The City of Cape Town’s new recyclable exchange platform has been upgraded and is already connecting a number of businesses who now make use of each other’s waste products
National Treasury launched “Municipal Money”, an open local government budget data portal which provides citizens and other stakeholders with access to comparable, verified information on the financial performance of each municipality.
“Municipal Money facilitates access to municipal financial data in a unique and empowering way,” Treasury said in a statement. It added that the portal will aim to “promote transparency and citizen engagement through the visualisation and ‘demystification’ of information about municipal spending.”
The portal is said to provide stakeholders with municipal financial information in order to stimulate citizen involvement in local governance.
“It is also in line with international best practice, in terms of which governments are increasingly opening up their data to the public and specifically budget data – to promote oversight, transparency and accountability,” Treasury said.
South Africa committed to open government by co-founding and participating in the Open Government Partnership – a partnership of more than 69 countries committed to working together to develop and implement ambitious open government reforms.
What is Municipal Money? Who is it for?
“Municipal Money is a user-friendly website that utilises a variety of media and tools to present key municipal financial information,” Treasury said. “It also explains the related financial concepts and their relevance to citizens.”
Citizens will also be able to email municipal management queries directly from the site and share reports of municipal financial performance to social media.
The website is designed for an audience who may or may not have any financial knowledge or background, but also caters for the more data-savvy user who may want to trace and grapple with actual datasets.
The data portal draws on the raw data from a linked database, which is available for anyone to view, download and re-use.
“In fact, it is envisaged that the raw data will be used by analysts or app developers in conjunction with other data sources to create innovative, interesting and valuable new applications for municipal financial data,” Treasury said.
More services to come
In future months, Treasury said the platform will be augmented to include more than just financial information, and will present wider sets of service delivery information including the geographical location and progress of planned infrastructure projects in communities.
The portal has been developed in partnership with Code for South Africa, an NGO that promotes informed public decision-making using technology.
“This exciting new initiative has the potential to transform the way members of the public view and engage with municipal financial data,” Treasury said. “It will no doubt also contribute to enhanced civic oversight, greater transparency and increased accountability of newly elected municipal councils.”
