BUFFALO CITY METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY

1. BUFFALO CITY METROPOLITAN MUNICIPALITY Presentation TO THE NCOP Session 3: Building the capacity of Local Government to accelerate Service Delivery A City Growing with You

2. Buffalo City Metro : A City in a Region

3. Locality • Buffalo City Metro land area is 2,515km² with 68km of coastline • Buffalo City Metro is the key urban center of the eastern part of Eastern Cape Province • Corridor of urban areas from the “port city” of East London to the east through Mdantsane and reaching Dimbaza in the west. • East London is the primary node and dominant economic hub. • King William’s Town area is the secondary node and functions as a regional service center with Bhisho as the Provincial Administrative hub. • Contains a wide ban of rural settlements on either side of the urban corridor

5. Metro Regional Profile • Urban regions extend well beyond the border of the municipality & have a much larger environmental and economic footprint • Two major urban areas i.e. NMMM & BCMM in Eastern Cape and both port cities • BCMM influence stretches far beyond our municipal borders • Includes the greater Amatole Region as far as the O.R . Tambo Region

6. Description of municipal type BCMM Metro in brief Establishment (per s12 of Municipal Structures Act): Provincial Gazette Extraordinary No 2565 of 16 May 2011 No of Wards: 50 Wards No of Councillors: 100 Councillors (50 Wards/ 50 PR) Municipal Type: A municipality with a mayoral executive system combined with a ward participatory system Seat of Council: East London, City Hall • Buffalo City is a category ‘A’ municipality • A category ‘A’ municipality is described as an area that can reasonably be regarded as- • A conurbation featuring- • Areas of High Population Density; • An Intense Movement of People, Goods and Services; • Extensive Development; and • Multiple Business Districts and Industrial Areas • A Centre of Economic Activity with a Complex and Diverse Economy; • A Single Area for which Integrated Development Planning is desirable; and • An area having strong Interdependent Social and Economic Linkages between its Constituent Units. A City Growing with You

7. Leadership

8. Socio-economic profile : A snapshot A metro population of around 1,000,000 • 75 % of the population in urban areas • 25 % of the population in rural settlements Demographic • 41% of population is aged 19 or below • 52 % of population is aged between 20 & 59 years of age • Relatively youthful population requires facilities & economic opportunities Community Survey 2007

9. Socio-economic profile : A snapshot • Income 42% less than R3500 / month (ECSECC Estimates for 2009)

10. Economic Sectors contributing to Buffalo City’s GDP - 2010 Finance & Community Services account for 50 % of Buffalo City’s GDP (ECSECC)

11. Labour Market Status • Figure below indicates that in Buffalo City in 2007: a proportion of 37% of the working-age population were employed, 24% unemployed and 39% not economically active.

12. Areas for capacity building • Adverse Opinion (2010/2011) arising from Auditor General’s audit. • Staff not expert and knowledgeable in the implementation of the prescribed Accounting Standards. Examples include Property, Plant and Equipment, Asset Registers, Valuations of Assets and Investment Properties, etc. • Valuation Roll not complete and up-to-date i.e. aligned to billing cycle. • Inability to report accurately on irregular expenditure. • Inadequate monitoring / review processes over key financial and related controls.

13. Areas for capacity building • The Internal Audit coverage is inadequate and the Unit is poorly resourced in terms of numbers, skills and qualifications. • Inadequate Supply Chain Management functionality. • Management capacity is compromised resulting in an inadequate control environment. • Management applies a reactive as opposed to a proactive approach to matters. • Inadequate understanding of compliance framework resulting in a disregard of legislated requirements. • Performance Management System considered flawed. • Long turn-around times on development proposals. • Computer network although fairly stable is in need of upgrading.

14. Areas for capacity building • The full functionality of the financial management system does not have the required functionality to comply fully with the requirements of the Accounting Standards. • No asset maintenance system in place. • Many systems operate manually. • Silo management style compromises integrity of systems. • Systems not reduced to writing and in a number of instances systems previously in operation appear to have been discarded. • Inadequate systems for the collation of Performance Information. • Micro Structure is currently being designed and continues under a hybrid of the old and new macro Structures.

15. Areas for capacity building • Regional economy is underprivileged and predominantly rural. • Challenges with billing of all consumers. • A level of grant dependency i.e. inability to generate sufficient funds for own infrastructure development. • Aging infrastructure. • Substantial maintenance backlogs.

16. Key Strategic Focus Areas for the Metro during the 2011-16 term