomes was a founding principle of
to reveal any substantive benefits for urban governance and spatial transformation, and the CSP — a key realization from the National Treasury study tours of 2010 that gave
tracking the outcomes of these kinds of interventions may prove a fruitful area of re- impetus to the original CSP framework document (National Treasury 2012). In this view,
search investigation in future years. bottom-up or citizen-led accountability is one aspect of the regulation needed to improve
state capability and performance, fitting alongside vertical accountability implemented
by national and provincial governments (discussed in Chapter 7) (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 77).
The challenge CSP thus seeks to create a synergistic system of accountability by triangulating different
114 kinds of mechanisms of holding leaders to account, thus ensuring that top-down regula- 115
CSP’s work on leadership stems from a hypothesis: that South Africa’s incapacity to tory mechanisms work in concert and alliance with those carried out by civil society.
overcome problems of ‘siloism’ and to drive meaningful urban spatial transformation is For CSP, leadership is a cross-cutting agenda, also informing specific project activi-
in significant part due to a lack of visionary city leadership, and a lack of political will to ties within the Public Transport and Economic Development Components, which are dis-
make tough system-changing decisions. Moreover, the local government sector has been cussed in Chapters 10 and 11, respectively.
plagued by issues of corruption and maladministration, the full extent of which, in the
case of Nelson Mandela Bay, has been alarmingly revealed by Crispian Olver (2017) in his Box 5.1: The Importance of Leadership for City Governance
recent book, How to Steal a City.
At the same time, while citizen engagement and participation are principles embed- It is a bit of a cliché, but it is all about leadership. There is a lot of theory on this, but
ded in the heart of the South African Constitution, as well as the full range of local gov- the tone set by leadership is the tone that is created in organizations. So, if your leader
ernment and planning legislation, many participatory exercises have been reduced to is indifferent and adversarial, you will have that culture in the organization. If they
processes of compliance, and have been ineffective at driving transformative strategy are visionary, enabling, and professional, that will filter down and become part of the
and development at the city scale. Participatory activities, moreover, have generally fo- culture. We see leadership as absolutely integral to everything that we do. Policies are
cused on the activity of planning, and the disbursement of capital expenditure, rather implemented by people, and our cities are led by leaders of groups of people. So, we
than oversight of the more day-to-day operations of municipal service delivery. think that this is some of the best-leveraged work we can do, helping our leaders to
Local government financial management in the post-apartheid era has generally not become more effective, and we do that through a number of things. We are absolutely
been subject to significant citizen oversight, something reinforced by the widespread explicit about leadership being at the centre of it: to translate the ambition of what our
lack of publicly available data on municipal fiscal trends and performance. Financial man- cities are going through, particularly related to spatial transformation. Without strong
agement, although a potentially key mechanism to transform urban spaces and commu- leadership it is not going to happen.
nities, has therefore not been a significant site of political ‘contestation and choice over
development priorities’ in South African cities (Savage 2008, p. 285). Jeremy Timm, CSP Strategic Support Manager
Taken together, these factors have undermined public leadership and relationships of
state-citizen accountability, hindering the crafting and realization of effective strategic
visions for long-term urban socio-spatial and economic change. Work programme
Nishendra Moodley leads CSP’s work in the Leadership and Governance sub-component,
Theory of change overseeing all projects except for those focusing on leadership coaching and support, which
are managed by Jeremy Timm. Timm’s acute interest in the human systems that underpin
Leadership and Governance is one of five sub-components sitting within the wider Core effective organizations and institutional change have left an important mark on the nature
City Governance Component. In some ways, it is the most critical leg of the CSP’s over- of these activities and the emphasis they are afforded within the CSP’s overall theory of
all strategic vision for change. CSP, as an initiative, rests upon the hypothesis that we change. Moodley, meanwhile, is specifically responsible for overseeing and administering
need to unlock certain leadership and visioning issues in order to create new kinds of CSP’s Executive Leadership Programmes, as well as projects related to citizen engagement
cross-sector partnerships and thereby drive urban spatial restructuring (see Box 5.1). and integrity — a task for which he is well suited given his personal history as a young anti-
This requires providing special support to the individuals who lead cities, both politically apartheid civic and community media activist in 1980s and 1990s Durban, and his strong
and administratively. In the medium and longer-term, this will enable a cohort of effective professional commitment to principles of democratic governance and decentralization.
 Specific areas of CSP’s project work for Leadership and Governance are described in
Year Venue Organizing Theme Rationale & focus
more detail in the sections that follow.
partner(s)

2017 Johannesburg Gordon Institute Accelerating This ELP aimed to develop a common understanding of
Executive Leadership Programmes
of Business City the urban challenges facing city leadership teams, and
Science Transformation to engage on some of the programmatic responses that
Since 2012, CSP has organized leadership workshops — branded as the ‘Executive Lead-
(University of for Inclusion, would strengthen the political-administrative interface
ership Programme’ (ELP) — that aim to facilitate leadership development, personal de-
Pretoria) Growth, and in individual cites and build a sense of community across
velopment, and to strengthen the skills and knowledge required to manage processes of
Sustainability the leaderships of the eight metros.
urban spatial transformation (DPME 2018). Participants in these events are drawn from all
metros, with city teams comprising both senior officials and political leaders. Each week-
2018 Johannesburg Gordon Institute Leadingy The fifth ELP focused on the emerging science and
long ELP is co-hosted by an academic partner. CSP has taken a collaborative approach in
of Business Future Cities: practice of ‘city futures’, and aimed to strengthen city
organizing these events, actively seeking to involve other institutional partners like SACN,
116 SALGA, and, more recently, COGTA. Moreover, each year CSP has engaged a number of


Science
(University of
Navigating
Today’s
leaders’ knowledge of and capacities for data-driven
analysis, anticipatory governance, strategic foresight,
117
expert and high-profile speakers to present to the metro leadership teams.
Pretoria) Complexity systems and complexity thinking, design thinking, as well
as transversal management.
Table 5.1: Themes and Foci of CSP Executive Leadership Programmes

Year Venue Organizing Theme Rationale & focus

partner(s) The focus and content of the ELP has shifted from year to year (see Table 5.1). Each event
seeks to blend technical learning on the selected topic with activities related to manage-
2012 Cape Town Graduate School Building The inaugural ELP built on the notion that ment training and personal skills development. Participants are afforded the opportunity
of Business Globally South African cities are critical engines of economic
to apply their learning to specific projects or programmes underway in their city, and a
(University of Competitive growth and development. However, they face a number
strong emphasis is placed on encouraging processes of peer learning between different
Cape Town) Cities of challenges, from repairing the damage of apartheid to
cities (CSP n.d.).
addressing current challenges of supporting growth and
The CSP team has striven to design each ELP event to respond to critical issues
attacking poverty. Cities therefore require dynamic and
emerging in the South African and urban political environment. One key dynamic, in re-
visionary leadership that is able to meet these challenges.
cent years, has been the rise of coalition politics in the metros. After the local government
elections of August 2016, three major South African cities — Johannesburg, Tshwane,
2013 Cape Town Graduate School Public The second ELP aimed to highlight the potential of
and Nelson Mandela Bay — fell from African National Congress control into the hands
of Business Transport for transport as a transformative tool in cities, capable of
of opposition coalitions led by the Democratic Alliance. Nishendra Moodley explains how
(University of Spatial changing the way cities think about both land use and
the CSP attempted to pre-empt certain dynamics:
Cape Town) Transformation citizen mobility. It sought to enable metropolitan political
and administrative leaders to get to grips with current
Coalition politics was something that we were deliberately engaging with, even
challenges, learn new techniques and tools, and be
before it happened. In the run up to the August 2016 elections, and in some of our
inspired to lead and implement change in urban mobility
programming prior to that, we recognized the vulnerabilities of a number of our
and land-use management so as to connect, integrate, and
cities in terms of there not being clear majorities, and coalitions being needed.
transform cities.
There was a broader emphasis on building partnerships and this idea of, in a very
generic sense, coalition building as part of our programme: just to be able to mo-
2015 Johannesburg Gordon Institute City Economic The focus was on city economic development strategies
bilize multiple actors to work together. But we knew it would translate directly
of Business Development and practice, with the purpose of building a greater
into the political realm as well. And much of our thinking for the leadership pro-
Science Strategy and understanding of the limits and possibilities of city-level
gramme scheduled for November 2016 — we were going to give the new councils
(University of Practice economic action among the political leadership and
100 days to get their houses in order, and to then work with the new incoming
Pretoria) senior management of city governments. It aimed to
leadership of the eight metros. Particularly in trying to understand their political
improve the sense of personal agency and responsibility
economies, and also in developing a broader programme across party thinking.
held by city leaders, especially in respect of city economic
Unfortunately, that leadership programme was postponed, due to the national po-
development, and to boost the voice of cities in national
litical circumstances of the time, and it was rescheduled for February 2017. But
policy debates and action.
its intention was to work very closely with our cities in managing some of the
 coalition projects, and to bring in examples of people who had managed difficult support has been arranged in two workstreams. The first focuses on providing coach-
coalitions before. We wanted to bring in Sergio Fajardo [former Mayor of Medellin, ing support to key individuals and teams, while the second seeks to build transversal
75 Colombia] into that last leadership programme, but unfortunately we couldn’t pull management capacity at the wider, organizational level.
Interview with it off at the last minute.75 CSP’s activities in the area of individual and team coaching arose via requests from
Nishendra Moodley, the cities themselves, and specific support needs were identified through strategic de-
Cape Town, 4 July 2018.
Feedback from metro officials indicated that, for the most part, they value the design and velopment review processes undertaken in each metro. Coaching was not imposed on
approach of the ELPs. One, a strategic planning official from Nelson Mandela Bay (a met- candidates — the emphasis was on offering support to individuals and teams who were
ro that switched to a Democratic Alliance-led coalition following the August 2016 elec- interested in and committed to improving their performance. Suitable candidates and
tions), spoke highly of the 2017 ELP, with its focus on building and working across teams: teams to be targeted for support were confirmed with and through the City Manager
offices of the various metros. The commitment of the cities was reflected in inception
I think it was quite pivotal for the new leadership, who were not used to local gov- reports, which articulated how support would be provided to each city (through a service
ernment, or managing the specific relation between local government processes provider appointed by CSP) along several lines (after CSP 2018):
and political decisions. I think, for them, it was an enormous eye opener.76
118 76
Interview 34. • I ndividual coaching was provided to senior administrative leaders identified together 119
The rise of coalition politics has not, in and of itself, led the CSP to focus more on tailoring with the City Manager. Team coaching was then offered to the departments for which
their support in relation to the political sphere. Nishendra Moodley explains how building these individuals were responsible.
the capacity of leaders to manage the political-administrative interface was always an
emphasis of CSP, emerging from longer-term trends in the local government sector:
• Team building was offered to combined teams drawn from Executive and Mayoral
Committees, which needed to develop a shared understanding of, and commitment
to, the long-term strategic development goals of their city.
A big part of our programme has focused on the political-administrative inter-
face, and on firming that up, and equipping (particularly administrative) managers
• Strategic support was targeted specifically at City Managers who, given the demand-
ing nature of their work, often need a space for strategic reflection and support, par-
to better manage the political sphere. I think that that is becoming an even more ticularly with respect to matters pertaining to the political-administrative interface,
interesting space right now. Some of our cities are not as mature as we thought organizational structure, labour relations, and performance management.
they were in that space. It is mainly an issue with the officials, rather than the
politicians. Officials should be able to help to manage the interface; it is their task
• Seminar series will be arranged in particular metros to mobilize inspiring leaders, es-
pecially those drawn from the public sector, to engage city leadership teams on par-
to do that. Politicians, as public representatives, are newcomers to the system. ticular issues with which they grapple.
They should be dealing with career professionals who know how to manage the
political sphere, and to be able to give guidance as to what is within their realm. Jeremy Timm reflects on some of the lessons learnt from the process of developing and
implementing this project:
I think that the political capabilities in the country will always vacillate, and I think
that we need to insulate our administrative spheres from the fact that you are Coaching is interesting, because some people see coaching as part of what you
going to get good and bad political leadership, you are going to have corrupt and do to the competent professional, a leader. You can’t be effective without having a
benevolent political leadership over time. You need to better manage those ten- coach and ongoing support because of the complexities and stresses of these jobs.
dencies… A fair amount of our work has been around that. Particularly the work Others see it as an admission of weakness. So, even when we started conceptu-
we have done internally around transversal management, and the capabilities alizing this work, we were wondering whether we should use the word ‘coaching’
required to manage programmes, has focused on how to mobilize resources to or perhaps ‘strategic support’. Then, of course, one looks at things like mentor-
strengthen the hands of officials to work collaboratively. But I don’t know whether ing, because some people see coaching as mentoring and, indeed, in some cases,
that is really a consequence of coalition politics. I think it has been a consequence mentoring is required. But I would say that the proof of the pudding is whether it’s
of the way that our local government system has evolved over the last 20 years; we being eaten in the cities — that our work has the support of the City Managers.
have seen a denigration of that political-administrative interface, with Municipal In fact, we make it a prerequisite that if the City Managers are not supporting it,
77 Managers feeling threatened, instructed, and all of that.77 then we don’t see any point in doing it, because they are responsible for driving
Interview with the strategic agenda of the administration, and the coaching needs to help rally
Nishendra Moodley, teams around that agenda. But, of course, some of our cities are in organizational
Cape Town, 4 July 2018. Leadership coaching and support chaos, and your coaching appointment is often the first thing you throw out when
there is a service delivery protest, or some other crisis. So, we have had some
In line with the focus of the ELPs, described above, CSP aims to enhance the agency issues around that. In fact, we have started using metaphors, like: some of the
of senior city officials and elected leaders to implement a programme of spatial trans- coaching is more like paramedic support, to stabilize the body, and other kinds are
formation through various forms of targeted coaching and support (DPME 2018). This more about promoting forward-looking health. Our cities have to move between
 those kinds of support.This requires coaches who are sensitive to what is required municipalities to report to national government departments, but with a weaken-
80
in any particular moment. We have learnt a lot of lessons around that. We need to ing of the bottom-up elements.80 Interview with
78 be flexible, to be able to make adjustments to our initial plans and approaches. We Nishendra Moodley,
Interview with Jeremy need to be contextually relevant, and deeply sensitive to what our city leadership The terms ‘bottom-up’ or ‘social accountability’ describe an ‘approach toward building Cape Town, 4 July 2018.
Timm, Pretoria, 22 May teams are going through.78 accountability that relies on civic engagement’, whereby ordinary citizens and civil so-
2018.
ciety organizations participate directly or indirectly in holding their public officials and
The second project workstream comprises CSP’s efforts to provide transversal manage- servants to account (Malena et al. 2004). While this, broadly speaking, has been a strong
ment support to city governments. Jeremy Timm explains how this has involved the intro- emphasis of post-apartheid policy, particularly through the principle of participatory
duction of new technological tools to promote collaboration and cooperation between governance, Nishendra Moodley points to several weaknesses in how this emphasis has
line departments and functions: translated into practice:

The sub-component dealing with transversal management support responds to Historically, we have struggled with two main issues around social account-
this lament — by, it seems, everybody these days — that we work in silos, both ability. Firstly, so much of our social accountability and participation practice
120 within our organizations and between our organizations. This is about using a is about planning, very little is about ongoing monitoring of everything else a 121
method, which draws from an international group called the Matrix Management municipality does, which is about 80% of their budget — the ongoing delivery
Institute. It uses, basically, what they call Matrix Management 2.0, which looks at of water, sanitation, electricity, and so on. We have so few tools that help us
the horizontal practices across cities, rather than the vertical silos that constitute to ensure accountability on the delivery of those services. We invest all our en-
them. We are working in four cities on that, and we are doing an assessment of gagements around the IDP, and we utilize the conventional failed instruments,
transversal management practices in each city. Then we go into a strategy ses- like ward committees and the IDP forums, for that. Secondly, most of our ac-
sion with each one to say which areas they want to work more on, and then we countability goes through what we would call the ‘long route’, through the Ward
79 design some interventions and work with them through those. But we are in the Councillor. But Ward Councillors often have minimal ability to change things
Interview with Jeremy piloting stage, at the moment.79 within a city system. So, a lot of what we have been articulating around social
Timm, Pretoria, 22 May accountability is that we need to strengthen what we call the ‘short route’ of 81
2018. At the time of writing, in early 2019, this approach was being piloted in eThekwini. It is accountability, between officials and citizens, together with the long route of Interview with
intended to use those findings to roll out the project to three other metros that have spe- accountability, through politicians. So, we have been looking for tools to help Nishendra Moodley,
Cape Town, 3
cifically asked for this kind of support: Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, and Cape Town. Moreo- us do that.81 December 2018.
ver, it is hoped that this work will also be relevant to the other metros, if they decide they
would like to receive similar assistance in the future, and indeed to any other municipali- One such tool has been developed by researchers at the Human Sciences Research Coun-
ties and government institutions in South Africa. cil (HSRC). It has taken the form of a ‘Community Scorecard’ — a tool that specifically
seeks to promote citizen-led oversight and accountability for local service delivery proc-
esses. The Scorecard was piloted in five informal settlements in Cape Town with the aim
Citizen engagement of supporting the City, as well as other urban local governments, to review and enhance
their modes of civic engagement surrounding service delivery (Sanchez-Betancourt and
CSP’s strategic agenda holds a strong emphasis on the power of an active citizenry and Vivier 2016). Nishendra Moodley describes the practical, coproductive approach taken to
organized civil society to facilitate urban transformation by exercising vigilant oversight developing the Scorecard, which essentially comprises a set of measures of local service
and holding municipal leaders and institutions accountable for their performance. delivery performance:
In line with this agenda, the CSP’s work on ‘citizen engagement’ seeks to develop
the social accountability systems that are necessary to enable and drive processes of The Community Scorecard tool was such an exciting little development, in an in-
institutional and spatial transformation. It focuses on building stronger citizen-led ac- formal settlement context, where it managed to bring together utility managers
countability by identifying strategic governance spaces and processes that citizens can with the community to agree on criteria for good performance, to come up with
engage most effectively to drive changed governance behaviour (DPME 2018). their own ways of measuring what they would consider to be good service delivery
Nishendra Moodley, who has led CSP’s projects on citizen engagement and public in that area, and to then walk around, together, and highlight local problems of
integrity, explains that this work stems from a basic critique of how accountability has service delivery. And then to go back to the community hall to codevelop a plan,
been conceived and practiced in the post-apartheid political and intergovernmental which they can use to hold each other to account in terms of its delivery. For me,
system: despite the relatively small scale, it was a really important intervention, both in 82
Interview with
terms of promoting the short route of accountability, and in introducing a moni- Nishendra Moodley,
We think that some of the top-down accountabilities have been too strong in the toring mechanism that worked in informal settlements around ongoing service Cape Town, 3
state, and so we see a flourishing of departmental systems that are there to oblige delivery issues.82 December 2018
 Following the piloting of the Community Scorecard, the CSP assisted the City of Cape rity, and explores how to improve ethical behaviour at institutional and individual levels
Town in developing a framework to assess the City’s citizen engagement processes, within cities, with an emphasis on protecting the public interest irrespective of whether
across the entire governance value chain. The recommendations from this assessment conduct is technically legal.
then fed into the City’s proposals for institutional restructuring, which was ongoing at CSP holds that improved integrity in city governance processes is likely to result in
the time (CSP 2017). Nishendra Moodley reflects on the specific value of the Commu- improved planning, more strategic modes of project prioritization, more efficient opera-
nity Scorecard project for opening up new questions and possibilities for the practice tions, fair and transparent regulation, and enhanced organizational learning, in turn re-
of accountability within the overall processes and priorities of urban governance: sulting in efficient service delivery, as well as better development and spatial outcomes.
CSP’s project activities relating to integrity strategies are divided into three work-
What was so exciting about the Community Scorecard work was that it moved streams, set out in Table 5.2.
away from the participatory planning space, which seems exhausted in some
ways, to the ongoing participatory monitoring and accountability for services, as Table 5.2: Nature and Focus of CSP Work on Integrity Strategies
well as the improvement and coproduction of those plans between citizens and
Workstream Focus
managers. So, we are quite keen on strengthening those at the micro scale, but
122 also working systemically over the monitoring and evaluation system as a whole,
1: Integrity assessment Issues relating to integrity, strategies, ethics, and transparency
123
to ensure that the voice of citizens remains strong in that, and not just in the par-
framework and tools
ticipatory planning space. We want to extend that in our integration zones, to de-
velop much stronger models of urban management in those integration zones. It is
83 2: Open Budget Index Strengthening the transparency agenda though the packaging
Interview with not just about the Built Environment Performance Plans (BEPPs) and the plans for
for cities and opening of local government financial data held by
Nishendra Moodley, catalytic infrastructure, but how one manages that, on an ongoing basis, together
National Treasury
Cape Town, 4 July 2018. with citizens.83
3: Municipal Money Understanding how data on the Municipal Money tool is being
In addition to assisting HSRC with developing and piloting the Community Scorecard,
phase 2 used and how it could be better used
CSP has also facilitated the undertaking of collaborative ‘social audit’ processes in par-
ticular metros. A social audit is essentially a process of measuring and assessing the
performance of a municipality and its impact on society. As with the Scorecard, the aim A key output of this project has been the Municipal Money analytical tool, a website that
of an audit is to help promote the right kind and degree of ‘triangulation’ between official presents National Treasury’s municipal financial data in a format that is accessible to
and social accountability mechanisms: the general public. Developed in partnership with Code for South Africa — an NGO that
promotes informed public decision-making using technology — Municipal Money has
We are working with accountability actors, who are exercising this on a day-to- been designed to inform citizens on their local authority’s financial performance, and
day basis. Like the collaborative social audits that have been done in Ekurhuleni, allows them to compare data from different municipalities.85 It aims to promote trans- 85
where Planact and the International Budget Partnership conducted a social audit parency and citizen engagement around municipal planning, budgeting, and expenditure See https://
municipalmoney.gov.
of sanitation contracts in the city and found that some of those contracts needed processes.
za/about, accessed 19
to be cancelled. And we had arranged that this was done in a collaborative way As it is intended for use by experts as well as non-experts, Municipal Money uses October 2018.
with the metro, and they took the findings quite seriously. So, Ekurhuleni, I under- various techniques to make complex data and information as accessible as possible, pre-
stand, has ended some of those sanitation contracts on the basis of community sented in a user-friendly manner (see Box 5.2).
84 oversight over whether or not the contract was being fulfilled. I mean, that is a
Interview with primary accountability triangle that’s seen the light of day. So, we want to be able Box 5.2: Characteristics of the Municipal Money Tool
Nishendra Moodley, to get the top-down accountability working in relative concert with, and in broad The website is designed to present key municipal financial information to a general
Cape Town, 4 July 2018.
alliance with, bottom-up accountability. 84 audience, who do not necessarily have any financial background or knowledge. This
is done by using a variety of visual elements and tools — including interactive maps,
charts, graphs, and short videos. We have also provided different levels of detail in
Integrity strategies explaining key financial concepts, so our audience can select the amount and level of
information they want access to.
‘Public integrity’ refers to the application of generally accepted public values and norms This tool draws on the raw data from the Municipal Money API website — www.
in the daily practice of public sector organizations (OECD 2009). It is a notion rooted in the treasury.data.gov.za — and is a clear example of how that raw data can be utilized to
idea that elected and appointed public servants should act in the public interest. Public enhance civic education and oversight.
integrity issues are sometimes approached in a narrow fashion, focusing specifically on
public sector-linked corruption. CSP, however, has sought to take a broader view of integ- https://municipalmoney.gov.za/about
 For Municipal Money, we took twelve years’ worth of supervisory, regulatory data that
we have on municipalities, and we then said, ‘let’s open that up to civic organizations, Successes, challenges, and debates
and to journalists, and so on, and not just give them the Treasury interpretation — we
will provide them with the Treasury interpretation — but we will also give them the Leadership
raw data to make their own interpretation of that data, and encourage and incentivize
others to develop those things’. CSP espouses a specific kind of agenda with respect to urban leadership. The Programme
itself does not necessarily seek to assume an overarching leadership role in policymaking
Nishendra Moodley, CSP Leadership and Governance Sub-Component Lead and planning, as might be expected of a state commission (see Chapter 1), for example,
but rather seeks to create the conditions for a collective cohort of effective leaders to
emerge at the metro level. Civil society engagement and oversight are seen as integral to
A second key area of CSP’s work is the City Integrity, Transparency, Social Accountabil- this process, ensuring that official and political leaders are responsive and accountable
ity, and Technology (InTAcT) project. InTAcT aims to help cities improve their governance to the needs of citizens. It is hypothesized that the development of this cohort of leaders
performance, with a particular focus on land development and infrastructure develop- will unlock and drive urban spatial transformation and wider national benefits arising
124 ment. The project provides cities with perspectives for understanding their governance from the ‘urban dividend’. 125
challenges related to land and infrastructure development, a framework for assessment, Within this broad agenda, one can differentiate between different kinds of urban lead-
86 and a range of resources and tools that help improve integrity, social accountability, and ership. On one hand, there is leadership that is legally constituted and governed by for-
See http://intact. transparency performance as a way to unlock solutions to complex problems.86 mally defined rules and relationships. On the other hand, there is a more ephemeral and
org.za, accessed 15 The work of the InTAcT project is based on three thematic work areas — Integri- informal mode of leadership that is not grounded in an institutional architecture. CSP
September 2018. ty, Social Accountability, and Smart Governance (see Table 5.3). A series of innovative works at the interface between these formal and informal modes, both of which are seen
tools and other resources have been produced in each thematic area to assist cities to as important and necessary within a wider governance system.
strengthen integrity, social accountability, and transparency. These ‘Innovation Resource Arguably, CSP seeks to encourage South African city governments to adapt towards
Boxes’ consist of case studies, good practice briefs, guidelines, and toolkits specific to what Charles Landry and Margie Caust (2017) have termed the ‘creative bureaucracy’.
each theme. This term describes an approach that refuses to see bureaucracies simply as organiza-
tional structures, but rather as human systems comprising people, values, incentives,
Table 5.3: Thematic Work Areas of the InTAcT Project and emotions. It represents an attempt to think innovatively about how bureaucratic
systems could be transformed to enhance the contributions of their members, assisting
Theme Focus Key outputs public leaders to manage and deal with the frustrations that arise from their institutional
contexts. Put differently, it is an approach that operates by affirming and extending the
Integrity This theme has a strong emphasis on the Integrity and Social agency, ideas, and potential of those working in public agencies, rather than by simply
internal mechanisms, policies, and practices Accountability City imposing structural or organizational reforms. CSP has tried to intervene in a combina-
that a city can utilize to strengthen governance. Assessment Tool tion of reform areas, addressing the capabilities of both institutional and human systems
It focuses on how cities can build integrity of governance.
management systems, stronger ethical, However, there may be tensions involved in pursuing this kind of agenda. It is possible
cultures and effective integrity oversight. that some metro officials feel that it is difficult to implement the kind of leadership ap-
proach encouraged by CSP within their institutional and legal bounds. Understanding the
Social This theme focuses on a city’s relationships Integrity and Social precise nature of these sorts of tensions, how they manifest in particular cities and affect
with external stakeholders and citizens, and Accountability City the uptake of support interventions, would be fertile grounds for future research work.
how these external stakeholders should be Assessment Tool The Leadership and Governance sub-component has generally been well received by
engaged to strengthen accountability, integrity, the metros, and has led to a number of important outcomes. There is evidence to suggest,
and transparency. It approaches accountability for example, that CSP’s projects focusing on leadership, particularly the ELPs, have been
through an emphasis on citizen engagement effective in creating an appetite for spatial transformation within the metros, and have
and public participation. resulted in positive changes to visioning and leadership to drive spatial restructuring
(DPME 2018, p. 3). For example, Johannesburg’s current metropolitan spatial development
Smart This theme explores how technology and l Guidelines for strategy, rooted in the logic of TOD corridor planning and the urgent need to drive spatial 87
Governance innovation can support efforts to improve Mayors and City Interviews with Yasmin
transformation, reportedly emerged directly from the engagements of the first ELP held
governance, and strengthen accountability, Managers Coovadia, Pretoria,
in 2012.87 For CSP itself, organizing the ELPs has helped to establish the Programme’s 22 May 2018; and with
integrity, and transparency. l Open Data ‘Starter particular ‘brand’ as a platform for city support and reform that combines elements of Rolfe Eberhard, Cape
Kit’ leadership and technical development (DPME 2018). Town, 25 July 2018.
 That being said, this work has also faced, and learnt from, a number of important chal- tions depends on securing a refined political-economic and historical understanding of
lenges. While the ELPs have generally been regarded as valuable, well-conceptualized, local environments for governance and leadership change. This is a critical area for future
and inspirational events, one local official pointed out that their effectiveness ultimately research to investigate: How do these longer arcs of political-economic change affect
88 depends on the commitment and willingness of a metro’s leadership to receive and act the ways that particular cities are governed, and their capacity to absorb and respond to
Interview 34. upon this kind of support.88 Another observer argued that while the ELPs themselves have support?
been useful, it has been difficult for metro leaders to maintain levels of energy between
these events, as they return to ‘fight their fires’ in local government with little time to re-
engage with broader strategic and visioning issues.89 However, as noted in this chapter, Citizen Engagement and Integrity
89
Interview 40.
CSP has specifically sought to accommodate these kinds of challenges within the design
of its leadership coaching programmes. CSP implements a particular agenda for promoting the accountability of elected and non-
Some of the greatest challenges faced by the CSP’s leadership agenda relate to prob- elected leaders. This agenda can be located within different traditions of public sector
lems of political and official ‘churn’. Indeed, the rapid turnover of municipal staff, which reform. Traditional notions of public sector accountability entail a hierarchical relation-
has accelerated with the project of ‘state capture’ unfolding over the past decade, has ship between politicians and citizens, as well as between politicians and public manag-
126 sometimes acted to obstruct advances made in leadership vision and capacity. Manag- ers (with the former seen as responsible for outcomes, the latter for delivering outputs). 127
ing leadership issues and processes has also become more complicated with the onset ‘New Public Management’ (NPM) reforms also rest upon a hierarchical relationship, us-
and realities of coalition governance, with its implications for political and administrative ing contractual relationships to delineate lines of ‘vertical accountability’: the legal struc-
instability, following the 2016 local government elections. These dynamics have aggra- tures underlying the public sector that define mandates and processes of authorization
vated a longer-term erosion of the political-administrative interface in the South African (Almquist 2012).
municipal sector. In tune with these dynamics of political and institutional instability and By contrast to traditional and NPM approaches, CSP’s agenda is part of a wider
coalition building, a significant aspect of CSP’s leadership work has focused on enhanc- movement recognizing that accountability does and should operate in multivalent ways
ing local capacity to manage the political-administrative interface. that extend beyond formal definitions of vertical accountability (Lægreid 2014). Account-
A key lesson emerging from CSP’s work on leadership is that taking a technical and ge- ability, in this view, is not limited to a hierarchical relationship between ‘principals’ and
neric approach to improving leadership capabilities and governance processes is, by itself, ‘agents’, and instead recognizes that ‘actors can be accountable to a number of parties
inadequate as a basis for targeting city support. Rather, the CSP team has realized that it is inside and outside their organizations’ (Almquist 2012, p. 2). It is seen as something con-
critical to understand how city leadership in particular urban contexts has been influenced structed over time — it requires active and sustained effort to produce, and cannot be
by a broader range of societal, political, and economic forces, as Jeremy Timm explains: assumed to result from the creation and imposition of legislative or regulatory systems.
Indeed, CSP has not simply addressed relations of vertical accountability between local
One of the things that we have started doing in all of our reviews is to look par- and other spheres of government (targeting, for example, the system of regulatory over-
ticularly at issues of political economy, and at the political dynamics in the region sight). It has rather sought to foster other mechanisms of accountability, in particular
or province, because it is in that context that deployment happens through those recalibrating processes of citizen engagement so as to have a maximum effect on urban
political factions that are in ascendancy, or not. They are articulated from those governance.
groups that are in ascendancy, which we often wouldn’t take into account. As such, projects like the Municipal Money tool and InTAcT are, to an extent, repre-
sentative of a more general shift towards what has been termed the ‘New Public Govern-
So, we now try to take a much more holistic view, to understand what the broader ance’ (NPG). This describes an approach to reform, emerging in the early years of the
forces at play and pressures are, and that creates a real difference in terms of how twentieth century, that focuses on promoting public sector values of accountability and
we conceptualize and design a support package to a particular city. Or, in some integrity (rather than private sector values of efficiency), starts from the perspective that
cases, an intervention, if we go that route. So, we are trying to take a far more multiple institutions and stakeholders are involved in accountability (rather than simply
pragmatic, I would also say sophisticated, view of what is actually happening and an organization and its clients), and recognizes the importance of interdependent hori-
then developing a response, which has got a much higher likelihood of success, zontal relationships (Almquist 2012). NPG approaches seek to improve the coordination
rather than just being a big hope. We often joke about how you don’t see miracles of various institutions and networks, each with equal standing albeit different competen-
in the public service. You can pray really hard, but the miracles don’t come in the cies, in the provision of public services (Almquist 2012, p. 4). Like the Municipal Money
bureaucracy. It is the slow, steady application of instruments and ideas that does initiative, NPG approaches may involve the use of indicators and performance monitoring
change things. to set out multiple lines of accountability between many different actors and networks,
not just within an organization, or between an organization and its client.
This learning has underscored the importance of understanding the ‘institutional DNA’ of This kind of agenda can be seen as emerging, in part, as a reaction to the overly
different urban local governments, not only for City Coordinators to devise local demand- managerialist emphasis and effects of New Public Management reforms of the post-
side projects, but also for CSP to target and implement its supply-side projects. But, at a apartheid era (Kolthoff et al. 2003), which have not been sufficient to prevent wide-
deeper level, it also shows that designing and implementing leadership support interven- spread maladministration in urban governance. CSP thus seeks to re-emphasize princi-
 ples of public integrity as one aspect of improving the performance of urban municipal argued that focusing on matters of public integrity amounts to moralizing an issue that
92
government. is structural, and deeply political, in nature.92 In this view, reducing problems of account- Interview 29.
Yet reducing the work of CSP to a local translation and implementation of global ability to the moral outlook and behaviour of individual leaders does not adequately ad-
trends in policy thinking and practice would be a limited analysis. Indeed, it is important dress the systemic factors that enable maladministrative practices to arise and flourish.
to note that projects, like Municipal Money and the Community Scorecard, while associ- Rather, energy could be spent more effectively on other kinds of reforms: for example, to
ated with the CSP, form part of a longer National Treasury agenda and commitment to the the labour regulations that also mobilize against official accountability.
principles and opportunities of citizen-led accountability: For National Treasury and CSP, however, issues of integrity and accountability remain
a critical part — alongside the strategic introduction of practical reform instruments like
In many ways, these projects reflect the intention, on the part of the Treasury, to the BEPP (see Chapter 6) — of the overall systemic change that is required to decisively
ensure that that kind of social accountability is strengthened on an ongoing basis. change our cities and the ways in which they are governed. This is clearly articulated by
This is also one of the reasons that we are supporting social audits, as a way to Nishendra Moodley, who nonetheless points to the inherent challenges involved in taking
ensure stronger accountability for ongoing service delivery issues in spaces that citizen-based interventions ‘to scale’:
are not necessarily invited spaces, where the municipality controls the agenda.
128 Our work on Municipal Money was really in support of that, to say, ‘we are sitting The accountability and transparency work that we are doing is as important as the 129
on a big resource — data — and surely we can equip better social accountability BEPPs. I think the BEPPs have been quite instrumental in getting an integrated
90
Interview with by making that data more open and transparent?’.90 planning approach. Through them, we have strengthened the accountability at a
Nishendra Moodley, national scale. Yet we haven’t really got to the same scale on the citizen work. The
Cape Town, 3 CSP’s project work on social accountability has enjoyed considerable points of success. deep citizen stuff, like the Scorecard work, is just really pockets of experimenta-
December 2018. The Municipal Money open data portal, for example, has received praise from Transpar- tion, which is going to be really difficult to get to scale because of the amount of
ency International as ‘setting the stage for public sector transparency initiatives in South facilitation effort that has been necessary to make it successful. To get that to 93
Africa’ (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 88). In principle, therefore, this is a highly beneficial interven- scale is a challenge. So, we are certainly not hitting scale in the same way that the Interview with
tion, and time will tell whether these kinds of tools will have the desired effects in terms of BEPPs are.93 Nishendra Moodley,
Cape Town, 4 July 2018.
promoting better values and practices of governance through citizen-led accountability.
Understanding precisely how civil society actors and groups use such data and informa- Scaling-up local experimentations in the accountability system will be an important chal-
tion, according to their specific needs, and the gaps and problems that they encounter in lenge for CSP as it moves forward into its second phase of operation. Another key chal-
doing so, will be a key area of research that could inform future interventions in this area. lenge relates to CSP’s desire to more readily and directly engage with civil society ac-
CSP’s agenda around citizen engagement can be seen as a continuation and modula- tors and organizations, rather than exclusively focusing efforts on the intergovernmental
tion of the post-apartheid South African tradition of participatory urban governance. It sphere:
affirms the importance of participatory and collaborative planning, but seeks to expand
the modalities of citizen engagement in strategic ways. CSP’s aim is less about arriving Our strategic take, in terms of strengthening citizen oversight, at least in the
at a consensus around a desired end urban state and the means to get there (i.e., as a design of the next phase of the Programme, has been to say, ‘actually, working
function of people’s collective needs and preferences, as would be expected of collabora- through municipalities has been constraining’. So far, we have been working with
tive planning), and more about enabling civil society groups to access the information cities, to make them more accountable to citizens through responding better to
and tools required to hold leaders to account and to drive changes in political and official social audits, community scorecard tools, and so on. Now, for the first time, we
behaviour in a way that recursively empowers citizens. Rather than romanticizing the are opening the door to saying, ‘let’s work a little more directly in the next five
search for consensus, CSP recognizes that constructive criticism and conflict can pro- years with civil society and even the private sector in terms of strengthening their
duce positive outcomes, if managed in an appropriate way. Their work is about strategi- ability to hold the municipality to account’. In terms of advancing the research
cally resourcing and positioning civic engagement within the overall governance system, agenda, that is the big question we are trying to ask — how do we strengthen civil
such that it can act as an effective political counterweight within the coproduction of society to be able to exert a more robust and powerful role with respect to their
urban development processes and outcomes. Again, it is this systemic notion of reform municipalities, rather than relying on municipalities being more responsive to 94
that best characterizes CSP’s strategic agenda: civil society?94 Interview with
Nishendra Moodley,
Cape Town, 3
We are looking at the urban development system and cycle in a city, and at where As the last point raised in this quote indicates, CSP’s work on accountability and integrity December 2018.
91
Interview with the key vulnerabilities in terms of integrity issues are, as well as where the key strategies raises a number of questions for future research. Such questions include: How
Nishendra Moodley, opportunities for citizen accountability are, and how to strengthen those areas.91 can we best establish self-reinforcing systems of accountability within the intergovern-
Cape Town, 4 July 2018. mental system, and between the state and civil society? What kinds of reforms are neces-
CSP’s work around the promotion of ‘public integrity’ is not, however, without its critics. sary to do so? Indeed, what are the kinds of knowledge that we, as different kinds of urban
One observer, the Chief Executive Officer of a South African urban development agency, actors, require to hold each other to account?
 Conclusion References
This chapter has focused on a critical area of CSP’s overall work programme and theory Almquist, R. (2012) ‘Public Sector Governance and Ac- Malena, C., Forster, R., and Singh, J. (2004) Social Ac-
of change. For CSP, unlocking issues of leadership and vision, and ensuring that suit- countability’, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, countability: An Introduction to the Concept and Emerg-
able self-reinforcing systems of accountability exist, are critical preconditions for ena- doi:10.1016/j.cpa.2012.11.005. ing Practice. Social Development Papers No. 76 (Washing-
bling more effective modes of urban planning and governance. CSP’s interventions in ton, D.C.: World Bank).
CSP (2017) Cities Support Programme 2016/17 Annual
this domain have been timely, coinciding with a period of profound institutional and
Report (Pretoria: National Treasury). National Treasury (2012) Cities Support Programme:
political instability within the South African intergovernmental system. The efficacy Framework Document (Pretoria: National Treasury).
of those interventions will be measured by the capacity of urban leaders to withstand CSP (2018) City Support Programme and Coaching —
contextual instability, while driving coherent strategic visions for urban development Emerging Lessons from the Field (Pretoria: National OECD (2009) ‘Towards a Sound Integrity Framework: In-
and change, and by improvements in the capacity of civil society actors to hold their Treasury). struments, Processes, Structures and Conditions for Im-
plementation’. Global Forum on Public Governance, 23
leaders to account. CSP (n.d.) ‘Executive Leadership Courses’. https://csp.
130 In the following chapter, we discuss CSP’s approach to reforming the South African treasury.gov.za/Resource%20_Centre/Components/Pag-
April 2009. http://www.oecd.org/officialdocuments/public
displaydocumentpdf/?doclanguage=en&cote=GOV/PGC/
131
urban planning system, focusing in particular on the introduction of a key instrument: the es/Core%20City%20Governance/CG1.aspx, accessed 15
GF(2009)1, accessed 30 June 2018.
Built Environment Performance Plan, or BEPP. August 2018.
Olver, C. (2017) How to Steal a City: The Battle for Nelson
DPME (2018) Implementation Evaluation of the Cities
Mandela Bay (Cape Town: Jonathan Ball).
Support Programme (Pretoria: The Presidency).
Palmer, I., Moodley, N., and Parnell, S. (2017) Building a
Fullan, M. (2005) Leadership & Sustainability: System
Capable State: Service Delivery in Post-Apartheid South
Thinkers in Action (Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press).
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Sanchez-Betancourt, D., and Vivier, E. (2016) ‘Improving
Governance and Democracy: Leadership and Community
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Involvement (London and New York: Routledge).
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Kolthoff, E., Huberts, L., and van den Heuvel, H. (2003) ‘The Presentation at HSRC seminar, 21 July 2016, Cape Town.
Ethics of New Public Management: Is Integrity at Stake?’. http://www.hsrc.ac.za/uploads/pageContent/7262/Presen-
Paper presented at the First Workshop of the EGPA Study tation.21%20July.Improving%20Community%20Engage-
Group ‘Ethics and Integrity of Governance’, Oeiras, Portu- ment%20SMALL.pdf, accessed 20 September 2018.
gal, September 2003.
Savage, D. (2008) ‘Key Themes and Trends in Municipal
Lægreid, P. (2014) ‘Accountability and New Public Man- Finance in South Africa’. In Van Donk, M., Swilling, M.,
agement’. In Bovens, M., Goodin, R. E., and Schillemans, Pieterse, E., and Parnell, S. (Eds), Consolidating Develop-
T. (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Public Accountability mental Local Government: The South African Experience
(Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 324–338. (Cape Town: UCT Press), pp. 285–316.
 Chapter 6
Planning
Reforms
Aims and Trigger change in planning approach, practice,
objectives and process to drive urban spatial t ransformation

132 Strategy Introduce new planning tools, and reform the

133
planning regulatory system, to ensure a closer
connection between spatial planning, budgeting,
and reporting on outcomes

Work areas l Reform planning and reporting systems to

enable the achievement of integrated outcomes
l Develop new planning tools and the capabilities
required for cities to develop spatial investment
frameworks

Key projects l Reforming the planning system

l Tools for spatial planning
l Built Environment Performance Plan annual
cycle

CSP aims to accelerate spatial transformation in South African cities by ‘closing the loop’
and ensuring alignment between planning, budgeting, and intended outcomes. This chapter
focuses specifically on the CSP’s strategic agenda to reform the approach, process, and
practice of urban planning, as well as the regulatory system surrounding that practice.
CSP’s work on consolidating and furthering the Built Environment Performance Plan
(BEPP) has been important and effective in many respects. However, metros have faced
considerable challenges in developing and implementing the BEPP, and questions remain
surrounding the Plan’s future institutionalization. How it is institutionalized will be a key
aspect of the more general legislative, institutional, and fiscal reforms required to further
capacitate and rationalize the planning system.

sydelle willow smith

We argue that CSP’s work on planning reforms is driven by a critique of integrated de-
velopment planning and spatial planning as it is conventionally practiced in South Africa,
and has been influenced by international ideas associated with strategic spatial planning City of Tshwane:
and New Public Management. In the South African context, CSP’s approach is distinctive Downtown street
in viewing planning as just one aspect of a much broader systemic agenda and process of scene at sunrise.
 reform. However, CSP’s reliance on a particular spatial development model and mode of Management Act — has the legal uncertainty over the intergovernmental allocation of
spatial targeting is contested. Moreover, this work raises questions about a recalibration planning functions been clarified. Land-use management is now, definitively, a municipal
of participatory planning as the basis for democratic and developmental local govern- function, and spatial planning activities undertaken by any sphere of government may not
ment in South Africa. encroach on the constitutional powers and functions afforded to local government. This,
In reflecting on this aspect of CSP’s work programme, a major theme that emerges in turn, has raised the need for ongoing reform to the regulatory planning system to ‘iron
is the importance of collaborative experimentation, learning, and adjustment in driving out’ its inconsistencies, and to prevent the duplication of responsibilities and functions.
effective reforms to planning regulation, approach, process, and practice. To ensure their Given the multi-scalar nature of these challenges, CSP has undertaken planning-re-
efficacy, future interventions and refinements will continue to be based on the logic of lated reforms at both the municipal and the intergovernmental levels. We describe the
coproduction and the codesign of policy and practice. approach and emphasis of this work below, following a brief discussion of the historical
context from which the CSP reform agenda emerged.

The challenge
Policy and strategic context
134 Despite the tremendous energy spent on capacitating municipal planning and reforming 135
the regulatory planning system in the post-apartheid era, planning practice has proven CSP’s interest in planning reform emerges from a longer process of transformation and
to be relatively ineffective at driving more productive and equitable urban spatial change reform within the local government fiscal system. Much of this has already been dis-
in South Africa. The country’s cities remain highly unequal and fragmented. Local gov- cussed in Chapter 2, but it is worthwhile recapping some of the more relevant trends here.
ernment planning legislation, created in the 1990s and early 2000s, has in many cases Major local government fiscal reform began in the early 1990s, with the negotiations
fostered a concern with following procedures rather than enabling more strategic ap- surrounding the post-apartheid transition. The first edition of the Municipal Infrastruc-
proaches to delivering better urban outcomes. The Integrated Development Plan (IDP) ture Investment Framework (MIIF) was launched in 1995. The ideas and precedents estab-
has, despite its original intention, seldom been used as a tool for governmental coopera- lished by the MIIF fed into the 2003 Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), which
tion and integration, and is sometimes approached by municipalities as an exercise in set out the state’s expectations for the devolution of fiscal powers and functions, while
compliance (see Box 6.1 below). retaining national government’s responsibility for budgetary monitoring and oversight.
Under the MFMA, the National Treasury is compelled to ensure that municipal budgeting
Box 6.1: The Compliance-Driven Nature of South African Planning Practice processes comply with national fiscal and macro-economic policies. It is also required to
regulate the implementation of budgets, including expenditure, revenue collection, and
It seems, over the last decade, our planning system has been very tired and lethargic, borrowing, in order to promote good municipal fiscal practice.
and became much more compliance-oriented and bureaucratically focused, rather The year after the passage of the MFMA, 2004, saw a major step towards consolida-
than concentrated on driving transformation. And that was partly because we would tion of the fiscal grant system through the launch of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant
say to municipalities, ‘did you submit your IDP on time — yes or no? Has it got all (MIG). Soon after, in 2007, a differentiated approach to municipal grant financing was
the chapters it is supposed to have — yes or no?’ And we didn’t link it to results on introduced through MIG-Cities, an outcomes-based and performance-oriented grant,
the ground. So, part of the response was to create live incentives, linking planning to available only to South Africa’s metros, and administered by the Department of Coopera-
performance against a set of indicators. Because otherwise we are just rewarding… tive Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA). MIG-Cities ultimately evolved into the
We don’t even know what we are rewarding. We are just rewarding the submission of Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG), the latter being introduced in the 2011
paper, or emails. edition of the Division of Revenue Act under the authority of the Department of Human
Settlements (DHS). Like MIG-Cities, the USDG aimed to boost municipal performance to
Jeremy Timm, CSP Strategic Support Manager achieve urban spatial transformation outcomes.
These reforms to the fiscal transfer system arose from the basic recognition that
there had been a general neglect of the spatial impact of public expenditure within the
At the municipal level, a major reason for the relative inefficacy of planning to shift the intergovernmental fiscal system. The collective thinking around how to address this prob-
spatial makeup and economic productivity of South African cities has been a lack of lem ultimately gave rise to a new planning instrument: the Built Environment Perform-
alignment between municipal spatial planning, budgeting, and reporting activities. With- ance Plan (BEPP), which is discussed in some detail in the sections that follow. National
out a clear ‘line of sight’ between where one directs development, how one pays for it, and Treasury began working to develop the BEPP on the back of its experiences with the MIG
how one reports on the performance of those investments, municipal plans and invest- and MIG-Cities, both of which responded to problems identified in municipal planning
ments run a high risk of promoting fragmented patterns of urban development. and reporting systems. Ultimately, Treasury officials advised the Department of Human
Effective municipal planning, budgeting, and reporting are also impeded by a range Settlements to adopt the BEPP as an instrument for disbursing the USDG. As such, in
of factors at the intergovernmental level. Only recently — through a 2010 verdict of the the 2011/12 financial year, Human Settlements introduced the BEPP as the eligibility re-
Constitutional Court, and subsequent passage of the 2013 Spatial Planning and Land Use quirement through which municipalities could access the USDG. CSP’s relationship with
 the BEPP had already begun in 2011, when Yasmin Coovadia was appointed by CSP. A other projects related to systemic planning reform and the development of new spatial
registered planner and housing practitioner, with experience working in NGOs, local and planning tools. Before discussing this diverse work agenda, however, we first introduce
provincial government, public sector banking, and as an independent development con- the overall strategic rationale of the sub-component.
sultant, Coovadia was promptly seconded to the Department of Human Settlements to
assist with the establishment and alignment of the USDG and BEPP.
By 2013, however, it was realized that the introduction of a single grant could not, by itself, Theory of change
influence spatial planning or budgeting decisions in metros, particularly as the natural ten-
dency of the sector was to look at the USDG as an additional housing grant, rather than as Planning Reforms is one of five sub-components sitting within the wider Core City Govern-
a multisectoral infrastructure grant for human settlement development biased in favour of ance Component. The planning reform agenda stems from the Programme’s overall stra-
in situ upgrading of informal settlements. At the same time, the national policy context was tegic approach, or theory of change (see Chapter 3), which aims to drive a causal chain
shifting and putting greater emphasis on the need for spatial transformation and outcomes- from improved city governance, to spatial transformation, to more inclusive, productive,
based governance. The National Development Plan, published in 2013, set out five principles and sustainable urban outcomes. Better planning is a key aspect of improved governance.
to inform planning: spatial justice, spatial sustainability, spatial resilience, spatial quality, CSP argues that we need a closer synergistic relationship between spatial planning,
136 and spatial efficiency. It further highlighted the weak capabilities for spatial governance budgeting processes, and the outcomes that one wishes to see. This means that planning 137
found across all spheres of government, as well as the ongoing disconnect between munici- reform has to proceed hand-in-hand with adjustments to the monitoring and reporting sys-
pal spatial planning, transport, and bulk infrastructure investments, which acted to obstruct tem (for example, developing standardized sets of output and outcome indicators, based
urban economic development and spatial transformation (NPC 2013, p. 286). on consensus, against which one can monitor the performance of municipal government),
Within Treasury, experiences gained from past practice, and the directions given by as well as to the fiscal system. Initially, in fact, projects addressing planning and report-
new national policy, collectively pointed to the understanding that fiscal reform (includ- ing reforms were undertaken as part of the same CSP sub-component, until they were
ing the differentiation of grant funding) should be complemented by focus on planning later separated, as a result of the complexity of the work required. This work on reporting
reforms and the design of integrated outcome indicators. So, as the BEPP was being intro- reforms is discussed in Chapter 7. Reforms to the fiscal system for infrastructure devel-
duced by the Department of Human Settlements, Treasury officials recognized the need opment, meanwhile, are considered a critical leverage point to changing the way that city
for greater consistency in what different metros were expected to report on, and how. governments operate. This fiscal reform agenda is discussed in more detail in Chapter 8.
They sought to define a common set of spatial outcomes — things that we would all wish The Planning Reforms sub-component aims to introduce new spatial planning ap-
to see happen in our cities — which would involve the standardization and rationalization proaches, processes, and practices, in conjunction with broader reforms to the regulato-
of indicators used to measure progress towards those outcomes. The idea was to develop ry planning system, to close the gaps between governance, investments in urban space,
a set of integrated outcome indicators, applicable across all metros, based on the logic of and performance monitoring, in order to drive the realization of better outcomes. Within
coproduction and consensus. By early 2013, a Treasury team had started to work on de- this process, the Built Environment Performance Plan (BEPP) is the key tool used to drive
veloping this common set of outcomes. Initial progress was slow. As the team proceeded, changes in local government planning, budgeting, and reporting practice. The BEPP was
they realized the huge amount of time and effort that would be required. Even once broad designed as a ‘strategic intervention’ or ‘change trigger’ to drive a shift in the behaviour
agreement was reached on outcomes statements, going into the technicalities of design- of municipal officials and departments, and is described below.
ing outcome indicators, and making sure that they were measurable, proved to be highly
challenging and time consuming. Nonetheless, as we shall see in Chapter 7, a significant
success was ultimately achieved through the publication of Circular 88 in November 2017. Work programme
Meanwhile, the Department of Human Settlements had decided that they would not
require municipalities to produce BEPPs in order to access the USDG, asking only for a CSP addresses its efforts to three main areas of planning reform. First, it works on man-
more limited ‘business plan’. CSP and National Treasury took over the BEPP as a plan- aging and carrying out ongoing refinements to the annual BEPP cycle; second, it pro-
ning instrument, and linked it to the Integrated City Development Grant (ICDG), which motes reforms to the planning regulatory system; and third, it seeks to introduce new,
was introduced in the 2013/14 financial year. Under Treasury’s administration and over- appropriate, and effective spatial planning tools. These areas are described in more detail
sight, and through the sustained efforts of the CSP, the BEPP has evolved into a complex in the following sub-sections, following a more substantial explanation of the logic and
planning, budgeting, and reporting instrument through which metros can coordinate the approach embodied by the BEPP.
full range of built environment grants available to them, within the context of other sourc-
es of funding, as a means to drive spatial transformation.
In sum, promoting and fine-tuning a connection between planning, budgeting, and The Built Environment Performance Plan
outcomes has required ongoing work to reform the regulatory and reporting system for
spatial planning, the introduction of new planning instruments, as well as a range of spe- Possibly the single most significant impact that CSP has had within the eight metros has
cific support interventions. In the sections that follow, we outline some of the key areas resulted from its efforts to implement and refine the BEPP: a spatially-targeted infra-
of CSP’s work on planning reforms. The main focus is on the BEPP, but we also describe structure investment plan developed within a results-based or outcomes-led framework
 (Palmer et al. 2017). While the BEPP was the brainchild of a wider Treasury team and proc- The BEPP is based on the logic of ‘spatial targeting’, according to the recommendations
ess, as mentioned above, CSP has played a key role in supporting its writing, evolution, of the National Development Plan (NPC 2013). Spatial targeting describes an ‘approach
and implementation. Under CSP’s guidance, the BEPP has emerged as an important ‘tool where specific areas are prioritized for investment at a range of geographic scales, within
for change’; a means to align the investment of built environment grant funding, along- an urban system, to achieve particular development outcomes’ (National Treasury 2017a,
side other sources of finance, while improving intergovernmental coordination in urban p. 7). The prioritization of particular areas for capital investment is intended to drive the
planning, budget allocation, and implementation of projects and programmes (National emergence of a hierarchy of urban spaces ‘where the cumulative effect of public, private,
Treasury 2017a). As such, the BEPP emerged with two main objectives. First, it aims to and household investment will contribute to spatial transformation’. It is not intended to
promote better spatial and temporal coordination of the way that metros spend the vari- exclude certain areas from the allocation of resources. However, this remains a tension
ous built environment fiscal grants available to them. For CSP, these infrastructure grants and a critique of the approach (DPME 2015).
are seen as a critical lever with which to influence total capital expenditure in metropoli- Within this broad approach, the BEPP requires metropolitan municipalities to adopt
tan spaces. Second, the BEPP exists as a ‘strategic public management framework’ that a spatial planning method based on integrated transit-oriented development (TOD), as
facilitates collaboration ‘across sectors and spheres for the alignment of public resources articulated in the Urban Network Strategy (UNS) (Harrison 2017). The UNS (represented
into strategic urban locations across the planning, funding, delivery, and operations cycle’ graphically in Figure 6.2) emerged from a range of practices and processes that were
138 (National Treasury 2017a, p. 11). The BEPP has therefore evolved into the key mechanism being considered within national government and National Treasury in the 2000s, and 139
by which the CSP has attempted to drive spatial transformation by ‘closing the loop’ be- particularly from the work of the Neighbourhood Development Partnership Programme
tween planning, budgeting, and reporting frameworks (National Treasury 2017b, p. 5). (NDPP), a Treasury unit that focuses on township economic development (see Box 6.2).
As an ‘outcomes-led plan’, the BEPP works backwards from a set of mutually-agreed TOD is defined as a planning concept and approach that directs public and private in-
built environment outcomes. These outcomes are assembled under the overarching rubric of vestment to areas of maximum public transport access in a city, in such a way as to create
creating more productive, sustainable, inclusive, and well-governed cities. The BEPP has to more liveable urban environments (National Treasury 2017a). TOD constitutes the concep-
show, specifically, how each allocation of capital and operating finance within the municipal tual and strategic baseline of the UNS. As part of creating a BEPP, municipal officials are
budget aligns within a ‘coherent investment logic’ that will give rise to the various intended asked to identify a number of ‘integration zones’, or specific spatial planning elements that
outcomes (National Treasury 2017a, p. 11). It thus provides a medium-term programmatic collectively constitute a city’s spatial and mobility network. New infrastructure investments
agenda within the long-term vision for urban development set out by a Municipal Spatial are then directed toward these zones. The UNS thus acts on the intentions and objectives
Development Framework (National Treasury 2017a). This process — of defining outcomes of spatial targeting, by identifying a hierarchy of urban spaces — urban nodes of advanced
and then working out specifically what activities are required to achieve those outcomes — or lagging productivity, and the activity and public transport corridors that connect them —
characterizes the logic of the Built Environment Value Chain (BEVC) (see Figure 6.1). into which capital investments will be channelled to drive spatial transformation (National
Treasury 2017a, p. 11). To promote intergovernmental coordination, planned investments
Figure 6.1: The Built Environment Value Chain (source: National Treasury 2017a) within prioritized areas are organized into an Intergovernmental Programme Pipeline, com-
prising the full range of catalytic development programmes pursued by metro, provincial,
and national government, as well as state-owned enterprises, within the municipal area.
Desired Outcomes: Compact Cities and Transformed Urban Spaces
(source: DPME 2018)
Figure 6.2: The Urban Network Strategy
Institutional Coordination
& Operational Resourcing

Spatial Catalytic Programme Project Preparation Underserved

Targeting and Resource Planning & Implementation Townships

Intergovernmental Developed
Project Pipeline Area
Integration CBD
Zone

Targeted Urban Management (Precinct Management)

Underserved Underserved
Townships Townships
Reporting & Evaluation
 Box 6.2: The Emergence of the Urban Network Strategy Fourth, the progression model allows the focus of the BEPPs to shift over time so as to
‘progressively and incrementally’ address the various ‘structural impediments to spatial
The NDPP was in Treasury before the CSP started. It began to evaluate what it was doing transformation’ as they arise (National Treasury 2017a). Finally, this approach allows for
in the realm of township development, and how it needed to do it. The township focus the progression model, as well as its evaluation and implementation arrangements, to
was always there, which is fine. But they decided to do other kinds of projects after the themselves be subject to ongoing development and refinement.
first round, like Vilakazi Street and the Hector Pieterson Memorial. And they were get- Accordingly, the CSP operates a number of projects intended to shape the BEPP as it
ting more involved with station precincts and mobility and connectivity, and so on. So, matures and evolves. These include the annual production of BEPP guidelines, evaluation
there was always an urban network strategy and an urban investment strategy that was of the metros’ BEPPs, and providing direct technical support to cities to assist with the
evolving within Treasury in the NDPP. At some stage we said, ‘there are overlaps here; BEPP process.
there are synergies as well. How can you put the two together?’ When we started with
the BEPPs, David Van Niekerk from the NDPP came to us and explained their intentions
to work with the Urban Network Strategy. We considered that it would help us to tar- BEPP guidelines
get the spatial agenda. So, we engaged with that. We tried to influence each other, and
140 change each other. Finally, we found a middle ground and took it. Every year the CSP releases a new set of supplementary guidelines which, alongside a 141
permanent set of core guidelines, assist metros with the BEPP process as it moves along 95
Yasmin Coovadia, CSP Planning Reforms Sub-Component Lead the progression scale, from the identification of integration zones through to the imple- Entirely new guidelines
were issued every year
mentation of projects.95 The guidelines are not intended to ‘usurp the municipal function until 2017, when it was
of spatial planning and land-use management’. Rather, they seek to ‘work collaboratively decided to consolidate
The Built Environment Performance Plan Annual Cycle with metropolitan municipalities’, sharing examples of good practice within the context all previous guidelines
of efforts (at the national level) to create a more ‘enabling policy and regulatory environ- into one set of ‘core
The annual BEPP cycle was specifically designed such that it would align with annual local ment’ to drive urban spatial transformation (National Treasury 2017a, p. 1). guidelines’, to be
complemented by the
government budgeting and review processes undertaken by National Treasury in terms of The BEPP guidelines comprise two components: a core set of guidelines that explains annual publication
the regulations of the MFMA. Specifically, the BEPP cycle aligns with the municipal Mid- the general logic and requirements of the BEPP; and supplementary guidelines, linked spe- of ‘supplementary
Year Budget Review (taking place in January or February each year) and the Budget and cifically to a municipality’s Medium Term Revenue and Expenditure Framework (MTREF), guidelines’. Interview
Benchmarking Engagements (held in April or May) overseen by Treasury, both of which are which are also released annually. As the BEPP system has evolved, these guidelines have with Catherine Stone,
requirements of the Medium Term Revenue and Expenditure Framework (MTREF). This is placed greater emphasis on the institutional and financial arrangements necessary to ac- Cape Town, 1 June
2018.
one of the distinctive features of the BEPP, setting it aside from other kinds of municipal celerate the implementation of projects and programmes (see Table 6.1) (National Treasury
plans, and ensuring a direct linkage between municipal planning and budgeting processes. 2017b, p. 6). In the future, the guidelines will address issues lying further along the BEVC.
The BEPP was never intended as a once-off statement of government intention, nor as
a simple regulatory requirement. Rather, CSP has envisaged the BEPP within a ‘progres- Table 6.1: Focus of BEPP Guidelines (after National Treasury 2017b)
sion model’. Progression models, or ‘maturity models’, have increasingly been applied
within the public sector over the last decade. They are based on a ‘developmental view of Year Focus
the public sector’, and the notion that good government performance is not something
that appears ‘overnight’, particularly in large organizations like metropolitan municipali- 2014–15 Introducing the BEPPs as an instrument of the Integrated City Development
ties. Rather, progression models propose incremental steps that can be taken to improve Grant (ICDG) and other built environment grants with an emphasis on
performance (National Treasury 2017a, p. 42). The adoption of a progression model was spatial planning and the identification of integration zones using the Urban
partly a function of CSP’s recognition that the metros have varying levels of capacity and Network Strategy (UNS) (Harrison 2017)
capability, and therefore progress in the quality of a BEPP’s content and the rigour of the
BEPP process was expected to vary considerably between cities. As a result, appropriate 2015–16 Refining, enhancing, and consolidating spatial planning by providing greater
levels and kinds of support could be identified and targeted at particular metros. clarity on the urban network elements and catalytic projects
The progression model fulfils several functions and objectives. First, it enables the
metros to assess their own progress in their capacities and capabilities, and to encour- 2016–17 Providing clarity on how to prioritize integration zones, project preparation,
age clear accountability for the ongoing strengthening of the BEPP process and outputs. intergovernmental planning, and urban management
For this, CSP has developed a BEPP evaluation framework, which is discussed below.
Second, it provides national government with a ‘more nuanced and responsive approach’ 2017–18 Establishing an actionable intergovernmental pipeline of catalytic
to providing support and incentives to metros. Third, although not the primary objective to 2019–20 programmes via portfolio management and project preparation tools, and
of the evaluation framework, it enables different metros to assess and compare their per- clarifying long-term financing policies and strategies for sustainable capital
formance with one another, thus providing a means of benchmarking and peer learning. financing of the intergovernmental project pipeline
 BEPP evaluations Figure 6.3: The BEPP Progression Model in Relation to the Provision of Support and Incentives
(source: National Treasury 2017a)

Evaluation is a critical aspect of the BEPP progression model. This happens in several Support Incentive
discrete steps. First, metros are expected to self-assess their preparation of the BEPP,
ideally through a process of ‘facilitated internal dialogue’ involving the core BEPP team
as well as local officials drawn from sectoral, planning, finance, and monitoring and eval-
uation departments. Second, CSP team members, alongside a larger National Treasury

Extent of Response
team, conduct an initial evaluation of the draft BEPPs submitted by the metros during
their Mid-Year Budget Review. Third, the CSP and Treasury team assess the draft BEPP in
relation to the municipal IDP and budget tabled at their annual Budget and Benchmarking
Engagements. Fourth, CSP facilitates independent evaluations (conducted by external
consultants) of the final, Council-approved BEPPs. Fifth, National Treasury hosts an An-
nual BEPP Evaluation Workshop that includes an emphasis on peer review and metro
142 self-assessment (National Treasury 2017a, p. 43). The results of these evaluations collec- 143
tively feed into the process of drafting the new supplementary guidelines for the BEPP
(National Treasury 2017a, p. 44).
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4
These processes are carried out using an evaluation framework capable of monitor-
BEPP Maturity
ing the maturity and ongoing development of an individual metro’s BEPP. This framework
is designed to provide a rational, evidence-based, and holistic assessment of each BEPP.
It assesses each Plan with respect to the processes by which it was formulated and insti- Box 6.3: Developing the BEPP Guidelines
tutionalized, as well as its quality and content (National Treasury 2017a). In essence, the
framework breaks down each section of the BEPP document into various subcategories It was built year-on-year. We developed guidelines for 2014–15 and for each year after
and performance standards based on the content required by the BEPP Guidelines. Each that. It shows you the evolution of and progress along the Built Environment Value
section is weighted according to its relative importance within the latest set of guide- Chain. And because you assess year-on-year what came through the BEPPs, you are
lines. To date, this importance has been placed on the BEPP document and process itself. able to pull the metros further along the value chain. And that in itself was such a big
In the future, the emphasis of weighting might shift to issues surrounding the BEPP’s learning process. For everyone involved. Mostly the cities.
institutionalization, or the degree to which it is embedded into the metros’ everyday plans
and practices (National Treasury 2017a, p. 43). Yasmin Coovadia, CSP Planning Reforms Sub-Component Lead
The assessor scores the BEPP document against each standard, motivating and
providing evidence for this score (National Treasury 2017b). Each standard is scored ac-
cording to a four-level classification system, which ranges from ‘tin’ (zero fulfilment), Planning system reform
to ‘silver’ (partially fulfilled), ‘gold’ (fulfilled), and ‘platinum’ (exemplary). A metro can
then be assessed, and can assess itself, according to its progress towards a better- As in many of CSP’s other thematic components, a key aspect of the Programme’s work
aligned pipeline of plans and projects. This enables each city to strengthen its own inter- on planning reform addresses the systemic legislative and regulatory context in which
nal BEPP processes and outputs. It also allows CSP, and national government generally, city planning activities are undertaken. Specifically, CSP aims to establish a vision and
to tailor its support and incentive interventions to different metros, depending on where programme for how the broader institutional and regulatory system for urban spatial
they sit within the overall progression model (see Figure 6.3). The incentives offered to a planning can be better aligned so as to enhance the agency of city government to drive
metro to improve its BEPP could be grant-related; for example, the allocation of a por- spatial transformation.
tion of the ICDG or an additional grant could be linked to the progress of a city’s BEPP In practical terms, this work has involved CSP working with COGTA in drafting a memo-
(National Treasury 2017a, p. 44). randum on the Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF), for presentation to Cabi-
Once the evaluations have been completed, the framework itself is then reviewed net. In addition, National Treasury’s experiences with the BEPPs contributed to a review of
to ensure that it is appropriately responsive to the issues emphasized in successive the SDF guidelines linked to SPLUMA (National Treasury 2017c), and will also be used to
versions of the guidelines. As part of this process, it is possible that unique weight- review the IDP Guidelines. CSP hosts seminars and workshops that engage a wide variety
ings for individual metros, which for various reasons may occupy different positions of stakeholders, from all levels of government, involved in planning reform issues. CSP has
within the progression model at any point in time, may be applied (National Treasury also produced a series of technical notes on a range of relevant topics. For example, recent
2017a). reports have assessed past experiences and the potential for future reforms in areas such
as: spatial targeting; outcomes-led planning; infrastructure-led growth; coordinated inter-
governmental planning, budgeting, and implementation; strategy-led budgeting; new strate-
 gic planning tools; as well as the alignment of planning, budgeting, and capital expenditure. Box 6.4: Challenges of Reforming the Planning System
In the sections that follow, we will discuss this agenda as it relates to two areas: legal
and regulatory reform, strategy-led budgeting. What we came up with was a programme to really change the law. You can’t have mul-
tiple legal requirements for exactly the same sort of thing. It must be clear: there is one
Legal and regulatory reform spatial plan, there is one integrated plan, there is one investment plan, and the way they
fit together is like this... Whereas, instead, you have two spatial plans, three capital
Over the past two decades, the spatial planning system has been shaped and affected investment plans. There is an IDP, and an SDBIP, and a BEPP. Some people will tell you
by numerous pieces of national legislation, each with their own regulations and require- it is all integrated, it is all the same, and it is a seamless thing, but it is not. You have the
ments. For example, the BEPP, like SPLUMA, has introduced its own set of planning re- Department of Rural Development and Land Reform running with SPLUMA, so imme-
quirements, on top of those asked for by earlier rounds of local government legislation. diately you have a problem with the Department of Rural Development doing the city
While SPLUMA clarified some of the issues of legal uncertainty surrounding intergovern- planning. The decision has been made to move SPLUMA to COGTA. It hasn’t happened
mental roles and responsibilities, municipalities now face the challenge of implementing yet, but when it does you would have an inherent logic: you would have one Minister
the improvements introduced by new legislation while a number of other difficulties re- now responsible for the Systems Act and the IDPs, as well as for SPLUMA and its
144 main in place (National Treasury 2016). As such, CSP and National Treasury have investi- SDFs. Then the incentives are all in alignment for that Minister to say, ‘for heaven’s 145
gated how to go about fixing the confusion and duplication found within the wider regula- sake, just bang these things together’. But until you do that, you have two Ministers,
tory framework governing urban spatial planning (see Table 6.2). Some of the findings of neither of whom wants to relinquish their instrument, and because of that the Treasury
this work are described in Box 6.4. said, ‘we will put in the BEPP because of the dysfunction that exists here’. That is not
a sustainable solution. It is plugging the hole. It is a really expensive thing to have all
Table 6.2: National Legislated Requirements for Municipal Planning these different processes running, doing the same thing, with a BEPP in between. The
BEPP has made an invaluable contribution, but it didn’t have to be that way: aligning
the legislation may well have yielded the same results, sooner, and more sustainably.
Legislation Responsible department Requirements
Stephen Berrisford, urban planning and legal expert
Municipal Systems Department of Cooperative l Integrated
Act (2000) Governance and Traditional Development Plan (IDP)
Affairs l Spatial Development CSP recognizes that the introduction of the BEPP is only one aspect of a wider reform
Framework (SDF) process that is needed in the spatial planning system. Other kinds of legislative, institu-
l Capital Expenditure
tional, and fiscal changes are also needed to address the disconnection and confusion
that affect municipal planning (National Treasury 2016). The various elements of the sys-
Framework
tem need to be further rationalized and aligned if urban spatial transformation is to be
achieved. This, in turn, calls for broad consensus, across multiple spheres and sectors
Municipal Finance National Treasury Service Delivery and
of government, on the changes that are required, and the way in which those changes
Management Act Budget Implementation should be effected. This will require a coproduced effort that includes cities and a wide
(2003) Plan (SDBIP) range of government departments. It is possible, however, that an impermanent reform
platform based in National Treasury, like CSP, is not ideally placed to drive such a proc-
Division of Revenue National Treasury Built Environment ess of consensus-building and reform.
Act Performance Plan (BEPP)

Spatial Planning Department of Rural l Municipal Spatial Strategy-led budgeting

and Land Use Development and Land Reform Development
Management Act Framework (MSDF) One particular area of ongoing National Treasury and CSP work has investigated how
strategy-led budgeting can be advanced in the local government context. Undertaken
(2013) l Capital Expenditure
in partnership with the metros, COGTA, and the Department of Rural Development and
Framework Land reform (DRDLR), this work draws on metro experiences with the BEPP process to
make recommendations for promoting ‘a stronger and more direct relationship between
strategic spatial planning and budgeting’ (National Treasury 2018a, p. 3). In principle,
strategy-led budgeting is the enabling environment in which the Built Environment Value
Chain can operate efficiently. However, the existence of the BEPP itself is not sufficient
 to guarantee the creation of this enabling environment, which often calls for changes in making at the municipal level, SACN and CSP jointly commissioned a study to investi-
organizational behaviour and culture (see Box 6.5). Moreover, administrative and political gate the development of a tool to assist metros in addressing the location of large-scale
leadership is critical to making strategy-led budgeting possible, and in enabling the ap- greenfields housing projects, and to assist them in delivering housing solutions in better
proach so that it filters into wider institutional ways of thinking and acting. urban locations (National Treasury 2018b). This evaluation concluded that metros do not
have access to mechanisms to assess large-scale residential development proposals in
Box 6.5: The Challenge of Strategy-Led Budgeting terms of their total fiscal impact, including capital and operating costs and the cost of
provincial infrastructure provision. As a result, it was decided to commission the Palmer
The big struggle with the BEPP was always to communicate how the budget is aligned Development Group to develop a relevant tool in partnership with eThekwini Municipality.
with the strategy. We would find that the budget decisions would be made in a dark Released in 2015, the FIT took the form of a spreadsheet-based model enabling metros
room, and when they came out the other end we’d have to quickly check the strategic to assess the long-term fiscal impact of development applications at specific greenfields
narrative to see that they matched up… But that is a problem inside the municipalities sites within the municipality. The purpose of the tool is, broadly speaking, to inform better
around opening up the budget process, which is starting to happen. But, again, this decision-making around development approvals in relation to spatial location, to illus-
is actually a short timeframe in quite a long process of planning reform and changing trate the trade-offs involved when approving developments in different locations, and to
146 organizational behaviour around integrated planning… The BEPP doesn’t control the identify long-term capital and operating costs to inform negotiations around the alloca- 147
budget decision-making process, so there is an organizational culture that has to em- tion of limited financial resources (National Treasury 2018b).
brace the realization that budget decisions have to be made in accordance with strategy. The intention behind FIT was to produce ‘an extremely light version of UrbanSim’, an
open source urban simulation system designed to support metropolitan land use, trans-
Catherine Stone, planning expert and former Director of Spatial Planning and Urban portation, and environmental planning:
Development, City of Cape Town
To get the services of UrbanSim you need a lot of money, and the capacity to
do it. Actually, if you don’t have the capacity in the municipality, the Council for
In order to drive a wider recognition of the importance of strategy-led budgeting, a munici- Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) runs it for you. So, how are we going 98
pality’s larger spatial strategy has to be coherent, working from a common set of assump- to give the cities something cheap, easy, but powerful to use? That is how we Interview with Yasmin
tions and baseline data, and translated into a specific set of projects and programmes. designed it.98 Coovadia, Pretoria, 22
May 2018.
Once this pipeline of strategy-aligned programmes and projects is in place, budgetary
96 decision-making becomes a simple matter of ‘prioritization’, thereby reducing the risk of In early 2016, FIT was tested in several different cities, mostly with success. However,
Interview with the budget decisions departing from the logic of a metro’s development strategy. 96 despite the demand for such a tool from the metros, its uptake has been less than sat-
Catherine Stone, Cape CSP has come to recognize that putting in place appropriate formal institutional isfactory — none of the cities have officially adopted FIT as a decision-making tool. The
Town, 1 June 2018. structures and processes is a necessary but insufficient condition to enable real trans- most significant uptake was seen in Cape Town, where following its testing, it was cus-
versal engagement and strategy-led budgeting. Engagements between strategic plan- tomized as a means to develop the city’s Medium-Term Integrated Infrastructure Frame-
ners and financial managers can’t simply happen once a year, during the annual budg- work (MTIIF), as well as a new Spatial Costing Tool (SCOT). The latter is capable of as-
eting cycle. These conversations need to happen, but they in turn must feed back into sessing different growth management strategies in terms of their capital and operating
the subsequent preparation of plans and budgets. As such, formal transversal structures cost implications for the municipality over a twenty-year period. Aside from Cape Town,
should be complemented with ongoing, adaptive, and reiterative processes of learning a recent review of FIT’s application found that generally there is ‘either an inability or a
and self-correction. Officials need to continuously ask whether the results intended by lack of willingness on the part of the metros’ to adopt the Tool. Reasons may include a lack
97 strategy-led budgeting are, in fact, delivering the built environment outcomes they desire. of interdepartmental cooperation; poor, inconsistent, or non-existent data management
Interview with This is likely to be ‘a messy, incremental process’.97 Nonetheless, experience has shown systems; lack of technical understanding of the FIT and its abilities; disengaged users; or
Catherine Stone, Cape that ‘a shared understanding and ownership of the outcomes sought and the long-term lack of user-friendliness (National Treasury 2018b, p. 13).
Town, 1 June 2018. commitment needed to turn our cities around’ is a critical precondition for strategy-led One of the major challenges concerns municipal data collection and management
planning to work effectively (National Treasury 2018a, p. 16). practices. Many cities simply do not keep data in a form that can be fed into the FIT. Get-
ting cities to generate that data requires working slowly in partnership with city officials,
guiding them and demonstrating the advantages that the collection of accurate data —
Spatial Planning Tools and the application of such tools — can offer. Other problems are external to the munici-
palities themselves, and relate to the skills training that planning professionals receive.
In addition to carrying out ongoing reforms to the BEPP and the spatial planning regula- Very few planning graduates, at least in the South African context, are exposed to the
99
tory system, CSP also produces a range of tools to assist municipalities with their ongoing kinds of data analysis and programming techniques that are necessary to use something Interview with Yasmin
planning functions. Here we focus on one specific example: the Fiscal Impacts Tool (FIT). like FIT effectively. 99 Coovadia, Pretoria, 22
As part of the wider drive to encourage evidence-based spatial planning and decision- It remains for CSP to decide exactly how to take something like the FIT forward, which May 2018.
 may involve not only improving the tool itself, but also strengthening technical skills and ment in an already cluttered regulatory environment.
systems within municipalities. This experience shows that the issue of developing spatial Although each BEPP has to address particular requirements of the Division of Reve-
planning tools is not simply about providing a technical solution to a pressing local prob- nue Act, metros nonetheless have a fair degree of flexibility in how they can go about craft-
lem. Rather, the introduction of new tools must link up with a range of political, institu- ing the plan and developing its substantive content. Each metro, for example, has been
tional, educational, and technical processes in order to guarantee their uptake. relatively free to decide on the size and shape of its integration zones, often drawing upon
the spatial vision for future city-wide development articulated in the Municipal Spatial De-
velopment Frameworks required by SPLUMA. In Ekurhuleni, for example, the primary inte-
Successes and challenges gration zone naturally focuses on the vicinity of a major economic and transport hub: the
O. R. Tambo International Airport. Cape Town’s integration zone, by contrast, is nicknamed
Having covered the broad outlines of CSP’s different areas of work relating to planning re- the ‘blue turtle’, due to the shape and colours with which it is generally represented in the
form, we now change tack and address the various successes and challenges associated City’s SDF. The ‘turtle’ straddles the city’s central business district and extends along sev-
with this work, both for CSP itself and for the metros. The focus is again on the introduc- eral key movement and activity corridors radiating outwards. Johannesburg’s integration
tion of the BEPP as a new kind of plan, process, and approach. zones have been oriented around a series of three TOD corridors radiating from the city’s
148 From the perspective of the CSP team, the principal challenge has been to navigate central business district. In each case, officials have had sufficient freedom — within the 149
the long hard process of engaging with city governments, national departments, and broad strategic-spatial bounds of the Urban Networks Strategy and TOD approach — to
other stakeholders to develop the BEPP concept, process, indicators, guidelines, and tailor the BEPP’s content to the specific demands and needs of their city. 102
evaluative framework. Often this process has been both exhausting and rewarding, in- The cities have also been afforded considerable flexibility in how the BEPP process is Interview with
volving mutual frustration and learning. It appears, however, that these challenges are institutionalized. In some cities, the BEPP was effectively run out of the municipal spatial Catherine Stone, Cape
outweighed by the benefits. The value of the BEPP, for CSP, has to be read against the planning office. In others, it was run by the city manager’s office, according to a ‘corpo- Town, 1 June 2018.
specific objectives and intentions that informed its adoption in the first place. Jeremy ratist’ approach. A former metro planning official suggests that ‘there are arguments for
Timm reflects on the strategic intent of the BEPP, and suggests this has been realized: both’ approaches: 103
The Strategic Planning
The BEPPs were an intervention, which, once they had achieved their initial in- A lot of metros believe it should be from a corporate point of view. Johannesburg Steering Committee
tention, could be withdrawn because the statutory instruments actually allow for and Cape Town felt it ran very well out of spatial planning, but I think in those is led, politically, by
the political portfolio
everything we are doing. We often used the metaphor of jumper leads for a car: the instances the spatial planning functions had positioned themselves to play a cor-
head of Economic
battery has run flat and we needed to boost it. And we even went as far as using porate integrating role anyway, and they had strong relationships with different Development, Tourism,
the metaphor of defibrillators, you know: when you are about to die you need to departments. But that could differ in a different metro. I think there should be flex- and Agriculture, and
100 boost the heart and shake it into action, and we used the BEPP as that. It seems ibility in how a metro goes about this. 102 includes the Mayor’s
Interview with Jeremy to have done it.100 Office, City Manager,
Timm, Pretoria, 22 May Chief Financial Officer,
Nelson Mandela Bay, by contrast, followed a more corporatist approach: the BEPP proc-
2018. Chief Operating
Moreover, for CSP and National Treasury, the specific value of the BEPP lies, in part, in ess operates through a Strategic Planning Steering Committee, a transversal manage- Officer, as well as
securing a measure of oversight and influence over local spatial planning and financial ment team established in October 2016 in place of an IDP and Budget Steering Commit- portfolio Councillors
decision-making, according to the Treasury’s constitutional obligation to regulate munici- tee.103 This Committee, which meets monthly, not only oversees the process of producing and Executive
pal budgetary implementation. and writing the BEPP, but also performs a wider strategic oversight role within the metro. Directors, and relevant
officials responsible
For example, it monitors the expenditure on grants like the USDG and ICDG, and intro-
for budgeting and
For us — us being CSP at Treasury — it brings tighter oversight, so twice a year duces all new catalytic developments and CSP initiatives to the full range of municipal Treasury, Economic
we are able to influence engagements with the municipality on what exactly is stakeholders, thus ensuring that all are aware of these projects and their potential in- Development,
happening in terms of their plans, the budget allocated to those functions, and volvement therein. This approach has been effective in helping to avoid problems arising Human Settlements,
expenditure and implementation. So, it gives us tight oversight, and I think that is from the duplication or overlapping of departmental responsibilities, to clarify matters of Infrastructure and
Engineering, Electricity
one big plus versus the IDPs, which we don’t have that oversight over when it goes internal leadership, and to bring discrete departmental activities into a single coherent
and Energy, the City
through a COGTA process and is generally looser. And secondly, the BEPP repre- programme comprising multiple contributions.104 Manager’s Office, and
sents the metros’ capital expenditure in a very targeted way, so if we are wanting Metro officials noted that the BEPP had led to innovations in engagement and coop- Strategic Planning.
101 to influence ‘bang for buck’, rather than just looking at the overall picture for the eration, both within and external to the local government sphere. Internally, the BEPP
Interview with Anthea municipalities, the BEPP gives us that targeted access.101 process has led to the creation of new institutional structures and processes for trans-
Stephens, Pretoria, 22 104
versal planning and management. A former planning official in Cape Town highlights this:
May 2018. Interview with
For the metros, the challenges of the BEPP process have taken a somewhat different Dawn McCarthy,
form. Initially, the BEPP received a frosty reception from some city officials. In some The BEPP started to open up the conversations around aligning budgeting and by telephone, 10
cases, it was seen as another layer of compliance, handed down from national govern- strategic planning, because we never used to talk to the finance people, as plan- September 2018.
 ners. I don’t think we fully comprehended the opportunity, the strategic oppor- threat part of that is to say, ‘if you don’t do it this way you won’t get the grant fund-
105
Interview with tunity we had to push the spatial agenda in the finance space, and to show the ing’. It is useful to be able to say to all of our sector departments, ‘if you don’t 107
Catherine Stone, Cape connections between municipal finance and spatial planning. It is not just about participate here I will cut your grant’.107 Interview 35.
Town, 1 June 2018. the public transport grant and its sustainability; it is about many other things.105
In other cases, the problem of a lack of internal engagement and collaboration has been
Box 6.6: A Metro Official’s Perspective on the BEPP less one of inter-departmental politics, and more an issue of, as one metro official put
it, ‘getting the importance of what we are doing recognized by others; getting political 108
I think the BEPPs have been extremely useful. I think that in many instances the BEPP and administrative leadership on the same page’.108 Here again, the regulatory weight af- Interview 34.
is used as more of a reference document than the IDP and other plans, because it is so forded to the BEPP means that it can play an important political role, as another former
focused and spatially targeted. And the way it is driven at the national level has been official commented:
exceptionally well done. Institutionally, the BEPP is being recognized for what it is do-
ing and what it does in a way that SDFs and IDPs, which are really about ‘ticking the It is surprisingly difficult to convince local government politicians of the impor-
boxes’, do not. This is partly because of the people who are involved. They make sure tance of spatial transformation and integration. It really is quite difficult. So, to
150 that we meet the deadlines, that there is a mid-term review, as well as a budget bench- be able to say to them, Treasury want a plan, and they want this plan to do the fol- 109 151
marking session. They ensure that we demonstrate that we have planning-led budgets, lowing things… they must tick the boxes around spatial transformation, they must Interview with
and are introducing planning into the budgeting evaluation processes. I think all of that push this agenda, they must push efficiencies. It is really helpful.109 Catherine Stone, Cape
Town, 1 June 2018.
has been extremely valuable, and it is really making people think in new ways. Because
previously, budget preparation was budget preparation, happening in relative isolation. As such, some individual officials have found the BEPP to offer considerable strategic ad-
It was really about balancing the books. Whereas now, there is far greater institutional vantages in their own work, helping them to engage with other municipal actors in a trans-
consciousness around the importance of strategic planning-led budgeting processes, versal way, and to reach agreement on strategic priorities for future budgeting and project
certainly in our metro, which has never had sophisticated strategic planning at all. implementation. On one hand, spatial planners, like those quoted above, tend to appreciate
the BEPP for empowering their spatial arguments in relation to fiscal and sectoral process-
Dawn McCarthy, Senior Director of Strategic Planning and Coordination, es. On the other hand, one external observer argued that some senior municipal and financial
Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality managers may welcome the BEPP as something that allows them to undertake capital in- 110
vestment planning and prioritization without having to go through public consultation.110 This Interview 10.
suggests that the BEPP can mean different things to different people — and these meanings
Metro officials also noted that the BEPP process has helped to create new conversations may sometimes be at odds with the stated intentions of National Treasury and CSP.
and processes external to municipalities themselves. In the case of Nelson Mandela Bay, For all its strategic advantages, the introduction of the BEPP has undoubtedly result-
the influence of National Treasury has brought the activities of parastatals like the Pas- ed in challenges for the metros. As outlined above, sometimes there has been difficulty
senger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) into closer proximity to municipal planning in building cross-departmental support for the process — problems only aggravated by
processes. Representatives of these kinds of agencies now attend budget benchmarking the churn of political leaders and administrative staff. Moreover, for some officials, the
and reviews, explaining their strategies and programmes directly to the metros and other process of writing a BEPP is itself burdensome and all-consuming — the document can
departments. Provincial and local government processes have also been brought closer run over hundreds of pages, and some officials felt they were left with little time to do 111
106 together: ‘Now we really are talking a common planning language, and we are starting to anything else.111 The annual release of updated BEPP Guidelines has also complicated Interviews 16 and 30.
Interview with plan together, and that also would not have happened if it wasn’t for the CSP’.106 matters for the metros, as officials have had to adjust their BEPPs according to specific
Dawn McCarthy, In some cases, the introduction of the BEPP has been caught up in departmental new criteria appearing in each new iteration of the Guidelines.112
by telephone, 10 112
politics and ‘turf battles’ within municipalities, with particular officials suspicious that it Over time, the CSP team believe that many metro officials have come to see the BEPP Interview with
September 2018.
infringes on their usual areas of responsibility and activity. As a result, some municipal of- process and document as offering considerable value. What was intended to be a short- Catherine Stone,
ficials have been reluctant to engage with the BEPP process. At the same time, the BEPP, term ‘shock’ to the planning system started to take on a life of its own in the metros: Cape Town, 1 June
as a convening device, offers a certain value stemming from the regulatory power that 2018.
a legislated requirement, administered from National Treasury, holds. A planning official They absorbed it faster than we thought. The first two years were an uphill battle,
from Ekurhuleni specifically commented on this: and we tried to convince them: ‘we know it is difficult; hang in there; we are getting
there; we are going to do this’. Then I made a big thing about the annual evaluation
What is really useful is that when I go to other departments, I have the Division of the BEPPs, by themselves, by us, and then by independent evaluation. It was
of Revenue Act in my hand, and I say to them: ‘This Act of Parliament says, “thou during one of those processes that we said, ‘we think we have gone far enough to
shalt have a BEPP, otherwise thou shalt not get grant funding”.’ So, to cut a very change the way in which planning is done, so let us do away with the BEPPs now’.
long story short, part of why the BEPP works is because I have a piece of paper That was before the 2016 local government elections. But then a suggestion came
that says, ‘Government says, Parliament says, “you will do it this way”.’ And the from the metros: ‘let us take what we like and find a way of putting it in the SDF
 and the IDP and wherever it needs to go in’. The braver, bigger, more capacitated Strategic spatial planning emerged in conversation with and opposition to other approach-
metros were saying, ‘don’t tell us how to do it; we will find a way of doing it. Let us es, including ‘rational comprehensive planning’. The latter describes the conviction that all
manoeuvre this through Council’.They got it right. I really admire that. Some of the possible variables and solutions to a problem can be rationally and scientifically analysed
other municipalities didn’t use that opportunity. But for Cape Town to tell me just in terms of their relative costs and benefits, or that the exhaustive and objective assess-
two weeks ago that they will still keep their BEPP forum, and that they will keep ment of facts and trends will point to the most beneficial solution and course of action. For
their BEPP document as an internal document to assess themselves and to take CSP, planning is more than an exhaustive analysis of the facts. It is also more than merely
change further — I thought that was the best thing ever. Johannesburg said, ‘we facilitating different group and individual discussions to reach a common consensus, as
have already adopted this spatial targeting approach; we have already got our cor- might be expected within the tradition of ‘communicative planning’. Planning is, rather,
113 ridors and everything’… It is like we realized that we had created an animal that is about devising the strategy by which a defined set of outcomes will be achieved, and identi-
Interview with Yasmin not going to die easily, even if we wanted to kill it.113 fying the key strategic leverage points through which this can happen. This strategy-orient-
Coovadia, Pretoria, 22 ed approach has been combined with elements of New Public Management (NPM) prac-
May 2018.
In the concluding section, we return to discuss some of the issues and debates surround- tice, seen particularly in the emphasis on financial efficiency, using incentives to improve
ing the institutionalization of the BEPP. governmental performance, and outcomes-based management.
152 CSP’s interest in encouraging a more strategic approach to planning has emerged 153
from a more general critique of how spatial planning has been practiced in post-apart-
Context and debates heid South Africa. Alison Todes describes this tradition as ‘spatial framework planning’:
one ‘relying on an abstract design approach’, ‘centred on the use of nodes and corridors’,
Strategic Spatial Planning and broadly aiming for ‘urban compaction’ (Todes 2008, p. 9). Writing in 2008, Todes noted
that such a framework approach had largely failed to deliver on its stated intentions. She
What, precisely, does CSP’s planning reform work represent in the wider context of plan- suggested three main ways in which spatial planning could be enhanced: planners must
ning and urban policy debates? The first point to note is that this work is located squarely engage with the complex socio-spatial dynamics of cities; they should gain a deeper un-
within the tradition of ‘strategic spatial planning’. Emerging from American corporate derstanding of urban economic space and the relation between planning and markets;
practices of the 1950s, strategic spatial planning gained increasing popularity as a public and they should forge a stronger link between their activities and infrastructural invest-
activity, globally, over the course of the 1990s. It describes a ‘transformative and integra- ment. In principle, CSP’s work on planning reform has addressed all three areas of en-
tive, (preferably) public-sector-led socio-spatial process through which a vision, coherent hancement. It has encouraged metros to gain an in-depth evidence-based understanding
actions, and means for implementation are produced that shape and frame what a place of how people live, move, and decide in urban space. It has promoted a more engaged un-
is and what it might become’ (Albrechts 2006, p. 1152). derstanding of how land and housing markets affect urban change (also see Chapter 9).
And the BEPP, specifically, has ensured a closer link between spatial and infrastructure
Box 6.7: Characteristics of Strategic Spatial Planning planning. So, while CSP shows broad continuities with the ‘spatial framework’ approach,
as seen in the emphasis on the Urban Network Strategy, for example, it has consciously
l Focuses ‘on a limited number of strategic key-issue areas’, and seeks to target and sought to introduce elements of a more outcomes-led, evidence-based, and data-driven
influence these selected strategic factors; practice of spatial planning.
l Involves a critical assessment of the environment in which planning takes place, But CSP’s agenda for planning reform cannot simply be reduced to ‘strategic spatial
including external trends and available resources, as well as political, economic planning with an NPM feel’. Perhaps the CSP’s greatest innovation has been to look at
and social, power structures, uncertainties, and competing values; the question of planning reform beyond the immediate bounds of the planning system
l Convenes a wide range of public and private actors, allowing diverse involvement in itself. David Savage, CSP Programme Manager and a self-described ‘lapsed planner’,
the planning process at multiple levels of governance; explains this critique:
l Creates long-term visions and strategies that function at different levels, from the
local to the national and supranational; I think that there is just too much emphasis put on planning as this kind of silver
l Involves the design of plan-making structures and decision-making frameworks to bullet. Yes, planning is great, but you have to be aware of its limits when there are
influence and manage spatial change; a whole range of other issues in the system — you create coordination failures by
l Builds new ideas and processes in order to exert influence in a range of different requiring lots of coordination, or it seems that way to me. And then the planning
arenas; and system has got too much to deal with. It can’t resolve all the issues that are thrown
l Focuses on framing decisions, actions, projects, results, and implementation, and at it, and so it ends up resolving nothing…
incorporating monitoring, feedback, adjustment, and revision
I don’t think planning has been very focused on the outcomes it is trying to achieve,
Albrechts (2006, p. 1152). and the fact that intention does not equal outcome. There is a long chain that you
need to get to that outcome. The planning system, as it is designed, can set up a
 vision. It does pretty poorly with the political economy issues that it has to engage While many of South Africa’s post-apartheid development policies, like the National
with, even in establishing that vision. But that goes back to a performance issue, Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP) discussed in Chapter 2, included spatial ele-
because it is very technocratic and whatever. But then it does extremely poorly in ments, spatial targeting returned to centre stage of the national development agenda
turning intention — and let us call it inception — of ideas into programmatic real- with the approval of the National Development Plan (NDP) in 2013. By contrast with pre-
ity. And those preparation processes are complicated; you know, they’re just unin- vious (apartheid-era) targeting approaches, which operated at a regional scale and at-
vested in. So, planning just fails on its own terms because it doesn’t achieve what it tempted to relocate development away from metropolitan areas, Chapter 8 of the NDP
sets out to achieve. But then, when you front-load it with a range of responsibilities proposed a more nuanced schema for where state investments should be focused (NPC
for coordination, where there is information exchange at scale that is required — 2013). This schema includes ‘a range of situations and objectives for spatial targeting’,
when that doesn’t happen, it is also going to fail. So, it is not just about doing more, such as corridors and nodes of competitiveness where growth potential should be en-
harder, faster, or whatever. You have to look at why we require such extensive align- hanced, rural restructuring zones, as well as special intervention areas comprising both
ment in a collaborative space, because these are often public bureaucracies that lagging areas and those with considerable growth potential (Todes 2013, p. 3). As such,
we are trying to align. They respond to command and control incentives, and if you the NDP is friendlier to the notion of state-directed spatial development when compared
get those right then a lot of your coordination, or the scope of your coordination, is to the Mbeki-era NSDP, which leant towards the logic that it would be cheaper and easier
154 reduced, and your coordination failures will be reduced as a result as well. Those for the state to invest in people, rather than specific places, and that people could simply 155
are structural reforms to do with some functional and fiscal assignments, not to do move to places of opportunity (Todes 2013, p. 6).
with collaborative planning. You can’t use a hammer to drive in a screw. So, I think More specifically, the NDP advocated for local area-based initiatives in addition to
on both counts the system tends to fail, and then it just seems to put more energy regional-scale targeting. It also argued for the simultaneous deployment of two distinct
into trying to do the same thing harder and faster. It’s like someone drowning, and logics of spatial targeting: on one hand, directing investment to support distressed and
114 splashing around ever more vigorously, until they finally go quiet.114 ‘lagging’ regions (Rogerson and Nel 2016) and, on the other, channelling specific support
Interview with David and investment to ‘leading’ centres in order to ‘enhance competitiveness and improve
Savage, Cape Town, 30 For CSP, the post-apartheid obsession with planning as a central mechanism for coordi- performance’ (Todes 2013, p. 6). The CSP’s agenda for spatial planning and targeting is
May 2018.
nating complex governance processes, and the widespread faith placed in the power of directly informed by the NDP’s schema. It focuses on the urban or sub-regional scale,
‘the plan’ to drive integration (National Treasury 2016), perhaps misses the true problem and seeks to prioritize investment in both leading and lagging areas, along with mobility
of urban governance in South Africa. The problem is not intrinsic to planning per se; as routes and corridors to ease movements between the two. It thus couples place-based
such, addressing the problem should not be about making planning function better, on its interventions to strengthen efficiency, agglomeration, and economic growth with meas-
own terms. Rather, it is about changing the terms by which planning is carried out within ures designed to support more equitable urban growth trajectories (Todes 2013).
a wider institutional, regulatory, and fiscal architecture, in order to create new kinds of Despite this continuity with the provisions of the NDP, CSP’s spatial agenda is none-
synergies, and a closer link between intention and outcome. CSP’s agenda for planning theless tied up with a range of different debates and critiques. One is the general debate
reform, therefore, has at its core a critique of planning. over whether spatial targeting is, in fact, desirable or effective in delivering better urban
development and spatial transformation outcomes. This debate took on particular force
Spatial targeting and spatial concepts following the publication of the 2009 World Development Report (World Bank 2009), which
advocated against state-led spatial targeting except in special circumstances. While
CSP’s specific spatial agenda — framed within the mechanisms of TOD and the specific spatial investments and infrastructures are seen as necessary conditions of inclusive
spatial framework of the UNS — can also be located within a longer tradition of spatial city growth, it may be the case that other ‘space-neutral’ interventions that prioritize
policy, and within a series of ongoing policy and academic debates. As explained earlier economic development, raised productivity, and boosted incomes might have a great-
in this chapter, CSP implements a strategy based on the logic of spatial targeting, or er effect in driving socio-spatial equity (Gardner 2018, p. 48). So, while spatial targeting
the notion that the state should take a deliberate approach to prioritizing investments might benefit the people already living and working in a prioritized area, such efforts may
in specific areas, at a range of scales, within the urban system, in order to drive particu- overlook the full variety of infrastructures and inputs that are required, at multiple scales,
lar developmental outcomes (National Treasury 2017a). The basic logic of spatial target- to boost local economic productivity and income.115 The priority for state investment, in 115
ing emerges from the argument, developed by economists in the 1950s and 1960s, that this view, should be creating new economic opportunities, equipping poorer groups with Interview with
Matthew Glasser, by
spatial inequalities can undermine long-term national economic growth. According to the capabilities to access those opportunities, and enabling the growth of productive sec-
telephone, 15 August
this perspective, it is justifiable for states to prioritize their investments in ‘lagging’ or tors (Todes and Turok 2018). 2018.
less productive areas in order to secure overall levels of economic development. Spatial A second, specific line of this critique holds that city-scale spatial targeting is likely to
targeting has in the past been used for purposes of social engineering and segregated be ineffective in situations where the local economy is relatively static and government has
development, as with the apartheid government’s industrial decentralization policies (see access to limited capital. While sufficient resources to reshape urban space may be avail-
Chapters 1 and 2). Alison Todes (2013) notes that, in general, South Africa’s record with able to some larger metropolitan areas in South Africa, it remains doubtful whether this
explicit spatial targeting policies has had mixed results, including ‘many negative experi- approach can drive real transformative change in some of the smaller and less wealthy cit-
ences’ (p. 3; also Todes and Turok 2018). ies. In this view, an alternative to spatial targeting might involve liberating unused yet well-
 located land owned by the various spheres of government and state-owned enterprises.116 at a more fine-grained level, and the reasons and drivers for that behaviour. For example,
116
Interview with Matthew The issue of place-based intervention is caught within a third debate over whether some residents might find it appropriate to live in larger sites on the urban periphery
Glasser, by telephone, urban development policy should aim for spatial efficiency (investing in particular places where they can deploy more flexible livelihood strategies at lower cost (Schoonraad 2000).
15 August 2018. of connectivity and productivity) or universal basic service provisioning (investing in the ‘Good location’ and ‘accessibility’ might thus mean different things for different people
places where people live, and spreading these investments over a large area). This is a (Todes 2008, p. 10). These realities call for researchers to help develop a more nuanced
longstanding debate in South African policy circles — an early variation was reflected, understanding of the changing patterns and dynamics of South African cities.
for example, in the discussions of the early 1990s around whether post-apartheid housing Critics have also argued that TOD strategies — often based on foreign examples like
policy should follow the logic of ‘breadth’ or ‘depth’ (see Chapter 1). Critics of targeted Bogota or Curitiba — may not be well suited to South Africa’s specific spatial forms and
approaches, including those based on TOD, claim that these practices by definition tend dynamics (DPME 2018; Wilkinson 2006). In particular, a number of critiques have been
117 to exclude certain people and places from state investments, thereby reproducing so- directed at the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) approach that has dominated TOD thinking in
Interview with Yasmin cio-spatial inequalities (DPME 2015; 2018).117 State-led development, it is argued, should South Africa over the past decade (Chitauka 2014). The BRT systems incentivized by
Coovadia, Pretoria, 22 rather be delivered to people where they reside, in order to meet their basic human needs. government funding such as the Public Transport Network Grant have not always been
May 2018. Recently, Todes and Turok (2018) have provided a comprehensive review of South Afri- ‘appropriate to the context and difficult to design and implement successfully’ (Van Ryn-
156 can experiences with spatial development policies and initiatives, with a view to assess- eveld 2018, p. v). Considering the financial strain on local authorities created by the mas- 157
ing the relative advantages of applying different concepts and approaches in the future. sive investments in urban BRT systems, the metropolitan agenda for TOD-based spatial
They conclude that there is considerable potential for the combination and application transformation will need to move away from a focus on BRT systems to include more
of both place-based and people-centred (space-neutral) practices, but that certain risks attention to other modes of transport, such as minibus taxis and passenger rail (Van
remain, particularly in the absence of an explicit national spatial development framework. Ryneveld 2018). Moving forward, CSP will play an important role in developing municipal
They single out the risk of large-scale government spending in marginal areas in the ab- capacity to carry out integrated transport network planning. In Chapter 10, we return to
sence of strong public institutions and sound ‘economic disciplines’ (p. 1). Place-based discuss some of these specific transport-related issues and debates.
policies, while holding potential, call for far greater levels of vertical and horizontal policy Finally, it appears that there is still some concern, particularly from the metros, that
alignment, plus the active cooperation of strong local institutions alongside private sec- CSP’s approach and mechanisms for spatial targeting — in the form of the UNS — are
tor and community stakeholders, if they are to have any hope of overcoming South Af- too prescriptive. This critique may not be without some merit, even if the CSP team have
rica’s deeply entrenched spatial divisions. Their analysis, however, points to the lack of specifically aimed to avoid being overly prescriptive in matters of local planning. After all,
robust empirical evidence on which to assess the validity of competing claims surround- in terms of the Division of Revenue Act, municipalities are compelled to address a range
ing place-based or people-centred modes of development. Any future national spatial of issues and requirements in their BEPP. In any case, CSP has learnt to approach this
strategy will have to be based on far more substantial evidence and research on the ap- work in a less prescriptive way (see Box 6.8 below). This accords with CSP’s commitment
plication and outcomes of various kinds and combinations of spatial (or space-neutral) to promoting the status of the municipal sphere as the primary arena for planning and
development strategies. locational decision-making.
Beyond the issue of the relative desirability of space-sensitive development policy, a
series of specific debates focus on the relative merits of deploying transit-oriented devel- Box 6.8: Learning with the Urban Network Strategy
opment (TOD) as a means to promote ‘compact city’ forms and corridor-based develop-
ment in the South African context. Indeed, critics have questioned the desirability and The metros still feel the UNS is very technicist and too prescriptive. I don’t think so.
viability of the ‘compact city’ ideal for promoting sustainable urban development gener- I think if you have the Treasury’s perspective, which says, ‘take from it what you want
ally (Jenks et al. 1996), and in developing countries particularly (Jenks and Burgess 2000). and what you believe’, ultimately, they still give you what you would have asked for in
Some have pointed to the diverse needs of low-income households and livelihoods that compliance. Just, for us, we were about city support; we weren’t saying that you need
may not be best served by a central densification model, thereby questioning the utility to meet these or those conditions. It is about getting people to change themselves and
of a ‘uniform approach to urban spatial organization’ (Todes 2008, p. 10). Therefore, in to realize the change themselves. So, we would always have fights with others in Treas-
some cases it may be appropriate to encourage polycentric or ‘multiplex’ models of urban ury about being too prescriptive. Even if you want something as a particular output or
regional development as the best means of promoting sustainable forms of density and outcome, walk with them on the journey. Hold their hand.
modes of accessibility (Todes 2008, p. 10).
In the particular context of South Africa, Todes (2008) argues that planning — what Yasmin Coovadia, CSP Planning Reforms Sub-Component Lead
she terms ‘spatial framework planning’ — has been driven by the attempted application
of concepts, without adequate attention being paid to the actual socio-spatial dynamics
of cities. Standard spatial planning concepts, in Todes’ (2008) view, often carry ‘implicit As such, there are a number of unresolved debates over the precise approach by which
assumptions about the nature of employment, livelihood, and movement patterns that the unequal urban spatial inheritance of apartheid should be addressed (DPME 2015;
may not be borne out by a closer analysis’ (p. 10). Broad-brush notions of ‘nodes’ and ‘cor- 2018). As it moves forward, CSP will need to address these concerns. It is possible, for
ridors’, for instance, can overlook the ways that people and activities locate and operate example, that more will have to be done to convince the full variety of state and civil soci-
 ety actors of the need for and desirability of an urban development agenda rooted in the towards an ‘apolitical’ or ‘post-participatory’ planning practice, and more a reworking
particular logics of spatial targeting and TOD. CSP will also need to address a number of the role that participatory action should play within the overall planning, budgeting,
of other, more fundamental questions. Is South African policy and practice too focused and implementation cycle. For CSP, citizens can play a strategic and effective role when
on the provision of spatial infrastructures, at the expense of economic concerns, and engaged in matters of government oversight and accountability. As such, the Programme
too wedded to a spatial model promoting centralized densification of cities and corridor- has sought to recalibrate the systemic context in which participation can have the great-
118 based urban development? More generally, is South African planning and development est effect on urban transformation, rather than to bypass participation entirely. This
Interview with Crispian policy ‘too obsessed with space’?118 If so, then how should we readjust the terms and agenda was discussed in more detail in Chapter 5.
Olver, Cape Town, 28 objectives of post-apartheid planning? CSP’s work in this area is not over. Quite how to engage with civil society in outcomes-
September 2018.
led planning remains a pressing question. It is unclear, for example, precisely what more
CSP could or should be doing in relation to the private sector and citizens to drive more
Post-participatory planning? productive and sustainable urban pathways (National Treasury 2018c). Indeed, getting
private sector investment to engage with the spatial targeting logic embedded in the
The notion of participatory planning was a cornerstone of local government and spatial BEPPs, and to invest in the integration zones declared by the metros, still offers a ‘formi-
158 planning policy developed during the 1990s. Participation was seen as a crucial compo- dable’ challenge, and one that should inform the evolving logic and modalities of CSP and 159
nent of a governmental system that was responsive to people’s needs. In recent years, metro spatial practice (National Treasury 2016).
however, South African planning practice has shifted its emphasis away from direct par-
ticipation. This is something acknowledged by the CSP team:
Conclusion
Yes, I think there has been a shift. Unfortunately, it has been backwards. I think
planning has become very technicist instead of participatory. So, in the days that A theme that emerges strongly from this overview of CSP’s work on planning reforms
I worked in advocacy planning and ‘on the ground’, we were building ANC, SACP is the iterative process of experimentation and learning that lies at its core. This applies
structures, and using those structures to make demands before 1994, and then both to the introduction of new practices, like the BEPP, and to processes of legislative,
to help to build the local government system afterwards. Unfortunately, planning fiscal, and institutional reform. A key lesson learnt to date is that even if new practices
later became like going to ask people what they want, before having to report back and processes are a burden, cities quickly adjust, learn, and innovate. Municipalities, and
to them why you can’t give them what they want. Then you had protests to deal the officials within them, often find ways to make new regulatory practices work for them
with. Okay, I am being very blunt and generalizing. But pre-1994 it was about really and their specific interests.
getting hold of strings and trying to influence and control them, to use a cliché, This process of learning and adjustment applies equally to the CSP itself. A critical
for people’s power. But since democracy, the government doesn’t seem to worry factor in the success that CSP has managed to achieve has been its willingness to learn
about that. I find that sad, that it is reduced to having an annual participatory exer- from the metros; to try, fail, and work together when moving forward:
119 cise for the IDP, and it is about broad-based planning and budgeting, and not much
Interview with Yasmin else. I don’t know. I think it is lost.119 I think by the time you get to write this book you will realize that more than half of
Coovadia, Pretoria, 22 what we do is having the ability to listen and learn from the cities… One city is good
May 2018.
Against the backdrop of this general disconcertment with participatory planning, CSP’s at this; another city is good at that. We need to facilitate a process whereby they can
work has involved the introduction and refinement of planning instruments, like the learn from each other, and so that we can learn in that process.That is the part I like
BEPP, that do not rely directly on processes of public engagement. The BEPP, instead, about the CSP. We don’t pretend to have the answers; none of us do. But, by follow-
targets the internal workings of a municipality — the relationships between departments ing a particular approach, and by being open to learning from people who have to
and sectors; the specific spatial tools and practices employed — and the external rela- deal with these problems on the ground every day, we can make important strides.120 120
tions between metros and other sectors and spheres of government that enable effec- Interview with Yasmin
tive municipal planning. As such, some might argue that the CSP’s encouragement of CSP has enjoyed a number of specific points of success. The design and application of Coovadia, Pretoria, 22
May 2018.
outcomes-led planning and strategy-led budgeting is a part of this wider shift away from the USDG and ICDG and the linkage to the BEPP is largely perceived as having been suc-
participatory democratic governance. Some might also characterize this as an example cessful (DPME 2018). A recent research report argued that the BEPP has had the ‘overall
of ‘depoliticized’ planning practice; the positing of technical solutions to an urban crisis effect’ of driving ‘a more sharply focused approach to planning’ by the metros, with a
that is, at root, profoundly political. ‘strengthened commitment to achieving targeted outcomes within planned timeframes’
However, this would be a misunderstanding. Indeed, one of the founding principles of (National Treasury 2016, p. 2). That being said, this chapter has pointed to some of the
CSP — something driven home by the study tour that gave shape to the Programme’s key challenges involved in the uptake and implementation of the BEPP in the metros. The
ideas and strategies — was that citizen engagement and oversight can be a key driver BEPP may have improved the coherence of municipal planning, but it is no ‘silver bullet’
of urban change (DPME 2018). The CSP team are individually and collectively committed — not that anyone imagined it to be so. For CSP, the BEPP is, after all, just one component
to democratic urban governance. Arguably then, CSP’s work exemplifies less of a shift of a far larger agenda for the reform of urban policy and practice.
 Despite the measured success it has achieved to date, CSP faces a range of chal- go from here, and coproducing even the instrument. So, it hasn’t been a case of,
lenges as it moves forward with its agenda for planning reform. Many relate to issues of ‘here is an IDP, go and do it, and prescribe, and we are going to come and check
institutionalization: how exactly should future systemic and practical reforms be carried the boxes later, and that is it’. We produce an annual guideline that is negotiated
out, and by whom? The challenge for the next phase of CSP may be how to translate with all of the cities, so there is agreement on where it needs to go and where the
the experiences and learning of the past eight years into actual regulatory reform that emphasis in the guideline needs to be, and then we try to bring things to the party
decisively changes the architecture of South African city governance and planning. Yet that hopefully improve the quality of their BEPPs, as the cycle moves on. So, it is
the question of whether a semi-permanent platform like CSP, working out of National very coproduced in that way, with their leadership. It has been a little bit of a dif-
Treasury, is best placed to drive sustained processes of legislative, institutional, and fis- ferent approach, procedurally, and it hasn’t been the case that the vision of where
cal reform has already been mentioned, and has no clear answers. the BEPPs are going to end up has been completely clear.124 124
Interview with David
But there are also more specific questions and debates surrounding the institution- Savage, Cape Town, 30
alization of the BEPP. One aspect of this debate concerns the content of the BEPP itself In June 2018, officials from Treasury and other departments took the collective decision May 2018.
— should it engage more concertedly with environmental and climate resilience issues? that the BEPP will ultimately cease to exist as a legislative requirement, in terms of the
Would that be diluting its original focus? Is spatial targeting through the Urban Network Division of Revenue Act, at some point in the future. The idea is that it will remain as a
160 Strategy the best approach to drive spatial transformation? Should the BEPP’s focus practical instrument to be used by the metros on a pragmatic, rather than regulatory, 161
shift away from a planning model based on TOD? basis — the BEPP will thus be used to strengthen municipal processes surrounding the
A second set of debates centres on the longevity of the BEPP. Indeed, while it was IDP, SDBIP, and SDF, as well as ongoing reporting requirements. Yet, as a coproduced ap-
initially intended as a temporary measure, it is unclear whether the BEPP should or will proach, instrument, and process, it is clear that the BEPP’s future institutional trajectory
fall away. One metro official was adamant that the BEPP should not be eliminated, that will also have to be collectively negotiated and implemented:
121 it would be unfair to do so after the cities have only just begun to understand and use
Interview 16. the process effectively.121 Others saw it as an important strategic intervention, but pre- We are completely aware that we have introduced another instrument into a clut-
cisely as that, an intervention that ‘may still be necessary, but shouldn’t necessarily stick tered environment, but it has been as a change trigger. So, where we go now is in-
around forever’.122 It may be the case, however, that the fate of the BEPP does not lie with teresting, but we are going to have to co-explore that. It won’t be a case of stamp-
122
national government, but with the metros themselves. Yasmin Coovadia points to this: ing a final stake down and saying, ‘this is now the new planning system’. We are 125
Interview with
going to have to explore what that new planning system is collectively, because Interview with David
Catherine Stone, Cape
Savage, Cape Town, 30
Town, 1 June 2018. Honestly, we never even talked about institutionalization until quite recently. As ultimately everyone needs to buy into it.125 May 2018.
the cities started saying, ‘no, this is a useful process, it is a useful plan, it is a use-
ful product to have, etcetera’, around that time we had to start planning for CSP
to come to an end. So, how were we going to make sure that this thing became em-
bedded in government? How would it be institutionalized? We had to start think-
ing about that. So, we took it to the next level. Then there was SPLUMA, which
didn’t specify what it meant by a Capital Expenditure Framework. So, out of the
innovations emerging in some of the cities, they kept saying to me, ‘we use our
BEPP as our Capital Expenditure Framework’. That was such nice innovation. I
don’t think it was just coincidence. I don’t think it was a happy meeting point of
123 parallel processes or anything like that. I would really give the credit to the cities
Interview with Yasmin for working their way through this.123
Coovadia, Pretoria, 22
May 2018.
It therefore appears that even if the BEPP, as a requirement of the Division of Revenue
Act, was to be repealed, it may live on in a different form due to the real utility it offers
city governments and officials.
A third issue at stake in this debate over the BEPP’s future is that of compliance or,
more specifically, the risk of it simply becoming another formal process handed down from
national government. David Savage describes the BEPP as ‘regulation light’; something
legislatively necessary to access funding, but at the same time a product of coproduction:

The emphasis of it, what I think has made it very different from past efforts in
planning, is that we have tried to coproduce or co-enable it, so there has been a lot
more emphasis on a substantive engagement around the BEPP, and on where we
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MSc dissertation (University of Cape Town). per presented to the Planning Reforms Seminar, Pretoria,
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(Pretoria: The Presidency). NPC (2013) National Development Plan 2030 Vision: Our
162 DPME (2018) Implementation Evaluation of the Cities
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National Treasury (2017a) Guidance Note: Framework for Treasury).
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(BEPP) (Pretoria: National Treasury). Policies in South Africa: Place-Based or People-Centred?’,
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sydelle willow smith

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outdoor space.
 Chapter 7
Monitoring,
Reporting and,
Incentives
164 Aims and l Reform the reporting environment 165
objectives surrounding urban built environment
processes by rationalizing indicators and
focusing on developmental outcomes
l Incentivize city behaviour through the Integrated
City Development Grant
l Encourage citizen-led regulation of urban
governance
l Promote big data and smart city practices within
urban governance

Strategy Reform the intergovernmental regulatory and grants

system, and facilitate new approaches to accessing
and using data, to shift urban governance and
development towards a spatial transformation agenda

Work areas l Coproduce an enabling reporting and fiscal

environment at the national level
l Encourage innovative data practices and citizen-led
regulation at the municipal level

Key projects l Reporting reforms

l City data innovation
l Catalytic project registration and tracking
l Integrated City Development Grant

sydelle willow smith

This chapter addresses CSP’s agenda and work programme targeting reforms to the eThekweni: Aerial
regulatory system for urban governance. This includes, on one hand, reforming the ‘top- view of the piers
down’ regulatory system, or ‘the statutory arrangements that bind or at least incentivize along the beachfront
municipalities to perform’ (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 77). Here, CSP has focused on adjust- promenade.
 ing and enhancing the monitoring and reporting environment — particularly through the dressed local government, provided a small number of indicators that mainly related to
development and rationalization of the indicator sets that municipalities are expected outputs. ‘Weakly defined and crafted’, these indicators were insufficient to reflect on
to report against within the intergovernmental system. It has also entailed implement- the strategic priorities and activities of local governments (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 85). As
ing reforms to the fiscal grants system to incentivize better municipal performance such, they had little relevance to or effect on municipal planning and monitoring proc-
through the Built Environment Performance Plan (BEPP) process. On the other hand, esses. The launch of the ‘Back to Basics’ campaign by the Department of Cooperative
CSP’s projects on city data innovations have sought to encourage modes of citizen-led or Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) in 2014 resulted in some effort to develop
‘bottom-up’ regulation, as well as the uptake and implementation of new technologies for local data collection, reporting, and monitoring, but the ‘challenge of achieving inter-
‘smart’ and data-driven urban governance. governmental agreement on a useful suite of local government indicators’ remained
CSP has made significant progress in working with various role players in National elusive (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 85). While the Department of Planning, Monitoring, and
Treasury and the wider intergovernmental system to agree on common reporting proc- Evaluation (DPME) has created a National Evaluation System, local government has
esses and on appropriate indicators, as demonstrated by the publication of ‘Circular 88’ not been subject to extensive oversight or analysis. As such, despite an overall shift and
by the South African government in November 2017. Moreover, the introduction of the advancements made in the state M&E system in the post-2008 period, local government
Integrated City Development Grant (ICDG) – while critiqued for its relatively small mon- has been sidelined as an object of that evaluation. This has made it difficult to under-
166 etary allocations in the context of the wider grants system – has been successfully linked stand, among other things, what kinds of support and interventions might be required 167
to processes of outcomes-led municipal planning through the BEPP. The ICDG has there- in particular municipalities.
by assisted in creating new incentives for city governments to transform their local built This is not to suggest that South African municipalities have been exempt from inter-
environments. Finally, CSP’s work on city data innovations has made important strides in governmental reporting requirements. In fact, the past decade-and-a-half has witnessed
exploring the potential for applying new information and communication technologies to the proliferation of the fiscal and sectoral reporting elements to which local government
address problems of urban governance, with new relationships with civil society organi- is expected to respond. However, these have not been adequately coordinated between
zations having been created in the process. departments, and arguably have failed to produce any significant demonstration of their
usefulness (Palmer et al. 2017). Local officials have argued that they experience an ‘un-
coordinated and duplicative’ reporting burden (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 90). Again, these
The challenge extensive and fragmented requirements tend to focus on inputs, activities, and outputs,
and therefore do not provide a clear ‘line of sight’ between inputs, outcomes, and impact
CSP’s work on monitoring, reporting, and incentives arises from and seeks to address (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 91). Moreover, municipalities may sometimes face a disjuncture
two main sets of challenges that collectively hinder efforts to improve the performance between the reporting requirements of national government, which call for a basis for
of municipal planning and governance in the intergovernmental system. The first set of comparison, and that of municipal performance accountability, which is driven by local
challenges relates to the regulatory environment for monitoring and evaluating municipal priorities. A key challenge of municipal M&E, therefore, is that of rationalizing municipal
performance. The second concerns the fiscal grants system. reporting requirements while augmenting sets of indicators with ‘more strategically ap-
The South African Constitution requires national and provincial government to moni- propriate outcome and impact indicators’ (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 91).
tor and support municipalities. This is an important ‘safety valve’ for a developmental The intergovernmental fiscal system has also presented particular challenges to the
state that is in a process of devolution and decentralization. Both ‘top-down’ and ‘bot- objective of improving municipal performance. Over the past decade, local governments
tom-up’ oversight are critical to the design of the local government system. Arguably, have become increasingly dependent on the fiscal transfers from national government.
however, greater emphasis has been placed on reforming top-down mechanisms of mu- Historically, these grants have not been allocated based on the performance of munici-
nicipal monitoring and evaluation (M&E) without similar support to strengthen bottom-up palities. As such, they have not provided an adequate mechanism for shifting official and
126 or citizen-led modes of regulation and accountability.126 institutional behaviour. Introducing performance-based grants, however, requires the
Interview with To date, top-down local government performance monitoring initiatives have often development of a suitable system to measure and evaluate performance. Hence fiscal,
Nishendra Moodley, been unclear in what they seek to achieve and how they should go about measuring monitoring, and planning reforms must proceed in step.
Cape Town, 4 July 2018. progress (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 80). The underlying problem in this area has been one of
defining municipal ‘outcomes’ as opposed to ‘outputs’. ‘Outcomes’ describe the effects
that ‘outputs’ (e.g., infrastructure and services) have on the external system outside of Theory of change
the municipality, which is also influenced by other organizations (e.g., provincial and lo-
cal governments, business, and civil society), and that collectively give rise to ‘impact’ Monitoring, Reporting, and Incentives is one of five sub-components sitting within the
(Palmer et al. 2017, pp. 80–1). Outcomes and their causal chains are therefore more dif- wider Core City Governance Component. It represents an integral part of the CSP’s stra-
ficult to define and understand, relative to inputs and outputs. tegic agenda: planning, reporting, and fiscal reforms have to go hand-in-hand to forge a
Efforts undertaken since 2000 to reform the performance monitoring systems of closer link — a clearer ‘line of sight’ — between planning activities, budget allocations,
government as a whole (as with the National Outcomes Approach, launched in 2010) and urban outcomes. For CSP, the connection between these areas of reform is so inter-
gave little clarity as to what was expected of municipalities. Outcome 9, which ad- twined that planning and reporting reform were originally packaged within the same sub-
 component. These were separated once it became clear that the complexity and scale of the former, a series of consultative workshops were organized with individual cities and
the work in each area required dedicated capacity. national sector departments to secure their feedback and input to the design of the BEPP
Top-down monitoring and evaluation systems sit alongside bottom-up regulation outcome indicators. In the latter case, a more rigorous coproductive and consensus-
through citizen-led accountability (see Chapter 5) as critical aspects of a wider system based approach was taken, ensuring that all relevant municipal and national actors and
that binds and incentives municipalities to perform (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 77). Coordinat- experts were ‘around the table’, and that each detailed technical indicator description
128
ed and rationalized reporting systems moreover enable both top-down remedial support was collectively workshopped and agreed to.128 Interview with
from national government to be targeted according to local needs, and ongoing techni- Nishendra Moodley,
cal support to be undertaken through benchmarking processes. As such, improving re- Box 7.1: The Demand for and Process of Reporting Reform Cape Town, 3
porting and monitoring systems, and the regular availability of reliable data on municipal December 2018.
performance, are critical for the implementation of a ‘differentiated approach’ to local We had a request from cities, early on in the programme, where they said, ‘we have
government regulation and support. New data technologies and sources provide new op- too many indicators; the reporting burden is completely unsustainable’. Some people
portunities for data governance, and for strengthening mechanisms and processes of were saying, ‘you must either appoint us to do our jobs, or to report; we can’t do both’.
citizen-led oversight and accountability, thereby helping to balance the emphasis on top- So, we decided to look at the whole array of indicators that national departments cur-
168 down regulation through M&E systems. rently request of cities. It was like throwing a big net into the sea, and just pulling out 169
On the side of fiscal grant reform, the introduction of performance-based grants, like everything we got. That was fascinating because I think we came across close to 19,000
the ICDG, is integral to the CSP’s theory of change, offering an additional incentive for data elements on which cities report annually to various national departments, which
metros to develop their capabilities to drive a coherent vision and effective programme of completely reinforced the problem statement.
urban spatial transformation (DPME 2018).
Many of these indicators actually sit at what we would call an input and activity level,
and at an output level. So, you can run the risk of a municipality becoming an institu-
Work programme tion of reports or reporting without delivering anything useful, except what the bu-
reaucracy demands, while leaving our cities unchanged. We used to talk about the fact
Jeremy Timm leads the overall Monitoring, Reporting, and Incentives sub-component, and that we are continuing to reinforce the apartheid city, and that if you are poor and black
also manages the production of BEPP outcome indicators. Meanwhile, several program- you will be lucky to get a house of 40 square metres, 40 kms from work, while spending
matic areas are managed by other CSP team members. For example, Nishendra Moodley 40% of your income getting to and from work, if you get a job. We said those sorts of
leads the work on reporting reforms and city data innovation, Suzette Pretorius oversees realities are not being captured and measured by our indicator sets.
the catalytic project registration and tracking initiative, and Samantha Naidu leads the
ongoing management and review process for the Integrated City Development Grant. We Our response was to rationalize indicators at the input, activity, and output levels,
describe the sub-component’s key projects in the sections that follow. and to come up with some useful new indicators at the outcome and impact level. We
launched our programme on that basis: developing a conceptual framework to see
where these indicators sit, expanding indicators at the outcome level, and looking at
Reporting reforms where we can rationalize input, activity, and output indicators. We did that in a col-
laborative way.
This project focuses on rationalizing the reporting burden carried by municipalities. It
involves introducing new and better outcome indicators, ensuring intergovernmental Jeremy Timm, CSP Monitoring, Reporting, and Incentives Sub-Component Lead
agreement between sectors and spheres, and establishing the institutional arrange-
ments and platforms to drive those processes (DPME 2018). It has been an intensively
coproduced process, involving city governments alongside a wide range of national The process of developing new built environment outcome indicators required differen-
transversal and sector departments. To oversee and drive that process, CSP helped tiating between two kinds of outcome. One kind relates to metropolitan functions, that
to convene a Reporting Reforms Steering Committee with institutional representation ‘when delivered directly and logically contribute to direct outcomes that are measurable’.
from National Treasury, COGTA, DPME, SALGA, SACN, Statistics South Africa, and Functional outcomes would include issues relating to governance, water and sanitation,
the Auditor-General. electricity, housing, transport, environmental management, and so on. A second kind of
Initially, given the sense of urgency around the need to finalize the new outcome in- outcome relates to city transformation, and is ‘understood in terms of how functional
dicators linked to the BEPP, that specific process was undertaken as a discrete project, outcomes integrate and produce complex results of their own’. The latter group of indica-
separate but parallel to CSP’s wider efforts to rationalize and enhance the overall report- tors is intended to assess how outcomes and transformation are spread within the space
127
Interview with Jeremy ing environment. However, these processes later were joined to ensure that they were of the city (National Treasury 2017a). These include targeted investments in integration
Timm, Pretoria, 22 May completely aligned.127 The process of developing the BEPP outcome indicators also fol- zones, reductions in urban sprawl, new housing options with social diversity, as well as
2018. lowed a slightly different approach to that of the broader reporting reforms project. With the development of affordable and efficient public transport services.
 As indicated above, the process of rationalization and developing new outcome indi- It takes years, but if you can see value in this process will you consider releasing
cators called for extensive consultation, cooperation, and collaboration — perhaps more your indicator?’ Now the process involves creating memorandums of agreement
than the CSP team or anyone else initially expected — and involved multiple workshops with national departments and the system to make the data more easily availa-
with national transversal and sector departments, city governments, and other partners, ble. We are engaging intensely with Statistics South Africa to see to what extent 130
in both bilateral and multilateral forums. This degree of cooperation was necessary not we can get national datasets to provide local resources.130 Interview with Jeremy
Timm, Pretoria, 22 May
only to secure buy-in and support from the various partners, but also because of the
2018.
technical challenges involved (see Box 7.2). The process took over two years to complete, The next steps for CSP, in terms of the reporting reforms project, involve supporting cit-
culminating in the November 2017 publication of ‘Circular 88’: the Municipal Circular on ies and other stakeholders to implement Circular 88, and supporting the development of a
Rationalization of Planning and Reporting Requirements for the 2018/19 MTREF. Circular 88 system to automate what, to date, have been largely manual processes of data collection
was issued by three transversal departments — National Treasury, COGTA, and DPME and reporting.131 131
Interview with Jeremy
— under the Municipal Finance Management Act. Given the intensity of the cooperative
Timm, Pretoria, 22 May
process leading up to that point, one CSP team member argued that, in their experience, City Data Innovation 2018.
it was ‘the first time something like that has happened in government, with that level of
170 129 collaboration between the regulated and the regulator’.129 This project focuses on how cities can improve data governance through collaboration, 171
Interview with Circular 88 provided a new set of indicators for metropolitan municipalities, integrat- both internally and externally, and establish appropriate facilities for the analysis of ‘big
Nishendra Moodley, ing other indicator sets, namely those of the various sector departments, the Integrated data’. Nishendra Moodley leads the project, and explains its emergence and rationale:
Cape Town, 3
Urban Development Framework (IUDF), the CSP, the New Urban Agenda, the Sustain-
December 2018.
able Development Goals, and the Back to Basics programme. The work on data innovations emerged from our recognition of the significance
of the smart cities agenda, as well as the big data agenda, and we were trying
Box 7.2: The Challenges of Technical Specification and Collaboration to figure out how best we can support cities to innovate and create transversal
partnerships around data management within their institutions. Because city of-
If you look, hypothetically, at eight different national departments that are all inter- ficials work in quite large institutions, where a lot of data sit in silos — the de-
ested in the percentage of urban households that have access to a good quality wa- partments of housing, transport, and finance, and so on — and they often don’t
ter supply, they will ask for it in eight different ways. So, cities can’t just answer it maximize the utilization of that data across the municipality. Cities, generally,
once, because the departments may want the same information, but one will request are quite conservative about sharing data openly, and about using data from the
it expressed as percentages, another as total numbers; some will use the criterion of private sector, from academia, and elsewhere. So, how do you foster data col-
‘decent’ supply, others will use ‘adequate’; some will regard access to a yard tap as laboration in those spaces? It was a loosely defined project, but we wanted to
‘decent’ supply, while others will only include in-house supply; and so on. So, we said explore what we could and should be doing in that data collaboration space. The
there should be one indicator for all of that, and that is the one that we should all buy smart cities agenda was part of that. So, how do cities start to solve difficult de-
into, and if we do that well, all of our daily needs will be met. Yet that requires a high velopmental problems using technology that enables sharing of information and
degree of technical specification, and agreement by all role players on that technical solutions, not only across functions in their organizations, but also with social
specification. That is what we have done in the Circular 88 process: every indicator partners like civil society groups, the private sector, start-ups, and so on? We
has a detailed technical specification. That specification was debated among national know that this is a relatively small box for quite a wide-ranging agenda, but that 132
departments and cities, and they have all signed-off on that. is how we have started to explore it.132 Interview with
Nishendra Moodley,
Cape Town, 3
Jeremy Timm, CSP Monitoring, Reporting, and Incentives Sub-Component Lead To date, significant energy has focused on a pilot project undertaken with the City of December 2018.
Cape Town to strengthen its data analytic capability, as well as provide inputs to its data
strategy. At the same time, CSP has worked with other partners to operate a project that
Yet the publication of Circular 88 has not, in and of itself, solved the problem of the re- focuses on meeting South Africa’s need for accurate and useful data on territorial and
porting burden. Jeremy Timm explains how it may actually exacerbate the problem in the economic dynamics. This work spun out of the process of developing and conducting the
short term, and the CSP’s rationale for doing so: South African Urbanization Review (see Chapter 11). During that process, it was quickly
realized that little information is publicly and readily available on spatial-economic dy-
As we introduce Circular 88, the national departments are still asking for data in namics in South Africa, particularly on where people work. In large part this is due to the
their own way, so in the short term there is actually a spike in the complexity of the nature of the South African economy being concentrated in large multi-establishment
reporting environment. But our hypothesis is that if we demonstrate value to all firms. While Statistics South Africa does collect economic data from the Value Added
133
the departments, they will then be prepared to release their individual indicators, Tax register, the results are skewed by the ‘head office effect’ — companies only register
Interview with Shirley
and that is where we are at now. So, we have Circular 88, they have their indicators, the addresses of their head offices, giving little useful information on where employees Robinson, Cape Town, 1
and we are saying to them, ‘bear with us, be patient; we are going to get this right. actually work.133 June 2018.
 Implemented through a Data Technical Working Group, managed by the Economies So far, we have seen that CSP’s interest in data governance has stemmed from a recog-
of Regions Learning Network with CSP support, this project aims to establish systems nition of the importance of better data collection, access, and analysis for the purposes
to collate standardized data on economic phenomena that are already collected by local of intergovernmental regulation and horizontal learning. Nishendra Moodley points to a
and national departments and agencies. More specifically, the intention is to increase third potential area of opportunity, one closely related to the agenda of social or citizen-
the availability of granulated socio-economic data by accessing and linking national eco- led accountability (discussed in Chapter 5):
nomic administrative and survey data with city-level geocoded data. The Group has, for
example, worked with the South African Revenue Service (SARS) on geocoding its Pay We recognized also that the bottom-up agenda is critical, and so we have worked
As You Earn (PAYE) tax data. They have also made moves to access funding to develop with the Civic Tech Innovation Network, which represents a range of civic-mind-
a secure administrative data platform, which, similar to Data First, will have a terabyte ed organizations that are interested in data, and in accessing government data,
server capacity and will be used to start overlaying SARS’s geocoded tax data with ano- mainly for bottom-up accountability, but also for coproduction purposes, and so
nymized Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) data, city-level building plan and property on.The Network has been initiated from the University of the Witwatersrand. CSP
134 valuation data, plus a range of other city-level data points on water and electricity use, has leaned in heavily, and provides a convening role in bringing people on board,
Interview with Shirley motor vehicle licensing, and so on.134 Ultimately, these data will be of immense value not particularly from the cities, and may help in providing resources as well. The Net-
172 Robinson, Cape Town, 1
June 2018.
only for national government, for purposes of regulation and national-level planning, but work has applied for funding, utilizing us as a partner, and we have applied for 173
also for cities, as they will provide a far more nuanced and accurate basis for policymak- resources from international sources, utilizing them as a partner to co-convene
ing and deciding where and how investments should be targeted in urban and regional this space. It is a collaborative effort.
space. Nishendra Moodley points to the opportunities of creating such a platform, while
noting some of the administrative challenges that remain in doing so: Similarly, we have done some work with the International Budget Partnership.They
have been working towards developing an Open Budget Index specifically geared
Shirley Robinson, as a member of the Working Group, has started to work on towards South African cities. We helped to convene the space in which they can
the administrative data platform, where we can have anonymized SARS data get cities on board. We don’t necessarily procure them, or give them money to do 137
housed at the Treasury, and we can start to mine that data for better employ- that, but the Treasury’s convening role helps to build support for the process.137 Interview with
ment data. Similarly, we were faced with other administrative data challenges, Nishendra Moodley,
Cape Town, 3
like how do we get the Deeds Office to share data with the cities? How do we The areas of work undertaken by CSP may be limited, when considering the full range of
December 2018.
get Statistics South Africa to share more data with the cities? In the opposite potential applications of data technology or smart city interventions. Yet, for Moodley, the
sense, city building plans and valuation rolls can become quite important na- projects that have been pursued to date can be seen as test cases, or foundation stones,
tional resources in terms of being a repository of data that we can mine. So, from which to explore the potential for innovation and uptake in different domains:
there is a national big data question, across cities, that we needed to answer,
135
and there is a city-level big data question as well. We’re trying to deal with both For me, these projects start to set up the broader ecosystem of data initiatives: 138
Interview with of those areas.135 the bottom-up, the peer learning, and the government regulatory or top-down Interview with
Nishendra Moodley, space.138 Nishendra Moodley,
Cape Town, 3 Cape Town, 3
The opportunity to use data to promote horizontal or peer learning across cities as a
December 2018. December 2018.
means to improve city planning and policymaking has also informed other specific areas Moreover, given the early stages of this work, the value of these projects should not nec-
of collaboration: essarily be limited to assessments of their direct tangible outcomes, but should include
the new processes and relationships that they have helped to engender:
At the same time, we have worked with the South African City Network [SACN]
as part of the Urban Indicators Reference Group that they convene, which serves It is nascent work. Many of these pieces have only come together in the last few
as a platform for peer-to-peer learning and knowledge sharing between cities and months, and we have had an evolving agenda. It wasn’t that we were absolutely
other stakeholders. We engaged because we wanted to strengthen their hand in clear about what we wanted to do from the beginning, and then procured it like a 139
terms of the horizontal coordination of city data, because SACN really represent project. It has been about partnering, as a verb, rather than partnerships. It is a Interview with
the peer interest in data. They have also set up, with CSP’s support, a South Af- way of working with these stakeholders, and making things happen.139 Nishendra Moodley,
Cape Town, 3
rican Cities Open Data Almanac, which is effectively an open representation of
December 2018.
the work that the Reference Group does, enabling people to access, visualize, and
download key data on various areas of city performance. SACN has been trying to Catalytic Project Registration and Tracking
136
institutionalize that work, and as part of that process we offered to help establish
Interview with
Nishendra Moodley, what is called the South African Council on City Data. It is an institution that, I A third significant area of CSP’s work entails registering and tracking catalytic develop-
Cape Town, 3 would say, has a horizontal agenda, reaching across cities, in promoting collabo- ment programmes devised by the metros, in order to reveal and assess their progress in
December 2018. ration around data governance issues.136 driving urban spatial transformation. Originally, the task was difficult due to the slipperi-
 ness of the term ‘project’. Jeremy Timm explains CSP’s shift in thinking, from a focus on Then we look at how things are progressing from a base level, in terms of the
141
implementing ‘projects’ to one of devising ‘programmes’: various elements that comprise the programme, into an overall understanding of Interview with Jeremy
where things are at more broadly.141 Timm, Pretoria, 22 May
There has been a very interesting history with these catalytic initiatives. Initially, 2018.
we used the word ‘project’. But, as soon as you try and measure what a catalyt- Suzette Pretorius elaborates on the specific process and approach taken:
ic project is, then all sorts of definitions start flying around, because what is a
catalytic project? We have evolved in our understanding to defining them now as We basically follow the phases of the Project Management Body of Knowledge
140 ‘catalytic land development programmes’, which generally take place in a discrete (PMBOK), linked with all the engineering phases. So, we follow a cycle of con-
Interview with Jeremy precinct of a city and are a composed of a number of different projects.140 ception, inception, pre-feasibility, feasibility, and then we end with financial vi-
Timm, Pretoria, 22 May ability. We have designed the stages within that framework. Then we try to assess
2018 Box 7.3: Definition of a Catalytic Land Development Programme at which stage a municipality is. The challenge, of course, is that a municipality
can ‘jump’ between stages. So, a city might start implementing new street light
Catalytic land development programmes are urban development programmes and as- projects, without having yet conceptualized the final product, just to show that 142
174 sociated projects that: they have been spending their funding. But we try to track their progress along Interview with Suzette 175
those various stages.142 Pretorius, Pretoria, 21
May 2018.
a) Enable integration through mixed and intensified land use, where the residential
land use caters for people across various income bands and at increased densities Like the process of rationalizing and crafting urban indicators, described above, it has
that better support the viability of public transport systems; been slow and hard work, demanding patience and resolve from the CSP team and their
b) Are strategically located within metro integration zones, and are ‘game changers’ partners:
in that the nature and scope of the projects are likely to have significant impact on
spatial form while unlocking economic activity; I would say that the process has been tedious, but necessary. We now have clarity
c) Involve major infrastructure investments; over what we want to measure, and we now have a set of catalytic land develop-
d) Require a blend of finance, where a mix of public funds is able to leverage private ment programmes that we are tracking. Progress is slower than everybody wants, 143
sector investment as well as unlock household investment; but it is starting to show results. But not nearly as speedily as we thought, initially, Interview with Jeremy
e) Require specific skills across a number of professions and involve multiple stake- it would.143 Timm, Pretoria, 22 May
2018.
holders.
Catalytic development programmes are ensembles of all related projects (public and
private) that need to be implemented within a specific spatial targeted area, and from Integrated City Development Grant
which the total intergovernmental project pipeline is updated for all public sector
projects in the programme. CSP’s fourth major project entails the review, revision, and implementation of a fiscal sys-
tem that incentivizes better municipal performance. More specifically, it seeks to support
The catalytic programme development process delivers a series of built environment the implementation of a grant — namely, the Integrated City Development Grant (ICDG) —
projects to be implemented by either national, provincial, or municipal government, or that is responsive to city performance, where this performance is indicated by the quality
by the private sector, which will progressively put cities on the path to achieving com- of a metro’s BEPP, by progress made in implementing catalytic development programmes,
pact cities and transformed urban spaces. Public sector projects must demonstrate and by the realization of better outcomes in the urban built environment (DPME 2018).
how they leverage private and household investment. Chapter 4 indicated that National Treasury introduced the ICDG in the 2013/14 finan-
cial year, at the same time as it took over administration of the BEPP from the Depart-
(National Treasury 2017b, p. 5) ment of Human Settlements. The purpose of its introduction was to provide metros with
a financial incentive to deliver a more compact and efficient urban spatial form by ‘in-
tegrating and focusing their use of available infrastructure investment and regulatory
Tracking catalytic land development programmes, however, raises a series of practical instruments’ (DPME 2018, p. 268).
and administrative issues. Monitoring the implementation of a programme requires far Producing a BEPP is a requirement for a metro to receive the ICDG. Initially, the
more than simply applying a project management tool, as Jeremy Timm explains: Grant’s incentive allocations were based on ‘performance measures of good governance
and administration’. In 2017/18 an additional criterion was introduced, based on an as-
Suzette Pretorius, from the CSP team, has been handling this. With support from sessment of a metro’s BEPP (see Chapter 6). As such, a city is rewarded if it can clearly
a service provider, she has developed a tracking system. We have taken this track- demonstrate its overall strategic vision for the development of the built environment, and
ing system to each of the cities, choosing one or two programmes that qualify for precisely how future infrastructure investments (aligning with designated Integration
the definition of “catalytic”, and then we put those programmes into the system. Zones) will transform patterns of urban spatial growth and change. This accords with
 National Treasury’s ongoing reforms to the local government infrastructure grant system, We are actually — probably audaciously — confident that we will get the reporting
which calls for the increased use of incentives as well as the use of grants to support system right. It does take time, and in the words of Jan Hattingh [Chief Director of
urban spatial transformation, as discussed in Chapter 8 (National Treasury 2017c). In ad- Local Government Budget Analysis at Treasury], he has a mantra, which is: ‘gen-
dition, ICDG allocations made under the ICDG are based on a ‘population-weighted basis’, tle pressure, relentlessly applied, within a coherent framework’. And he lives by
so as to account for the greater planning complexity and investment needs of larger met- that.That is what it takes. It takes years, and we are chipping away at the challenge 145
ros (DPME 2018). and we are moving forward. We are making progress.145 Interview with Jeremy
CSP’s main activities in relation to ICDG review and implementation involve assisting Timm, Pretoria, 22 May
National Treasury in carrying out its mandated responsibilities. These include: Jan Hattingh agrees that the process has been edifying, pointing to the necessity and 2018.
benefit of an approach rooted in the logic of coproduction:
• Reviewing eligibility criteria and assessing compliance with grant conditions prior to
the transfer of each grant instalment; We have learned a few hard lessons, and they are about ownership. It is about
• Facilitating engagements on the BEPPs with the metros and national sector depart-
ments, in consultation with COGTA and the Department of Rural Development and
getting all parties to see the benefit of the process and its objectives, instead
of just pushing them. You have to combine the pushing with a smarter approach
146
Interview with Jan
176 Land Reform; to navigating the politics and the capabilities of the institutions you are working Hattingh, Pretoria, 18 177
• Providing operational guidelines and capacity support, and facilitating peer learning; with.146 June 2018.

• Authorizing applications for the use of grant funds for specified operating purposes;
and As with other areas of CSP’s work, the importance of devising and implementing projects
• Reviewing the credibility and measurability of audit plans (National Treasury 2017c). of urban reform through sustained dialogue, collaboration, and consultation once again
shines through. As does the importance of adjusting one’s strategy and mode of engage-
The scale of funding allocations made under the ICDG has increased substantially since ment in response to emerging conditions and challenges. The latter point is borne out by
its introduction. Between 2013/14 and 2016/17, a total of R813 million of ICDG funding the reporting reforms project — the release of Circular 88 has highlighted the need for
was transferred to the eight metros. The most recent allocations — for the period 2017/18 CSP to apply a different set of competencies and support processes to take forward its
to 2019/20 — totalled a further R927.5 million. It has been argued that this represents a implementation. Jeremy Timm explains that as the task shifts — to one of institutionaliz-
negligible amount when measured against other infrastructure grants available to South ing an integrated reporting system for municipalities within the wider intergovernmental
African municipalities. This line of critique forms part of a larger debate concerning the architecture — so does the strategy and work process:
use of fiscal incentives in public governance, and we return to reflect on this debate in
the following section. It sounds easier than it is, or neater than it is, because it is a change process.
There are a lot of contested mandates in this space, and the real challenge
and work, now, is at a human systems level. Will national departments let go of
Successes, challenges and debates some of the indicators, as this integrated system comes into play? That is what
we are thinking about, and where we are working now. So, we are shifting from 147
It is too early to tell whether CSP’s commitment to reforming the monitoring and report- a technical emphasis to much more of a focus on processes and collaborative Interview with Jeremy
ing environment for urban governance will help to drive the realization of more compact support.147 Timm, Pretoria, 22 May
and transformed urban spaces in South Africa’s metros. But it is nonetheless the case 2018.
that the process has enjoyed significant moments and points of success. The very fact
that so many different stakeholders, drawn from all sectors and spheres of government, Incentivizing City behaviour
have been able to agree on a central set of municipal performance indicators is in itself
a major achievement. Circular 88 was described by one CSP team member as ‘a massive CSP has assisted Treasury in successfully linking up the reporting, planning, and fiscal
milestone’; one former metro official went so far as to call it as a ‘cause for celebration’.144 reform aspects of its work programme. The establishment of the ICDG — and its suc-
Significant challenges have also been encountered in the process. Rationalizing exist- cessful linkage to the BEPP, and the new set of built environment outcome indicators —
ing sets of indicators and developing new outcomes indicators took years of hard work was found by a recent evaluation to have played an important role in incentivizing metros
and sustained effort. Repeated and intensive engagements with a wide range of stake- to invest in catalytic programmes, within their designated integration zones, in support
holders were involved in securing comments and consensus on multiple iterations of the of a spatial transformation agenda (DPME 2018).
144 indicator sets ultimately published in Circular 88. The process has called for detailed and The introduction of the ICDG is part of a wider global trend towards the development
Interviews with Jeremy painstaking technical analysis and clarification. Moreover, it has required continuous at- of performance-based grants for subnational governments. African countries such as
Timm, Pretoria, 22 May 148
2018; and Catherine
tempts to convince often apprehensive and overburdened metro and national officials of Ghana and Ethiopia have both introduced their own versions,148 and the comparative
Interview with David
Stone, Cape Town, 1 the need for more reporting requirements. One lesson that has been learnt is the neces- study of these kinds of initiatives and processes, with their relative strengths and benefits Savage, Cape Town, 30
June 2018. sity of patience and fidelity, as explained by Jeremy Timm: in different contexts, would potentially be an area for researchers to explore. May 2018.
 While the ICDG has been successfully designed and implemented, one line of criti- The size of the ICDG, from this view, has to be balanced against the complexities of man-
cism holds that it represents too small an amount, in the overall context of the grants aging the fiscal flows within the intergovernmental system that structure and drive in-
system, to make a definitive change to the ways that cities are governed, develop, and centives for better urban governance and development.
create jobs. The CSP team accepts this point: it does allocate a relatively small amount The original intention behind the introduction of the ICDG was to link city perform-
compared to instruments like the Urban Settlement Development Grant. But they would ance, when measured against built environment outcome indicators, to future allocations
argue that other factors have to be considered. David Savage points to the tensions at of the Grant. In other words, cities would be rewarded based on the actual transformation
work in the intergovernmental fiscal system. On one hand, National Treasury has the spe- of their local built environments arising from their spatial plans and investments. This has
cific policy objective of encouraging municipalities to self-finance, and to become less not happened as yet. Samantha Naidu worked at National Treasury on the development
reliant on fiscal transfers from the centre. On the other hand, national grants can be used and introduction of the ICDG, and has also led its ongoing process of review. Speaking
as a means to incentivize improved city performance — but this rationale encounters the in May 2018, Naidu explains the evolving thinking behind the ICDG as an incentivizing
problem of perhaps becoming overly prescriptive towards local governance and planning. instrument:
Savage explains:
We are still grappling with how we should link the spatial transformation or
178 Well, there are a couple of issues relating to that critique. The one is the relative integrated outcome indicators to the ICDG. At the moment, we use indicators 179
size of different grant instruments. I think we would like to see performance-led relating to governance, like a city’s performance in developing a quality BEPP.
grant instruments be a proportionately more important part of the system, over That is not necessarily a built environment outcome indicator, but it is a way
time, while reducing the overall amount of grants allocated, or the total grant to start bringing the spatial transformation agenda into the regulation and dis-
flow from national government. But I don’t think incentives are necessarily cash. bursement of the ICDG. But I think it is time for us to review that. Over the next
People respond to very many different kinds of incentives, and organizations do few months we are going to be looking at how we link the Grant more to a metro’s
as well. performance in actually driving spatial transformation, as well as how we can
link performance to other grants in the fiscal system. Because as part of the
I think the incentive that people respond most positively to, and has more lasting National Treasury’s local government infrastructure grant review there are other
effects, is collegiality, and the ability to work together as partners. If a grant, a processes happening as well, with the consolidation of infrastructure grants be-
performance or an incentive grant, backs that up and they see that as part of that ing proposed. So, what does that mean for an incentive grant like the ICDG? We
contribution, well, then you are reinforcing something that is already there. You have been trying to think strategically about some of those issues, as we move
are going with the grain. You are trying to fit the incentive along that grain. The forward.150 150
second way that incentives work, beyond the size of the incentive, is the discre- Interview with
tion you have over the deployment of resources. So, I can give you an incentive of Samantha Naidu,
R1 trillion, but then also tell you exactly how you are going to spend it, down to Conclusion Pretoria, 21 May 2018.

the last cent. That is not actually a great incentive for your day-to-day work. What
I am doing is forcing you into my preference, and yes, people will respond to that, For National Treasury and CSP, introducing a reform agenda in favour of outcomes-led
because they want the money. But they are also going to kick back against it at and performance-based governance requires a clear and well-defined intergovernmental
some point. So, what we have at the moment in the incentive grant, the ICDG, is system for monitoring and evaluating local government activities. It calls, also, for the
a collegially managed grant, with very discretionary spending behind it, and it is provision of appropriate fiscal instruments to incentivize changed city behaviour in the
quite a small amount. But it is R50 million that you wouldn’t have got otherwise. pursuit of spatial transformation. Meanwhile, applying new kinds of data sources and
I think R50 million is quite useful grease to the wheel. So, I am not that worried technologies has the potential to enhance processes of intergovernmental regulation,
about the size of it. peer learning, and citizen-led accountability to drive real changes in governance behav-
iour and spatial change.
I know a lot of people would say that you have to have a very large cash incen- Over the past six years, Treasury and CSP have arguably enjoyed notable moments
tive, and I do agree that it could be bigger. But I think we need to be cautious in of success in coproducing and implementing new systems to address these needs. Time
understanding the way in which people respond to incentives, and the sorts of will tell whether the introduction of a more streamlined and accurate reporting system,
incentives people actually want, because otherwise it starts to look like a bribe, or alongside performance-based fiscal transfers, or the application of new kinds of data
it becomes patronage. Certainly, what we have done, and what we have won in this governance techniques, will drive real changes in municipal motivation and behaviour to
round, is introducing the principle of a performance-based allocation with an ad- deliver inclusive and sustainable urban transformation. It will be important for research-
ditional incentive over the discretionary allocation, or your own use of the money. ers to track these outcomes, and the reasons for the relative success or failure of differ-
149
So, those are important principles to have in our system because they hadn’t ex- ent kinds of support interventions in this domain, if CSP’s experiences are to be instruc-
Interview with David
Savage, Cape Town, 30 isted before, even though they are very basic things, and I think it needs to move tive for future processs of governance reform in South Africa and elsewhere.
May 2018. on now. I think there is a lot of scope for us to do more in this area.149 The experiences of the Monitoring, Reporting, and Incentives sub-component reveal
 some of the critical challenges and bottlenecks involved in implementing highly complex
and technical processes of intergovernmental regulatory reform. Providing support, in
this context, has meant mobilizing highly specialized technical knowledge (relating to is-
sues including data collection and analysis, institutional transformation, monitoring and
evaluation, and performance-oriented governance), and deploying this expertise in ways
that respond to the concerns and demands of municipal officials, while also satisfying the
legislated mandates for regulation and support allocated to national government.
For this sub-component, providing support has also meant engaging fluidly across
different spheres and sectors of government, as well as across the state-civil soci-
ety interface. As such, it is another clear demonstration of CSP’s commitment to co-
production as a philosophical and practical approach to governance reform and city
support. Arguably, a more collective, iterative, and collegial strategy will lead to bet-
ter governance and developmental outcomes when compared to a purely top-down
180 initiative imposed by a national government, for example. Coproduction would thus 181
take on particular importance within complex and technical processes of regulatory
and monitoring reform, which affect a wide range of different role players within the
intergovernmental system, and where the benefits of reform efforts may not be imme-
diately obvious to all.
Yet, these points also raise a series of critical questions. Are these assumptions legiti-
mate? Do collective and collaborative processes for regulatory and fiscal reform actually
result in better outcomes than other approaches? More specifically, what kinds and com-
binations of coproductive techniques and procedures work, and which function less ef-
fectively, in different urban and governance settings, and in different domains of reform?
CSP’s experiences stand as just one set of examples of how things could be done, offering
a basis for comparative and historical reflection and learning.
In the following chapter, we proceed to discuss another critical and complex area of
CSP’s work: that which focuses on reforming and enhancing the ways in which South
African city governments plan, manage, and finance their urban infrastructure systems.

References

DPME (2018) Implementation Evaluation of the Cities National Treasury (2017c) ‘Explanatory Memorandum to
Support Programme (Pretoria: The Presidency). the Division of Revenue’. Website annexure to the 2017
Budget Review. http://www.treasury.gov.za/documents/
National Treasury (2017a) Municipal Circular on Ration-
national%20budget/2017/review/Annexure%20W1.pdf,
alisation Planning and Reporting Requirements for the
accessed 20 October 2018.
sydelle willow smith
2018/19 MTREF, MFMA Circular no. 88, 30 November
City of Cape
2017 (Pretoria: National Treasury). Palmer, I., Moodley, N., and Parnell, S. (2017) Building a
Town: View of the
Capable State: Service Delivery in Post-Apartheid South
N2 freeway from National Treasury (2017b) Guidance Note: Framework for
Africa (London: Zed).
the Khayelitsha the Formulation of Built Environment Performance Plans
footbridge. (BEPP) (Pretoria: National Treasury).
 Chapter 8
Infrastructure
Finance and
Delivery
182 Aims and l Assist cities to prepare catalytic land
objectives development programmes for effective
183
implementation
l Capacitate cities to plan, deliver, and maintain
infrastructure assets efficiently and over the
long term

Strategy Enable cities to effectively articulate their total

infrastructure demand, secure finance, as well
as manage new investments and existing assets
to drive inclusive urban growth and spatial
transformation

Work areas l Reform the national policy environment for

infrastructure financing
l Provide incentives for improved municipal
performance
l Provide technical assistance to cities

Key projects Infrastructure finance

l Infrastructure finance reform
l Medium Term Expenditure Framework and fiscal
framework
l Revenue policy support
l Innovations in infrastructure finance
l Land development transaction support
l Cities Project Preparation Facility
City of Cape Town:

BARRY CHRistianson
Infrastructure delivery Golden Arrow buses
l Social environment management programme parked in District
l City Infrastructure Delivery and Management 6 during off peak
System hours.
 This chapter addresses two sub-components of the CSP’s Core City Governance Com- national transfers or grants to fund urban infrastructure investments — a pattern that is
151
ponent: Infrastructure Finance Reform and Infrastructure Delivery. What follows is a both ‘fiscally immature’ and ‘fiscally unsustainable’.151 Yet, historically, the intergovernmen- Interview with David
discussion of the Programme’s agenda and activities focusing on reforming and enhanc- tal system for municipal grants has been fragmented between sectors and functions, and Savage, Cape Town, 30
ing how urban infrastructures are financed and delivered. With respect to infrastructure has largely failed to reward or incentivize the performance of local government in relation May 2018.
finance, CSP has worked closely with other units of National Treasury to further consoli- to integrated infrastructure planning and investment (Savage 2008). Even when finance is
date and fine-tune a range of discussions and areas of activity that preceded the creation available, local authorities struggle to develop long-term infrastructure investment plans
of CSP itself. Much of this reform agenda was conceived as part of the design and incep- that follow a central strategic logic and agenda. Moreover, in relative terms, municipalities
tion of the CSP, with the Programme’s implementation period focusing on consolidating have tended to focus too much of their spending on the capital cost of installing new serv-
various reform interventions. For example, the introduction of the MIG-Cities instrument, ices, thereby underspending on the ongoing operating costs required to run and maintain
reflecting a broader Treasury discussion around the need to differentiate the infrastruc- existing assets.
ture grant framework, was a central driver behind the formation of the CSP. In terms of infrastructure delivery, large cities are highly complex systems, as are the
With respect to infrastructure delivery, CSP has sought to explore the potential for bureaucratic and technical systems that are necessary for their planning and ongoing man-
innovative and effective social and environmental management techniques, particularly agement. Yet South African city governments have generally lacked capacity to manage
184 around the delivery of affordable housing. The Programme has also responded to specific their overall infrastructure portfolios in an effective way. Officials and practitioners require 185
demands from cities for tools and support to enhance the planning and management of their tools allowing them to make sense of that complexity, and to effectively predict and plan
complex infrastructure systems and needs, over the medium to long term, notably through for future demand. Moreover, conventional modes of infrastructure delivery in South Africa
the design and introduction of a City Infrastructure Design and Management System. have struggled to promote more integrated and inclusive modes of urban development. Cit-
Overall, the CSP team, in partnership with Treasury and other government officials, have ies need tools and a regulatory environment enabling them to create more inclusive and
played a central role in developing and introducing new infrastructure financing, delivery, higher quality urban environments, for all citizens, through their infrastructure investments.
and management tools and practices, which hold considerable potential to strengthen met- The upshot of these dynamics is that South African city governments have been relative-
ro capabilities to shape the urban built environment according to a transformation agenda. ly hindered in their capacity to invest, construct, and maintain infrastructure at the scale re-
quired to meet people’s basic needs and promote inclusive development. Given these trends,
patterns of socio-spatial inequality and urban economic stagnation are only likely to become
The challenge further entrenched unless municipal infrastructural capabilities are greatly enhanced.

South Africa faces a profound urban infrastructure challenge. The condition of many ex- Box 8.1: South Africa’s Urban Infrastructure Investment Challenge
isting urban infrastructure assets is rapidly declining due to a lack of maintenance and
repair; at the same time, many poor urban residents remain deprived of adequate levels of We are heading for a massive infrastructure crisis if there isn’t a huge turnaround in
services, including shelter, energy, transport, water, and sanitation. While the metros have infrastructure investment and maintenance. Urbanization will continue; people are
performed well (relative to other municipal categories) in addressing historical service going to continue to head into the cities, with many settling there permanently. You
backlogs, there is an urgent need for new investments to renew existing assets and accom- have some migration back into the rural areas now, but that is not going to last forever.
modate further economic and demographic growth. Deficits in the quantum and quality of The infrastructure investment and maintenance shortfalls and delays are really getting
urban infrastructures have been identified as critical obstacles to economic growth and us into trouble now. For a long time, infrastructure spending has been flat. The con-
development at both the city and national scale (Foster and Briceño-Garmendia 2009). text of the last decade, with very slow economic growth and limited fiscal resources,
As such, South African cities require a major infrastructure investment drive over the has certainly made things harder. But for four or five years now there has been nega-
medium to longer term (see Box 8.1). In 2009, it was estimated that the country needed tive growth, yet effectively, nominal spending stayed the same. Even in the big cities
as much as $27 billion per year to spend on its total infrastructure requirements, both for that are growing in population terms, adequate investment is not happening. So, that
investment (creating new assets and rehabilitating existing systems) as well as operation is one really big crisis. A massive expansion in investment and infrastructure has to
and management (Foster and Briceño-Garmendia 2009). While much of this investment happen, not over three years, but over the next twenty or thirty years. And, in some
would need to be concentrated in urban areas and systems, quite how this could be done ways, the restructuring of the spatial landscape — creating more consolidated cities,
at the scale required is unclear. It is necessary to both create and distribute value, some- developing inner cities, and the shortening of commuter times — that is only possible
thing that is difficult when economic growth is flat and government plans are non-enabling. if you have a lot of investment, because it is the investment that makes it possible to
At the city level, municipalities have been unable to secure and spend capital at any- create new spaces, and to target that investment in particular areas. So, the spatial
where near the scale required to address historic backlogs, to allow for economic growth, framework is the right perspective on how to think strategically about changing the
and to rehabilitate existing assets (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 143; Savage 2016). Generally, pri- landscape, but if you do not have a big investment drive alongside it, you are not going
vate financing for infrastructure has been constrained due to poor portfolio management to get there, because you also have to maintain everything in the existing landscape.
by municipalities, and an inability to articulate long-term need and demand. The trend, over
the past two decades, has been for local governments to become increasingly reliant on Andrew Donaldson, former Director of Public Finance, National Treasury
 the emphasis placed on pro-poor tariff arrangements and revenue management systems.
Theory of change Within National Treasury, a key area of debate and activity focused on how the system of
intergovernmental fiscal transfers, or grants, could be made more effective in enhancing
CSP’s work on Infrastructure Finance Reform and Infrastructure Delivery constitute two government performance and driving economic development. The first real attempt to con-
of the five sub-components sitting within the wider Core City Governance Component. solidate the grant system came with the 2004 introduction of the Municipal Infrastructure
The Infrastructure Finance Reform sub-component operates according to the follow- Grant, replacing the ‘raft’ of grants administered by individual sector departments (Palmer
ing hypothesis: that South Africa has sufficient financial capacity at the municipal level et al. 2017, p. 130). Meanwhile, it was increasingly recognized that large cities have particu-
to meet the country’s large and growing infrastructure needs — something essential to lar kinds of needs and capacities, and should thus be afforded differentiated forms of fiscal
promoting inclusive growth and reducing poverty at both an urban and national scale — and managerial support alongside greater flexibility in how they spend their grant funding.
but that this capacity is poorly organized. More generally, developing the self-financing The MIG-Cities, and its evolution into the Urban Settlements Development Grant, were the
capacity of urban local government is critical for enabling the emergence and consolida- direct result of these discussions.
tion of a more fiscally sustainable municipal sector. Despite these efforts, flaws in the grants system continued to emerge, especially with
The Infrastructure Delivery sub-component proceeds from the understanding that respect to housing and transport subsidies (Palmer et al. 2017). Moreover, increasing mu-
186 improving the capability of cities to deliver efficiently and effectively on new infrastruc- nicipal reliance on fiscal transfers from central government enjoined Treasury interest in 187
ture needs, while ensuring full life-cycle management of assets, is a key requirement for the potential to apply new self-financing instruments for urban infrastructures.
unlocking the investment needed to transform South African cities into more compact, CSP took shape in the context of these emerging and ongoing debates and agendas
inclusive, productive, and sustainable spaces. surrounding grant reform and the potential for municipal self-financing. These concerns
Both sub-components are rooted in the logic of ‘infrastructure-led development’, or are reflected in all aspects of the Infrastructure Finance Reform and Infrastructure De-
the notion that public infrastructural investments can act as an important ‘engine of livery work programmes. These are described and discussed in the sections that follow.
growth’, provided that governance is adequate to ensure a sufficient degree of efficiency
in that investment (Agénor 2010, p. 932). Moreover, CSP’s work in this area accords di-
rectly with the National Development Plan’s emphasis on the need to ‘establish a com- Work programme
petitive base of infrastructure’ so as to lower the costs of doing business and hence to
promote investment, internal trade, and job creation (NPC 2013). As such, there is a close Infrastructure finance
link between these infrastructure-related sub-components and CSP’s work focusing on
economic development (see Chapter 11).
The Infrastructure Finance Reform sub-component has been led by David Savage, who
joined the National Treasury as an expert in municipal infrastructure finance in the late
Historical context 1990s, before working at the World Bank and as an independent public finance consult-
ant. He explains that the objective of this sub-component is to ‘broaden the base for self-
CSP’s interest in questions of municipal infrastructure finance ties into a longer history of financed investments in cities’ by working across three dimensions: creating an enabling
the evolution and devolution of South African policy on municipal finance. policy environment, assisting cities to articulate long-term fiscal strategies, and provid-
The application of financial analysis to municipalities to assess their infrastructural in- ing assistance with the financing of catalytic development programmes through mecha-
vestment requirements dates back to the early 1990s, when the World Bank began to sup- nisms like land-based financing instruments.
port the ANC — as the government-in-waiting — in articulating a new agenda for urban In the sections that follow, we describe several of the key projects undertaken within
fiscal policy. With the basic policy coordinates established through political negotiations, this sub-component.
this work ultimately evolved into the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Framework (MIIF)
(Palmer et al. 2017, pp. 141–2). The 1998 introduction of the ‘equitable share’ for local gov-
ernment was geared towards helping officials to meet the operating costs identified by Infrastructure Finance Reform
the MIIF (Savage 2008). The Municipal Borrowing Framework, introduced in 1999, clarified
the regulation of the municipal debt market to enable leveraging of private capital into mu- The ‘Infrastructure finance reform’ project supports cities to more effectively access and
nicipal investment programmes on a sustainable basis (Savage 2008). The creation soon utilise available sources of infrastructure finance. It does so through two workstreams.
thereafter of ‘wall-to-wall’ municipalities brought greater opportunity for devolution of fi- The first focuses on policy and regulatory issues, seeking to create an ‘enabling environ-
nancial responsibility to the local level (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 130). The series of municipal ment’ for effective municipal fiscal administration. David Savage elaborates:
fiscal legislation passed in the early 2000s — notably the 2000 Municipal Systems Act, 2003
Municipal Finance Management Act, and 2004 Property Rates Act — collectively defined The first area of our work focuses on the enabling policy level, looking at the extent to
the basic financial management system for local government (Savage 2008). which municipalities have utilized their own balance sheets effectively to access pri-
Through the course of the 2000s, this system was subject to ongoing refinements, with vate capital for investment, and so forth. We are finding that while we have a relative-
 152 ly enabling policy framework, we have had quite conservative borrowing strategies financing model that accounts for current and projected financing positions, investment
Interview with David
from most of our cities. We have been trying to explore the reasons for that, as well needs, and spatial locations in order to identify the tangible policy choices facing a city. The
Savage, Cape Town, 30
May 2018. as what we could do to make the municipal debt market operate more efficiently.152 model will be used as an input to a city’s municipal infrastructure finance policy statement,
providing specific commitments (including bylaws, where appropriate) and long-term plans
More specifically, in close coordination with the cities, CSP has assisted National Treasury for the investment community, alongside a statement of proposed financial partnerships
to review and update the government policy framework for municipal borrowing and finan- and instruments that will be considered. This is being undertaken in four phases and is cur-
cial emergencies, originally adopted in 2000. The need for review has been driven by changes rently underway through pilot projects in Nelson Mandela Bay and eThekwini.
in political and economic context, the experiences gained by municipalities over the past two
decades in understanding issues related to borrowing, as well as their changing infrastruc-
ture needs (and understanding of those needs). The review addressed a range of issues in- Fiscal Reform and Incentives
cluding project-based financing instruments, development charges, pledging, supply side or
investor issues, and pooled finance borrowing (CSP 2017a). This work has been assisted by This project focuses on reforming the fiscal grants system to encourage cities to become
the Urban Finance Working Group, a reference body comprising cities, development finance more self-financing and to incentivize better municipal performance. Key successes that
188 institutions, as well as private sector financial institutions and bodies (CSP 2017b). CSP has enjoyed with respect to grant reform have included the crafting and introduc- 189
Another critical area of work has focused on improving the disclosure of market in- tion of the Urban Settlements Development Grant (USDG) and the Integrated City De-
formation. Here the key output has been the development of a quarterly Municipal Bor- velopment Grant (ICDG). The former aimed to provide the metros with a consolidated
rowing Bulletin, which National Treasury now publishes on a regular basis. The Bulletin and more discretionary source of infrastructure finance, while the latter is specifically
provides updates to various stakeholders on developments in the municipal borrowing designed to incentivize better performance and integration.
market. It aims to contribute to a better understanding of movements and trends in mu- The issue of grant incentives is discussed in more detail in Chapter 7, which points out
nicipal borrowing through data sharing, analysis, and discussion of topical issues. Moreo- some of the challenges involved — for example, there is an inherent tension in using national
ver, it seeks to promote transparency, accountability, and the prudent and responsible use fiscal incentives to improve local government performance without being overly prescriptive
of municipal borrowing for infrastructure finance. David Savage sets out the reasons for or encouraging municipalities to continue to rely on transfers from the centre. David Savage
the urgency of this work, and reflects on some of the key lessons learnt: reflects on the lessons learnt from CSP’s experience, highlighting the importance of seizing
moments of political and economic opportunity in order to drive fiscal reforms:
We have re-reviewed the borrowing policy framework and so forth, but our key
constraints are on the demand side, which relates to the long-term financial strat- Restructuring of capital grants to local government is a difficult process and, to
egies that cities use. So, most of our cities actually use a more hand-to-mouth my mind, a slightly low-return process. I think that probably the easiest thing to
capital investment strategy, with a growing reliance on grants from the centre. do is what we are doing now, which is just cutting back on the grants to put mu-
That is both fiscally immature and fiscally unsustainable. It is fiscally immature nicipalities under pressure to self-finance to a greater extent. But to promote a
because why would you buy your house with cash? That means you are going to consolidation and an alignment of the grants is something that we will be looking
buy a very small house. If cities stopped using their annual operating surplus- at. At a strategic level, we now have, I think, sufficient consensus that our sys-
es, and actually leveraged those surpluses over time, they could invest them at tem needs to be streamlined, with fewer grants and more performance-orientated
a much greater scale. It is fiscally problematic, for us, because a growing reli- grants. So, we have introduced the basic instruments to deal with that, in the form
ance on grants is a growing pressure on the national budget, and we can’t sustain of the USDG and the ICDG. We haven’t recalibrated the system yet, and that will
that anymore. But we have to get the demand side right, so that is where, having be something that we look at in the future, but we haven’t really had a moment to
done our analytics in terms of the market and the supply side and some of the do so… Actually, this is the first MTEF [Medium Term Expenditure Framework]
intermediation issues, we have made some interventions, like improving the qual- cycle where we are cutting the grants. And, you know, crisis brings opportunity,
ity of information that is available. National Treasury now produces the quarterly so there is an opportunity now to restructure the calibration of the system and
Municipal Borrowing Bulletin, and so forth, and we are also in discussions with a to push further for consolidation and re-targeting. So, we will be looking at that 154
range of other stakeholders. You have to show effective demand for spending, not going forward. In a growing economic environment it is quite difficult to do that, Interview with David
only at the strategy level but also at the project level, so we are increasingly turn- curiously. One would think it would be easier, but it is always difficult.154 Savage, Cape Town, 30
153
May 2018.
Interview with David ing our attention to that strategy and project development.153
Savage, Cape Town, 30
May 2018. The imperative of getting the ‘demand side right’ informs the project’s second workstream, Financing and Preparation Support
which focuses on assisting cities to develop long-term financial strategies and policies for
infrastructure financing. This stems from CSP’s basic conviction that the strategic devel- This project consolidates and focuses various activities in the Infrastructure Finance
opment priorities of a municipality have to be ‘reflected and supported’ by its financial man- Reform sub-component on innovative mechanisms to expand the range of available
agement strategy (Savage 2008). This work has involved the development of an integrated sources of infrastructure finance for urban development. It seeks to provide national-
 level policy and guidelines, as well as city-specific support for their implementation. counts and penalties to encourage and discourage developments in different parts
One specific area of work has addressed land value capture instruments. These of the city.Treasury is adamant that that is not the correct way to go about it.156
are instruments that ringfence specific revenues for investment in a specified area. Ex-
amples include special improvement districts, business improvement districts, special The rationale of this work therefore stems from the realization that South African local
rating areas, and tax increment financing. The general logic behind the introduction of governments, by failing to implement development charges effectively, have foregone a
land value capture instruments is as follows: if city investment in infrastructure or serv- major source of revenue to invest in ‘the expansion of infrastructure that supports eco-
ices results in specific private properties increasing in value, disproportionately to other nomic growth and poverty reduction’ (Savage 2009, p. 2). Moreover, as indicated in Box
similarly situated properties, then the city should be able to recover a portion of the in- 8.2, an equity argument sits behind the principle of development charges, rooted in the
creased value to help pay for the investment it has made (CSP 2017a). David Savage notion that higher-value developments should contribute relatively more to the costs in-
explains the approach followed, and the findings of this work: curred on the public infrastructure purse. Speaking in May 2018, David Savage describes
CSP’s specific role in the process:
There is a lot of interest in land value capture instruments at the moment. Our
view has been that if you want to take land-based financing forward in South We have worked quite intensively on finalizing the last phase of reforms to devel-
190 Africa, the problems are not predominantly regulatory. They are around just in- opment charges, which are one of the land-based financing instruments, and we 191
troducing new practices. We have been looking to work with cities to secure a have provided a lot of support and guidance to the Treasury team working on that.
few examples of what is possible in this area. I think that there is now a growing We have helped to fine tune and get that ready to go. It should be going in the next
consensus, and the Treasury support has been quite useful in that respect, to few months, and we have produced a guideline for the municipalities around that,
say, ‘please explore these domains and if, in the event, you do come across some which will be released once the legislative amendments are finalized. This was
deep regulatory challenge, we can talk about it’. But, to date, we haven’t found a one area where there was under-regulation. It wasn’t countervailing regulation. It 157
deep regulatory challenge. So, we are much more focused on the support side. was just oblique and unclear, and always led to a lot of misinterpretation and so Interview with David
Savage, Cape Town, 30
155 There are a range of issues and there is complexity and a transaction cost to forth. So, there was a whole reform programme plan there, that has been worked May 2018.
Interview with David executing these kinds of limited-recourse financing structures that are being on over the last ten years, which we helped to support.157
Savage, Cape Town, 30
May 2018.
proposed.155
Box 8.2: The Rationale and Review of Development Charges
A second area of work has focused on the potential for the introduction of development
charges as a municipal self-financing mechanism. A development charge is one levied If infrastructure is financed through debt, there are several options to service the debt:
as a condition of approval of a land development application, in order to contribute to the l When funded from a municipality’s general revenues and accumulated surpluses,
cost of capital infrastructure assets needed to meet increased demand for bulk external the cost is borne by local taxpayers and consumers.
engineering services. Stephen Berrisford, a consultant who has worked on South African l When funded from national transfers, the cost is borne by all national taxpayers.
development charge reform, reflects on the specific role of these charges for municipal l When funded from specific user charges or impact fees, the cost is borne by those
infrastructure governance, and on the history of governmental interest in their use: who use the infrastructure, or create the need for it.

The World Bank did a study in 2009 [Savage 2009] that said that South African local Each of these approaches carries its own social and political dynamic, and has its own
governments as a whole were losing up to R4.7 billion every year due to the poor re- economic and financial implications. Capital recovery fees can be collected when, for
covery of development charges, or the under-recovery of development charges. So, example, a developer connects its new development to the city’s water and sanitary sewer
municipalities were not charging enough from developers.That began a long process, lines. Impact fees can be collected when the developer builds a shopping mall that gen-
which preceded the CSP, of trying to create a national, uniform set of rules around erates traffic requiring upgrades to offsite streets, or paves over a formerly pervious sur-
development charges. The idea is that this is a cost recovery mechanism. It is saying face, causing more runoff and the need for storm drainage improvements downstream.
that if you develop two hectares of residential land, that is going to put X amount
of strain on various services, then because of that incremental additional load, you Development charges have the potential to allocate costs more equitably: if we accept
must pay for it. So, it is very directly about the financial sustainability of local govern- that affluent households, industrial and commercial users, and others that can afford
ment. The cities and everybody who wants particular outcomes thinks that incentiv- to, should pay at least in proportion to what they use, or to the impacts they cause,
izing developers by giving discounts is the way to do it. Whether it is climate change, then we would want to encourage greater reliance on development charges.
or the township economy, there is always an idea that you must relax development
charges or property taxes and that is how you encourage development. Treasury’s The revised policy framework is likely to encourage the use of development charges,
156
response is, ‘no, that just makes the municipality weaker, and less able to do things with the proviso that they be clear, transparent, and non-discretionary.
Interview with Stephen
Berrisford, Cape Town, that it needs to do in order to attract investment’. And then, for spatial change, it is
23 May 2018. particularly the city planners who desperately want to use development charge dis- CSP (2017a)
 A third area of work has sought to assist cities to develop a pipeline of investment of things is how focused they are. It isn’t an ongoing, long-winded process. It is more
programmes. This ties directly into the agenda of ‘getting the demand side right’, which like a weeklong or two-week process. What is good is that there is a lot of prepara-
has been briefly described above. David Savage explains: tion time that goes into that process. The city has to write up a report that must
include two main elements: giving some context as to what is happening in the city,
We have made a major input around developing the pipeline of investment pro- plus the specific issues that they are looking at. That forced the cities to get their
grammes, because that is the key to the demand side. You can have the financing thinking going, and to bring some coherence to a problem statement in that space.
instruments — the grants, the local financing instruments, limited recourse loans,
or whatever — all these exciting ideas of how you could finance things.You can have Then you have outside experts who are brought in. I must say, I was always very im-
your grants aligned to it. But if you don’t actually have the spending programmes pressed with the calibre of these people, and how much effort they had put into do-
ready, it is very difficult to do anything with all those ideas and instruments. So, ing all their homework. And they just listen for three days. But what is interesting is
that has really been the focus: trying to set up a much better portfolio programme that they listen across all the silos. They hear perspectives from all the silos within
158 and project management practice in the cities around catalytic land development the public space, but also from the private players, and often civil society organiza-
Interview with David programmes. So, we have taken both a supply and demand-side approach.158 tions as well. And it is amazing, you know, how being an outsider can give you some
192 Savage, Cape Town, 30
May 2018.
perspective quite a lot faster than if you are too close to the noise and everything 193
A fourth project has focused on revenue policy support, whereby CSP supports cities else. They had the ability to synthesize complex information, and to reduce it down
to review and develop a better economic policy rationale for their own current revenue to several basic points, to say what the crux of the matter is.They also had the abil-
sources, through reviewing and adjusting the incidence of taxes and tariffs to ensure ity to understand institutional politics, or even politics with a big ‘P’ and a small
equity and efficiency. David Savage reflects on the project: ‘p’. It is often very difficult for some of these players to say things, whereas the ULI 160
panel could come out and identify the elephants in the room.160 Interview with Rob
One of the additional areas of work, which we haven’t really worked a lot on, around McGaffin, Cape Town, 4
July 2018.
infrastructure finance, is obviously the critical role of how revenue can fund this One ULI panel focused on Buffalo City and paid particular attention to the potential
process. Just core tariffs and taxes are fundamental to the generation of operating development of the Sleeper Site — a central city area earmarked for catalytic develop-
surpluses, and operating surpluses are what you leverage for private finance, that is ment projects.
how you pay for infrastructures, whether it is now or in the future. So, we have done
some analytical work there. It is a fairly complicated issue, but I think we have built What was interesting with the Sleeper Site was how the ULI panel helped to turn
sufficient consensus around the need for a more integrated programme for revenue around the thinking. For a long time, officials have thought, ‘great, we have this big
management in our cities. This programme wouldn’t just look at the administrative piece of land, well-located in the middle of the town, and so on. Now we are going
159 value chain, it would also look at some of the outstanding policy issues, as well as to use this piece of land to catalyse everything around it, the redevelopment of the
Interview with David some of the expenditure and political-economy issues surrounding local revenue.159 downtown area’. And the panel looked at this proposal and thought, ‘why would
Savage, Cape Town, 30 anybody develop this site when all around the area is a complete mess?’. They
May 2018.
said, ‘actually, what you want to do is increase the attractiveness of that site by
Land Development Transaction Support fixing up what’s going on around it’. It was a complete 180-degree turn. It identified
something the municipality could start doing tomorrow. They didn’t need to com-
This project provides support to cities to prepare catalytic land development programmes mission another research report. The local high street just needed an urban man-
by reviewing the regulatory framework for land development (including the formation and agement intervention to clean it up. The traffic lights needed to be fixed. Simple
implementation of public-private partnerships), creating national guidelines and provid- stuff, that one could get going with right then and there.
ing technical support for project preparation, and providing direct technical assistance
to selected projects (DPME 2018). One such project is the planned redevelopment of the So, I thought they were able to bring in some very useful external resources and
Conradie Hospital site in Cape Town. thinking, which I don’t think would have been possible otherwise for a place like 161
CSP has also collaborated with the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in facilitating expert Buffalo City.161 Interview with Rob
panels to review proposed catalytic land development programmes in cities like Buffalo McGaffin, Cape Town, 4
July 2018.
City, Nelson Mandela Bay, and Cape Town. One external observer, an academic real es-
tate expert who participated in several of these panels, spoke highly of ULI’s rationale and Infrastructure delivery
approach, as well as the quality of the expertise mobilized:
Nishendra Moodley led the sub-component focusing on Infrastructure Delivery from 2015,
I think some of the panels were more successful, and some less successful. I think taking over this responsibility from David Savage. A long-time consultant who worked ex-
the more one did them, the smarter one became in terms of how to use them. It is a tensively on the design and review of intergovernmental systems and structures to sup-
very interesting way of intervening in a metro… What is fantastic about these types port and regulate municipal functions, including infrastructure delivery, Moodley brought
 considerable experience to this role, combining acute technical knowledge with an astute The report’s authors argue that South Africa’s significant urban housing challenge re-
understanding of the institutional dynamics of the public sector. quires overcoming siloism and moving beyond the application of ‘standard remedies’.
The Infrastructure Delivery sub-component aims to capacitate cities to plan for and Rather, they call for a ‘proactive and creative approach’ that recognizes the ‘unique value
manage a complete portfolio of their infrastructure needs, while ensuring full life-cycle man- of well-located urban land’ (HSRC 2017, p. 24).
agement of their assets. It includes two key projects, described in the sections that follow. Finally, the SEM project also entailed the production of a framework to accelerate
infrastructure delivery. This involved a study reviewing the opportunity costs of current
SEM systems on urban development, and identifying actions for speeding up infrastruc-
Social and Environmental Management Programme ture delivery. The research focused on the risks associated with three different and dis-
connected environmental and social management systems: (i) municipal due diligence
The first project aims to investigate the social and environmental management (SEM) assessments (including the risks of community protests); (ii) the statutory environmen-
issues that impact on infrastructure delivery, with the intention of promoting reform tal and social licencing procedures of national and provincial government; and (iii) the
(DPME 2018). More specifically, the project works with selected cities to review and en- due diligence procedures operated by development financial institutions (such as the
hance existing SEM policies and practices, or to identify and pilot innovative approaches Development Bank of Southern Africa) and commercial banks. The principal outcome of
194 and instruments that more effectively safeguard the interests of poor and vulnerable ur- the study was the development of a Rapid Integrated Project Options Assessment tool 195
ban residents and their environments, within a sustainable and integrated urban devel- (RIPOA), designed as a cross-sectoral platform to help municipalities identify trade-offs
opment process. It supports those cities to implement a plan aimed at driving a common and to mitigate risks early on in the infrastructure project pipeline. This, it is hoped, will
understanding of and approach to SEM, as well as the implementation and monitoring of save a considerable amount of time, effort, and money at later stages in the development
innovative SEM instruments and initiatives. process by preventing projects from being aborted (CSP 2017b).
The project involved commissioning work in several related areas. A concept note on
SEM and affordable housing delivery was produced, and research undertaken on SEM tools
and practices, which involved engaging with cities to develop and test a multi-criteria de- City Infrastructure Delivery and Management System
cision analysis (MCDA) tool. A third area of investigation focused on the regulatory con-
straints to urban infrastructure delivery. For the latter, a piece was commissioned from the A major output of the Infrastructure Delivery sub-component, and a landmark CSP project, is
Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) focusing on the national-level regulatory barri- the City Infrastructure Delivery and Management System (CIDMS) toolkit. The project origi-
ers and other obstacles working against the delivery of affordable and accessible housing. nated from a request from the cities themselves, for a system comparable to the Infrastruc-
Nishendra Moodley describes some of the guiding questions and outcomes of the study: ture Delivery and Management System (IDMS), a resource introduced by National Treasury
in 2004 to assist provincial governments with the management of their health and education
What are the regulatory constraints to any urban development project? What in our infrastructure assets. Nishendra Moodley describes how thinking about the potential form of
regulations, from the Municipal Finance Management Act, and more particularly in a city-focused resource diverged from the original emphasis and design of the IDMS:
terms of environmental legislation, hinders the delivery of urban development projects
unnecessarily? That work started to pinpoint some of the National Environmental When the demand was expressed by cities, they wanted an IDMS, but when we
Management Act suite of legislation, and particularly water-use licensing, as one of scoped it out, we realized that actually, to add value in cities, we needed to do
those areas imposing a huge cost on any development project in an unnecessary and much more than that. IDMS was just the tip of the iceberg. Cities have very com-
inefficient way. So, some recommendations have been made around that, in terms of plex infrastructure environments, and work at an incredibly complex scale. They
162 how you can streamline the regulatory system to better support urban development.162 have to manage interactions between different services and between the differ-
Interview with ent levels of service that they are able to provide. It is highly complex, requiring a
Nishendra Moodley, More specifically, the HSRC research uncovered several key areas of weakness in the system to help them make sense of that complexity.
Cape Town, 3
national regulatory framework, including:
December 2018. 163
So, we needed to get cities to start understanding their current assets, what the age
Interview with
• Inconsistencies and rigidities that exist in national human settlements policy around
the location of new housing developments, and policy responsiveness to emerging
of them was, to understand and plan for future migration trends, climate change,
different technologies, and so on. Also, it was at the same time that new interna-
Nishendra Moodley,
Cape Town, 3
socio-economic realities; tional standards for asset management were coming out. What we developed was December 2018.
• Complex and overlapping approval procedures surrounding environmental, water-use,
and land-use planning systems, which act to delay the delivery of housing and tend to
something that retained the core elements of the IDMS but went much further.163

164
inflate costs; The CIDMS toolkit was codesigned by an external consultant in close collaboration with
Interview with
• The existence of a culture of compliance and risk aversion that tends to undermine the
pursuit of a collaborative problem-solving approach involving both the private sector
CSP and three participating metros: eThekwini, Johannesburg, and Cape Town. Each city
was intimately involved in the process, contributing elements to the toolkit based on par-
Nishendra Moodley,
Cape Town, 3
and low-income communities (HSRC 2017, p. 24). ticular areas of practice that they had already been carrying out effectively.164 In essence, December 2018.
 it responds to three contextual challenges: First, that South Africa is experiencing high Figure 8.1: Structure and Logic of the CIDMS Toolkit Modules (source: National Treasury 2018a)
rates of urbanization with concomitant increases in demand for services. Second, that
MODULE 1
city governments have mobilized inadequate levels of capital expenditure due to weak
portfolio, programme, and project management practices. And third, that inadequate mu- National
requirements for
nicipal attention has been devoted to asset management and maintaining infrastructure the delivery and
over its full life cycle. Nishendra Moodley elaborates: management of
infrastructure
It is hugely exciting work. It is really trying to deal with the challenge of the fact Expectations of assets and
that our cities are not able to spend their capital budgets. Almost all of our metros asset management system
are deficient in this respect; they don’t develop a portfolio of projects over time
and understand what they are doing with that portfolio, where the risks are, how MODULE 2 MODULE 3 MODULE 4 MODULE 5 MODULE 6
to move and allocate money, and so on. So, how officials manage these portfolios System for the Asset data Levels of service Future demand Lifecycle
of projects has always been relatively weak from a project management point of management of model and and customer planning
196 view, in all our cities. And then there is the endemic problem: we haven’t invested assets infrastructure
profiling
profiling 197
enough in infrastructure renewal and maintenance and so on. We have concentrat-
Requirements and Asset Management planning processes
ed spending on new infrastructure and have neglected our current asset base. So, management system
in responding to those problems, together with the fact that cities have to contend
165
with migration, urbanization, new technologies, and so on, our cities need to deal
Interview with with growing infrastructure demands over the next thirty years.165
MODULE 7 MODULE 8 MODULE 9 MODULE 10 MODULE 11
Nishendra Moodley,
Cape Town, 4 July 2018. Given these imperatives, the CIDMS toolkit was designed to draw upon international stand- Asset Investment Programme Construction Project
ards for asset management — notably those of ISO 55000 and the International Infrastructure management appraisal and and project procurement management
plans planning management strategy
Management Manual — and to apply those standards to the particular challenges of urban
infrastructure delivery and management. More specifically, it aims to support South African Planning output Feasibility assessment
cities in identifying their infrastructure needs over multiple planning horizons, in evaluating and decision-making Delivery of infrastructure
the merits of different infrastructure investment proposals, in procuring and delivering infra-
structure, and in undertaking these processes within a framework for sustainable, integrat-
MODULE 12
ed infrastructure asset management (CSP 2017b). Nishendra Moodley describes this logic:
Asset management Asset management Management Asset management Service Audit, review, &
The toolkit is based on new international standards around asset management, but it leadership and teams plans and systems information systems provision models improvement
develops — for the engineers and the planners, and the full range of built environment
professionals — a highly codified and methodological way of looking at infrastructure Asset management enablers
needs over the next thirty years, defining current levels of service, taking stock of all ex-
isting assets, and profiling them. It then leads to a multi-criteria decision-making proc- while there has been ‘huge demand’ from cities to apply the CIDMS, to date CSP has only
ess around prioritization, indicating where you should put your money now. But then it been able to roll it out in Cape Town, eThekwini, and Johannesburg — the three cities with
gets you to the point where you can agree on a formal infrastructure plan over the term which it was codeveloped. Ultimately, CSP plans to introduce the CIDMS to all the metros,
of office, and over a longer period, and then how you would finance that plan, and how in a staggered way, over the coming years. CSP is currently working to increase its internal
166 you then procure, deliver, and look after the full life cycle of the infrastructure assets.166 capacity to be able to provide the necessary support for this implementation. Yet the CIDMS
Interview with
project also faces wider challenges relating to resourcing and institutionalization: ‘Now that 167
Nishendra Moodley, Interview with
Cape Town, 4 July 2018. As such, the toolkit provides cities with a customized system incorporating principles, we have designed it, we need to find ways to fund it and sustain it over time’.167
Nishendra Moodley,
methodologies, techniques, and case studies to optimize performance right across the For National Treasury, CIDMS represents a critical complement to existing resources
Cape Town, 3
urban infrastructure value chain, while responding to the long-term spatial transforma- geared towards improving the governance of infrastructure assets in different kinds of December 2018.
tion strategies of cities. It comprises twelve modules, each focusing and giving guidance environments. This collective agenda was formalized in November 2018, when the South
on how to address a particular issue or stage within the overall infrastructure delivery African Government launched One-IDMS: a package comprising the original IDMS, the
and management process (see Figure 8.1 opposite). CIDMS, and an additional system designed for local governments situated outside of
Nishendra Moodley, who was integral to the toolkit’s conceptualization and production, the major cities. One-IDMS thus comprises a triad of toolkits that, it is hoped, will assist
is open about the scale and ambition of the project. For him, ‘it is bigger than the CSP itself; it Government in the implementation of a new R400 billion infrastructure investment plan
is another programme’. This raises capacity challenges around its implementation. Indeed, (South African Government 2018).
 cipline they will always argue that funding is inadequate’ (National Treasury 2018b, p. 51).
Successes, challenges, and debates Elsewhere, it has been argued that the infrastructure grants system in South Africa is
relatively sophisticated, therefore any grant reforms aiming to improve access to capital
Infrastructure finance by municipalities will only enjoy modest success (Palmer et al. 2017, p. 156). Moreover,
as described above, CSP’s experience suggests that the restructuring and leveraging of
A recent external evaluation of the CSP concluded that the Programme has managed to municipal capital grants can be a challenging and potentially ‘low-return’ process. That
achieve significant gains in its agenda for fiscal reform (DPME 2018). This chapter has il- said, the CSP team clearly recognizes that there is scope to explore further the potential
lustrated some of these gains through a brief discussion of some of the remarkable array to consolidate the grant system, and to utilize that system as a way to incentivize better
of CSP activities and projects relating to infrastructure finance reform. This work has, in municipal performance.
many cases, emerged from and contributed to a longer history of reform thinking, both As has been shown in this and the previous chapter, it is clear that, from the perspec-
within and outside of National Treasury. Many of the ideas discussed in this chapter were tive of National Treasury, the overall project of fiscal reform calls for a delicate balancing
central to the conceptualization and early implementation of the CSP. Subsequently, act between the leveraging of grant finance as an instrument to drive improved local
CSP has been able to work with other Treasury units to drive and consolidate important performance, on one hand, and the agenda of promoting municipal self-financing, on the
198 changes to the enabling policy environment, as well as to the long-term fiscal planning other. The argument, mentioned in this chapter, that it may be best to simply cut back on 199
processes, intergovernmental grants, and infrastructure financing practices available to the scale of national grants, and to use the current fiscal crisis as an opportunity to rec-
South African metros. alibrate and consolidate the system, would inevitably raise some concerns over the short-
168 CSP’s support for long-term financial planning in the metros, to help cities articulate term performance and financial effects that this austerity measure might have for some
Interview with
their total future infrastructure demand, has been identified as a critical area of work.168 It city governments and the wellbeing of their beneficiaries. Considering these risks, future
Matthew Glasser, by
telephone, 15 August appears to have been well received by the metros. One official from Nelson Mandela Bay initiatives in this area will have to be coproduced with cities, and possibly combined with
2018. described this work as ‘crucial’, an essential precondition for municipal fiscal sustain- specific support interventions, so as to ensure minimal disruption to service delivery. It
ability: ‘I think, without this kind of planning, cities are going to fail. Especially cities on should be remembered, however, that cities regularly underspend on their grant budgets
the edge, like our city’.169 and, as such, cuts in grant funding could be complemented by further support measures
169
Within this fiscal reform agenda, an important area of debate concerns the future of designed to maximize the efficiency of municipal spending.
Interview 34.
the grants system, specifically the potential for further consolidation and incentivization. The issue of reworking the grant system to make it performance-oriented will remain
While the introduction of the USDG and ICDG have been important and effective inter- a key area of CSP’s work in future years. Yet, as CSP’s own experience has shown (see
ventions in this space, the demand for further consolidation remains from some metro Chapter 7), shifting towards a performance-based allocation of funding to municipalities,
officials. One, a spatial planner from Ekurhuleni, commented: in a manner designed to reward the outcomes of their interventions (rather than simply
producing outputs), is not something that can happen overnight. It will yet take time to get
I know Treasury is working on a review of the whole grant setup. Actually, to cut a the monitoring and reporting systems in place at the municipal level to justify the distri-
long story short, if Treasury want to make things easier for the metros they should bution of funding based on progress towards designated urban outcomes. It is possible
only say: ‘we will give you a single grant, and the only condition is that you will that lessons might be gleaned from experiences emerging from India, where there have
implement it according to your BEPP’. So, cut out all the other paperwork, and all also been recent movements to broaden the revenue base of urban local governments
the other conditions, and all the other requirements. Give us one grant; whatever and deepen financial decentralization, in part through the introduction of a performance
the amount is can be decided on. Give it at the beginning of the year — this thing of grant (albeit oriented towards rewarding outputs more than outcomes) that is contingent
paying in tranches is also making it difficult, but it’s not too insurmountable. Give it on the implementation of fiscal reforms (Nandi and Gamkhar 2013).
as a once-off transfer to the city and allow us to implement according to our plan. The introduction of new instruments to encourage municipal self-financing remains
So, in terms of improving the process: the process itself is working fine. It is just an ongoing topic of debate within and outside of Treasury. A key issue concerns the po-
that financial element of it, I think, will make it easier for the cities. Because what tential for a ‘local business tax’. This has been an important issue of debate since eThek-
happens right now, when we identify individual projects, we are supposed to identi- wini Municipality’s 2011 application, through the Municipal Fiscal Powers and Functions
fy a project based on knowing which of these six grants we will get, and which grant Act, for the authorization of a local business tax for metros to use exclusively in providing
will fit the needs of that project. And it becomes very theoretical as to how we do new economic infrastructure and services.
that fit. In our metro, we always do a retrofit. So, it kind of jippos the system a bit. It The eradication of the Regional Service Council levies in the mid-2000s, and their re-
170 would be much easier to just say, ‘you’re getting the grant; implement your plan’.170 placement with a national grant, removed an important and stable source of self-financing
Interview 35. (Savage 2008). Proponents of a local business tax argue that it potentially offers benefits
How should National Treasury and CSP respond to this extant kind of demand? Treas- in three areas: efficiency, equity, and political acceptability. From an efficiency perspec-
ury as a whole actively aims to ‘bring predictability and certainty into the fiscal system’ tive, they argue that it is ‘economically necessary to levy taxes on firms and individuals
for local governments. But it also takes a relatively hard line with financially distressed that benefit from public services’ (Bird 2003, p. 697). In terms of equity, it is arguably fairer
municipalities, arguing that ‘as long as municipalities fail to practice sound financial dis- for everyone to pay the same price for services they receive, whether from the public
 sector or a private seller. Politically, a local business tax can satisfy public demands that and managers should possess in order to be effective, and their potential to inform future
171
Interview with business pay higher rates of tax than, strictly speaking, is economically beneficial. Yet higher education and training initiatives should not be overlooked.
Matthew Glasser, by there is also a further political argument — a local business tax, as a source of discre- The CIDMS project again speaks to the value of coproduction as an approach to the
telephone, 15 August tionary funding, can improve municipal accountability, and promote a closer relationship development of new resources and tools for city support and reform. It is a classic exam-
2018. between local private actors, political leaders, and officials.171 ple of coproduction in governance: an initiative that emerged as a demand from the cities
Local business taxes do hold potential risks. Most forms of business taxation induce themselves, was designed and implemented through a collective definition of the prob-
significant economic distortions. Sometimes they might act as a barrier to the expan- lem, and involved close cooperation between officials in different spheres of government.
sion of smaller businesses (Bird 2003). Their potential introduction in the South African That collaboration meant that the toolkit could draw upon international best practices,
context will therefore require careful research, coproductive mechanisms, reform advice, while using local city experiences to moderate those examples, and to discern what might
and targeted support to ensure their optimal configuration and implementation. It is also be more or less applicable and appropriate in the South African context. It also benefitted
critical that any new tax be accompanied by ‘built-in performance incentive systems’ CSP, in terms of the rate at which the team was able to devise and implement the project:
that encourage municipal commitment, collaboration with the local business sector,
cross-city comparison, and sound fiscal management (FFC 2012). Given CSP’s particular The cities have collaborated with us. It hasn’t been done to them, it has been
200 expertise and experience, it is well placed to play a key role in this process. done with them, and that has resulted in the speed at which we have been able to 201
Finally, recent research on land-based financing has argued that the diversity of cities develop and pilot it.173 173
Interview with
militates against a one-size-fits-all approach, and points to the need for innovation and
Nishendra Moodley,
locally driven experimentation: Aside from the value of coproduction, the CIDMS project also points to several areas of Cape Town, 3
research with the potential to enhance the uptake, review, and efficacy of the tool, as well December 2018.
These experiments will need to balance the desire to attract economic development, as its linkages to a larger urban climate response:
on the one hand, with the fiscal sustainability of local government and the equitable
provision of urban infrastructure, on the other. They will require in-depth and target- How do we strengthen the climate resilience aspect of infrastructure delivery and
ed analysis of the interplay among urban land market forces, urban land governance, management? There is a fair amount of infrastructure planning that takes into
and local political-economic arrangements. In addition, these experiments will need account spatial transformation and climate resilience in decision-making about
to move beyond the fixation on the quantity of money that local governments have technologies. But we would like to better understand how infrastructure choices
available (i.e., the finance gap) and consider the best infrastructure finance arrange- impact on the environment. We want to connect that to research around how we
ments and configurations for these cities (Berrisford et al. 2018, p. 50). best measure the maturity of our cities in terms of how to use the CIDMS. And
does using the system, which is a codified mechanism of practice, make a differ-
There is likely some way to go before National Treasury can decisively and effectively dif- ence? Does it result in better, longer lasting, and more accessible infrastructures
ferentiate between the land-based financing arrangements and configurations that are that improve the quality of people’s lives and give you value for money? It is very
optimally suited to South Africa’s various cities, and this may prove an area worth explor- easy to think up recipes for good practice, and then check that everyone is doing 174
ing in future research. CSP’s experiences provide an important reference point for thinking it, but we have to assess both things at the same time.174 Interview with
about how a differentiated approach to land-based financing support could be designed Nishendra Moodley,
Cape Town, 3
— one from which other initiatives, both within South Africa and elsewhere, can learn. December 2018.
Conclusion
Infrastructure delivery
Infrastructure-led development is a key national development priority in South Africa,
The Infrastructure Delivery sub-component has seen the production of a series of valu- as set out by the National Development Plan. Cities are being encouraged to invest vast
able resources and tools. The CIDMS toolkit, in particular, promises to be an invaluable amounts of capital to develop a competitive infrastructure base to lower the costs of do-
172 resource for city governments. It has been subject to extensive consultation and peer ing business, encourage the location and expansion of firms, and thereby drive inclusive
Interview with review, with the conclusion that it represents a resource of international standing.172 It is economic growth.
Nishendra Moodley, early days yet, and the challenge remains in its rollout and implementation at the metro For National Treasury, specifically, reforming the environment in which municipal in-
Cape Town, 4 July 2018. level. Indeed, CSP’s experiences with the Fiscal Impacts Tool (see Chapter 6) demon- frastructure is financed to promote local government self-financing is an important agen-
strate that the uptake of such instruments depends on a range of factors including the da in terms of promoting fiscal sustainability at a wider national level. CSP has inherited
local availability of skills and capacity, as well as the usability of the tool itself. Given and furthered this agenda, in part by securing additional technical expertise and initiat-
these issues, implementation will take time and effort, and it will be imperative, as with ing new support processes, but also by enabling a close link between Treasury, as the
all other areas of CSP’s work, to listen to the metros and adjust the support strategy and national department mandated for fiscal oversight and support, and metro governments,
approach as experiences and lessons emerge. These lessons will prove valuable in think- as the mandated implementing agents of spatial transformation.
ing about the kinds of skills and competencies that future urban infrastructure planners One of the key contributions of CSP has been to link up a fiscal reform agenda with a
 programme of support to capacitate urban infrastructure planning, delivery, and manage-
ment, all under the strategic coordinates of a spatial targeting and transformation agenda.
Its success, in some ways, has been to weave together these various strands of thought
and debate emerging within Treasury into a coherent strategic and spatial framework.
CSP has been effective in driving and consolidating fiscal reform, and in introducing
new infrastructure management tools, but it may take some years before any specific
positive outcomes, in terms of inclusive urban growth and spatial transformation, can be
causally linked to its support initiatives. There is evidence, however, to suggest that city
governance behaviour is starting to shift. Assessing the extent of these shifts, their bene-
fits for driving urban spatial transformation, and their link to various kinds of support and
reform processes, will be an important area for researchers to explore in years to come.

202 203
References

Agénor, P. (2010) ‘A Theory of Infrastructure-Led Development’, National Treasury (2018b) The State of Local Government
Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control, 34, 932–950. Finances and Financial Management as at 30 June 2017
Berrisford, S., Cirolia, L. R., and Palmer, I. (2018) ‘Land- (Pretoria: National Treasury).
Based Financing in Sub-Saharan African Cities’, Environ- NPC (2013) National Development Plan 2030 Vision: Our
ment & Urbanization, 30(1), 35–52. Future — Make It Work (Pretoria: National Planning Com-
Bird, R. M. (2003) ‘A New Look at Local Business Taxes’, mission).
Tax Notes International, 19 May 2003, 695–711. Palmer, I., Moodley, N., and Parnell, S. (2017) Building a
CSP (2017a) Policy Review: Municipal Borrowing and Fi- Capable State: Service Delivery in Post-Apartheid South
nancial Emergencies (Pretoria: National Treasury) Africa (London: Zed).

CSP (2017b) Cities Support Programme 2016/17 Annual Savage, D. (2008) ‘Key Themes and Trends in Municipal
Report (Pretoria: National Treasury). Finance in South Africa’. In Van Donk, M., Swilling, M.,
Pieterse, E., and Parnell, S. (Eds), Consolidating Develop-
DPME (2018) Implementation Evaluation of the Cities mental Local Government: The South African Experience
Support Programme (Pretoria: The Presidency). (Cape Town: UCT Press), pp. 285–316.
FFC (2012) ‘Submission on the Application from eThekwini Savage, D. (2009) ‘Evaluating the Performance of Devel-
Metropolitan Municipality for the Authorisation of a Local opment Charges in Financing Municipal Infrastructure In-
Business Tax’, 15 March 2012 (Midrand: Financial and Fis- vestment’. Discussion paper prepared for the World Bank.
cal Commission). http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTSOUTHAFRICA/Re-
Foster, V., and Briceño-Garmendia, C. (Eds) (2009) Africa’s sources/Development_Charges-Draft_2-23_March_09.
Infrastructure: A Time for Transformation (Washington, pdf, accessed 3 October 2018.
D.C.: World Bank). Savage, D. (2016) ‘Institutional and Fiscal Challenges in
HSRC (2017) Annual Report for 2016/17 (Cape Town: Responding to Urbanization in South Africa’. http://www.
Human Science Research Council). http://www.hsrc. cogta.gov.za/cgta_2016/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/
ac.za/en/about/strategic-documents/annual-reports/an- INSTITUTIONAL-AND-FISCAL-CHALLENGES-OF-URBANISA-
nrep-201617, accessed 20 October 2018. TION.pdf, accessed 13 June 2018.

Nandi, S., and Gamkhar, S. (2013) ‘Urban Challenges in South African Government 2018 ‘Deputy Minister Andries
India: A Review of Recent Policy Measures’, Habitat Inter- Nel: Launch of One Infrastructure Delivery Management
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national, 39, 55–61.

GUTO BUSSAB
ture-delivery-management-system-idms%C2%A0-1- Johannesburg:
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toria: National Treasury).
 Chapter 9

Human
Settlements
Aims and Support cities to ensure the availability of
objectives affordable accommodation at scale for all residents,
within more inclusive, integrated, and efficient
204 human settlements 205
Strategy Ensure that cities have greater control over human
settlements and housing investments and systems,
and are better capacitated to plan and manage
these systems, in order to drive urban spatial
transformation and inclusive development

Work areas l Planning and land support to create an enabling

environment through property markets and land
reforms
l Providing support for scaling-up incremental and
participatory practices of informal settlement
upgrading
l Improving the performance of fiscal instruments

Key projects l Understanding property markets

l Supporting cities in strategic land availability
l Analysis of the regulatory and institutional
framework for urban land-use management
l City housing strategy development and planning
alignment support
l Scaling-up upgrading of backyard and informal
settlements
l Exploring options for rental housing finance
l Community-based fund for upgrading informal
settlements

GUTO BUSSAB
This chapter focuses on the CSP component work addressing the development of inclu-
sive and sustainable human settlements. We argue that CSP has helped to facilitate a Ekurhuleni: Various
shift in the way that South Africa’s metropolitan municipalities plan and develop human housing conditions.
 settlements. This work has been critical, among other things, in placing emphasis on un-
derstanding the dynamics of the residential property market, in promoting city-scale par- Theory of change
ticipatory and incremental upgrading of informal settlements, and in encouraging a more
strategic approach to the modelling and planning of housing supply. It has been able to The Human Settlements Component is closely linked to a range of other CSP work areas.
do so in the context of an intergovernmental system that has made it difficult to realize a As transforming the relationship between where and how people work, live, and move
definitive practical shift from the delivery of housing to a wider sustainable human settle- within South Africa’s cities is the core objective of the CSP, the development of quality,
ments approach. CSP is also involved in supporting ongoing efforts to ensure the transfer well-located, and sustainable human settlements is critical to realizing the Programme’s
of housing functions to metro governments. wider agenda of inclusive growth and spatial change.
CSP has attempted to influence human settlements policy and practice from ‘above’ In order to change where and how people live in cities, we have to reform the conven-
and ‘below’. Nonetheless, major challenges remain in the crafting and implementation of tional intergovernmental mode of housing delivery in South African cities. As with public
a truly transformative mode of human settlements practice in South Africa, and CSP will transportation systems (see Chapter 10), urban municipalities need to have control over
have to play a key role in making this a reality. key human settlements tools and financial instruments if they are to be able to effec-
tively integrate and accelerate the planning and delivery of land, shelter, mobility options,
206 and other infrastructure needs. In this respect, the institutional arrangements pertaining 207
The challenge to functional assignments should be approached through research and evidence-based
decision-making, rather than through a strictly political approach. Additionally, cities re-
The scale and nature of South Africa’s human settlements challenges arise from the quire a more refined understanding of their local residential property markets, as well as
legacy of the country’s post-apartheid housing policy and delivery system, which has per- how those market dynamics might be enhanced as a driver of inclusive economic growth
sisted despite efforts to reform the prevailing approach away from a focus on the delivery and spatial transformation. These demands call for specific kinds of capacity-building
of structures, seeking instead to encourage the holistic development of sustainable hu- and support at the municipal level.
man settlements. After 1994, the housing-centric and target-driven strategy implemented
as part of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) focused on the formal
delivery of single-unit housing, specifically through capital subsidy schemes, by national Historical context
and provincial government. This legacy has had several major effects. Fiscally, the capital
subsidy scheme devoted too little money to purchasing well-located land when measured As described in Chapter 2, South African housing policy emerged from a range of debates
against the budget for constructing housing units. This encouraged the development of in the early 1990s. The policy developed through the National Housing Forum combined
peripheral, sprawling, and low-density housing schemes in urban areas. Institutionally, it an existing ‘site and service’ and subsidy-driven approach, championed by the Independ-
created a mismatch between the responsibility to deliver shelter to citizens and the local ent Develop Trust and Urban Foundation, with the development of single-storey top struc-
sphere of government, which is the primary agent of local planning and developmental tures. This would form the core of the RDP’s housing strategy. Arguments around the
decision-making. Moreover, the focus on the delivery of formal housing has stretched need for densification, and for the creation of quality integrated settlements lost ground
state capacity and allowed demand to far outstrip the rate of supply. to a state-led, target-driven, and highly formalized approach that saw individual homes on
The net result of these and other trends is a massive and growing urban housing back- single plots as the most effective means of delivery and redistribution.
log, accompanied by the flourishing of informalized shelter arrangements in informal In 2004, the Department of Housing launched its ‘Breaking New Ground’ (BNG) policy.
settlements or backyard shacks. Meanwhile, those lucky enough to access formal state This policy responded to criticism of the RDP-driven vision and modalities of service
housing generally find themselves living in sterile and under-serviced environments, far delivery by arguing for a ‘broader vision of sustainable human settlements and more ef-
from economic opportunities, and facing high transport costs for commutes to better- ficient cities, towns, and regions’ and for ‘utilizing housing as an instrument for the devel-
located areas (Gardner 2018). opment of sustainable human settlements in support of spatial restructuring’ (Harrison
South Africa’s Constitution and housing legislation give local government a clear 2014). In essence, it exemplified a shift in emphasis from a narrow focus on subsidy-driv-
mandate to ensure that communities can access adequate housing and services. Howev- en housing delivery to the development of integrated human settlements (Harrison 2017).
er, the ability of municipalities to launch an effective response to the challenges outlined The shift in policy was affirmed by a departmental name change, to the Department of
above remains constrained by the fact that the specific function of implementing national Human Settlements.
and provincial housing programmes remains vested in provincial government. This tends The BNG policy appeared to gain some traction. The National Housing Code was
to promote the uncoordinated planning and development of housing and services, and a duly amended to fall into line with the new policy disposition. An Upgrading of Infor-
reproduction of fragmented and inequitable urban forms. mal Settlements Programme (UISP) was launched in the same year as BNG, signal-
While examples of good government practice do exist with respect to social housing, ling real official interest in promoting a more incremental and coproductive approach.
small-scale inner-city rental projects, in-fill housing, and re-blocking of informal settle- However, the UISP was bedevilled by poor uptake and implementation by local officials
ments, these practices need to be shared, catalysed, and scaled-up across all cities in (Huchzermeyer 2006). A new National Upgrading Support Programme (NUSP) was
order to effect a decisive change to patterns of urban spatial development. launched around 2010 through the support of Cities Alliance. Meanwhile, the adoption
 of the national government’s Outcomes Approach included a focus on informal settle- required before it can assume full responsibility for these programmes (DHS 2012). BNG,
ment upgrading within Outcome 8. too, envisaged the progressive accreditation of the metros leading to complete assign-
In 2012, the National Development Plan (NDP) highlighted the inefficiencies and fail- ment. More recently, this agenda also was supported by both the National Development
ures of the state housing system, noting the continued tendency to deliver houses away Plan and Integrated Urban Development Framework (COGTA 2016; NPC 2013). However,
from areas of economic opportunity and without paying adequate attention to the pro- the accreditation process requires that municipalities demonstrate adequate capacity to
duction of a quality, well-serviced living environment (Harrison 2014). It too emphasized take on housing functions, and this must be approved by the Minister of Human Settle-
informal upgrading as a mechanism of meeting shelter demand in the country’s cities, ments. As we shall see, this approval has not yet been granted.
and as a key component of a strong, integrated, and efficient planning system (NPC 2013).
Despite these clear policy shifts, ‘changes on the ground in relation to the form and
location of settlements have taken longer to materialize’ (Harrison 2014). Some observers Work programme
quip that the phrase ‘BNG houses’ has simply replaced that of ‘RDP houses’ in policy and
practical discourse. It is also increasingly clear that these nominal policy changes have Seth Maqetuka joined CSP as the Human Settlements Component Lead in late 2016. A
effected no great improvement in delivery. human settlements practitioner and expert, with experience working in participatory ur-
208 ban housing processes since the early 1990s, Seth brought with him a profound inter- 209
Box 9.1: NDP Proposals for Human Settlements Finance Reform est in and commitment to development processes that combine state action with the
grassroots capacity of community-based organizations (CBOs) and the support of non-
The NDP proposes that the existing grant and subsidy regime for housing should be governmental organizations (NGOs). He sought to bring this experience to the Human
urgently reviewed with a view to accomplishing the following: Settlements Component, and launched a number of new projects that reflected his pro-
fessional background and experience.
l Ensure that state funding does not support the further provision of non-strategic Activities within the Human Settlements Component are arranged into three sub-
housing investments in poorly located areas. components. These are briefly described and discussed in the following sections.
l Prioritize development in inner cities and in other areas of economic opportunity,
such as around transport hubs and corridors.
l Progressively shift state support from only providing top structures to investing in Planning and Land Support
public space and public infrastructure.
The Planning and Land Support sub-component focuses on improving the understand-
Harrison (2014, p. 50) ing of property markets as a driver of economic growth, and facilitating the release of
strategic public land and review of the regulatory environment for land-use management.
Several key projects are pursued in this area, and these are briefly described below.
The conceptualization and launch of CSP roughly coincided with these emerging con-
cerns around the fiscal, social, and spatial implications of conventional housing delivery.
More recently, it has coincided with another key policy shift — the Department of Human Understanding property markets
Settlement’s 2014 announcement that it would pursue a new housing strategy based on
the development of ‘megaprojects’. The Department, once again, set itself ambitious new This project is concerned with the development and piloting of data-driven analysis, on
numerical targets for delivery, and went about identifying a limited number of large-scale a biannual basis, of residential property market dynamics at the city level to inform plan-
formal integrated settlement projects — each consisting of over 25,000 housing units — to ning and project financing arrangements (DPME 2018). Commissioned from the Centre
be implemented across the country. These projects had precedents in the Special Inte- for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa, this work was carried out with support from the
grated Projects of the 1990s and Urban Renewal Programme of the Mbeki era (see Chap- World Bank. Seth Maqetuka explains the rationale of the project:
ter 2). Megaprojects were to be funded by ‘top-slicing’ the range of housing and infrastruc-
ture grants available to provinces and municipalities (Cirolia and Smit 2017). What we discovered is that most metros were focusing on RDP-type housing, but
CSP’s agenda for assignment and accreditation — that is, to promote the transfer without having a broader perspective of the residential property market: how it
of housing functions to the metros — has a strong basis in the South African legal and works, how transactions take place, whether it is performing or not — which is
policy landscape. The Constitution allows for the assignment of housing powers and more of a data generation and analysis task, using city data, as well as data from
functions to local governments, which refers to a formal and complete transfer of state the Deeds Office and Lightstone. What we want to achieve is to create an un-
functions from provincial to local government. The 1997 Housing Act, meanwhile, pro- derstanding in the metros of their residential property markets. We believe that
vides for accreditation as way to progressively capacitate municipalities to implement when they understand the overall market, seeing what is working and not working,
and administer national housing programmes. A local government can be accredited especially for poor people, municipalities will be able to start planning for human
with certain functions with the understanding that additional support and capacity are settlements development in a holistic manner — creating settlements in a way
 that ensures that the private sector is incentivized to come on board, and that to establish a Transaction Support Centre: a ‘free advice centre that aims to make estab-
well-located land is developed. Then there is the issue of the whole process of lished legal and administrative processes in the housing sector work efficiently’ (CAHF
transaction. Within the wider residential property market, some transaction proc- 2018). The Support Centre is a physical institution targeting areas where there is an active
esses are conducted very informally, and to the detriment of low-income home informal market (see Box 9.3). The approach taken to date has been as follows:
175 seekers. So, how do we formalize the market to make it more affordable and inclu-
Interview with Seth sive, especially for the urban poor?175 We are piloting a Transaction Support Centre in Khayelitsha, in Cape Town, where
Maqetuka, Cape Town,
5 July 2018.
we will provide a free service to the communities in terms of conveyancing, house
The work concentrated on three aspects. First, CSP sought to develop an outline and plans, and rates clearances, so that they have access to a one-stop shop that
conception of a housing market framework as a tool for understanding the overall hous- encourages a transaction process that is more affordable, less onerous on the
ing continuum in South African metropolitan areas. Second, it developed a housing data people, and to basically reduce the informality of title deeds registration. We are
system (including data, tools, and expertise) for cities to actively use to further their im- piloting this in Cape Town. The Department of Human Settlements is starting to
mediate and longer-term housing goals. And third, it involved the piloting of a House Price see the logic behind this kind of initiative, and is gradually becoming more inter- 176
Interview with Seth
Index (HPI) to clarify the character and growth of local housing markets (CAHF 2018). So ested in rolling it out to other metros. They are thinking about exploring the pilot-
210 far, CSP has piloted this project in three cities — eThekwini, Mangaung, and Cape Town ing of this kind of approach in Johannesburg, for example.176
Maqetuka, Cape Town,
5 July 2018. 211
— and intends to roll it out to all metros in the future.
Box 9.3: Description of the Transaction Support Centre Pilot Project
Box 9.2: Approach and Findings of the Understanding Property Markets Project
The pilot involves the establishment of a physical support office at the Desmond Tutu
Currently cities utilize several urban planning principles with which to realise a live- Sport and Recreation Hall in Khayelitsha, where buyers and sellers can receive the
able, sustainable metro. While an emphasis on value creation is fundamental to munici- following services:
pal functions, city officials lack the data and analytical frameworks for understanding l Preparing the property for sale — confirming integrity of the title deed, obtaining a
how land and housing property markets seek and create value. There is demand for a property valuation, and assessing legality of any previous home improvements
tool that can provide ready information and understanding about housing markets, and l Matching buyers and sellers, and providing advice
which can leverage existing metro tools, processes, and staff expertise and capacity. 
l Establishing the sale: preparing the offer to purchase/deed of sale and obtaining
necessary certificates
Through this project, the ways in which a dynamic, replicable, scalable housing-market l Registering the sale
data management system could be built from existing data and expertise were deter- l Financing the sale
mined. This included determining how existing data could be configured and adopted
for this purpose. In the so-called normal market, these services are provided to buyers and sellers by
various entities, including registered estate agents, conveyancers, mortgage provid-
Municipalities use house price indices to help inform their valuation roll and munici- ers and originators, property developers, and so on. In addition, the City of Cape Town,
pal budget. The project showed that a house price index driven by municipal data can in providing rates clearance certificates, plays a critical role in facilitating housing
more equitably and accurately allocate value, in particular to lower end markets, better transactions.
highlighting market dynamics in support of generating revenues and making service
delivery more sustainable. CAHF 2018

Through the project it was found that while using municipal data to understand hous-
ing markets appears straightforward, the process of adjusting existing municipal Land redistribution
functions and staff allocations to deliver the necessary requirements can be challeng-
ing and should be addressed intentionally, and within the context of broader global Land reform and redistribution is a topical political issue in the country, linked to the ongo-
municipal data initiatives. ing debate over ‘expropriation without compensation’. A distinct feature of current discus-
sions is that the urban dimensions of land reform and redistribution are, to some extent,
CAHF (2018, p. 5) being surfaced and recognized. Arguably, the current political moment provides a critical
opportunity to rethink the country’s approach to the allocation and management of urban
land. However, shifting the debate requires more concerted attention to issues such as:
Housing transaction support • How land reform and redistribution can serve not only an agenda of social redress,
but also as a means to promoting the development of more productive, inclusive, and
CSP has also partnered with the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF) sustainable cities;
 • Hthat
ow reforms can be undertaken in a productive relation to local property markets so
they contribute significantly towards value creation; as well as
human settlements. Cities will be supported to acquire strategic land through the appoint-
ment of a service provider who will assist with managing the city-level projects (DPME 2018).
• project
T
 he different roles that both private and state-owned land can play within a larger
of land reform (Pillay 2018). Analysis of the regulatory and institutional framework for urban land-use
management
Given the centrality of this debate to questions of land and human settlement develop-
ment, CSP recently initiated an investigation into the question of land reform and how
it can facilitate more inclusive and productive modes of urban development. Maqetuka SPLUMA provides the context for this project, which focuses on how metros can use
explains the thinking behind the work: regulations enabled by this legislation to support the development of sustainable human
settlements. A report will be developed that articulates how SPLUMA can be used as a
177 The flavour that we are trying to bring to the urban land reform debate is the pro- regulatory mechanism for human settlement development. This will be shared through a
Interview with Seth
Maqetuka, Cape Town,
motion of redistribution, restitution, and rapid release, but through a process number of workshops and seminars with cities and other interested stakeholders (DPME
5 July 2018. based on four principles. We wish to start from the perspective that releasing land 2018).
212 is not an end, but a process that must lead to an end, and what is that end we want 213
to achieve?177
City Housing Strategy Development and Planning Alignment Support
He outlines the four guiding principles as follows: First, that land reform and redistribu-
tion should enable the creation of assets and value. Second, that it should promote more This project provides technical support to the metros to formulate housing strategies as
equitable access to residential property markets (the issue of efficient and effective title part of the process of developing their annual Built Environment Performance Plan (BEPP).
deed registration being key in this respect). Third, it should ensure that land is not just The broader aim is to ensure that metros can produce an integrated housing plan linked to
released, but that it contributes to a spatial transformation agenda. And finally, it should their long-term City Development Strategy. As part of the process, a tool will be developed
provide a basis for the effective management of urbanization and informality to promote to support the metros to achieve this objective. The project has a particular emphasis on
social cohesion within South African cities. Seth Maqetuka elaborates: Nelson Mandela Bay, which is developing an Integrated Human Settlements Plan using
this tool (DPME 2018). Seth Maqetuka explains the rationale behind the project:
The first issue is that of asset management. How do we start ensuring that land
we identify is well-located? So, we should look at issues of density, bonuses, in- The situation that you often find is that the way that we have planned human
clusionary housing, creating incentives, and creating assets. When it comes to settlements is by taking a backlog figure — say 250,000 households — and then,
equity, we also have to look at accelerating the title deeds registration process, based on that figure, you go to your census data to give you a breakdown of the
not only looking at formal titles, but also some functional titles of security of ten- need for housing rental or ownership. Based on that, you then begin to develop a
ure in those areas. Then there are issues of spatial transformation. Land reform housing strategy without a full analysis or understanding of the specific housing
and redistribution needs to be linked to the Urban Network Strategy, particular- needs and circumstances at play. This kind of approach is driven by the allocation
ly in relation to housing development within a city’s integration zones. When it of grant funding, rather than being a demand-led approach. It is not evidence-
comes to informal settlement upgrading, we need a more radical approach based based or data-driven in terms of addressing the specific housing circumstances
on in situ and incremental upgrading, driven by participation and collaboration. that are faced by people on the ground. 179
179
178
Our approach must, therefore, be two-pronged. On one hand, we need to look at Using housing strategy models developed by two sets of consultants, CSP examined Interview with Seth
enhancing and promoting formal residential markets. On the other, we have to the various options available to the metros: Maqetuka, Cape Town,
Interview with Seth
5 July 2018.
Maqetuka, Cape Town, recognize the existence of informal markets, which also need to be looked after
5 July 2018. in terms of essential and basic services, functional security of tenure, as well as The strategic modelling looks at data in terms of the real housing circumstances
retrofitting initiatives in formal townships.178 that a particular metro faces, with regard to backyard housing, to private accom-
modation, to the need for rental, social housing, upgrading, and so on. So, you look
at the total housing circumstances in the municipality through a data lens. Once
Supporting cities in strategic land availability we have done that, we start working with the metro to analyse that data through the
model.They then look at the different scenarios and development options available
CSP operates an additional project that aims to support cities in identifying strategic land to them. If they go for RDP-type housing — say 60% RDP housing — what will the
availability. It involves producing a status and review report on strategic land parcels for hu- performance be, and how long will it take to address the housing need? In another
man settlements development. These will lead to the production and workshopping of guide- scenario, you could take 80% of your resources for informal settlement upgrading,
lines for the acquisition and release of state-owned land for the development of integrated and the remaining 20% for other modes of delivery — what will be the performance
 in terms of medium- and long-term development? And so we work with those sce- more on technical support to the metros to develop a more programmatic, incremental
narios based on a data platform, which gives the metro a clear picture of how their approach in the form of city-wide upgrading plans. CSP will be doing this while working
strategy is going to perform in delivery, and exactly what needs they want to target closely with the National Upgrading Support Programme (NUSP), with the intention that
through their developments. We also look at the impact, when it comes to land iden- NUSP will take the lead in supporting municipalities to implement the tool.
tification and development. If you sprawl out your urban space, for instance, what Seth Maqetuka explains how his interest in starting this project and his approach to
impact is that going to have versus securing inclusionary and well-located sites? implementation were profoundly influenced by his work as a human settlements practi-
Out of that analysis, we come up with a strategic model that provides the munici- tioner and official in Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Bay:
palities with a data-based tool that they can use to start negotiating with citizens
and politicians in terms of a longer-term housing development strategy. 180 I have worked a lot with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like the Commu-
180
Interview with Seth nity Organization Resource Centre (CORC), Shack/Slum Dwellers International,
Maqetuka, Cape Town, CSP initially tested the model in Nelson Mandela Bay, learning from the experiences that and Utshani Fund, so really my approach to upgrading is that government, on its
5 July 2018. Cape Town had gained in creating its Human Settlements Development Framework. Fol- own, will not be able to meaningfully upgrade informal settlements. So, this work
lowing the project’s finalization in Nelson Mandela Bay, it was extended to Tshwane and is about encouraging a participatory approach — true, meaningful participation
214 eThekwini. — especially by working with community-based organizations (CBOs) and NGOs 215
in a way that really enables us to scale-up upgrading practices across the cities.
We are trying to strengthen that interface between the NGO and CBO sectors and
Implementation support for the upgrading of informal government to ask, ‘what is blocking us from working together, and what can we
settlements do to work together?’. We will have our differences here and there. NGOs might
be influenced by funders and certain agendas. Then you have government, which
The second sub-component focuses on addressing city-level constraints to drastically operates within a very tight regulatory framework. But there are also some com-
scale-up the upgrading of informal settlements and to support self-build housing (DPME mon issues between us that we want to achieve at the end of the day — so how
2018). can we strengthen those areas? I think that’s what drove my approach in Cape
Town towards re-blocking. We started re-blocking in Cape Town, and I drove the
agreement between CORC and the City of Cape Town, and helped to develop a re-
Scaling-up upgrading of informal settlements blocking policy and identify a series of relevant projects. So, I am very interested
in that kind of collaboration between government and the CBO and NGO sector.182 182
This project was introduced by Seth Maqetuka when he joined CSP. He explains its ori- Interview with Seth
Maqetuka, Cape Town,
gins and rationale:
5 July 2018.
Backyard Incremental Development Studies
What we have seen happening in most metros and municipalities is that although
they have got the tools — they’ve got good policies with regard to upgrading, as well Backyard rentals are increasingly a major source of accommodation for people in low-
as at a national level, with the UISP — but you still see a focus on RDP-type devel- income urban areas. In the decade before 2011, the number of households living in back-
opments, and a lot of relocation projects when it comes to informal settlement up- yard shelters increased by 55%, from 460,000 to 713,000 (Turok and Borel-Saladin 2016). In
grading. Coming back to the issue of economic and spatial transformation, and the Johannesburg alone, close to 124,000 people now live in backyard shacks (Gardner 2018).
issue of prioritizing and targeting informal settlements that are well-located for While in the past these trends were neglected by government policy (Turok and Borel-
in situ upgrading and participatory incremental development — you see very little Saladin 2016), more recently officials have shown considerable interest in enhancing
happening in that regard. You do see some pockets of initiatives, like re-blockings this phenomenon as a housing option for lower-income residents. The Gauteng Backyard
and so on, but they remain small pockets and pilots. We asked ourselves: what is Rental Programme, for example, provides capital and assistance to homeowners in old
inhibiting or constraining municipalities from more of a city-wide incremental and townships to construct two rental rooms with a shared ablution facility, and is the first
participatory approach to ISU? So, we did a study, where we looked nationally at programme of its kind in South Africa (Gardner 2018, p. 7).
good informal settlement upgrading practices that followed the principles of par- Given the significance of these emerging realities, CSP operates a project to explore
ticipation as well as incremental upgrading. We then went to the metros and asked, the backyard rental market, and does so by reviewing current practices to support, en-
181 ‘there are some good practices happening. Why are they not getting scaled-up?’ courage, and manage the development of backyard rental markets (DPME 2018). To date,
Interview with Seth And so the metros identified key barriers that were holding them back.181 CSP has supported Cape Town officials to examine and understand the dynamics of back-
Maqetuka, Cape Town, yard accommodation in their city:
5 July 2018. The insights from the metros led to the development of a programme management toolkit
for the scaling-up of upgrading, which was completed in November 2017. CSP is currently We supported Cape Town to look at issues of incremental housing and densities
in the process of closing out the development phase of the tool, and will now start working through a study done by the Human Sciences Research Council on backyarder in-
 cremental housing. There was a study in the Joe Slovo settlement. Our intention, In particular, CSP has been working closely with the Department of Human Settlements
and one of our strategies, is to promote peer learning between the metros. The to review the IRDP subsidy programme, which is the key instrument available to promote
study is brilliant on what the challenges are with respect to backyarding; the is- and develop integrated and catalytic housing projects.
sues of infrastructure volumes, which are very overstretched; as well as the com- The overall thrust of CSP’s work on subsidy review has been to encourage the design and
munity dynamics that require municipalities to start engaging. There are entre- uptake of demand-side subsidy instruments. The logic of introducing demand-side instru-
preneurial energies there, which the municipalities are not tapping into. In a way, ments is that, by giving households more autonomy regarding where and how to invest their
those backyard units help the metros in terms of their housing needs, because housing subsidy, this will drive a closer alignment between the supply and the nature and
183
they offer private accommodation. But the metro does not organize that, or inves- location of household demand (Gardner 2018, p. 19). Seth Maqetuka explains the approach:
Interview with Seth
Maqetuka, Cape Town, tigate how they might support these providers of housing.183
5 July 2018. We worked with the World Bank and an international expert and developed a re-
The next step will be to disseminate this information through the production of reports, and port on how government can start developing more demand-side instruments. They
to encourage a wider process of sharing information and peer learning as a means to im- came up with some very precise recommendations as to how they could be imple-
prove and scale-up practice in this area. The Cape Town study report will also be escalated to mented. We are also engaging the national Department on this, because our ap-
216 the national Department of Human Settlements as an input to the latter’s policy processes. proach at the moment is very supply-driven.The only major demand-side instrument 217
that we have — although it also requires further refinement — is the FLISP subsidy.
People’s Housing Process is also relatively ineffective at the moment. But we are
Human Settlements Finance looking broadly at demand instruments, encouraging the metros to play a more ac-
tive and effective role with respect to demand-side subsidies. Obviously, we are not
The third sub-component focuses on a range of issues related to the financing of human discounting the imperative of supply. At the end of the day, you still need the supply
settlements. These include investigating various options for rental housing, incentivizing of housing, but there has to be a change — there has to be a balance between the
the private sector to participate in developing affordable housing in better-located areas, two so that we stop seeing the development of housing on the periphery of cities
piloting demand-side subsidy instruments, and exploring the potential for the establish- when there is demand from people to live close to work opportunities, and where
ment of community-based funds for informal settlement upgrading (DPME 2018). there is demand from people to contribute their own savings to housing, and where
there are employers saying that they wish to support their employees with housing 185
needs. And so, why don’t we come up with housing schemes to support them?185 Interview with Seth
Exploring options for rental housing finance Maqetuka, Cape Town,
5 July 2018.
This project was conducted in phases. Initially, an instrument report was developed. CSP is
This project investigates the full range of tools and instruments available for supporting currently working to disseminate and institutionalize the report, which it seeks to use as a
affordable housing finance options for rental housing. Still underway, the project is in- basis to assist the Department of Human Settlements with the review of FLISP (DPME 2018).
tended to develop a study report on rental options in cities in collaboration with the Social
Housing Regulatory Authority (SHRA).
Community-based fund for upgrading informal settlements

Demand-side housing subsidies Currently, the provision of subsidies and grants for developing informal settlements is not
geared towards the scaling-up of upgrading projects. The objective of this fourth project is
A second project has focused on the design and piloting of demand-side housing subsi- to identify financial constraints to the scaling-up of coproduction and partnership-based
dies, particularly for the ‘gap market’ — the market comprised of people earning above the upgrading practices, and then to respond to these constraints with appropriate funding
level required to receive a state-subsidised house, but below the threshold required to ob- mechanisms. The main project output will be a concept note setting out the potential ad-
tain a bond from a commercial bank (NPC 2013, p. 61). Seth Maqetuka outlines this work: vantages and structure of community-based upgrading funds. The concept note will then be
discussed and positioned as a basis to reform the grant structure to promote more effective
We basically provide support to the national Department of Human Settlements upgrading practices (DPME 2018). Seth Maqetuka reflects on the approach taken to date:
from a finance policy perspective. At the moment, the Department is reviewing
their policies and developing new legislation, and we have been working collabo- We have been working with the World Bank, tapping into their resources on inter-
ratively on fiscal and financial reforms with respect to housing. The key areas we national best practices, to see how some could be applied to the South African
have been looking at are financial instruments to stimulate affordable housing environment. In one of those initiatives, I am exploring what is called a ‘city fund’,
184 186
markets, city partnership funds, and sharpening instruments linked to the Finance which is implemented in Thailand, where we look for possibilities for more of a Interview with Seth
Interview with Seth
Maqetuka, Cape Town, Linked Individual Subsidy Programme (FLISP) and the Integrated Residential joint management partnership between cities and communities, especially with Maqetuka, Cape Town,
5 July 2018. Development Programme (IRDP).184 respect to upgrading and urban management projects.186 5 July 2018.
 Box 9.4: The Community Development Fund (Gardner 2018). That being said, one observer (an expert on urban real estate) wondered
188
what the CSP’s specific position is with respect to the market.188 Is it pro-market or not? Interview 20.
The Community Development Fund in Thailand has proven to be a very powerful de- To what extent does CSP wish to rely on the market as a driver of affordable shelter and
velopment tool to address urban poverty and affordable housing at a national scale. spatial transformation? Is CSP’s emphasis on spatial targeting and place-based develop-
The Community Development Fund model supports poor communities in organizing ment strategy appropriate to, or compatible with, a more market-oriented agenda?
savings groups, and improves their capacity to manage their fund or the loans for The principal challenges facing CSP’s interventions in the human settlements sector
community development activities. are, arguably, institutional and collaborative in nature. CSP has attempted to drive chang-
es in policy and practice both ‘from above’ and ‘below’. In the first sense, the Programme
It is a mechanism that enables urban poor organizations to tap into resources directly has used its relationship with the Public Finance Division of National Treasury to exert
by building up their own capacities and allows communities to decide on and design some policy influence by introducing reforms to the conditions under which human settle-
various development activities. ments grants are dispersed. Seth Maqetuka describes the second, ‘bottom-up’ strategy:

UN-Habitat (2009) We try to influence the metros’ BEPPs through the BEPP guidelines, and by ensur-
218 ing that we ask the metros very strategic questions: is your housing plan linked to 219
your transport plan? Have you mapped your informal settlements in the integration
zones? Can you prove that you have done that? We want to look at issues of IGR
Successes, challenges, and debates budgeting; give us proof that your budget not only comes from national government,
but also that you are putting in some of your own resources towards integrated de-
In the context of South African housing debates, CSP represents a particular position. In velopment. Are you discussing with parastatals and government departments like
many ways, it is the inheritor of a longer history of an urban spatial agenda — an agenda education, so that you come up with more integrated settlement plans?189 189
that advocates for building quality, well-serviced living environments rather than simply Interview with Seth
Maqetuka, Cape Town,
hitting quantitative targets for housing units. This position can be traced back to the ideas Ultimately, CSP has sought to play a support role to the Department of Human Settle-
5 July 2018.
and work of built environment activists who, in the late 1970s and 1980s, started searching ments, which since 2014 has pursued its own megaprojects agenda. Arguably, the human
for alternatives to the segregated and township-based planning models of apartheid (see settlements agenda has thus regressed back to an ‘extensive’ model of urban develop-
Chapter 2). It is a position that is nominally inscribed in post-apartheid policy, particularly ment rather than one aiming for the more intensive use of scarce well-located urban land
in Breaking New Ground, but has been overshadowed by a continued commitment to the at higher densities (Turok 2015; 2016). Moreover, transfer of the housing function to metro
mass delivery of single-unit households at a low density on peripheral land. governments has not yet happened — the Minister of Human Settlements halted all ac-
Within the contemporary policy and practical context, CSP’s work represents a partic- creditation processes until municipalities could prove their competence in delivering on
ular approach to driving urban spatial transformation. It is based on systemic regulatory, the Department’s megaprojects strategy (Cirolia and Smit 2017).
fiscal, institutional, and planning reform, which can be contrasted with a more ‘project- Engaging and partnering with other institutions has therefore proved extremely chal-
focused’ approach represented by the ‘catalytic project’ or ‘megaproject’ strategy adopt- lenging as a result of the diverse and sometimes competing interests at work in the sector
ed in recent years by the Department of Human Settlements (Cirolia and Smit 2017). (DPME 2018). Moreover, while CSP’s institutional location within National Treasury has,
The efficacy of CSP’s work programme needs to be considered in relation to the spe- to an extent, facilitated buy-in with key stakeholders, notably at the city level, it may also
cific position that it has sought to occupy in the human settlements governance space. have had the effect of making governmental stakeholders ‘who are already wary of the
Seth Maqetuka describes this as follows: influence of National Treasury reluctant to engage with the CSP’ (DPME 2018).
In response to these challenges, the CSP team has learnt to be pragmatic and patient.
The role that we are playing in the space is basically to provoke some innovation. While CSP recognizes that securing the participation and support of the full range of stake-
We are provoking some thinking in the sector; thinking about how things could be holders is critical to driving a new vision of human settlements practice, they have had to
187 done differently at scale and as a means to drive urban spatial transformation.187 move forward with the implementation of support projects within the metros, as the agenda
Interview with Seth of supporting cities to be resilient, productive, and sustainable cannot be delayed. The hope
Maqetuka, Cape Town, Given this agenda, it does appear that CSP has been able to partner effectively with oth- is that by gaining traction and support at the city scale, changes may unfold at the national
5 July 2018.
er actors and organizations in developing new practical instruments with the potential level at a later stage. Seth Maqetuka indicates that some progress may recently have been
to provoke changes in the way that metros plan their human settlements investments achieved, particularly with respect to the accreditation and assignment debate:
(DPME 2018). The work on residential property markets, conducted in partnership with
CAHF, has been recognized as a particularly important intervention in the realm of lo- Through our relentless pressure, the Department of Human Settlements is be-
cal planning and housing practice. It is widely recognized that the conventional state ginning to say, ‘ok, perhaps instead of just looking at giving a full assignment or
programme for housing delivery has not only overlooked the workings of local property accreditation, let us maybe test one or two programmes. We can assign them, and
markets, but has also contributed to market dysfunctions that act to exclude the poor then maybe we can move to other projects’. They are quite amenable to starting
 with the informal settlement upgrading work — giving capacities and responsi- The very fact that human settlements is a defined sector of government is part of the
190
Interview with Seth bilities to the municipalities to implement that, and if we see that they are capaci- challenge for this component — CSP has had to position its support and reform efforts in
Maqetuka, Cape Town, tated to do it, then we can give them the full assignment to implement it. Social relation to a particular state department that holds a clear sectoral mandate. Arguably this
5 July 2018 housing could also be another such programme.190 gives the project of city support, and the competencies required to implement that support,
a different character to the examples discussed in previous chapters. Working longitudinally
The Human Settlements Component therefore offers a prime example of CSP’s practice- alongside and with a national department like Human Settlements within a process of gov-
based reform agenda (discussed in Chapter 3). ernance reform is, qualitatively, a very different kind of challenge to that of organizing mul-
tilevel and cross-departmental processes around urban indicators and monitoring systems,
The relationship with the Department of Human Settlements is good sometimes; other for example (as discussed in Chapter 7). The effectiveness of the coproductive approach
times it is not so good, as you might expect with any kind of relationship. Sometimes I taken by CSP will have to be tested against the achievement of a real policy and practical
am ignored, and then I keep on knocking and knocking until the door opens, and we can shift towards intensive, density-driven models of urban spatial development in South Afri-
start talking sense. We do get some achievements here and there. I think there is very ca. In the following chapter, we go on to discuss another CSP component that faces similar
strong support from the Department on incremental and participatory approaches to circumstances and challenges to those discussed here: Public Transport.
220 informal settlement upgrading. We have been very strong in saying, ‘look, we are here 221
to work with you and to support the National Upgrading Support Programme (NUSP)’.
We believe that NUSP has an important role to play, and that the Department must be
supported so that they, in turn, can support our metros effectively.
References
Seth Maqetuka, Human Settlements Component Lead

Ballard, R. (2017) ‘Prefix as Policy: Megaprojects as South Harrison, P. (2014). ‘Regional and Spatial Development’.
Despite some breakthroughs, significant challenges remain, including that of confront- Africa’s Big Idea for Human Settlements’, Transformation, Background paper for the Twenty Year Review (Pretoria:
95, i–xviii. The Presidency).
ing the megaproject strategy. As Ballard (2017) recognizes, megaprojects are an attrac-
tive approach precisely because they answer to short-term political imperatives to deliver CAHF (2018) ‘South Africa: Overview of the Transaction Huchzermeyer, M. (2006) ‘The New Instrument for Upgrad-
shelter units in dignified environments free from the perceived dysfunction of existing Support Centre in Khayelitsha’. http://housingfinancea- ing Informal Settlements in South Africa: Contributions
191 urban areas. It has been argued that CSP could have taken a more oppositional stance to frica.org/documents/south-africa-transaction-support- and Constraints’. In Huchzermeyer, M., and Karam, A. (Eds),
Interview 39. that agenda and its long-term implications for urban development.191 As a Treasury-based centre-overiew/, accessed 17 July 2018. Informal Settlements: A Perpetual Challenge? (Cape Town:
UCT Press), pp. 41–61.
platform oriented towards practical reform and technical support, CSP is not particularly Cirolia, L. R., and Smit, W. (2017) ‘Fractured Approaches to
well-positioned institutionally to take an oppositional stance or to drive the political proc- Urban Transformation: Analyzing Parallel Perspectives in NPC (2013) National Development Plan 2030 Vision: Our
ess that would be necessary to challenge and shift the policy stance of a sectoral depart- South Africa’, Transformation, 95, 63–84. Future — Make It Work (Pretoria: National Planning Com-
ment. Doing so would raise profound political risks and could undermine the Programme’s mission).
COGTA (2016) Integrated Urban Development Framework:
agenda to promote the coproduction of new tools and their collaborative implementation. A New Deal for South African Cities and Towns (Pretoria: Pillay, S. (2018) ‘How South Africa Should Tackle the Redis-
By contrast, CSP has attempted to balance top-down with bottom-up pressure and in- COGTA). tribution of Land in Urban Areas’. https://theconversation.
fluence. Whether this has been an appropriate approach, done in an optimally effective way com/how-south-africa-should-tackle-the-redistribution-of-
DHS (2012) Accreditation and Assignment Framework for
in terms of driving a project of intergovernmental reform and urban spatial transformation, land-in-urban-areas-95011, accessed 5 November 2018.
Municipalities to Administer National Human Settlements
is debatable, and a question warranting further research. Indeed, CSP’s experiences in the Turok, I. (2015) ‘Housing and the Urban Premium’, Habitat
Programmes (Pretoria: DHS). http://indegoconsulting.
human settlements domain highlight the importance and urgency of encouraging the for- co.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Municipal-Accredi- International, 54(3), 234–240.
mation and consolidation of new ‘communities of practice’, comprising actors from a range tation-Framework-August-2012-with-Annexures.pdf, ac-
of government spheres and agencies who, in collaboration with civil society groups, can Turok, I. (2016) ‘South Africa’s New Urban Agenda: Trans-
cessed 20 August 2018.
formation or Compensation?’, Local Economy, 31(1–2),
drive a reformed vision and mode of urban human settlements practice in South Africa.
DPME (2018) Implementation Evaluation of the Cities 9–27.
Support Programme (Pretoria: The Presidency).
Turok, I., and Borel-Saladin, J. (2016) ‘Backyard Shacks,
Conclusion Gardner, D. (2018) South African Urbanization Review: Informality and The Urban Housing Crisis in South Africa:
Analysis of the Human Settlement Programme and Sub- Stopgap or Prototype Solution?’, Housing Studies, 31(4),
This chapter is the first to describe and discuss an area of CSP’s work programme that sidy Instruments (Washington, D.C.: The World Bank). 384–409.
falls outside the Core City Governance Component. It is one that is more sectoral in focus. Harrison, K. (2017) Independent Evaluation of the Built UN-Habitat (2009) Community Development Fund in Thai-
In terms of the overall organizational structure of CSP, the Human Settlements Compo- Environment Performance Plans (BEPPs) 2017/18– land: A Tool for Poverty Reduction and Affordable Housing
nent is rare in that it aligns with the structure and competencies of the state. 2019/20: Consolidated Metro Review (Pretoria: National (Nairobi: UN-Habitat).
Treasury).
 Chapter 10

public
transport
Aims and Assist cities to enhance urban mobility and
objectives accessibility, boost public transport ridership volumes,
and alter land-use patterns to support sustainable and
222 pro-poor public transport systems 223
Strategy Ensure that cities have greater control over public
transport investments and systems, and are better
capacitated to plan and manage these systems, in
order to drive transit-oriented development, inclusive
economic growth, and spatial transformation

Work areas l Enabling policy and regulatory environment

l Fiscal reform
l Direct city support

Key projects l Development of transport devolution strategy and

programme for provincial bus services
l Development of transport devolution strategy and
programme for Metrorail
l National capacity-building strategy
l Review of Integrated Public Transport Network
plans
l Study on minibus-taxi innovation and integration
l Reform to the fiscal architecture of public transport
finance
l Annual Public Transport Network Grant support

This chapter addresses the agenda and work programme of CSP’s Public Transport
Component. Here important progress has been made in promoting the development of
fiscally and financially sustainable urban public transport systems, producing new tech- City of Tshwane:

GUTO BUSSAB
nical and knowledge outputs, shifting transport planning towards a broader array of mo- Minibus taxis
dal choices, and encouraging a closer link between transport planning and a strategic provide transport to
spatial agenda encompassing other areas of infrastructure planning and development. thousands each day.
 CSP has also played a key role in keeping the devolution of bus and commuter rail func- for operating bus services, while national government operates and oversees commuter
tions, from provincial and national government respectively, on the political and govern- rail. Meanwhile, although the 2009 National Land Transport Act promotes the devolution
mental agenda. As urban local governments look towards the implementation of ‘hybrid’ of public transport services to metros, progress in transferring these responsibilities has
public transport systems — which include a role for South Africa’s minibus-taxi industry been slow. This has largely been due to inadequate capacity at metro level, poor policy
— CSP is well-positioned to assist in thinking through the fiscal reforms required by a implementation at national level, and a lack of policy clarity on how devolution should be
hybrid planning approach, as well as addressing the technical support needs and future implemented, particularly in the complex case of rail functions.
capacity challenges arising from such interventions. In recent years, national government has made urban public transportation more of
a funding priority, particularly in the build-up to the 2010 World Cup. Yet the system of
public transport grants has been poorly aligned with those addressing other built envi-
The challenge ronment functions such as housing. Moreover, it has become increasingly clear that the
practical translation of these grants — in the form of bus rapid transit (BRT) systems —
Public transportation in South African cities presents a raft of challenges driven by has created major fiscal challenges for the municipalities that have chosen to implement
trends that are both historical and contemporary. They are historical because apartheid such systems.
224 planning worked according to a logic that was fundamentally concerned with specify- As such, urban public transport services and governance are characterized by frag- 225
ing and controlling not only where people could live, but also how and where they might mentation, both between different modes of transport service (including rail, bus, and
travel. It was a logic that sought to delimit and differentiate the ways that various kinds of minibus taxis) and between transportation and other built environment functions. Prob-
people (including those of different races, classes, sexes, and abilities) could move across lems arising from this lack of integration and alignment have been compounded by se-
and interact with space. Transport planning and infrastructure thus emerged as key in- vere governance problems within major transport operators like the parastatal Passen-
struments of apartheid socio-spatial engineering, providing a way to segregate and limit ger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), which came under concerted ‘state capture’
interaction between race and class groups. Controlling the mobility of populations was efforts from 2012, and has generally suffered from a lack of effective leadership (Swill-
also a means of exclusion, and of generating inequalities, as the South African transport ing et al. 2017).
historian Gordon Pirie notes: The net result of these historical legacies, governance, and fiscal problems has been
continued socio-spatial fragmentation in South African cities. Poor black residents con-
On a material plane, transport was an instrument of marginalization and domina- tinue to reside in peripheral neighbourhoods, facing long commuting distances and high
tion via its underwriting residential segregation, and via the time and financial household transport costs. Indeed, more than 60% of the lowest income earners spend
sacrifices it imposed (Pirie 1986, p. 51). above one-fifth of their income on public transport, in some cases rising to as high as 40%
of household income (National Treasury n.d.).
As such, a particular logic of mobility planning underpinned the spatial makeup inherited Moreover, the particular spatial makeup of South African cities creates particular
by the post-apartheid city: a sprawling, fragmented, and disjointed form, with those living kinds of problems for public transportation and complicates the use of international ‘mod-
in poor peripheral townships enjoying limited connectivity to central economic areas and els’ of transit-oriented development (TOD). Compared to many Latin American cities, for
affluent suburbs. Indeed, it has been argued that the ‘DNA’ of South African cities was example, South African urban areas exemplify relatively low rates of density, and aver-
encoded and expressed in the second half of the twentieth century, when planning was age trip lengths are longer. South African commuting patterns are also characterized by
dictated by the logic of social segregation and the service of the private motorcar (Van ‘tidal’, rather than bidirectional, patterns of demand, with little seat turnover in between.
Ryneveld 2018). As a result, revenue-to-cost ratios for South African BRT systems, ranging from 45% to
Alongside fragmented urban spatial forms, post-apartheid cities also inherited an as low as 11%, are far below those of other contexts, including Latin America (National
institutional and fiscal legacy that prioritizes private road-based motor transport. This Treasury n.d.).
prioritization continued well into the democratic era. Indeed, passenger transport, par-
ticularly rail, suffered from a lengthy span of financial neglect in the years following 1994,
although more recently there has been a significant injection of capital into these serv- Theory of change
ices. A key contemporary challenge facing South African cities, then, is to find ways to
use new investments in urban transport systems to transform historical urban forms and As outlined above, the current system of financing and operating urban public transport
mobility patterns that transportation was itself integral to creating. This must be accom- services in South Africa’s metros has tended to allow the persistence of socio-spatial
plished in the context of an institutional and fiscal system with a historical bias towards segregation and unproductive urban spaces.
private road-based transport. Creating efficient and effective public transport systems is central to CSP’s agenda
Developing a credible state response to urban mobility challenges, however, is com- to promote urban spatial transformation. Indeed, accessibility, connectivity, and mobil-
plicated by the fact that transport governance is an area of overlapping responsibilities ity — and the infrastructure and services underpinning the realization of these concepts
within the South African Constitution. Key urban public transport functions are allocated — are a backbone of the CSP’s strategy to promote inclusive urban growth and change
beyond the sphere of local government: provinces have historically held the responsibility the spatial form of cities.
 In order to act as an effective mechanism of urban change, however, public transport problems for local governments. Already by 2011 there was an emerging recognition that
interventions need to understand and respond to the changing nature of the built en- the full cost implications of urban BRT systems had not been adequately accounted for
vironment context in which they are situated. Devolving public transport responsibility during the planning stages. Over the years it has become clear that the costs of BRT
from national and provincial government to municipalities would provide cities with an programmes are ‘significantly higher than originally anticipated’, including ‘high ongoing
additional instrument or tool (alongside spatial planning, land-use management, and in- operating deficits’ that some cities have struggled to finance (Van Ryneveld 2018, p. 3).
frastructure investment) with which to articulate and implement a programme of spatial Combined with fare-revenue shortfalls, these factors have challenged the sustainability
transformation. of these programmes.
As with other CSP components, and in accordance with the general role and agenda Against this background of fiscal unsustainability, national government has promoted
of National Treasury, reforming the fiscal system surrounding urban public transport is a rethinking of the design of transport systems and the disbursement of public transport
central to this strategic approach. funding. Working in close cooperation, Treasury and CSP have been at the heart of these
discussions and processes.

Historical context
226 Work programme 227
CSP’s work in the public transport space can be traced back to a longer history of trends
and discussions within national government. Michael Kihato joined CSP in 2014 as the Component Lead for Public Transport. He de-
The 2007 Public Transport Strategy, launched by the Department of Transport in the scribes the first and most urgent task he faced as ‘to stop the bleeding’; that is, to deal
context of the then-upcoming 2010 FIFA Football World Cup, provided a major impetus with the impending fiscal crisis associated with costly city BRT systems.192 Given the 192
for cities across South Africa to reform and improve their public transport services. The urgency of this task, CSP set about working closely with the national Department of Interview with Michael
thrust of the Strategy was to be the introduction of a new technology and mode of op- Transport and the metros to plan how available funds could be spent more effectively Kihato, Pretoria, 14
June 2018.
eration: bus rapid transit (BRT), a model drawing upon the experiences of other coun- and efficiently. This called for a wide range of support interventions and policy reforms
tries, particularly those of Bogota in Colombia, but also of Latin American cities more geared along three lines: creating an enabling fiscal environment, supporting an enabling
generally. BRT services were intended to provide an efficient, subsidized transportation policy and regulatory environment, and providing direct technical support to the metros.
option to city residents, absorbing and replacing the country’s ubiquitous minibus-taxi The Public Transport Component organizes these activities in three sub-components, dis-
industry. BRT-operated routes were to form the backbone of a city’s overall public trans- cussed in the sections that follow.
port network.
In order to fund the Public Transport Strategy, the state introduced two grants: the
Public Transport Infrastructure Grant and the Public Transport Network Operations Transport leadership and planning
Grant. However, the first years of their implementation revealed patterns of expenditure
on inappropriate and fiscally unsustainable transport systems. Concerned with these As part of the first sub-component, CSP seeks to support the national Department
findings, National Treasury, working closely with the national Department of Transport, of Transport in creating a national legislative, institutional, and policy environment
set about reforming the aims and modalities of the grants. The result, in 2015/2016, was that is conducive to the development of effective and sustainable city public transport
the combination of the two existing grants into a single Public Transport Network Grant systems.
(PTNG). The PTNG specifically aimed to promote the establishment of ‘financially and In establishing the Public Transport Component, it soon became clear that proper
fiscally sustainable’ Integrated Public Transport Networks, or IPTNs, as a means of in- plans and budgets for public transport systems did not exist in most metros. Michael
fluencing urban land use and spatial change (National Treasury 2018a). The Grant also Kihato describes how addressing these shortcomings became the early priority of CSP’s
introduced a specific requirement that municipalities should demonstrate sufficient local work:
capacity to implement and operate any proposed projects. Moreover, the Grant required
that municipalities broaden the range of transport services to be supported by the fund- It was about doing the basics right: getting proper plans and budgets in place,
ing beyond BRT systems. and developing guidelines for what a proper public transport plan should be. It is
The creation of the PTNG and its predecessors was a progressive step, being ‘the not a plan that seeks to operationalize a BRT system. It is a plan that assesses
first major injection of public transport funds to city-level institutions in South Africa’s your entire public transport demand pattern, and then allocates an appropriate
history’ (Van Ryneveld 2018). These grants have helped to initiate the building of munici- mode to that demand, within the total basket of funding available. So, it could
pal capacity around public transport, and in principle, the newer PTNG has allowed city be rail, it could be a quality bus service, it could be minibus taxis. It was about
governments to focus on reforms to their entire urban public transport system — termed understanding what your built environment is like, and what it is going to be like,
the Integrated Public Transport Network — rather than any one particular kind of serv- and then starting to calibrate and match your transport services based on that 193
ice. However, as noted at the beginning of this chapter, the design and implementation understanding.193 Interview with Michael
Kihato, Pretoria, 14
of those grants and plans, with their focus on BRT systems, have created major fiscal June 2018.
 Review of IPTN planning guidelines perspectives, the document also details two key technical planning areas — namely ‘al-
ternatives analysis’ and ‘multi-year financial analyses’.
One of the key project outputs was a set of guidelines for IPTN planning, launched The guidance document was prepared with technical input and advice from the World
collaboratively by the Department of Transport and National Treasury. This document Bank, which provided support through the Bank’s Integrated Urban Transport Planning
aims to assist cities in carrying out sound public transport planning and prioritization. Pillar of the South Africa Urban Knowledge Hub (Technical Assistance Programme). The
Moreover, it seeks to place a spatial transformation agenda at the centre of the logic work was funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).
of urban public transport planning. As we discuss below, publication of the guidelines
document was accompanied by the implementation of reforms to the annual PTNG
budgeting process in order to create a more credible assessment procedure for the Development of transport devolution services
business plans and budgets linked to a city’s IPTN. Such a procedure would specifically
take into account an IPTN’s fiscal sustainability as well as the local capacity avail- A second and critical area of work within the Transport and Leadership sub-component
able for its implementation. The overall objective was to ensure that a planned public seeks to promote the devolution of provincial bus services and national commuter rail
transport system is not only appropriate for the city concerned, but also affordable to services to metropolitan governments, where this is deemed appropriate. Michael Kihato
228 operate in the longer term. explains this agenda: 229
Currently, a city receiving PTNG funding is required by the grant’s conditions — as
set out in the Division of Revenue Act (DORA) — to compile an IPTN plan as well a The key to driving a changed spatial form is having capable city governments with
‘project plan’. IPTNs are also required by other sectoral legislation. The 2009 National access to all the levers and controls enabling them to change their spaces, and 194
Land Transport Act calls for cities to produce a Comprehensive Integrated Transport Plan public transport is one of those levers.Therefore, you want to devolve. While cities Interview with Michael
(CITP), which must include a Public Transport Plan (the equivalent of an IPTN). The final do get part of the funding, it is not all of the funding.194 Kihato, Pretoria, 14
June 2018.
chapter of the CITP must ensure that all projects and activities undertaken in (at least)
the coming five years, including existing services, be combined in a single consolidated More specifically, the project entails working with the cities, providing them with technical
programme. Similar to the stipulations of DORA, the law requires that this is accompa- and strategic support for the process of acquiring bus and rail functions. This is an ongo-
nied by a financial plan. This plan should be of similar duration to the CITP, showing that ing objective and activity of CSP, and one that is inherently political and coproductive in
the totality of planned activities is affordable. International best practice indicates that nature — it requires close collaboration with the cities and sector departments, as well as
developing an affordable programme of projects is a key adjunct to the IPTN and the identifying and taking advantage of a ‘political window of opportunity’ to drive the devolu-
project plans required by the conditions of the PTNG. tion process (DPME 2018). Some specific initiatives undertaken to date have included sup-
The IPTN Guidelines document therefore seeks to align the requirements for prepara- porting Cape Town with a high-level panel to assess and review the City’s business plan
tion of CITPs and the PTNG application into a single, consolidated planning approach for the devolution of rail functions according to principles of international best practice.
with three distinct planning perspectives, namely:

1. A long-term (more than twenty years) strategic perspective providing city-wide guid- National capacity-building strategy
ance in the form of the IPTN plan;
2. A project perspective reflected in project plans, which, when initially identified as A third area of activity focuses on building greater capacity within the national Depart-
part of the IPTN, are specified only at a high level, but that through a process of con- ment of Transport, so as to ensure that it is capable of fulfilling its legislated mandate in
ceptual engineering and more detailed planning and design, are developed to the level the public transport sector, and particularly with respect to city-specific issues. This has
of detail meeting the technical, corporate policy, financial, and fiscal requirements been done by providing support to the Department in several key areas: Firstly, in the
necessary for implementation; preparation of a capacity and capability development strategy and implementation plan
3. A programme perspective where all projects and activities over the medium term (ap- to effectively assist cities in implementing nationally-funded urban transport activities.
proximately ten years) are collated and prioritized into a Public Transport Improve- This has been accompanied by funding through the Department’s general budget alloca-
ment Programme to ensure that collectively they are appropriately phased and af- tions. Secondly, in the development of a data collection strategy for the monitoring of
fordable in terms of capital, operational, and cash-flow constraints (National Treasury nationally-funded urban transport activities. And thirdly, in working alongside the De-
2018a). partment for the continuous refinement or extraction of lessons learnt from completed or
ongoing urban transport activities that have been nationally funded.
The IPTN Plan and the PTIP emphasize the ‘whole’, while each of the project plans More specifically, CSP and Treasury have worked with the Department of Transport in
represents a component ‘part’ of these. Both the logic and the affordability of the indi- running a series of workshops on topical transport-related issues, in assisting with the
vidual parts need to be assessed in the context of the whole system — within the IPTN development of a national database on urban public transport systems, and in crafting a
at a strategic level and, at a more detailed level, within the Public Transport Improvement series of knowledge products based on various technical reports commissioned by CSP.
Programme. Apart from providing technical guidance on these three different planning Based on this work, knowledge products produced to date include:
 • Practice notes on BRT station management and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS); 2018a). This makes basic financial sense, as in the local urban context, minibus taxis move
• tems, which
A toolkit on the ‘planning, design, and operational review’ of BRT and City Bus Sys-
provides information and procedures to enable cities to improve their
more people, more responsively, and at lower cost, than high-volume and infrastructure-
heavy services. Further, officials have realized that the process of buying out minibus-taxi
BRT operational efficiencies in both the planning and operations phases; operators — an intention of the original plans for urban BRT systems — is financially un-
• A research paper comparing South African BRTs with those implemented in Latin
America, identifying the essential differences between the two contexts, and why the
sustainable and has failed to empower the industry in the longer term, particularly when
taxi operators prefer to only receive compensation (National Treasury 2018b).
local context calls for very different transport solutions; Yet working with a largely informalized industry raises particular kinds of questions
• A policy paper on South Africa’s automated fare collection system; and challenges for municipalities and governance reform. How, for example, can authori-
• A literature review on the importance of public transport for city economic develop-
ment;
ties help to improve safety and labour practices in the sector? How should they promote
and enforce appropriate regulatory compliance? Given the powerful sway the taxi indus-
• A comprehensive report on all the provincial bus contracts in the country; try has over local politics, who could become the political champions of reform, and how
• Reports on the status of IPTNs across the country; would they go about this role? How could the licensing function for minibus taxis be de-
• A technical note on potential for reform to the public transport financing regime; and volved to give municipalities greater control over the industry? And what do all these
230 • A series of research reports on minibus-taxi innovation and reform. processes mean for municipal capacity and skills development? The last question is a 231
critical one, as noted by one transport planning official from Nelson Mandela Bay, who
appreciated the logic behind the devolution agenda, but who also recognized its implica-
Minibus-taxi innovation and integration tions and challenges for capacity at the local level, emphasizing the importance of experi-
mentation and peer learning as a way to alleviate these difficulties:
The final set of knowledge products listed above deserves some further explanation, as
they are indicative of a wider shift in urban transport reform thinking in South Africa. I support the devolution agenda. The Provincial Regulatory Entities, who regulate
The minibus-taxi industry constitutes the backbone of the urban public transportation operating minibus-taxi licences, applications for routes, and all of that, are not
system in South Africa, providing two-thirds of the total market share for public transport really helping. I don’t think they have been re-examined in quite a long time. That
in the country’s metros (see Table 10.1). The industry not only delivers critical public trans- function has to devolve to us. We are closer to the ground.The issuing of operating
port services to millions of people, but also generates vital opportunities for employment licences affects our integrated planning. The issue that we have is that there are
and business development (National Treasury 2018b). What is more, it has been able to do often disagreements and fights between different agencies involved. Sometimes
so with relatively little support from the state, historically speaking. you have to massage the egos of others just to get things done. If you take all of
those processes into the municipalities, you will make sure that integrated plan-
ning and decision-making can happen here, in the cities. But it means you need to
Table 10.1: Minibus Taxi Share in Total Public Transport and Motorized Transport Markets in have people who really know the transport business; you need to have capacity to
South Africa, 2013 (source: Van Ryneveld 2018, p. 56) deal with that. Municipal officials need to be properly trained, and to understand
what needs to be done. Perhaps there could be a pilot, where you start with one
Mode Work Study Total Share of Share of municipality, and learn what you can from that case. For this, bodies like CSP and
motoriZed public SACN can be very instrumental, to take lessons from one metro to another, rather 195
transport transport than each trying their own thing.195 Interview 32.

Train 649,000 174,000 823,000 9.2% 17.5% Given the uncertainties and challenges surrounding these kinds of questions, CSP, working
Bus 439,000 329,000 768,000 8.6% 16.3% with the national Department of Transport, commissioned a series of research reports into
aspects of the governance of the minibus-taxi industry, including emerging innovations in
Taxi 1,987,000 1,123,000 3,110,000 34.8% 66.2% that sector and potential for their integration into city IPTN planning processes. One re-
Total public 3,075,000 1,626,000 4,701,000 52.6% 100.0% port examines the nature of the transitional arrangements (particularly concerning financial
compensation) of the taxi industry during the implementation of IPTN plans in Johannes-
Car 2,833,000 1,409,000 4,242,000 47.4% burg, Cape Town, George, and Tshwane (National Treasury 2018c). Another provides a pre-
Total motorized 5,908,000 3,035,000 8,943,000 100.0% liminary review of emerging taxi reform initiatives in South Africa, considering these in rela-
tion to other emerging initiatives in the regional African context (National Treasury 2018b).
A third study drills into particular case studies of innovation in minibus-taxi reform
CSP’s interest in questions of minibus-taxi innovation and reform has emerged as part in South Africa (National Treasury 2018d). In recent years, several important examples
of a growing official acceptance that transforming the industry constitutes the future of have emerged, largely through the initiative of the metros themselves. In Cape Town, for
urban public transportation in South Africa (Van Ryneveld 2018, p. 3; National Treasury example, the second phase of the MyCiTi BRT system aims to establish taxi-based com-
 panies to run local services. In eThekwini, officials have proactively initiated Moja Cruise:
l Review of institutional arrangements for the public transport system (What
an improvement incentive scheme for taxi operators, focusing on the areas of driving,
maintenance, and passenger care. In Nelson Mandela Bay, meanwhile, the Libhongolethu would be the best institutional location, optimizing on built environment
service aims to combine BRT-run trunk routes with taxi-based feeder routes. As they synergies? What is the optimal structure of the current institution overseeing
emerge and consolidate, these initiatives will provide important lessons in how cities can public transport implementation? How can governance be improved with respect
go about managing the transition away from the top-down implementation of highly for- to this institution?)
malized, infrastructure-heavy BRT systems, towards more flexible and affordable trans-
port networks that offer greater accessibility to the majority of urban residents. Tshwane l Support in improving efficiencies of bus operations within the public transport
The overall aim of these research studies, then, is to assist cities in exploring options system
for a second wave of IPTN planning that focuses on developing ‘hybrid’ public transport
l Review of current operational and business plans for public transport,
systems in which the minibus-taxi sector is more equitably and thoughtfully included, and
which help locate the sector within wider processes of integrated transport and land-use highlighting key risk areas in the current approach, and providing strategic
planning (CSP n.d.; National Treasury 2018c; Van Ryneveld 2018). In support of this agen- support to start to develop a more suitable approach
232 da, a national community of practice focused on minibus-taxi innovation has emerged, 233
linking cities, academia, the taxi industry, as well as policymakers, to take stock of and
critically assess the latest thinking in this area. Moreover, CSP has provided direct support to cities, like Johannesburg and Tshwane, to
assist in diagnosing their operational problems, and to identify actions to moderate costs
and enhance revenues for their BRT systems. The lessons learnt from this work were then
Transport capacity support shared more widely through a series of technical workshops on bus operations, intelligent
transport systems, and station management (CSP 2017).
As part of the Transport Capacity Support sub-component, CSP provides technical assist-
ance to metros for the efficient and effective planning, construction, and operation of city
public transport systems in order to provide better value for money and to offer improved Transport financing
transport services to the most deserving citizens. Incentivizing public transport systems
to reflect genuine user-demand at a city level, and to take into account the ‘fiscal envelope’ The Transport Financing sub-component responds to the recognition that finance, policy,
available at both the national and local levels, is an important objective of this work. and legal instruments need to be sharpened to allow for greater leveraging of private
Several key projects have been pursed here. In working with cities to develop credible sector investment and more innovation in financing instruments to share the benefits of
and sustainable Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN) plans, CSP hosted a series increased land values that result from public infrastructure investment, and to drive the
of technical workshops on integrated network planning. It has also supported the review inclusion of disadvantaged communities. This is an area where National Treasury can
of the IPTN plans of various cities (see Table 10.2), notably by setting up a peer-review play a critical role by leveraging its fiscal responsibilities and capabilities.
mechanism involving local and international experts (CSP 2017). The strategic thrust of this work has been to encourage national government to move
away from the use of transport grant funding to impose a specific technology (e.g., BRT) on
Table 10.2: Focus of IPTN Reviews in Different South African Metros cities, and to move towards a wider fiscal perspective that enables urban transport planning
to accommodate other transport modes — including improved minibus-taxi systems — and
Metro IPTN Review Focus encompasses processes of municipal capacity-building and support. The aim, in other words,
is to reposition the PTNG as a way to help build local government capability to plan effec-
Johannesburg l Improving efficiencies in three areas: bus operations, Intelligent Transport tively, and to develop solutions that are appropriate and responsive to local urban contexts.
Systems (ITS), and station management

l Panel review of the operational and business plans of the North Eastern
Reform to the fiscal architecture of public transport finance
Quadrant of the city’s IPTN

Nelson Mandela l Comprehensive review of the current CITP (What is the best
The Transport Financing sub-component comprises two key projects. The first is entitled
Bay public transport system based on the spatial, social, and historical systems ‘Reform to the fiscal architecture of public transport finance’. Michael Kihato explains
of the metro? Has the current system and routing been optimally planned? the basic problem to which the project is addressed:
What could be usefully achieved with the legacy of the World Cup routes? Has
the current rollout plan been appropriately considered in terms of phasing and Public transport has many funding streams, and what we need to do is start gain-
implementation?)
ing efficiencies from all this money flowing from various places. It is very ineffi-
 cient. We are funding rail, we are funding these bus systems, we are funding mini- of reforming the PTNG framework under the Division of Revenue Act. For instance, a
bus taxis through the Taxi Recapitalization Programme, and there is no coherent formula-based mechanism for allocating grant finance among cities has been designed
196 narrative around our public transport funding initiatives. Throw in roads, and the to guarantee a predictable ceiling of funding for each municipality, thereby eliminating
Interview with Michael picture becomes very complicated.196 the tendency for cities to bid for large, unaffordable transport systems. Moreover, the
Kihato, Pretoria, 14 PTNG allocations made under the 2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework for the first
June 2018. To overcome this misalignment of finance and strategy, CSP has supported the creation time included an incentive component as a way to reward and encourage good municipal
of a system of allocating public transport finance that allows for greater efficiency, ac- planning and performance.
countability, and transparency. This work has involved efforts to secure agreement be-
tween national departments on the matter, through close cooperation between Treasury,
the Department of Transport, and the metros. The project also supports the Department’s Successes, challenges, and debates
ongoing efforts to draft the national subsidy policy.
Planning and fiscal reform

234 Annual PTNG support The Public Transport Component has enjoyed considerable moments of success. The 235
Integrated Public Transport Network (IPTN) Guidelines work has been well received by
A second key project of this sub-component focuses on providing support to the annual all role players, including the metros, and evidence suggests that the wider package of
allocations of the PTNG. Michael Kihato explains the rationale: IPTN reform has helped to shift the ways in which cities plan and budget for their public
transport systems (DPME 2018). More specifically, this work has: highlighted the need
What we have done with the PTNG is to initiate a reform process, which has to plan across the full range of built environment functions in order to achieve spatial
proceeded over the last three years. The Grant is an annual allocation, so every transformation; reformed the budget system to operate with longer-term projections
year you can reform a part of it. At the heart of the reform was to make the Grant that align with desired spatial changes; and assisted in annual sectoral oversight of
much more predictable, equitable in terms of its distribution, and incentivizing progress in these areas through the PTNG budgeting process. This has helped foster an
of the right kind of things. Previously, the grant was allocated through a bidding understanding of the fiscal and financial sustainability for public transport systems as
process. So, a city would submit a public transport system plan, and national being intricately linked to spatial change (DPME 2018). CSP has also been able to bring
government would simply allocate the money. But now we have converted the the cross-sectoral spatial planning approach of the BEPP into formal alignment with the
Grant so as to ask cities, ‘what is your total public transport demand? This is IPTN, which was previously isolated from other planning processes and outputs (Na-
the total funding envelope that you have to work within’. What was going wrong tional Treasury 2017).
is that you had small cities bidding for big projects, and because the plans and Working alongside the various units of National Treasury and the Department of
the budgets were not good, they dug themselves into a hole. Public transport is Transport, CSP’s efforts in relation to reforming the Public Transport Network Grant
very risky from that perspective. You can implement a big infrastructure project, (PTNG) have helped to introduce a greater degree of predictability and sustainability into
like a BRT system, but the real costs of public transport are running the buses. the allocation of the Grant. These reform efforts have also assisted in repositioning the
197 That’s where the huge costs are. So, the Grant was incentivizing the wrong kinds PTNG as a mechanism to incentivize better kinds of transport planning and governance
Interview with Michael of behaviour.197 behaviour, and to build the local capacity that is required to develop locally appropriate
Kihato, Pretoria, 14 urban mobility solutions. These initiatives have reportedly been ‘positively received’ by
June 2018.
Reforms to the PTNG have also been informed by a specific problem at the heart of the the metros (DPME 2018).
fiscal transfer system. That is, while grants are allocated to local governments on an an- Given the fiscal unsustainability of the first phase of BRT systems, CSP, working
nual basis with a three-year projection for the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, a alongside Treasury and the Department of Transport, will retain an important role in help-
project with the complexity of something like a BRT system will take far longer to imple- ing to redefine the precise concept, strategy, and model of transit-oriented planning and
ment. As one observer commented, given the temporal mismatch between funding flows development that cities should deploy to drive spatial transformation. The development of
and implementation, it can be ‘a real leap of faith for a city to commit itself to something ‘hybrid’ systems involving South Africa’s existing minibus-taxi industry offers a compel-
198
Interview 7. like a BRT project’.198 ling alternative, but also presents particular kinds of political and economic risks if not
Given these realities, significant improvements have been made to the design, man- carried out in a considered, coproduced way (Van Ryneveld 2018). Moreover, engaging
agement, and disbursement of the PTNG. Here work has concentrated on two main areas. with and integrating a largely informal taxi industry presents the state (as an institution
One focused on supporting the annual budget process. More specifically, CSP has provid- operating within a highly regulated and rule-based framework) with political and insti-
ed technical support to the Department of Transport and National Treasury in assessing tutional challenges of its own, calling for experimentation with practices of hybrid and
city IPTN business plans and multi-year budgets. Part of the annual process of allocating adaptive local governance (Seeliger and Turok 2013). CSP is well-positioned to partner
the PTNG, this support helps to ensure that these plans and budgets are fiscally and fi- with other agencies to help think through and drive the fiscal and other reforms neces-
nancially sustainable, as per the Grant’s framework. CSP has also supported the process sary to address these challenges. The chapter has also noted that engaging with the taxi
 industry also raises new questions and challenges relating to local capacity development
and training. As such, CSP may also have an important future role to play in identifying Conclusion
and developing the skills and competencies that will be required, both on the part of taxi
industry players and municipalities, to enable the successful planning and implementa- As with the Human Settlements Component described in Chapter 9, CSP’s activities fo-
tion of truly integrated, efficient, and affordable urban mobility systems. cusing on public transport support and reform face certain kinds of challenges, and are
given a certain character, by virtue of the fact that they interface directly with a defined
Devolution sector of the state. The project of city support, in both cases, becomes a long-term game
of patient collaboration and coproduction; a task complicated by the inevitable tensions
Like the Human Settlements Component discussed in the previous chapter, CSP’s work that exist between sectoral and fiscal departments of the state.
on Public Transport reform has involved the pursuance of a devolution agenda. In the Yet CSP’s engagements with public transport governance reform have had to negoti-
case of public transport, this agenda has entailed working closely with the national De- ate particular kinds of challenges, specific to the sector. These have involved working
partment of Transport to craft a devolution strategy and programme, as well as support- with a national department — that enjoyed a major funding boost for urban public trans-
ing city governments to prepare their plans and applications for the reception of bus and portation in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup, and which is still in the process of refining a
236 rail functions. strategic and fiscal approach to operating in cities — as well as with city governments, to 237
While CSP’s agenda to promote the devolution of key public transport functions to develop integrated and sustainable networks of urban mobility. One external observer, an
the metros has enjoyed some success, progress has been relatively slow, despite the expert on South African urban transportation, sees this as the defining feature of CSP’s
degree of effort put into the system. As mentioned in the chapter introduction, the prin- involvement in the transport governance space:
cipal challenges lie with a lack of capacity at the municipal level, and slow policy imple-
mentation by the national Department of Transport. Another specific challenge is that What we are seeing is national government learning how to support the imple-
of policy uncertainty: the National Land Transport Act gives little clarity over the defini- mentation of a major built environment project at the city level. For me, CSP has
tion of competence that should be demonstrated in order for cities to be awarded bus been about encouraging and assisting this process of learning.200 200
199 and rail functions.199 To date, only one city, Cape Town, has requested the devolution of Interview 7.
Interview 44.
the provincial bus function after complying with the Act’s various policy and regulatory Such a ‘process of learning’, if it is to leave a real and long-lived mark on urban policy,
requirements. Despite this, the Department of Transport has stalled in signing off on governance, and spatial change, should not be exclusive or limited to the bounds of the
the application. Moreover, while the 2017 draft of the White Paper on National Rail Policy state. Indeed, there are promising signs that South African civil society groups and activ-
calls for devolution of urban rail functions to local authorities, alongside the necessary ists are increasingly interested in taking up the cause of improved urban public transpor-
funding mechanisms, the document does not elaborate on how, precisely, this should tation, and alliances like #UniteBehind have recently emerged to place important pres-
be carried out. sure on officials and political leaders to address key problems like Cape Town’s faltering
Promoting a devolution agenda is a particularly challenging area of work, given the commuter rail service. Yet more needs to be done to build new communities of practice
multiple spheres of government and actors involved, and the large amounts of capital that around public transportation questions in South African cities. One challenge that re-
flow through the transport system. Reform efforts inevitably run up hard against vested mains is for CSP and civil society organizations to find ways to partner effectively, and to
interests in both the public and private sectors. While more remains to be done, CSP’s leverage one another’s capabilities and influence, to drive real governance reform, vision-
experiences again highlight the importance of persistent, intensive dialogue, and cross- ary political leadership, and a transformed future for urban mobility and accessibility in
sector coproduction for driving sustainable institutional and fiscal change. South Africa.
In the following chapter, we proceed to describe and discuss an area of CSP’s work
Capacity challenges programme that is focused less on supporting and reforming a single sector, and more
on operating ‘transversally’ across a range of sectors and themes. The focus is on the
The challenge of building sufficient capacity for the integration of the minibus-taxi indus- Economic Development Component.
try, and for the successful implementation of the devolution agenda, leads to the final
point. South Africa faces a basic problem in this respect — transport planning is not
an organized profession in the country, and very few higher education and training pro-
grammes are currently offered that would enable a professional to gain the high-level
technical and political skills required to work in this space. As part of a long-term agenda
to drive urban spatial transformation, it will be critically important to consider the kinds
of professionals that are needed to plan and implement truly effective and sustainable
IPTNs. CSP potentially has an important role to play in addressing this gap, by provid-
ing a platform for the creation of partnerships between cities, government departments,
academia, and training institutions.
 References

CSP (2017) Cities Support Programme 2016/17 Annual National Treasury (n.d.) Towards Sustainable City Trans-
Report (Pretoria: National Treasury). port Systems: BRT and City Bus Systems (Pretoria: Na-
tional Treasury).
CSP (n.d.) ‘Innovations in Minibus-Taxi Reform’. https://
csp.treasury.gov.za/Resource_Centre/Conferences/Pag- Pirie, G. H. (1986) ‘Johannesburg Transport 1905–1945:
es/Innovations-in-Minibus-Taxi-Reform20180307_8.aspx, African Capitulation and Resistance’, Journal of Historical
accessed 23 June 2018. Geography, 12(1), 41–55.
DPME (2018) Implementation Evaluation of the Cities Seeliger, L., and Turok, I. (2013) ‘Averting a Downward
Support Programme (Pretoria: The Presidency). Spiral: Building Resilience in Informal Urban Settlements
Through Adaptive Governance’, Environment & Urbaniza-
National Treasury (2017) Guidance Note: Framework for
238 the Formulation of Built Environment Performance Plans
tion, 26(1), 184–199. 239
(BEPP) (Pretoria: National Treasury). Swilling, M., Bhorat, H., Buthelezi, M., Chipkin, I., Duma, S.,
Mondi, L., Peter, C., Qobo, M., and Friedenstein, H. (2017)
National Treasury (2018a) Integrated Public Transport
Betrayal of the Promise: How South Africa Is Being Stolen.
Network (IPTN) Plan Development Technical Guidance:
Report prepared for the State Capacity Research Project.
Version 4 (Pretoria: National Treasury).
https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Betrayal-
National Treasury (2018b) A Review of Minibus-Taxi Re- of-the-Promise-25052017.pdf, accessed 10 June 2018.
form Initiatives in South African Cities (Pretoria: National
Van Ryneveld, P. (2018) Urban Transport Analysis for the
Treasury).
Urbanization Review (Washington, D.C.: The World Bank).
National Treasury (2018c) Minibus-Taxi Innovation and
Reform: Compensation of the Minibus-Taxi Industry Dur-
ing Transition to Integrated Public Transport Networks in
Four South African Cities (Pretoria: National Treasury).
National Treasury (2018d) Innovation in Minibus-Taxi Re-
form in South African Cities: The Cases of Moja Cruise
in eThekwini and Libongo Lethu in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Draft report supplied by the author (Pretoria: National
Treasury).

sydelle willow smith

City of
Johannesburg: A
view of downtown
traffic.
 Chapter 11

Economic
Development
Aims and l Support city governments to refocus their
objectives economic development activities on increasing

240 formal economic activity and facilitating livelihood

opportunities
241
l Support city officials to see economic development
as a task calling for inherently collaborative action
to achieve an overall improved environment for
economic activity

Strategy City governments should provide effective

platforms for local economic activity to improve
their competitiveness in order to drive poverty
reduction and boost prosperity

Work areas l City leadership and planning

l Direct city support
l City economic strategies

Key projects l City economic strategy, planning, and partnering

l Subnational Cost of Doing Business
l Informal and township economies
l City investment promotion
l City public employment innovation
l Asset management and service delivery support
l South African Urbanization Review

This chapter addresses the agenda and work programme of CSP’s Economic Develop-
ment Component. As a ‘transversal’ component, it has overseen a number of important
projects with the potential to drive benefits for urban economic performance in both the
short and long term. Its strategic approach and work programme have been character- Buffalo City: A

GUTO BUSSAB
ized by a process of learning, and of adjustment to emerging realities and challenges. It shipment of motor
will be vital to maintain this attitude and approach as CSP moves forward into its second vehicles leaving the
phase and faces the critical challenge of institutionalization. port of East London.
 and resources to drive local economic activity (see Box 11.2). Many urban local govern-
The challenge ments regard the promotion of economic development as the equivalent of a line function
— a series of local projects to be managed by a single municipal department — rather
201
Over the past decade, South African national economic performance has been poor, than as an inherently collective and collaborative process aiming to achieve ‘an overall Interview with Roland
with slack labour market performance driving a significant rise in unemployment (Turok improved environment for economic activity’.201 Hunter, by telephone, 4
and Visagie 2018). The country’s large cities or metros are critical to turning this situation The challenge, therefore, is to secure the future role of South African cities in driving December 2018.
around. In relation to other regions of the country, the metros create value and new jobs economic growth and reducing poverty and inequality. To do so, they must become more
at a disproportionate rate. It is estimated that these cities are responsible for 57% of all productive and competitive, and city governments must learn to engage and promote
gross value add in South Africa. Between the first quarters of 2015 and 2017, metros ac- economic development in a more appropriate way.
counted for 59.5% of all formal and informal jobs created nationally. Metropolitan areas
also produce 2.5 time more manufacturing jobs per resident than elsewhere (National Box 11.2: The Problems of Implementing Local Economic Development
Treasury 2018). However, despite their economic significance, South Africa’s large cit-
ies have not fulfilled their economic potential. As outlined in the book’s Introduction, In South Africa, local governments are constitutionally mandated to ensure social
242 although the country is already highly urbanized, it has not reaped the rewards of an and economic development of their localities. It is, however, acknowledged that lo- 243
‘urban dividend’ — the economic benefits expected to stem from agglomeration (see cal economic development (LED) is unique and very different from traditional local
Box 11.1). government functions in that it is primarily ‘market facing’. Local governments are
expected to deliver economic results in an environment where they have limited inter-
Box 11.1: South Africa’s Failure to Realize the Urban Dividend nal resources for economic development, and little or no control over the behaviour
of private sector actors, who are the drivers of the economy. Traditional planning and
South Africa is already an urbanized country, but when you compare it to other coun- consultative processes have typically not delivered the desired impact; there is often
tries which are as urbanized, they seem to be getting far more of a benefit from that paralysis as large-scale plans are made that require significant budgets, and problems
urbanization. There is an economic value that arises from people living and working may seem too overwhelming to know where to start.
close together. That is why cities form, and no matter how far communication tech-
nologies advance, there is always going to be a value in what is called agglomeration Partnering for Growth — Baakens Valley note (CSP 2018b, p. 1)
— being close together. So, manufacturers of parts for the motor industry are always
going to locate nearby the motor industry. There is a value in the closeness, and that
closeness has value not only from a business point of view, but also from the worker’s Theory of change
point of view, because the worker who has built up skills in a particular industry is able
to sell those skills to another manufacturer or supplier in that industry without mov- As the CSP was originally conceived, inclusive and sustainable economic development
ing to another area. But the benefits of agglomeration seem not to have been working were regarded as implicit and cross-cutting outcomes of support activities undertaken
so well in South Africa. Why is that? It comes back to CSP’s original thesis, which is in the domains of governance, public transport, land use, human settlements, and in-
that it has something to do with the spatial form of the city. During apartheid, workers frastructure planning. A dedicated Economic Development Component was only estab- 202
were deliberately located far away from economic centres; the city was deliberately lished in 2014, partly in response to pressure within national government and Treasury Interviews with David
Savage, Cape Town, 30
fragmented. to put more emphasis on the means to drive urban and national economic growth.202 As
May 2018; and Andrew
such, economic development is integral to the CSP’s overall theory of change. Donaldson, Cape Town,
Roland Hunter, CSP Economic Development Component Lead CSP works on the hypothesis that ensuring a closer and more strategic relationship 5 June 2018.
between the governance of land, shelter, mobility, and infrastructure will result in trans-
Government approaches to managing urbanization are arguably ineffective, incoherent, formed urban spatial forms, enabling cities to become more inclusive, productive, and
and unaffordable, focusing overwhelmingly on the supply of services without an adequate sustainable. This, in turn, it is assumed, will allow urban areas to reap the benefits of ag-
understanding of actual demand (CSP 2018a). They enable divisive, fragmented, and glomeration, boosting their competitiveness and thus driving economic growth, employ-
sprawling urban spatial patterns to persist, which in turn undermine productivity and the ment generation, and poverty reduction (UN-Habitat 2013; World Bank 2015). At the same
potential for economic growth. time, promoting local economic development activity is a critical precondition to enable
In the post-apartheid era, implementing the notion of ‘developmental local govern- spatial planning and targeting to function more effectively, and thereby to drive urban
ment’ has included assigning municipalities with a responsibility to promote ‘local eco- spatial transformation.
nomic development’ (LED). Yet local authorities have been poorly equipped to drive such As such, and in line with the thinking of the ‘new economic geography’, CSP’s ap-
processes. This is, in part, a legacy of the particular approach to LED that was written proach emphasizes that space is a critical factor underpinning economic processes, and
into post-apartheid development policy, and the manner in which that notion has been that getting spatial arrangements right is a precondition for efficient and competitive
translated into practice. It is also a function of inadequate municipal strategy, capacity, development (Krugman 1991; World Bank 2009).
 If you ask people in local government what should they do to promote their own
Work programme local economy, I would say in South Africa we went down the wrong path, starting
in the 1990s, and that wrong path went by the heading of ‘local economic develop-
The Economic Development Component is one of three transversal components of CSP’s ment’. If you ask many in South African government, they will basically say LED
work programme, alongside Core City Governance (Chapters 5 to 8) and Climate Resil- consists of ignoring the mainstream economy, and trying to work with the weakest
ience (discussed in the following chapter). parts of the economy. Municipalities are always trying to set up cooperatives.They
Roland Hunter was appointed as Component Lead in 2014. In the early 1990s, Hunter are always trying to promote small businesses. Now, that is not to say those are
had worked with the urban sector non-governmental organization Planact as a local not the right thing to do, but municipalities don’t have any skills in that field… The
government finance and restructuring expert. He later lectured on economics and pub- basic assumption, I think, is that the formal economy — the big economic players
lic finance at the University of the Witwatersrand, before entering subnational govern- — can get on with whatever they need to do, without any help from government.
ment, ultimately serving as the Chief Financial Officer for Johannesburg Council for a Rather, officials aim to work with the weak parts of the economy. Surprisingly, it
number of years. Subsequently, as a consultant, Hunter undertook assignments on city is assumed that government will get it right. Surprisingly also, many governments
203
public finance and management issues across Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. don’t even know how to talk to the big players.203
244 As such, upon his appointment to CSP, Hunter brought with him a quarter-century of
Interview with Roland
Hunter, Pretoria, 21 245
professional experience, covering all areas of subnational finance and economic devel- By contrast to the prevailing LED focus on small, medium, and micro enterprises May 2018.
opment, detailed knowledge of city finance in South Africa, and extensive experience (SMMEs), CSP has attempted work with others to instigate a paradigm shift in the of-
with capacity-building and executive programmes for senior management and political ficial approach to economic development. The intention has been to establish partnering
office bearers. and partnerships as the principal means by which city governments can drive develop-
CSP’s work programme for Economic Development is arranged into three sub-compo- ment (see Box 11.3). This strategy was partly informed by research done by the World
nents. These are described and briefly discussed in the following sub-sections. Bank (2015) into the nature and needs of competitive cities. The research concluded
that, in most cases, cities that successfully promote local development are the hosts
of strong ‘growth coalitions’ between public and private actors. However, as indicated
Leadership, Strategy, and Planning above, South African municipalities are particularly inexperienced in this field, raising
questions about how they should go about encouraging the formation of such partner-
City economic strategy, planning, and partnering ships and coalitions:

The Leadership, Strategy, and Planning sub-component aims to support metro leader- How do you partner with business? That is a really interesting question, because
ship in refining their perspective of and approach to economic development (DPME 2018). many people’s first assumption is that it should involve organizing a large summit.
Specific areas of project work focusing on city economic strategy, planning, and partner- The mayor must call for a big event, and all the local businesses will attend, and
ing have involved: some speeches will be made — we have seen that so often — and at the end of the
event, one can even make a declaration of some sort, but no action results. Noth-
• Researching
 economic development planning and its potential link with city In-
tegrated Development Plans (IDPs) and Built Environment Performance Plans
ing happens out of the summit. So, what is the nature of the process by which you
can partner?204
204
Interview with Roland
(BEPPs); Hunter, Pretoria, 21
May 2018.
•  Undertaking detailed engagements, drawing on international expertise, on the trans-
versal management of urban economic development with four cities, selected on the
Rather than following a standard approach of first commissioning research into the
needs and demands of urban businesses, and making policy recommendations on the
basis of their willingness and ability to absorb that engagement; basis of that research, CSP has taken a rather different approach. That approach has
• Organizing events and creating knowledge products on transversal management and
economic development planning;
been to start off with the organization of events, in particular cities, that link up local
governments with local business actors, and that allow officials to hear firsthand what
• Disseminating knowledge products consolidating the economic development experi-
ences of different cities; as well as
the concerns and interests of those private actors are. Accordingly, and using the World
Bank’s Competitive Cities Executive Development programme as a foundation, CSP de-
• Establishing partnerships as an approach to municipal economic development inter-
ventions.
signed and launched a project in 2017 to work with a small, select group of individuals
around specific economic themes in three metros: Nelson Mandela Bay, Tshwane, and
eThekwini. The programme for these events included a range of exercises to ‘build rela-
A key focus of this sub-component has been on the logic and activity of partnering. tionships and mutual understanding, as well as creating shared insight into the nature of 205
This is a focus devised in response to the identification of a specific problem in South competitive cities’ (CSP 2018b, p. 2). The approach taken was to encourage ‘grassroots Interview with Roland
African post-apartheid municipal policy, particularly with respect to the definition and partnering around particular projects’, seeking to ‘rely on private people’s energy around Hunter, Pretoria, 21
implementation of local economic development (LED), as explained by Roland Hunter: a particular issue’.205 May 2018.
 Box 11.3: The Need for Partnering in Economic Development ing that business regulatory reform is a critical aspect of a city’s investment climate and
economic competitiveness. As firms drive city economies and create jobs, cities need
In many cases in South African cities, stakeholders work at cross purposes with par- to make it easier for them to locate and operate locally, including through reducing their
allel strategies, duplicated functions, and even competing mandates. Within the pub- cost of doing business. In order to promote investment, therefore, a municipality’s inter- 206
lic sector such inefficiencies are usually symptoms of complex administrative proce- nal administrative and regulatory processes should be ‘quick, effective, and cheap’.206 In Interview with Roland
Hunter, Pretoria, 21
dures and lack of coordination. Between public and private sectors, they are usually a this way, good city administrative performance, combined with strong governance, can
May 2018.
symptom of a lack of trust and divergent interests. New ways of working together are underpin improved city economic performance and competitiveness.
needed to enable greater economic growth. The key output of this project has been the Doing Business in South Africa report. This
report has applied but extended the methodology of the World Bank’s Doing Business
Partnering for Growth technical note (CSP 2018c, p. 1) programme, which produces annual reports assessing business regulations and their
enforcement, using a total of 11 indicators, applied across countries and selected cities
(generally the reports focus on the largest city in a given country, although in a few cases
The Nelson Mandela Bay partnering event — the first in the series — was considered two cities may be included).
246 particularly successful. One key outcome of that event was the formation of the Real Whereas the Bank’s reporting approach focuses on the country level, and uses Johan- 247
Baakens Group: a collective of social activists, business people, municipal officials, and nesburg as a proxy for South Africa as a whole, the Doing Business in South Africa report
spatial development experts interested in the fate of the Baakens Valley, a natural cor- has extended the framework to the subnational level, assessing the performance of nine
ridor that cuts through the centre of the city. While the Valley is clearly a potential natural city governments across a more limited range of indicators (listed in Box 11.4). It has ap-
and tourism asset to the city, it is affected by problems like crime and environmental mis- plied the same Bank methodology, but in the context of nine subnational areas of South 207
management. The approach taken by the Real Baakens Group was unlike conventional Africa, as opposed to the largest city, Johannesburg, exclusively.207 It aims to capture local The nine cities
municipal initiatives for economic development in the city, which tended to take the form differences in regulations or enforcement practices, to assemble and disseminate infor- include South Africa’s
eight metropolitan
of large-scale projects that are mired in organizational complexities. Instead, the Group mation on good practices emerging within the country that could be easily replicated, as
municipalities,
aimed to investigate, at a practical level, what needed to be done to change the image well as to provide a platform for cities to ‘tell their story’ and compete on a wider level. The which participate
and quality of this key urban space. Their actions led to new patterns of communication first report was published in 2015, with the second edition released in 2018. in CSP activities,
between interested parties, and the collaborative identification of solutions — like fixing and Msunduzi Local
sewage and water leaks, or cleaning stormwater drains — that transcended ‘rigid con- Box 11.4: The Subnational Doing Business Survey Indicators Municipality (which
governs the city of
fines of organizational and institutional silos’ (CSP 2018b, p. 3). This example has demon-
Pietermaritzburg)
strated that new collaborative approaches and initial actions, even at a small scale, can l Starting a business (not included in the 2018 survey and report) due to the latter’s
start to shift the system relatively quickly. l Dealing with construction permits membership in the
The ‘partnering for growth’ initiative played out differently in each of the three pilot cit- l Registering property South African Cities
ies. In each case, there were different levels of energy to shift behaviour and practices sur- l Getting electricity Network
rounding partnering. To an extent, this was to be expected, as the approach taken fell coun- l Enforcing contracts
ter to the dominant culture of collaboration that prevails in South African cities. While some l Trading across borders
of the changes may have appeared small, the key lesson that emerged from the events is
that ‘it is possible to do things differently’ (CSP 2018c, p. 7). As noted by the project team fol-
lowing the events, ‘supporting a different way of being and relating is an immense task’; one The process leading up to the production of the Doing Business in South Africa report
calling for the deployment of new kinds of resources, skills, and capacities (CSP 2018c, p. 7). followed several steps. First, cities were approached by the CSP team, and informed that
such a process was to be undertaken. Second, city officials would receive a delegation
from the World Bank, which explained precisely what would be measured and how. Third,
City Support Bank representatives then communicated with private sector operators, from whom the
relevant data were to be secured. Fourth, data were compiled, with municipalities being
The City Support sub-component provides tools that metros can use to promote eco- afforded a right of reply. CSP’s main role was to facilitate these processes of city assess- 208
nomic development more effectively. ment.208 Interview with Roland
The ambition of the SNDB project has been to use the 2015 edition of Doing Business Hunter, by telephone, 4
in South Africa as a benchmark against which to assess city progress or decline on the December 2018.
Subnational doing business assigned indicators. With this point of reference in place, CSP has then sought to provide
support for the cities to improve their own performance. In the interim between 2015 and
The ‘subnational doing business’ (SNDB) project is one of the key means of promoting 2018, every metro produced an action plan detailing its proposed reforms, and was asked
economic development more effectively. The project rationale is based on the understand- to submit a progress report to CSP every quarter. The results of these assessments were
 then presented at meetings, involving all metros, taking place three times a year. Moreo- in the township, because the insurance companies would be paying for it. So,
ver, CSP brought in international experts to engage and work with the metros on specific there is a process by which a township panel beater probably has to raise their
areas and issues that were identified as being in particular need of improvement. standards, and become accredited by the motor manufacturer. Once they are ac-
Aside from providing these kinds of support measures, CSP also arranged a series of credited, they can register with the insurance company, and then they secure an
city peer-learning events. The overall aim of these events has been to encourage the shar- extra cash flow. Now, notice what that is about; it is about connecting the town-
ing of knowledge between cities on best practices for business regulation. Ultimately, the ship businesses to the mainstream economy, it is not about creating business
goal is to encourage city administrations to think of themselves and to act as ‘enablers of that only serves demand in the township itself because, by definition, that would
development’ in such a way that it becomes easier for firms to locate and operate in their be a hard thing to do. Generally, it is too small a market. So, the objective is really
urban space. For CSP, it is this shift in mindset that will induce metros to improve their lo- to connect township enterprises to wider markets. That is not something that is 209
Interview with Roland
cal business environments, and that will provide opportunities for cities to lobby national very widely understood.209
Hunter, Pretoria, 21
government for reforms to push this agenda for the country as a whole. In 2016, three May 2018.
such events were held, focusing respectively on the three areas of business regulation
where municipalities have the greatest responsibility: dealing with construction permits, City investment promotion
248 getting electricity, and registering property. 249
CSP has also implemented a project focusing on ‘city investment promotion’. Roland
Hunter describes the project’s rationale, and its clear link to CSP’s other interventions
Informal and township economic development designed to ease the regulatory burden of doing business in South African cities:

A second and significant CSP project focuses on the issue of informal and township eco- Everybody wants to promote investment. Fine. But what they usually have in mind
nomic development. The project comprises contracted analysis of the spatial dimensions is some person publishing advertisements saying, ‘Mangaung is a great place to
of city economic development, with a particular focus on how to promote the develop- be; it’s in the centre of the country’. But that is not what investment promotion
ment of township economies. The starting point for the project is the notion that, despite is. We have managed to bring in international experts on investment promotion,
the apparent dynamism of South Africa’s township areas, most local economic activities and they have been extremely useful in helping municipal leaders to switch their
are trapped within a narrow band of informal activities. The returns to these activities are thinking about this. A bit of marketing is necessary, but that is not the first impera-
often low, as are the employment multipliers. The single biggest category of activity is re- tive. The first thing is to understand who is sniffing around trying to invest in your
tail, consisting mainly of street trading, spaza shops, and shebeens, many operating from city. What do they want? And don’t assume that the first thing they want is a tax
homes and on a very small scale. Manufacturing activities are notably limited, along with rebate. Actually, what they really want is a good place to invest, and they want the
the jobs — and business services — often associated with their presence. Those manu- infrastructure to work, and they want there to be no electricity power failures.That
facturing enterprises that do exist are rarely linked into value chains or markets outside tells you something.210 210
Interview with Roland
the township. As such, most township jobs are informal and precarious.
Hunter, Pretoria, 21
In this sense, informality can act as a ‘poverty trap’ that limits the scope for economic The project processes entailed selecting several metros on the basis of their demand for May 2018.
growth. In response, the project asks: what are the constraints to formalization, and in this support, and their capacity to effectively absorb it. The first step was to conduct an
what other ways can small enterprises upgrade to enable business-to-business trans- intensive scoping visit to develop proposals for specific support programmes. Such sup-
actions beyond the township and in wider value chains? While strengthening transport port could include:
linkages and connectivity is part of the solution, there is also the option of promoting eco-
nomic development in and around townships. The township food economy is one area of
opportunity: its importance to the lives of local residents provides a basis for innovation
• Ssectors,
tructured workshops with key stakeholders to generate a common focus on specific
priorities, and operational approaches to investors;
and new opportunities.
Yet, for Roland Hunter, there is an ‘important philosophical point’ to note when think-
• lessons, tointernational
 Sharing best-practice investment-promotion agency experiences and
extract relevant learning and knowledge to apply locally;
ing about township economic development: •  Collaborative or participatory development of a comprehensive investment strategy;

Townships, with a few exceptions, were and are residential areas located far
• Assistance
 to establish and resource a professional, focused, and well-resourced in-
vestment promotion entity;
away from employment opportunities. So, we may be making a mistake if we say
that a township must ‘pull itself up by its bootstraps’. If a township entrepreneur
• Investment process mapping and review of existing investors, to improve the investor
experience; or
can only sell to a township market, are you not handicapping that entrepreneur?
Surely, you would want them to sell into the mainstream market? So, if there is a
• Assistance to establish a structured aftercare programme.
township panel beater, how do you get them to actually start receiving panel beat- The logic was that once progress had been achieved on investment promotion activi-
ing jobs from insurance companies? Suddenly, a lot of work would be happening ties within the selected metros, multi-city workshops would then be held to share lessons
 and experiences. The project resulted in the production of learning products focusing on Enabling Environment
investment climate reforms, investment promotion strategies, and how cities can facili-
tate investment and compete for foreign direct investment (FDI). The third sub-component seeks to refine national policies and frameworks to create an
enabling environment for city economic development.

Public employment strategy innovation

A final project pursued within the City Support sub-component addresses potential in- Asset management and service delivery
novations in city public employment strategies. Public employment programmes offered
by national government, such as the Community Works Programme (CWP) and Extended Within this agenda, one project has focused on the issue of asset management and serv-
Public Works Programme (EPWP), are potentially important means of addressing unem- ice delivery support, seeking to develop recommendations for greater coordination be-
ployment and its social costs in cities. An obvious example would be the upgrading of tween policy priorities and investment programmes in major municipal infrastructure
informal settlements. If municipalities linked their CWP or EPWP applications to ongoing and service sectors, including water and sanitation, energy, and solid waste.
250 upgrading projects, using local people to provide the services in their areas, this would The thrust of this work emerges from the increasingly stark reality that long-standing 251
lower the costs of project implementation, create benefits for those employed, and foster under-investment in and poor management of major infrastructure assets in South Afri-
local buy-in and ownership of the process. can cities now pose significant social and economic risks. Much urban water and sanita-
However, municipalities generally do not take full advantage of these programmes tion infrastructure, for one matter, is ageing and its performance deteriorating, largely due
to promote social empowerment and to support the effective implementation of city to a lack of sufficient investment and maintenance. Informal settlements, in particular,
projects. In order to encourage innovation in this area, CSP devised a project extending invariably experience a significant lack of adequate sanitation facilities. For another mat-
over two phases. The first phase (2016/17) reviewed the way that city governments have ter, the performance and reliability of urban electricity distribution is also faltering, just
used incentive grants and other funding sources to support public employment, as well as alternatives to municipal electricity distribution are becoming increasingly attractive,
as the scale and scope of public employment schemes that city governments are imple- thereby threatening the sustainability of the conventional electricity distribution business
menting. A two-day workshop for city governments was then held to present this data and model. Meanwhile, significant waste-related risks face our cities: waste flows to landfills
suggest ways in which cities could make greater and more productive use of the funds (already having limited capacity) are increasing, real waste-management costs are rising,
available. The second phase (2017/18) involved providing support to four city governments and significant shortcomings exist in the technical information available for performance
seeking to explore these options. An additional workshop was then held to review the measurement and regulation. Overall, then, deteriorating performance and underinvest-
results of the innovations applied, and to help produce a learning product for use by other ment in these infrastructure services imposes unwarranted costs upon economic activity,
city governments and municipalities generally (see Box 11.5). and reduces the potential to achieve economic growth and social inclusivity.
In light of this challenge, CSP has assisted National Treasury in proposing a set of
Box 11.5: Focus of the Innovation in Public Employment Programmes in Cities Workshop, initiatives to start addressing these profound risks. In response to water and sanitation
May 2018 problems, one suggestion involves the introduction of a national sanitation challenge
fund, aimed at improving sanitation in informal settlements. Another set of proposals
With employment creation remaining such a high national priority, what instruments involves clarifying the definition of social and economic infrastructure with respect to
and tools do cities have to take Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to a new water and sanitation infrastructure investments, and to subsequently amend grant con-
level? How can the work undertaken through public employment best support and ditions so that fiscal transfers support the social aspects of water and sanitation infra-
align with other social and economic priorities in the urban space? What types of work structure. A third proposal is to facilitate initiatives that crowd-in commercial financing
will attract target constituencies such as youth — and open doors for them beyond of projects to reduce non-revenue water and trigger more metro investments in water-use
the employment period? efficiency programmes (National Treasury 2017).
Two proposals have been made to address the significant fiscal risks associated with
This workshop explored these questions and more, with a focus on innovation in structural changes in electricity distribution systems. Firstly, to initiate an internal policy
the types of work undertaken and on strengthening the social and economic im- development process within National Treasury to investigate alternative mechanisms to
pacts of EPWP. It is anticipated that some of the new ideas from local and interna- support electricity consumption by poor households, and the potential for alternative rev-
tional examples may be incorporated into the planning of Incentive Grant projects. enue sources to replace the contribution of electricity surpluses to other services. Sec-
Through the Cities Support Programme, follow-up support will also be provided ondly, establishing a formal working group comprising Treasury and metro officials, with
to those cities that want to apply innovative approaches in their project selection the mandate to investigate suitable business models for the energy system at the metro
and design. level, has been posited as a potential way forward (National Treasury 2017).
Finally, with respect to risks relating to solid waste, National Treasury aims to work
CSP (2017) with the metros, the Department of Environmental Affairs, and other stakeholders, to
 improve understanding of the economics of waste management, illegal waste disposal, Table 11.1: Summary of Recommendations of the Urbanization Review (source: National Treasury 2018, p. 5)
waste reduction, and related economic and fiscal impacts, as well as to enhance our
reporting on technical performance. Treasury officials will also cooperate with relevant IUDF level Underlying issues Recommendations
stakeholders to improve and accelerate initiatives focusing on materials recovery; pro- 3. Homes l Overemphasis on housing l Shift away from megaprojects towards
ducer responsibility; recycling, recovery, and reuse of waste materials; as well as alter-

Devolve increased revenue raising authority and policy influence to cities based on demonstrable capability
Coordinate and align incentives across all government levels
Integrated and megaprojects placed in urban ‘massive small’ projects, which stimulate
native waste storage and treatment methods. This work calls, moreover, for a Treasury infill, densification, conversion and
sustainable peripheries—trapping the poor
partnership with the Department of Environmental Affairs to examine ways of streamlin- refurbishment
ing legislative requirements to enable timely and environmentally sound decision-making human and exacerbating sprawl
l Regularize and upgrade, and seek
with respect to new and proposed landfill sites (National Treasury 2017). settlements l Supply-side subsidy approaches
mechanisms to broaden services to, backyard
creating housing dependency dwellers and informal settlements
and market distortions l Revamp FLISP to mobilize and convert
South African Urbanization Review
effectively demand of middle-income
252 A second landmark project within the Enabling Environment sub-component has involved
households to bridge the gap/affordable
housing markets.
253
the conceptualization and production of South Africa’s first Urbanization Review, pro-
duced by the World Bank at the request of CSP. Roland Hunter describes the motivation l Pilot demand-side subsidies to enable
and rationale behind the project: mobility and choice of low-income households
for rental accommodation.
We wanted to try to understand better what has caused our inability to benefit
from agglomeration, and what might be done about it… About half of the authors 2. l Legacy of hub and spoke public l Develop and implement multimodal and
are South African, and the other half are international. We deliberately wanted it CONNECTIONS transport services polycentric integrated public transport
to be done with a good dose of overseas experts because as South Africans we Integrated l Separated supply-side public networks for each city
211
Interview with Roland can be insular, and we can also think we are the best, so we wanted some external transport and transport funding streams l Devolve decisionmaking authority to metros
Hunter, Pretoria, 21 people to shake us up. But we also wanted to capture what knowledge there is lo-
mobility l Failure to integrate public l Investigate new municipality-level revenue
May 2018. cally, and there is a lot.211
transport modes into sources to accommodate long-term
Box 11.6: Objectives of the South African Urbanization Review Project comprehensive city-wide operational subsidies for public transport
networks
l Clarify the economic, social, and fiscal implications of the evolution of the national l Inappropriate public transport
urban system and individual metropolitan areas technology choices and lack of
l Identify key policies that are most likely to promote inclusive economic growth
support for key modes
l Highlight policies that need to be recalibrated
l Provide a framework for prioritizing and sequencing policy initiatives and institu- 6. JOBS AND lTrying to use industrialization l Integrate and connect SEZs with adjacent
tional reforms ECONOMIC to spatially spread economic urban areas
GROWTH and job growth l Where access to land is a constraint to
National Treasury (2018, p. 7)
Inclusive l Special Economic Zone (SEZ) investment, explore non-contiguous SEZ
economic locations countering natural models or expand Urban Development Zones
The World Bank has carried out urbanization reviews in a number of different countries, development agglomeration sources (UDZs)
including Brazil, China, India, and Kenya. Their purpose, generally speaking, is to ‘gener-
ate diagnostic analyses to support city and national leaders to identify the key impedi-
ments to efficient and equitable growth’ (National Treasury 2018, p. 7). To do so, they draw 9. URBAN l Increased capital expenditure l Assess need to expand flexible central
upon an analytical framework set out in the 2009 World Development Report (World Bank
FINANCES risks making recurrent costs government grants to municipalities
2009). These reviews examine the nature of a country’s urban system (including issues of
connectivity, coordination, and resource sharing), land (including property and housing, Sustainable unaffordable for cities l Explore ways for municipalities to increase

as well as issues of densification, fluidity, and prices), labour (mobility, disparities in ac- finances own-source revenues
cess and opportunity, and skills), and capital (creditworthiness, transparency, access,
and coordination) (National Treasury 2018).
 For the South African version, specific terms of reference were developed to reflect the eas), have failed to link up with municipal strategies and plans, and have imposed signifi-
country’s most pressing challenges and priorities (see Box 11.6). The project thus focused cant bulk infrastructure supply costs on local governments. As a result, these significant
on understanding the evolution of the South African urban system and urban form, the investments have worked against the benefits of agglomeration (National Treasury 2018).
nature of rural-urban linkages in the country, human capital development, as well as strat- While the Urbanization Review has been institutionally pursued within CSP’s Eco-
egies relating to transport, housing, and industrial development. It aimed, too, to suggest nomic Development Component, under the lead of Roland Hunter, in reality it concerns
a range of reforms to policy and practice designed to boost economic efficiency and far more than economic development, per se. It involves stepping back to see how dif-
promote social equity across the country (see Table 11.1). Shirley Robinson, who coordi- ferent problems and policies surrounding the urban system interact with one another to
nated the Urbanization Review project on behalf of CSP, describes its aims and approach: undermine the state’s spatial, social, and economic objectives:

The Urbanization Review based its analysis on several legs: human settlements, In a way, it covers the full spectrum of issues that make up the South African
transport, economic development, and financing. If you look at those things, you urban challenge. And it says that our public transport, human settlements, and
can start to see the elements that reduce economic distance. So, the 2009 World SEZ programmes are not touching sides; they are aggravating our problems. And
Development Report [World Bank 2009] has a whole discussion around connect- collectively, we see a problem, as government, and develop large, expensive pro-
254 ing lagging areas and leading areas. That’s not necessarily how our national gov- grammes involving lots of procurement and technical work. But, actually, people 255
ernment departments think about equal spatial development — some would like move to cities even though the state is not building enough houses; the minibus
to lift a lagging region like Pondoland to the status of Johannesburg. There is an taxis move people around even though we can’t extend bus services to all areas.
ideological issue around economic development that sits in the South African dis- So, there is a theme that emerges out of the Urbanization Review saying, ‘govern-
course at the moment, and the Urbanization Review needed to challenge that. So, ment, after twenty years of policymaking and implementation, you should think
from the CSP’s side, the motivation to request an Urbanization Review was to again about how you approach these kinds of challenges and processes’.213 213
say, ‘we are sitting in Treasury with some very hard fiscal decisions: on bus rapid Interview with Roland
Hunter, Pretoria, 21
transit systems, on housing, on megaprojects, and on special economic zones,
May 2018.
that are pulling at different levels with very strong political leads. How do we as- Successes, challenges, and debates
semble the evidence base that shows the need for urban integration and policy
coherence?’ So, from South Africa’s side, the request was that we need a no- The strategy and work programme pursued as part of CSP’s Economic Development Com-
holds-barred evidence base — numbers — showing what the implications of cur- ponent reflect a certain notion of the role municipalities should play in relation to economic
rent policies are, and whether they are pulling urban spaces into a more compact processes. It is a position that, in basic terms, says that local government should ‘stick to
212 and productive direction, or whether they are exacerbating apartheid settlement its knitting’ and focus on providing basic services in an efficient manner.214 It is an approach 214
Interview with Shirley patterns, and what the fiscal costs of these policy decisions are.212 that broadly accords with the ‘Back to Basics’ programme launched by the Department of Interview 24.
Robinson, Cape Town, 1 Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in 2014 (see Chapter 2). Arguably, however,
June 2018.
The Urbanization Review involved and presented a range of calculations relating to South local government can have more of a role to play in driving economic development than
African urban issues. One key sets of calculations focused on the financial, spatial, and simply delivering basic services like pothole-free roads and a reliable electricity supply. A
policy implications of South Africa’s institutional fragmentation between sectors and different position might hold that municipalities have a critical and creative role to play in
spheres of government: research and knowledge building, and in building a stronger ‘institutional economic fab-
ric’ in cities.215 The counterargument to this idea could be that, if given the freedom, local
Part of the challenge is that national, provincial, and municipal governments have func- governments may start to diversify their activities to the point of losing track of their basic 215
Interview 24.
tional responsibilities for which their incentives may be poorly aligned or even conflict- constitutional mandates. There are arguments in favour of both positions. Nonetheless, it is
ing.The result is projects which make little spatial sense, and which end up doing little worthwhile remembering that there is an active debate in this domain:
to reduce either spatial segregation or income disparity (NationalTreasury 2018, p. 23).
It’s a question of: what is the developmental level of local government that we
Housing projects, as conventionally envisaged and implemented in cities, are one clear need? Is it just about being the ‘hands and feet’ of government, delivering basic
216
manifestation of this misalignment (see Chapter 9), as are fragmented public transport services, or is it also about being a site of innovation and stimulus?216
Quote from Susan
systems that entail a lack of support for key transport modalities (see Chapter 10). So too Parnell, Cape Town, 2
are the country’s special economic zones (SEZs), which have generally failed to generate It is not within the scope of this book to assess whether CSP’s approach is the most ap- August 2018.
anticipated levels of growth and employment. The country’s current SEZ policy is rooted propriate and effective option within this wider debate, although this may be a fruitful
in the logic of using industrialization to spread economic development and employment area for future research to explore. Some questions raised include: What are the optimal
creation across national and regional space, in some ways reflecting older apartheid-era roles and functions that South African local governments should assume in relation to
initiatives of industrial decentralization (see Chapters 1 and 2). To date, many SEZs have the economic sphere for purposes of driving growth and job creation? How should these
been located relatively far away from economically dense areas (that is, central urban ar- roles and functions vary in accordance with city context and municipal capability?
 Leaving these debates aside for the moment, it is clear that the Economic Develop- That being said, the ambition behind the SNDB project and process was not necessarily to
ment Component, within four years of its inception, has achieved a number of important reduce the ease of doing business to three basic processes, nor to provide a comprehensive
successes, in spite of significant challenges. The Partnering for Growth experimental pro- assessment of municipal administration as it relates to investment and development. Rath-
gramme, for example, has demonstrated the potential impact of shifting the approach er, the aim was to get local governments to improve their administrative performance, and
to collaboration in cities through providing the right actors with tools and knowledge, to do that by strategically selecting indicators that reveal something broader about a mu-
building relationships, and finding new ways to get things done together. Although the nicipality and its business-facing performance. For example, construction permit approval
process may be time-intensive in its initial phases, it can have important benefits, at rela- was seen as a strategic indicator as it demonstrates the efficiency of a process that affects 219
tively low cost, for enhancing the implementation of projects and, in the longer-term, can and has to pass through many different municipal departments.219 As such, it quickly draws Interview with Roland
potentially make positive changes to institutional cultures and city systems. Evidence attention to weaknesses in dealing with issues like rezoning applications, for example. Like- Hunter, Pretoria, 21
May 2018.
suggests that the programme has indeed helped to ‘reframe city economic development wise, the ‘getting electricity’ indicator draws attention to a range of other factors not im-
as a shared responsibility’ (CSP 2018c, p. 8). mediately related to energy, including the ease of securing a water connection.
While creating partnerships can undoubtedly add value to urban governance and de- A major point of learning emerging from the SNDB project relates to the question of
velopment, it is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for repositioning South African how to ensure that these assessments gain traction in spurring municipal action around
256 cities as the engines of national economic growth. Elsewhere it has been pointed out that the problem areas identified. Originally, the CSP team expected that following the release 257
what many private investors demand from cities, apart from basic service reliability, is of the 2015 report, cities would send regular updates of their progress. But this did not hap-
‘a clear long-term policy framework and coordination across public infrastructure pro- pen as anticipated — it was only with the initiation of the process to compile the 2018 edi-
grammes to bolster confidence and reduce risk’ (Turok 2016, p. 22). This suggests that tion that the metros once again started to participate actively. The initial expectation, too,
there is still much more work to be done in enabling municipal actors to secure the po- was that simply comparing cities in collective forums would be enough trigger their interest
litical support and technical capabilities necessary to articulate a clear long-term inte- in improving their own performance. As it turned out, the metros were generally indifferent
grated development strategy of this kind. Moreover, observers have noted that the real to their ranking position relative to other cities. A resort to ‘naming and shaming’ the worst-
217 measure of city economic development support will not be in the creation of partnerships, performing metros at a City Budget Forum did appear to generate greater city interest and 220
Interview 39. but in actually ‘getting deals done’, with projects implemented.217 This calls for the devel- indignation, but at the same time, some acted like the ‘quiet kid at the back of the class’.220 Interview with Roland
opment of local capacities for creativity and innovation, which are also preconditions for Sullen embarrassment is rarely an impetus for energetic action. Added to these challenges Hunter, Pretoria, 21
an effective mode of partnership-based and coproduced development. While it is unlikely is the fact that since 2015, many metros have experienced high rates of staff turnover, so May 2018.
that CSP itself has the capacity to provide this kind of implementation support directly, that little institutional memory remained between the first and second SNDB exercises.
the extent to which it wishes to aim its future support, events, and resources further along Many cities had to be reconvinced of the need for the assessment in the first place.
the ‘partnership value chain’, to address questions of project delivery, remains to be seen. These kinds of challenges indicate that there may be a need to rethink the Doing Busi-
The subnational doing business (SNDB) project, like the partnership work, has man- ness process going forward. It has been learnt, for example, that it may need to place a
aged to drive important achievements. The project was able to develop and apply an ef- stronger emphasis on transversal management, and doing things in a way that hands
221
fective conceptual framework and methodology for assessing and ranking the business down fewer requirements to the metros in a top-down manner.221
Interview with Roland
regulatory environments in different South African cities. It went beyond simply rank- The Urbanization Review, meanwhile, is a landmark project: the first of its kind for South Hunter, Pretoria, 21
ing the performance of cities, to using those assessments as a basis to devise specific Africa. The process has been criticized for using costly World Bank expertise rather than lo- May 2018.
support interventions and peer-learning processes to enable municipalities to improve cal research capacity, and for ultimately producing research that some observers have per-
their own performance (DPME 2018). Yet one metro official contested the reduction of the ceived as being of mixed quality. Yet the Review has assembled a vast amount of useful in-
complexity of ‘doing business’ to three indicators, arguing that an effective institutional formation that will prove invaluable to urban researchers and policymakers in future years.
response to these issues would necessarily include a range of other factors: Moreover, its recommendations will be institutionalized within the country’s Integrated Urban
Development Framework. As such, it has provided timeous and useful information of direct
It might include the response time to all kinds of queries, not just getting elec- relevance for South African urban policy and practice. As CSP moves into its second phase,
tricity, and so on, but perhaps things like business licenses and town planning it is unlikely that another full review will be required, although some follow-ups may be needed 222
approvals, rather than just getting a construction permit. How long does it take to on specific issues.222 In essence, the challenge facing CSP and its partners is to respond to the Interview with Roland
get a rezoning application through the municipal system? Because a construction problems of institutional and policy fragmentation identified by the Review, bringing national Hunter, Pretoria, 21
May 2018.
permit is only at the tail end of that process. One could also look at applications departments, state agencies, and city governments into far greater proximity and alignment.
for environmental impact assessments and water-use licenses. Okay, some of The research process underpinning the Urbanization Review was challenging, stum-
those processes are external, but municipalities can facilitate them. So, one could bling upon the lack of accurate data on spatial-economic dynamics in South Africa. Yet
secure a real analysis of what administrative processes within the municipality this too has been an opportunity for learning. Indeed, one of the project’s important lega-
are preventing investment in the city, and how you can speed them up. Maybe that cies may, in fact, be its role in instigating CSP’s initiative to secure accurate and useful
is not something for CSP to do, but it is something that all kinds of municipalities data on how people live, work, and move in South African cities, and how these dynamics
218
should be running, if they really want to be efficient at what they do.218 are reshaping wider territorial and economic relations (see Chapter 7).
Interview 34.
 Overall, the experiences of the Economic Development Component speak, once again,
223
to the importance of listening and learning in the process of implementation, and of using Interview with Roland
this learning to adjust the strategy and focus of the work programme. Looking back, since Hunter, Pretoria, 21
its inception, there has been an evolution in emphasis. Initially, the projects and mode of May 2018.
support were largely technical in nature. Over time, as lessons have emerged, the techni-
cal emphasis has been complemented with a greater focus on engaging, partnering, and
collaborating.223 The challenge, going forward, will be how to institutionalize these les-
sons and experiences within the intergovernmental system.

Conclusion
In relation to the other areas of CSP intervention discussed in previous chapters, the Eco-
258 nomic Development Component has faced particular kinds of challenges, in part because 259
economic development policy is a notably ‘noisy’ space, with many competing ideas at
work, and many different sets of governance actors involved. These realities have led the
project of city support and urban reform to take on a different nature when compared to
the more sector-focused interventions discussed in Chapters 9 and 10. They have called,
in particular, for the creation of wide-ranging partnerships and collaborations across
many different government departments, as well as between municipal leaders and pri-
vate sector players. In this respect, the experiences of the Economic Development Com-
ponent are similar in kind (albeit with important differences) to CSP’s activities focusing
on climate resilience and sustainability. The latter are the subject of the following chapter.

National Treasury (2017) The State of Metro Infrastruc-

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son Mandela Bay, eThekwini and Tshwane (Pretoria: Na-

sydelle willow smith

tional Treasury). World Bank (2009) World Development Report 2009:
Reshaping Economic Geography (Washington, D.C.: The
DPME (2018) Implementation Evaluation of the Cities World Bank). Buffalo City:
Support Programme (Pretoria: The Presidency). Woman walking
World Bank (2015) Competitive Cities for Jobs and in underserved
Krugman, P. (1991) Geography and Trade. Cambridge, MA: Growth: What, Who, and How (Washington, D.C.: World
MIT Press. settlement.
Bank).
 Chapter 12

Climate
Resilience
Aims and Assist cities to scale-up their climate adaptation

objectives and mitigation interventions by leveraging available

260 global funds and accessing global experience and

expertise
261
Strategy l Build strategic partnerships to help focus a climate
resilience agenda and give action-oriented direction
to city governments and other stakeholders
l Use instruments like the Built Environment
Performance Plan to ensure that city infrastructure
investments consider climate risks and response
measures in their planning, design, financing, and
implementation.
l Mobilize National Treasury expertise and influence
to help mainstream the climate development
agenda

Work areas l Creating an enabling environment

l Support on accessing climate finance
l Direct technical support

Key projects l Diagnostic on CSP approach to environmental

sustainability and climate resilience
l Aligning climate resilience with inclusive urban
economic growth
l Climate-resilient city plans and budgets
l Regulatory streamlining
l Review of intergovernmental grants

sydelle willow smith

l Climate finance support City of Cape Town:
l Finance solutions for improving water and Youth participate
sanitation in climate action
l City support for climate-proof city plans and budget protest outside
Parliament.
 This chapter addresses the strategy and work programme of CSP’s Climate Resilience controlled and unplanned urbanization threaten to aggravate the profound global envi-
224 227
In a report published Component. Climatic resilience and sustainability are critical aspects of CSP’s long-term ronmental crisis described above, given that cities are massive consumers of resources Recognizing and
in October 2018, developmental agenda. This is because cities and urbanization, if poorly managed, are and generators of waste and emissions.225 Cities contribute disproportionately to climatic responding to the
researchers from the significant threats to environmental sustainability; at the same time, they provide criti- change and ecological degradation at multiple scales. At the same time, urban popula- intimate connection
Stockholm Resilience cal opportunities to shift development trajectories towards more sustainable pathways. tions will increasingly suffer from particular kinds of acute climate-related risks.226 between urban and
Centre argue that if climatic sustainability
Such a perspective accords directly with the new global policy focus on cities as the ‘cru- Yet cities are also the places of greatest opportunity to overcome these problems.Six-
we continue to address means policymakers
sustainability problems cibles of sustainability’, as represented by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development ty per cent of the area that is expected to be urban by 2030 remains to be built, providing a and practitioners need
with a ‘business as Goals (SDGs) and New Urban Agenda. chance to shift urban investments onto a sustainable footing. It is now widely appreciated to be aware of how
usual’ approach, we will Operating within the resilience and sustainability domain in relation to city support that ‘cities are where the battle for sustainable development will be won or lost’ (United the construction and
not be able to achieve raises particular challenges. These challenges stem, in large part, from the fact that the Nations 2013, p. 17). Indeed, the emerging global development consensus holds that we use of the urban built
the SDGs by 2030 or environment links to a
environmental sustainability field is a particularly contested and ‘noisy’ space, involving will be unable to achieve the targets of multilateral accords like the Paris Agreement if we
by 2050 (Randers et city and country’s total
al. 2018). Likewise, many different kinds of institutions and competing discourses, and often dominated by fail to get the urban development agenda ‘right’ (IPCC 2018b).227 resource footprint. It
other researchers have the agendas of international donor agencies. Given the plurality of voices and agendas As such, despite the emergence of new global governance spaces, processes, and means, too, connecting
262 posited that irreversible active in this space, it is often difficult for city governments to identify and pursue spe- outputs to address global environmental challenges, we have made little headway in the management of 263
climatic and ecological cific practices and projects with the potential to drive real advances in urban climatic reducing emissions and climatic warming. Translating progressive rhetoric into practice cities and urbanization
change might be much with global outcomes
resilience that align with local development agendas and priorities. For CSP, one of the has proven particularly challenging. South Africa is a case in point of this mismatch
more imminent than of long-term
anticipated. We run principal challenges has been to locate the ‘signal’ within the ‘noise’; to get ‘hands-on’ between intention and action. Notwithstanding a range of progressive environmental sustainability.
the risk of being locked and develop a very clear set of directions for cities to act on this issue. Moreover, as the policies passed in the post-apartheid era, limited progress has been achieved in mo-
into a ‘Hothouse Earth’ environmental and climatic domain is an inherently cross-cutting and transversal one, a bilizing these ideas in practice. Urban development remains highly dependent on the
scenario unless the further challenge is to find ways to link resilience concerns with other urban development consumption of fossil fuels, and the country as a whole continues to be a large emit-
scale and efficacy of
agendas in a clear, consistent, and synergistic way. ter of greenhouse gases per capita. Recently, Greenpeace claimed that South Africa
our environmental
responses improve Due to fact that the CSP Component Lead was appointed relatively recently, in late is home to the world’s largest nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air pollution hotspot, a product of 228
drastically in the very 2016, the Climate Resilience Component has not seen projects pursued at the same scale the country’s coal-dependent system of electricity generation (IOL 2018). This is all the Climate issues, which
near future (Steffen et as its counterparts discussed in Chapters 5 through 11. However, since 2016, important more worrisome for a semi-arid country like South Africa, where the effects of climatic are driven by dynamics
al. 2018; IPCC 2018a). progress has been made in developing and implementing a refined and streamlined work changes will be particularly severe, notably for poor and vulnerable populations. These and produce effects at
multiple scales, call for
programme. This work has concentrated on creating a sufficient policy and regulatory risks threaten to undermine long-term food security, water access, and socio-economic
225 a concerted multilevel
Urbanization induces environment to incorporate and align resilience concerns and objectives with municipal development, thereby reinforcing the burdens of inequality and poverty. As such, ad- and multisectoral
particular changes in fiscal and planning systems. As part of this process, key relationships and consensus dressing the gap between progressive policy and practice is a critical challenge facing governance response.
land use and land cover, have also been established with relevant national departments, and new knowledge has all spheres of government.228 Recent research
biogeochemical cycles, been generated on the nexus of urban governance and environmental change. As CSP However, in South Africa, city government capacity to manage and prepare for envi- has highlighted
hydrological systems, the importance of
moves forward into its second phase, the critical challenge will be to institutionalize this ronmental risks is highly uneven. Part of the problem is that there is no clear ‘home’ for
and biodiversity profiles decentralization
that extend well beyond learning within the intergovernmental system, and to ensure multi-scalar alignment be- mainstreaming climate resilience questions within local government functions. ‘Siloism’ and building local
the immediate space tween various governance plans and processes while moving those plans forward into and sector-led planning mobilize against an effective localized and institutionalized re- government capacity
of the city (Grimm et implementation. sponse to a transversal issue like climate resilience. Short-term and compliance-led plan- for the new urban
al. 2008) ning, plus political pressure to meet immediate developmental needs, all work against a environmental
agenda. It is argued
mode of governance that is concerned with delivering beneficial environmental outcomes
226 that ineffective or
Such risks include the The challenge in the longer term. Moreover, promoting alignment between the sustainability plans and incapacitated local
increased frequency and interventions of local, provincial, and national spheres of government, and linking these governments limit the
intensity of heat waves, The adoption of the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the with global targets and processes, remains a profound challenge. ability of countries
flooding, and episodes United Nations represents a global turning point. It speaks to the recognition of a loom- As mentioned above, ‘getting cities and urbanization right’ is increasingly recognized to manage the
of food insecurity, along transitions required
ing global environmental crisis if current patterns of carbon-intensive production and as a precondition for countries like South Africa to be able to meet the Sustainable Devel-
with their associated to meet the SDGs
public health problems consumption continue. It highlights, too, the urgency of action required to shift those opment Goals and Paris Agreement targets. It is often expected that the environmental or Paris Agreement
(Rosenzweig et al. 2011). patterns. For the first time, the world has democratically agreed on a roadmap for its sector will lead this process. However, meeting those targets will require an integrated (Cartwright et al. 2018,
For coastal settlements, future; one aiming to attain ‘socially inclusive and highly aspirational socio-economic de- ‘whole of city’ and ‘whole of society’ response. Quite how to do this, when environmental p. 6). An effective
sea level rise and more velopment goals, within globally defined environmental targets’ (Randers et al. 2018, p. 4). management departments often lack the funding, capabilities, and influence of other sec- local response, in turn,
frequent storm surges calls for an enabling
However, recent research paints a sobering portrait of our capacity to deliver on these tors, and when climate responses may be perceived as less urgent in relation to ‘hard’
will threaten essential policy and regulatory
urban infrastructure high-level ambitions and targets.224 developmental problems and solutions like basic sanitation and shelter, is a key challenge environment at the
systems. Meanwhile, the proportion of the global population living in cities is increasing. Un- facing the intergovernmental system in general, and CSP in particular. national level.
 management, as well as environmental fiscal reforms relating to energy grants, and the
Theory of change introduction of property rates rebates for land managed for conservation.
The Climate Resilience Component currently comprises three sub-components; a
The Climate Resilience Component seeks to promote resilient and sustainable patterns brief discussion of each is provided in the following sub-sections.
of urban development in South Africa in order to reduce the country’s overall contribution
to greenhouse gas emissions, and to secure the long-term potential for socio-economic Enabling Environment
development and increased prosperity. To do so, city governments must help to increase
the efficiency by which resources are used, reduce urban greenhouse gas emissions, and
improve the function and condition of local and regional ecosystems (DPME 2018). The first sub-component aims to support the integration of climate resilience and sus-
CSP intends to achieve this by enabling urban local governments to align city spatial tainability issues into city development agendas (DPME 2018). This is to be accomplished
plans with environmental priorities and fiscal systems, as well as to access sources of through four projects, which are set out and briefly described in Table 12.1.
finance that promote sustainable development while decreasing municipal reliance on
the national fiscus. More specifically, CSP aims to use planning instruments like the Built Table 12.1: Summary of Enabling Environment Sub-Component Project Work (source: DPME 2018)
264 Environment Performance Plan (BEPP — see Chapter 6) to ensure that city infrastruc- 265
ture investments (relating to transport, human settlements, and so on) consider climate
risks and response measures in their planning, design, financing, and implementation. Project Focus
Doing so, it is hypothesized, will produce beneficial outcomes with respect to inclusive
229 economic growth, which if ‘done right’ should result in greater environmental sustain- Diagnostic on CSP approach to Developing a coherent plan for the Climate Resilience
Interview with Anthea ability.229 At the same time, promoting urban sustainability is critical to driving inclusive
Stephens, Pretoria, 22 environmental sustainability Component that reflects the transversal nature of
economic growth.
May 2018. and climate resilience climate resilience in an urban economic growth context.
As with the other CSP components, fiscal reform is a key aspect of the climate re-
silience agenda. This includes reforming the system of intergovernmental transfers to
incentivize more climate-sensitive modes of development. Moreover, the increasing Aligning climate resilience with Identifying climate risks facing key urban infrastructure
global availability of various forms of ‘climate finance’ offers an important opportunity inclusive urban economic growth and service delivery sectors, and providing a framework of analysis for
and mechanism to enable municipalities to self-finance and shift their built environment the planning, policy, and fiscal reforms, as well as investment priorities, to
investments and processes onto a sustainable path, while absorbing the costs of addi- address these risks.
tionality (the costs incurred when transitioning to a more resilient pathway). In order to
access this funding, metros have to increase their capacity to devise and articulate bank-
able ‘green projects’. They also need to demonstrate their commitment to linking their Climate-resilient city plans Mainstreaming climate resilience in local government
budgets and projects to longer-term environmental concerns through their use of existing and budgets by supporting the development of climate-proof city plans such as BEPPs,
grants and revenues. Integrating environmental issues into the BEPPs and the ongoing IDPs, and associated spatial tools and budgets.
planning, development, and management of the built environment is one way of doing so.
Regulatory streamlining Supporting processes to achieve the necessary regulatory clarity and,

Work programme where necessary, regulatory reform. Involves contributing reports and
inputs into the annual budget process.
Climate Resilience has been devised as one of three transversal components within the
overall CSP work programme. As such, by definition, CSP’s climate resilience work con-
tributes to, and draws from, the full range of other CSP components and projects. To date, intergovernmental engagements have been concentrated at the national level
Anthea Stephens was appointed as the Component Lead in December 2016. An expert and have targeted the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) in particular. Anthea
in natural resource utilization, conservation, and sustainable development management, Stephens explains:
and a former Director at the South African National Biodiversity Institute, her first and
most urgent task was to devise an appropriate work programme that could be accom- When I started in this programme, the existing sustainability agenda in the CSP
plished before the end of the CSP’s first phase in mid-2018. had not got off the ground — there wasn’t yet a solid programme of work. So, we
It is important to note that the focus and agenda of the Climate Resilience Compo- focused on getting into what I call the ‘jugular’: the Built Environment Perform-
nent emerges from a longer history of efforts to encourage the National Treasury to give ance Plan (BEPP) process. A lot of our work has been trying to understand how
some direction in the environmental sustainability space. Such efforts included work on we usefully integrate and support cities to bring climate response considerations
devising water pricing systems so as to better accommodate the costs of catchment and investments in through the BEPP, and the wider grant and financing process.
 That engagement has been at the national level to date. We have done some work process surrounding the drought crisis, including some of the actors and institutional
at the city level to understand what the institutional challenges and opportunities arrangements and related management issues that were devised in response. In par-
for mainstreaming climate issues are, and to ensure that the BEPP guidelines ticular, it looks at the barriers and enablers that respectively increased and decreased
230 [National Treasury 2017] work with those opportunities. It is grounded in city real- the risk of the crisis occurring, and what those imply for future efforts to build urban
Interview with Anthea ity, but we haven’t done city-level projects to date.230 resilience. The paper argues that unpacking the City of Cape Town’s response will pro-
Stephens, Pretoria, 22 vide important lessons not only for Cape Town itself, but also for other municipalities
May 2018.
Good levels of traction and agreement have been achieved with relevant national depart- and metros in South Africa and further afield, as to how cities might better manage
ments. In most cases, it was not necessary to make the argument within government that slow unfolding climate events. Capturing these lessons is critical given that evidence
cities are the ‘crucibles of sustainability’; the agenda was already there, albeit with more suggests more events of this nature can be expected in the future. CSP, alongside other
of a rural focus. The challenge was more one of finding areas of common interest and institutions like the South African City Network, offer a key platform through which to
overlap between the strategic agendas of DEA and National Treasury, and to encourage share and discuss the relevance of these lessons for other cities.
a tighter focus on the urban or city scale: A second paper addresses the issue of climate information — information describing
historical conditions, patterns, and trends, as well as future projections of the climate
266 The DEA has been a big champion, but they don’t necessarily prioritize the city. over seasons, years, and decades. The availability of the rights kinds of information is vital 267
Their local government work is oriented around 17 priority district municipalities. for cities to identify, prioritize, and invest in climate adaptation and mitigation measures
They have programmes of work that do get into cities from other angles, like cli- that are suited to their local contexts, and thereby to build levels of climate resilience.
231 mate, but generally the focus is not on the city system. So, part of my job is to The focus of the paper is therefore on how such information is currently brought to bear
Interview with Anthea bring DEA and their capacity into this system, and into the Treasury’s benchmark- on key city development and urban management decisions in South African metros, and
Stephens, Pretoria, 22 ing process, as well as municipal planning and budgeting processes.231 how this can be further strengthened. Moreover, it assesses what climate information is
May 2018.
available but not widely used, as well as what information is sought but is not readily avail-
In practical terms, this kind of engagement entails identifying and working with indi- able, and why such misalignment exists.
vidual ‘champions’ of particular issues within the DEA and other relevant departments, The third research paper focuses on the potential for South African city governments
largely as a way to triangulate strategies and build political support for the urban sus- to enhance the provision of urban services through the natural environment. In particular,
tainability agenda: the paper explores the importance of urban green infrastructure as a complement to con-
ventional ‘grey’ infrastructure in urban areas. In some instances, nature-based systems
The challenge is not just to find people who agree with things — because there provide critical services in a more cost-effective way than engineering-based solutions.
are people who agree, but who then sit back and want you to hand things to In addition, urban green infrastructure can help mitigate some of the negative impacts of
them on a silver plate — but to find people who are willing to open doors and traditional infrastructure; for example, it can compensate for the negative role that artifi-
work with you. You know, for a lot of people this kind of new work is not in their cially constructed surfaces play in producing the urban heat island effect. The paper thus
performance agreements, so they need to see the value, to want to take a risk investigates how South African cities can contribute to climate change adaptation objec-
to work with you, and then to create the spaces and performance agreements to tives by using urban green infrastructure. However, while urban green infrastructure can
take the work forward. So, it has definitely been about finding champions with provide similar services as conventional infrastructure, it does so based on ecological
energy and drive to work with, and to create that space within the institutions. rather than engineering processes, which call for fundamentally different skillsets and
232 It is critical.232 resources to ensure effective management and maintenance.
Interview with Anthea
Stephens, Pretoria, 22
May 2018. As part of this sub-component, CSP has also partnered with academic institutions to
produce new knowledge products focused on improving the enabling environment for Climate Finance
climate-sensitive urban governance. One such partnership has been formed with the Af-
rican Centre for Cities (ACC) at the University of Cape Town, and will involve the produc- The second sub-component aims, in broad terms, to lift the financial barriers that city
tion of three policy research papers on relevant topics. Anthea Stephens describes the governments face in financing a transition towards a low-carbon, climate resilient devel-
overarching objective of this work as ‘getting a sharp sense of where the research needs opment path (DPME 2018). The specific areas of work being pursued are listed and briefly
to go’ and creating new knowledge that can be applied through the work of CSP and described in Table 12.2 below. One key focus has been reviewing the system of intergov-
233 other actors. Put differently, the research aims to raise questions that signpost where ernmental grants to promote alignment between discrete built environment interventions
Remarks by Anthea the ‘green urban agenda’ is heading, and to identify ‘landing strips’ on and through which (e.g., those relating to water or transport infrastructure) and the overarching imperatives
Stephens, CSP-ACC
CSP may be able to influence policy and practice.233 of spatial transformation and sustainability.
climate research
meeting, Cape Town, 19 The first area of research enabled through the CSP-ACC partnership focuses on ex-
March 2018. tracting lessons from the Cape Town drought of 2015 –18: a major crisis that almost led
the city to run out of water over the course of 2018. The paper examines the governance
 Table 12.2: Summary of Climate Finance Sub-Component Project Work (source: DPME 2018) City Support
Project Focus The third sub-component broadly aims to develop, finance, and implement projects that
improve the resilience of investments in infrastructure and service delivery (DPME 2018).
Review of Identifying and promoting reforms to the intergovernmental grant To date, and as mentioned above, work in the Climate Resilience Component has been fo-
cused at the level of the national ‘enabling environment’. However, as CSP moves forward
intergovernmental framework that strengthen the sustainability, resilience, and
into its second phase, assessing city demand for support and devising city-level projects
grants investment returns of infrastructure development and service delivery. will be important areas of focus (see Box 12.1). For example, it is likely that the Com-
ponent will respond to the emergent and increasingly pressing issues of water scarcity
Climate finance Improving clarity, coordination, and capacity in accessing climate fi
 nance, through a specific programme around strengthening urban water resilience. Energy and
support particularly to enable cities to scale-up their efforts towards greater resilience, solid waste issues may also constitute a specific focus at the project level. Ultimately,
economic growth, and a reduction in poverty and inequality. the precise nature and focus of such activities will depend on the evolving nature of the
challenges that cities face, the specific gaps in capacity that undermine or hinder their
268 Finance solutions Taking forward the recommendations from the Economic Development Component
responses, as well as the specific demands for support that emerge from the metros. 269
for improving water that identify opportunities for innovative finance solutions to help improve the Box 12.1: Taking Forward Climate Resilience Within CSP
and sanitation resilience of cities and the livelihoods of urban residents most at risk from service
delivery failure. This includes exploring private finance options to address non- Once there are projects — once we know that, for example, in Cape Town there is
revenue water losses and informal settlement sanitation. a major water resilience problem that needs addressing — then we will have more
city-level engagements on resilience issues. To date, I have specifically held back on
doing that, because I wanted to be very clear what the programme of work needs to be,
and how that programme aligns with the CSP agenda that we drive through the BEPP
process. The ‘green space’ is one where you can get distracted very quickly and easily,
The broader context for the CSP’s interest in climate finance is the widespread and in- and when the challenge is alignment and integration, I wanted to get that system for
creasing interest in municipalities accessing the new sources of ‘climate finance’ that alignment and integration working up front. After that, project-level work can easily
are rapidly entering the borrowing market. Examples include the Green Climate Fund and come in.
‘green bonds’. In 2014, South Africa’s economic capital, Johannesburg, became the first
city in the global South to successfully issue a green bond. Doing so allowed the City Anthea Stephens, CSP Climate Resilience Component Lead
to borrow money more cheaply than if taking out a commercial loan, and further show-
cased Johannesburg’s environmental commitment. South Africa’s second largest city,
Cape Town, followed suit three years later, issuing a bond in 2017 that was to be used for,
among other things, funding emergency water-supply schemes designed to address the Successes, challenges, and debates
city’s severe water shortage.
Through their work in this area, National Treasury and CSP aim to enable metros to Given that the Climate Resilience Component has only operated at full capacity since
leverage their assets to access new international sources of climate finance in the me- late 2016, it is notable that substantial progress has been made in narrowing down its
dium to long term. This ties in neatly with Treasury’s wider objective of encouraging met- focus into a set of realizable objectives and activities that could be achieved within the
ros to become more self-financing through, among other things, increasing their capital CSP’s first phase. This has sometimes involved identifying and leveraging off other CSP
borrowing. However, in order for city governments to do this, they have to undertake a component projects — for example, by feeding climatic concerns into the overall review
large amount of preparatory and compliance-related work. Here the BEPP becomes a key of the intergovernmental grant system, and ensuring that the BEPP also incorporates an
mechanism for city preparation, by encouraging municipalities to start linking their budg- environmental sustainability focus (DPME 2018).
eting and investment programmes to longer-term spatial and environmental outcomes. If In terms of the Component’s emphasis on creating an enabling environment for
cities are to leverage their existing budgets to access new sources of climate finance and climate-sensitive urban governance, a recent evaluation report concluded that ‘there has
ensure that this finance supports their core development agenda, they need to get their been very positive progress in developing relationships with the Department of Environ-
BEPPs ‘right’, especially in terms of articulating their climate responses in relation to mental Affairs, and trying to align the agenda and work area of CSP with DEA’s existing
other service delivery functions, and within implementable projects. The ability to articu- international commitments’ (DPME 2018, p. 78). There have also been good responses
late fundable projects is key, but equally important is the ability to budget and spend more from the metros (see Box 12.2). For the most part, officials recognize the importance of 234
Interview with Anthea
effectively on an ongoing basis, and this latter point remains a basic challenge to which seeing climate response as a core function of city government, and are aware of the scale Stephens, Pretoria, 22
the CSP as a whole is addressed. of action required to address the problem.234 May 2018.
 Box 12.2: Metro Responses to the Climate Resilience Component Other challenges that CSP will need to confront with respect to creating an enabling envi-
ronment for climate resilience functions centre on questions of intergovernmental alignment,
The city response has been quite amazing. On the whole, this work has been a long specifically those linked to new overarching frameworks like the Sustainable Development
time coming, so their reaction is, ‘finally somebody is here who can support us to do Goals, the New Urban Agenda, and South Africa’s Integrated Urban Development Frame-
this work’. And that is not even really engaging with the city environmental officers. work. The challenge will be to find ways to devise and link local climate resilience projects
That response is coming from the planners, and the strategic officials. So, it has been within these multi-scalar commitments and processes. Doing so will raise critical questions
very positive. The head of infrastructure in eThekwini is saying, ‘we need this work; about the municipal capacity and support needs required to promote the alignment of such
when we get whipped by a storm we have billions of Rands’ worth of losses, and that processes at multiple scales. In particular, recent research on Cape Town has highlighted the
affects us in a very significant way, so we need to be able to manage that more ef- experimental interventions and complex partnership arrangements that will be necessary
fectively’. And I think they are realizing that the very siloed location of their ‘green to allow cities to meet the data and governance challenges implied by SDG 11 (Patel et al.
functions’ keeps things siloed, it isn’t bridging those gaps. So, having a city support 2017). Given the complexity of the task, it is likely that each city will need to devise its own
and climate function that rattles around in this core space is useful, but we have got context-specific ways of navigating these challenges, and national-level support will play a
to deliver something that helps make their lives a lot easier. And that is the challenge. key role in assisting local officials in this process. Tracking more or less successful examples
270 of experimentation and alignment, for the purposes of enhancing their efficacy and promoting 271
Anthea Stephens, CSP Climate Resilience Component Lead cross-city learning, will remain an important area for further research investigation.
With respect to the agenda around climate finance, CSP, as a platform located with-
in National Treasury, is very well-positioned to promote reforms to the intergovernmental
The key challenge facing this work has been trying to define the climate response agen- grant system in order to promote a close, synergistic link between the functioning and
da in a way that is relevant to core city functions, and building consensus around that transformation of the urban built environment and a wider sustainability agenda. At the
agenda. Doing so calls for a multidisciplinary perspective, and a capacity to work across same time, new sources of international climate finance offer important opportunities for
disciplinary and sectoral boundaries. For Anthea Stephens, ‘it is about processes and city governments to self-finance their infrastructural investments, potentially (although
partnerships, and learning to speak each other’s language; learning to understand what not always) at lower interest rates, and to promote a climate resilience agenda in doing
makes the other side tick’.235 Major lessons have included the realization that it is point- so. Yet some basic capacity constraints will have to be resolved before such a green agen-
235 less to ‘reinvent the wheel’. Rather, ‘quick wins’ can be achieved by leveraging existing da can be pursued at scale. City governments face specific challenges in developing their
Interview with Anthea practices and areas of reform work. For example, the BEPP has emerged as an effective functional capacity to attract international climate finance, and these challenges tend to
Stephens, Pretoria, 22 way of bringing climate resilience concerns into core city functions and infrastructure discourage lending organizations from engaging directly with municipalities. Cities need
May 2018. investments, including those of public transport and human settlements. to first resolve basic budgeting and expenditure problems at the local level before they
Taking forward the implementation of climate responses within the BEPPs will be an can start thinking about accessing lucrative international climate finance.
important area of focus as CSP moves into its second phase of operation. However, not all More general questions remain over the desirability of encouraging the uptake of new
are convinced that this is the most appropriate line of action. For example, metro spatial sources of climate finance at the city level. Some observers are sceptical of the opportuni-
planners have expressed some concern that adding more content to the BEPP might un- ties they represent, regarding fiscal instruments like green bonds as being simply ‘public
helpfully extend or dilute its strategic focus.236 It has also been suggested that some city debt rebranded’. In this view, climate-related finance provides an opportunity for established
236 officials tasked with the management of climate, water, energy, and so on, may be aware lending agencies and commercial banks to satisfy their environmental compliance require-
Interview 36. of the BEPP, but do not necessarily see the point in trying to mainstream anything into ments, thereby enabling them to access global capital markets. In this sense, it may be pos-
it because they might view it as irrelevant.237 Navigating these kinds of perspectives and sible ‘to dress up anything as climate finance’.238 Other municipal fiscal experts have voiced
disagreements, and building common support for a planning and climate reform agenda concern that new sources of direct climate finance, offered through quasi-concessional ar- 238
237
among the metros, will be an important challenge for the CSP as it moves forward. rangements of development finance institutions, may undermine the well-developed capital Interview 41.
Interview 10.
In building new relationships and working with strategic partners, a key issue war- market for municipal infrastructure borrowing and investment. From this perspective, some
ranting further attention will be securing greater clarity from national government — climate finance instruments might represent little more than an inefficient, highly conces-
including the Department of Environmental Affairs — concerning the specific roles and sional form of capital that enables bilateral agencies to access municipal borrowers while
obligations of cities and local governments within South Africa’s overall climate response disrupting the activities of conventional financiers, like commercial banks.239 CSP will have
effort. As mentioned in this chapter’s introductory section, cities are disproportionately to factor these kinds of concerns into a coherent overall strategy for fiscal reform. 239
large drivers of climate risks, but it is unclear how much they are expected to contribute to Additionally, there are more general questions that arise from the work of the Climate Re- Interview 4.
processes like the nationally determined contributions made under the Paris Agreement. silience Component. The climate and sustainability governance space is a particularly ‘noisy’
Promoting this clarity calls for close cooperation and coordinated planning between na- one, involving a wide range of different players, each with their own interests and objectives.
tional and local agencies — something that is currently missing from the intergovern- In terms of the ‘messaging’ that CSP promotes with respect to urban finance, development,
mental system. The question is how CSP can work with other key actors and agencies to and sustainability, the Programme has had to compete with a diverse array of global advo-
provide the platform and direction necessary for such consensus to emerge. cacy programmes and development agencies. This makes it all the more important for CSP to
 be strategic, and to ‘get the messaging right’ to provide clear direction to the metros. Indeed,
the CSP team itself has recognized and clearly articulated the need to navigate this ‘messy’
• What are the kinds of political arguments, institutional arrangements, and interven-
tions necessary to take an idea (e.g., the ‘green economy’) and ensure that it gains
and ‘noisy’ space. As Anthea Stephens has noted: ‘we have tried very hard to find a central, traction in the urban policy and development space?
practical set of levers to create some sense of alignment around priorities, and then to be able
to give direction outwards’.240 The challenge is not only to give clear direction to the cities them-
• How can cities find the ‘signal’ among the ‘noise’ of the environmental governance
space? How can they pare the wide-ranging environmental agenda down to a set of
240
Interview with Anthea selves, but also to signal South African cities’ specific support needs externally, to the range discrete and workable projects that can be included in annual budgets and thereby
Stephens, Pretoria, 22 of international donors and development agencies that are keen to be involved in this space. mainstreamed and subsequently used to access new forms of finance?
May 2018. The fact that the climate and sustainability space is so highly populated and domi-
nated by global players raises the question of what this means for the activity of city sup-
• What are the key climate-related problems facing different South African cities,
which warrant intergovernmental support? What kinds of information is required to
port. Arguably, the CSP’s climate resilience work speaks to a dimension of city support address and manage those problems?
that is about finding the analytical capacity to identify and prioritize appropriate inter-
ventions from a range of complex and competing alternatives. The question is, who does
• How can cities best think about and package sustainability projects as a form of ur-
ban service provision: a way of providing social goods, creating a sense of place, cre-
that work of resolution and prioritization? Typically, it is not something that urban local ating employment, and driving fiscal efficiencies in the long term?
272 governments are concerned with. The climate space, therefore, is one that is so transpar- • How should officials integrate environmental issues with other key levers like housing, 273
ent, open, and populated, that providing support cannot simply be a case of introducing transport, and spatial planning? What governance processes and practices are best
predefined technical reforms or of enhancing technical capacity. Rather, support must suited to this task?
necessarily be about finding strategic traction for a complex issue within a workable and
realizable set of urban interventions. But how can or should this kind of specialized ca-
• What are the most appropriate forms of international climate finance that cities
should access for particular kinds of purposes and interventions?
pacity be institutionalized within the functions of municipal government? Or should this
task be the preserve of a different agency or sphere of government?
• What does this mean for the project of city support? What role should national and provin-
cial governments play in enhancing municipal capacity to shift urban development trajec-
If South Africa is to achieve the ambitious targets established by new global accords tories onto a sustainable footing, and to catalyse a ‘whole of society’ climate response?
like the Paris Agreement, the urban development agenda requires clarity, coherence, and
commitment from all governmental stakeholders. Moreover, it calls for a ‘whole of society’ It is hoped that these sorts of questions may assist in framing a future urban research
response, a shift in the functioning of the entire city system, and indeed, of the national agenda, specifically around climate resilience issues.
urban network. But how can this sort of systemic response be mobilized and coordinated,
institutionally and politically? What kinds of agencies and processes are best suited to
leading a multisectoral and multilevel climate response? Can the environmental sector, References Patel, Z., Greyling, S., Simon, D., Arfvidsson, H., Moodley,
N., Primo, N., and Wright, C. (2017). ‘Local Responses to
as it exists, perform this role? These questions have direct implications for a project of Cartwright, A., Palmer, I., Taylor, A., Pieterse, E., Parnell, S., and Global Sustainability Agendas: Learning From Experiment-
city support and reform. Their answers will determine whom CSP should be working with, Colenbrander, S. (2018) Developing Prosperous and Inclusive ing with the Urban Sustainable Development Goal in Cape
and the kinds of policy, fiscal, and institutional reform objectives that it should pursue. Cities in Africa — National Urban Policies to the Rescue? Town’, Sustainability Science, 12(5), 785–797.
(London and Washington, D.C.: Coalition for Urban Transitions).
Randers, J., Rockström, J., Stoknes, P. E., Golüke, U., Collste,
DPME (2018) Implementation Evaluation of the Cities D., and Cornell, S. (2018) Transformation Is Feasible: How
Conclusion Support Programme (Pretoria: The Presidency). to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals Within Plan-
etary Boundaries (Stockholm: Stockholm Resilience Centre).
In a short time, the Climate Resilience Component has started to make important Grimm, N. B., Faeth, S. H., Golubiewski, N. E., Redman, C. L.,
progress in furthering the work of National Treasury, the Department of Environmental Wu, J., Bai, X., and Briggs, J. M. (2008) ‘Global Change and Rosenzweig, C., Solecki, W. D., Hammer, S. A., and Mehrotra,
Affairs, and other agencies in identifying what a ‘green agenda’ might mean, in practical the Ecology of Cities’, Science, 319, 756–760. S. (2011) Climate Change and Cities: First Assessment
Report of the Urban Climate Change Research Network
terms, for how we govern and invest in our cities. The major difficulties in achieving this IOL (2018) ‘Mpumalanga is World’s Largest Air Pollution
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
coherence arise from the nature of the subject itself: climate resilience is an inherently Hotspot, Says Satellite Data’, 29 October 2018. https://
transversal problem that demands long-term interventions, and that also occupies a par- www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/mpumalanga/mpumalan- Steffen, W., Rockström, J., Richardson, K., Lenton, T. M., Folke, C.,
ticularly ‘noisy’ space in the world of finance and governance. Knowing how to drive real ga-is-worlds-largest-air-pollution-hotspot-says-satellite- Liverman, D., Summerhayes,C.P.,Barnosky,A. D.,Cornell, S. E.,Cruci-
changes away from a carbon-intensive mode of urbanization and economic production is data-17683983, accessed 3 November 2018. fix, M., Donges, J. F., Fetzera, I., Lade, S. J., Scheffer, M.,Winkelmann,
an intractable problem, lacking simple answers. These realities present particular kinds R., and Schellnhuber, H. J. (2018) ‘Trajectories of the Earth System
IPCC (2018a) Global Warming of 1.5°C (Geneva: IPCC).
in the Anthropocene’, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sci-
of challenges for a project of city support and urban governance reform.
IPCC (2018b) What the IPCC Special Report on Global ences of the United States of America, 115(33), 8252–8259.
In reflecting on CSP’s climate resilience agenda, a number of important issues war-
Warming of 1.5°C Means for Cities (Geneva: IPCC).
ranting further investigation and research emerge. Many surround the challenge of institu- United Nations (2013) A New Global Partnership: Eradi-
tionalization and mainstreaming the climate agenda. Some indicative questions, emerging National Treasury (2017) Guidance Note: Framework for cate Poverty and Transform Economies Through Sustain-
from the this discussion, are as follows: the Formulation of Built Environment Performance Plans able Development. The Report of the High-Level Panel of
(BEPP) (Pretoria: National Treasury). Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda
(New York: United Nations).
 
 Conclusion
The South African Cities Support Programme (CSP) represents a
particular approach to strengthening the city scale and reforming
urban governance. In the preceding chapters of this book, we have
sought to contextualize the approach, process, and activities of the
CSP beyond a narrow narrative of what the Programme actually did
over its first eight years.
274 275
In the first two chapters, a broad historical outline of South African urban reform was
sketched out as a way to introduce and locate the CSP as something new, emerging as
a direct institutional response to contemporary urban challenges, but also as a product
of, and reaction to, what came before. The third and fourth chapters focused on CSP’s
structure and mode of working, noting its emergence from a diverse set of influences
and debates surrounding urban reform and city support within National Treasury and the
wider intergovernmental system. This formed the necessary background to describing
and discussing the specific activities of CSP, organized into thematic components, which
were the subjects of the remaining chapters. The aim in documenting and describing
these more sectoral or thematically focused interventions was to identify key lessons that
have emerged from experiences of the Programme, and to think about their implications
for a future urban knowledge and learning agenda.
Seeking to draw together some of the insights captured in previous sections, this
chapter will reflect briefly on two related issues. That is, firstly, contemplating CSP as a
particular model and practice of city support; and secondly, discussing how CSP experi-
ences might help to define a policy-relevant urban research agenda in South Africa. The
chapter closes with a series of provocations concerning what needs to be put in place to
take forward the commitment to creating better run and more equitable South African
cities.

The practice of city support

CSP represents a certain model of city support, one emerging from past experiences
of practice, as well as the particular demands of context. Indeed, one of its significant
features is its self-conscious attempt to be responsive to and transformative of that con-
text. Certainly, CSP emerged from a set of precedents and influences associated with
South Africa’s political transition from apartheid; but it has also evolved organically and
intuitively to address wider twenty-first century urban challenges and the imperatives of
governance reform. It has made both mistakes and breakthroughs, and has been forced
to recalibrate itself over time (see Box A). Chapters 5 to 12 of this book tried to highlight

GUTO BUSSAB
how each area of CSP’s work has led to important moments and processes of learning, City of Tshwane:
and showed how the approach of the Programme at large has shifted (or will shift) in ac- Central business
cordance with emerging political realities, challenges, and opportunities. district street scene.
 CSP has been self-consciously experimental in part because it emerged in a particu- unique to South Africa. They are being asked everywhere in the world, particularly as the
lar historical moment when change was considered possible. In the context of the in- new global urban agenda starts to gain local traction. What makes the CSP, and South
tractable urban challenge of persistent inequality and enduring segregation, where there Africa, an interesting case is that unlike many other countries following a conventional
were and are no ready-to-hand answers about what should be done to support urban National Urban Policy process (Cartwright et al. 2018), CSP is of a different order in the
transformation or, for that matter, how to decide on what should be done, all options sense of what it has tried to achieve, and how it has gone about pursuing its objectives.
could be considered. The imperative to find radical new solutions to structural urban Comparing its experiences with the more top-down initiatives pursued by many other
problems is not exclusively a South African problem, even if it assumes certain charac- national governments or donor agencies, CSP has highlighted the value of understanding
teristics born of this particular context. National and local governments everywhere are local urban contexts, being flexible, maintaining an open-ended yet strategic outlook, and
debating the various ideas, processes, and practices that might enable cities to deliver on navigating the contradictions of politics, policy, and practice, rather than simply acced-
new multilateral goals and agreements for sustainable development. ing to the normative and prescriptive. CSP experiences speak, also, to the need for close
CSP took shape and has operated in a political context that, despite some rhetori- engagement with city governments: for listening to and understanding their particular
cal commitments and broad policy statements, was by no means receptive of an urban challenges and dilemmas, but without losing sight of the importance of top-down forms
development agenda. As a result, it has functioned in the midst of a number of compet- of regulation and support. It is our hope that this book will be part of a broader discussion
276 ing ideas about how urbanization and cities should be managed, and how broader spa- and debate concerning the optimal governance arrangements required to drive sustain- 277
tial-economic development could best be promoted. The ongoing creation of a ‘shadow able and inclusive urban change, both in South Africa and elsewhere.
state’, which effectively empowered a rural political elite, and the capture of key state
departments and agencies in all spheres of government, have greatly complicated the Box A: Navigating Competing Agendas for City Support
politics of urban reform in South Africa (Swilling et al. 2017). This was particularly true for
a platform working out of National Treasury, which — with its relative success in resist- It is one thing for city support to be about coordination, but if cities don’t know where
ing attempts at being captured — was itself an outlier. Yet these experiences, too, have that coordination is going, that is called ‘meetings’. But simply force-feeding them
provided instructive lessons, and led to innovations. Chapter 4 described how National new support and reform measures won’t succeed either. The tension and calibration
Treasury and CSP played an important role in driving the creation of the Integrated Ur- of that is very important. Sometimes you get it right; sometimes you fail, completely.
ban Development Framework precisely as a response to the dynamics around the control Sometimes you choose to do something in a certain way, and then take another ap-
of the state that have been under scrutiny across the political sphere. proach, and then spend quite a long time knitting them together again. And that is the
The need to move nimbly against a backdrop of state capture was not the only rea- nature of the thing, because there is no perfect.
son CSP evolved towards a more experimental, iterative, and flexible form. Its first phase
combined many different kinds of city support practice and, as such, the Programme had David Savage, CSP Programme Manager
to negotiate a number of tensions underlying its overall strategy and work programme.
Notably, CSP is a model of city support that is not simply about supporting and working
in cities, but rather is one that also deals with an intergovernmental question. It aims to
reform the intergovernmental system, and to strengthen that system, in order to incentiv- The urban research agenda
ize and facilitate better municipal performance for urban spatial transformation. Indeed,
some stakeholders and observers have argued that CSP should act more concertedly in This book emerged from a partnership between an academic and a government institu-
the intergovernmental space, rather than ‘delivering solutions’ and providing direct tech- tion. On one hand, the African Centre for Cities (ACC) was keen to engage with the CSP
nical support to cities. Balancing these different areas of activity has been an important in order to enhance how it learns from and engages with urban policymaking and prac-
challenge and source of learning for the CSP team and their partners. tice. On the other hand, through the partnership, CSP was eager for the opportunity to
Many different models of city support exist, all of which hold a degree of legitimacy. participate in shaping an emerging research and training agenda for South African cit-
Chapter 2 described some of the precedents in the South African context. There could ies and urbanization. As indicated in the Introduction, for CSP this book has been an op-
be others, too. City support might, for example, be a purely coordinating task, consisting portunity to help frame — although not in any conclusive sense — some key issues and
of listening intently to what cities want and assisting them to navigate the intergov- areas that warrant further investigation by students and academics. By speaking to the
ernmental system in order to meet and secure those needs. This would be a very dif- problems and dilemmas that policymakers and decisionmakers are facing in the course
ferent approach to that of devising large-scale interventions that are coproduced and of practice, it points to the kinds of policy-connected research that may have an impact.
brokered across all cities. Both approaches have something to be said for them (see The experiences of CSP point to at least two key themes that should be considered
Box A). Whether CSP has taken the most appropriate and effective approach to navigat- as part of a research agenda for sustainable urban futures. These themes relate to proc-
ing these kinds of competing ideas and tensions — managing to calibrate a systemic ess and content. First, they draw our attention to the kinds of platforms and mecha-
approach to city support — remains to be seen and assessed as real outcomes and nisms that we should be using to drive governance reform and improved city perform-
changes emerge in South African cities. ance. Second, reflecting on CSP enables us to start teasing out substantive topics for
As noted above, questions of how to support positive urban transformation are not an emerging research agenda, which can help us prioritize main areas for investigation
 and the new knowledge that should be coproduced. Again, this is not a uniquely South
African problem. While cities are at the forefront of the new global development agenda,
• How do you create a cohort of effective urban leaders across government and civil
society? How do historical and political-economic dynamics affect the nature of city
it is not entirely clear what this agenda might entail in terms of the kinds of knowledge leadership, and the capacity of a municipality to absorb support and to govern effec-
required, and how that knowledge should be produced and fed into practice, to enable tively? How can we ensure appropriate management of the political-administrative
more effective modes of decentralization, city leadership, and urban governance (Keith interface, particularly in times of political turmoil? What conditions and leadership
et al. 2019). competencies need to be in place to ensure that a civil service can be resilient and
What, then, does a reflection on CSP helpfully reveal about a potential knowledge withstand periods of political churn?
agenda surrounding processes of urban support and reform? For the authors, several key
questions have emerged over the course of researching and writing this book. They in-
• What kinds of knowledge do we need to generate and share, across different sets of
stakeholders, in order to hold each other to account? What kinds of skills and compe-
clude: What are the institutions, mechanisms, and processes of support and reform that tencies, on the part of civil society, are demanded by a shift in emphasis from partici-
need to be in place (both within the intergovernmental system, and across state and patory planning to social or citizen-led accountability?
civil society) to drive better urban governance and development, and to deliver on ob-
jectives of economic growth, poverty reduction, and environmental sustainability? How
• What are the specific regulatory obstacles to developing inclusive and spatially inte-
grated urban human settlements, public transport systems, and public spaces? What
278 can these various elements of support and reform be calibrated most effectively? How processes of reform are most appropriate in particular contexts and in relation to 279
can careful listening and responsiveness, bottom-up action, and horizontal learning be specific substantive problems?
balanced with necessary top-down forms of regulation? And, within the design and day-
to-day management of such a platform, how can programmatic rigour best be combined
• How can reform processes ensure a close alignment between planning, budgeting,
reporting, and the urban outcomes that we wish to see? How can civil society and the
with flexibility and responsiveness to context? private sector best engage with processes and instruments like the Built Environment
As we have argued above, CSP tells us something about the importance, when design- Performance Plan?
ing or implementing programmes of city support, of understanding local context, and of
recognizing difference where it exists among cities, organizations, and actors. But those
• How do you design an intergovernmental fiscal system to optimally drive and incen-
tivize better municipal performance without becoming overly prescriptive or encour-
experiences also reveal that the task is more than one of gathering data and hoping that aging over-reliance on grants from the centre?
they are taken up and used by official or political leaders. CSP — in both its successes
and failures — points to the importance of ‘coproduction’ as a means of generating and
• What are the key issues that we need to know about urban property market dynamics,
both formal and informal, that will assist with the creation of integrated and sustain-
transferring new shared forms of knowledge, and of developing a shared understanding able human settlements?
of a problem as the basis for codesigning and implementing solutions. It speaks to the
urgency of creating new connections and definitions across multiple domains of govern-
• How can relatively informal modes of paratransit be integrated into formal integrated
public transport systems for the benefit of citizens, transport operators, and urban
ance, including those that exist within the state, as well as those extending across the economic growth?
public and private sectors, as the wellspring of future practice. This has clear implica-
tions for the activity of research. The issues that we investigate, the analytical frames
• How can cities best partner with the private sector to devise and implement projects
that have real potential to create jobs and economic value?
that we mobilize, and the data that we collect, should emanate from a common under-
standing of the urban problems that emerge and manifest at multiple scales, from the
• What are the key topics and leverage points that can be distilled from a broad and di-
verse agenda, like climate resilience and sustainability, into a pragmatic and impact-
city, to the nation, to the global. ful set of municipal projects and practices?
These kinds of research questions and imperatives concern the process by which we
should generate and apply new urban knowledge for the purposes of sustainable urban Beyond the specific issues arising from the experiences of individual component work
development. But documenting and discussing the CSP has also raised a series of ques- areas, CSP as a whole also raises important questions that warrant further research.
tions around the substantive issues on which that research should focus. These two is- Some key questions relate to the framing of the spatial agenda within South African de-
sues are inherently connected. For, if one decides to deploy a certain platform and mecha- velopment policy. For starters: is space — when defined in terms of the problem of racial
nism of city support and reform, then one inevitably faces the question of what kinds of segregation and integration — the most appropriate and effective analytical frame for
real-world dynamics should be examined in order to ensure that that mechanism can a project of city support and reform? Are we, as South Africans, too obsessed with spa-
function most effectively. tial inequality and segregation as the principal urban challenge and impetus for govern-
It is not possible to decisively set out a substantive research agenda in this Conclu- ment intervention? Should the state attempt to change the form and productivity of cities
sion. Rather, readers will find important issues embedded within the preceding chapters through spatial targeting, or should promoting space-neutral, market-led growth be the
that may warrant or invite further investigation, and it is to those discussions that the priority? Is differentiating government financing and support, based on variations in set-
prospective researcher should look for inspiration. At risk of oversimplifying, however, it tlement type and size, actually the most appropriate means to catalyse more sustainable
is worth recapping some of the key insights and questions emerging through the experi- and transformative urban transitions? It may be that National Treasury and CSP have
ences of CSP, as well as through this book, as pointers to what might be prioritized in advocated appropriate positions in some cases, and not in others. Those are issues to be
future investigations. These include: empirically tracked and answered by future research. And, if urban reforms of the past
 decade can be shown to have had limited impact, then what could other more appropriate that is robust and resilient, regardless of political change and disagreement? Can this be
frameworks of analysis and mechanisms of reform look like? done so that political expediency recedes as an overriding imperative, allowing hard deci-
As CSP moves forward into its second phase, the principal challenge surrounds insti- sions to be made in service of a coherent vision and strategy for city development?
tutionalization, and the need to embed the Programme’s learning and practices within For civil society, the challenge is one of renewed energy and engagement. How can ac-
the intergovernmental system. This too raises an important knowledge challenge: how do tivists, citizens, and urban sector organizations link up more effectively with the project
you institutionalize the gains of an impermanent experimental entity like CSP? We invite of city support to help to identify priorities and drive better government oversight and
researchers to consider and track these kinds of processes as they unfold in this critical accountability? How can processes and instruments like the Built Environment Perform-
political and economic juncture. ance Plan be used as an opportunity and lever to influence intergovernmental fiscal flows
and city budgeting processes?
Finally, for our colleagues in the research community, we call for a reflection on how
Provocations we can most effectively engage with the kinds of actors and processes mentioned above.
How do we, as the academy, do a better job of coproducing policy-relevant research, and
This book was written in the context of a profound urban challenge and political oppor- what are the questions that the experiences, successes, and failures of initiatives like
280 tunity, both in South Africa and elsewhere. It is, in part, an intervention in that context: the CSP raise? Can we move beyond a mode of critique undertaken in the self-gratifying 281
a description and distillation of some of the key lessons of a particular approach to ad- moral shade of the Ivory Tower, or the study of ‘best practices’, towards a mode of ‘shared
dressing the urban challenge. We end by positing a series of provocations that reach critique’ and ‘translational research’ that transcends institutional boundaries in develop-
across the book’s intended audiences — clear, albeit not definitive, messages that may ing a basis for future action (Parnell and Pieterse 2016; Patel et al. 2015; Perry and Ather-
help to orient future action. ton 2017)? What are the research paradigms and conceptual frameworks that we should
For CSP, our provocations relate to both the Programme’s internal and external strate- look to in order to do so? Is post-structuralism a sufficient basis for a project of critique in
gies. Internally, the Programme is on the cusp of a transition, an evolution from a coalition a context of urgent human and physical development needs? What could an invigorated
of the interests and agendas of a grouping of individuals (the CSP core team), and their mode of critique, closely connected to the real problems that exercise public conscience,
respective capacities to persuade and dominate in particular spaces, towards a more pro- both past and present, look like?
grammatic and institutionalized approach. This raises a series of questions. How does or Creating more effective structures and modes of urban governance, and decisively
should this kind of platform lead to lasting institutional reform? How will it recalibrate itself altering the patterns by which our cities grow and change, will require responses from all
in the face of evidence that there are other, potentially more effective, models for driving these sets of actors. All will need to stand up and account for themselves in this process
urban change? When does technical support become insufficient; when does one need to of localizing and driving the new South African urban agenda. There are no predefined
‘bite the bullet’ of deep structural reform? How will CSP ‘get its hands dirty’ by engaging answers or solutions, nor any ready-made models of best practice. There will be failures
with the profound political changes and turbulence that affect all spheres of government and conflicts. Yet the scale of the challenge and opportunity afforded by our cities and
in South Africa? Meanwhile, externally, CSP will need to navigate a new kind of political urban processes is too large, and too important, for us to engage with anything less than
space, one that nominally appears to be more receptive and supportive of an urban agenda. a spirit of bold and courageous experimentation.
The Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF) is now in place as official South
African policy, so there is less urgency for the urban agenda to be argued or place-kept.
Given those dynamics, how will CSP’s role shift in relation to implementing and delivering
on things like the Sustainable Development Goals, the New Urban Agenda, and the IUDF?
For national political leadership, the provocations are clear, and respond to the ambigui-
ties of national spatial development policy. How long will leaders prevaricate on the urban
question? When will leadership realize a definitive and purposeful shift in vision and strategy
for spatial developmental, a shift around which state and civic energies can be mobilized?
For how much longer, in other words, will mention of cities and urban development be met
with accusations of ‘urban bias’ and demands for a refocus on rural development? When
will discourses of compaction and growth no longer be contradicted by the development of
peripheral megaprojects, or the conviction that urban services should be spread as thinly
and evenly as possible across space? These kinds of challenges do not only apply to elected
or appointed officials. Can South African political parties, for example, learn to manage their
urban political coalitions more effectively? The answers to these questions, at the national
and intergovernmental level, will be fundamental to the effectiveness of our urban response.
City leadership and administrations face their own particular kinds of governance chal-
lenges. We ask: How can city governments develop a professional municipal public service
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284 285
 In 2011, the Cities Support Programme (CSP) was set up
within the National Treasury of South Africa, a country often
seen as a global policy innovator. It was conceived as an
intergovernmental platform for urban support and reform to
address South Africa’s national urban challenge in the core
286
metropolitan areas, and to promote inclusive, sustainable, and
productive modes of urban and economic growth. Through
CSP, the National Treasury has sought to promote the spatial
transformation of large South African cities from their
current fragmented, exclusive, and low-density forms into
more compact and integrated places.

Supporting City Futures captures the emergence, experiences,

and lessons of CSP as a particular approach to urban support
and reform.The intention of the book is not only to document
the specifics of CSP, but also to capture a larger story about
the evolution of urban policy and practice in South Africa. It
is a story of a new era of strategic governance, planning, and
urban transformation that holds relevance to other countries
both in Africa and across the globe.