The address by Councillor Mondli Gungubele, Executive Mayor of Ekurhuleni at the first council meeting for 2013, highlighted the critical challenges for the year ahead, particularly with regard to ICT systems and infrastructure. The Mayor cited the municipality’s current systems as a “failure”, blaming this problem largely on the regular power outages due to inclement weather conditions.

He also touched on the issue of capital expenditure (CAPEX) spending as the pattern for 2013 remains a serious concern. “It is lower for the 2012/2013 financial year as compared to the same period in the previous financial years,” says Gungubele. “Some of the reasons for this situation include the fact that we still do not have a system for multi-year planning and implementation. Linked to this is the paucity of the necessary project planning and management skills for the major projects that we have set out to implement.” In addition, Ekurhuleni continues to experience difficulties pertaining to its supply chain management processes, which make it difficult to implement plans within schedule.

According to Gungubele, measures have been put in place since the start of the financial year in order to remedy the financial situation. This comes with the outcome of creating a culture of efficient multi-year project planning and management. “We have developed and installed centralised computer systems, enabling departments to develop activity-based project plans and cash flows on a multi-year basis for each project approved, as part of the capital programme,” he explains. “With respect to us addressing internal capacity constraints, it is clear that external assistance at provincial and national government levels will go some way in making this possible.”

The municipality anxiously awaits the rollout of the proposed large city support programme as it will help enhance intervention strategies and initiatives which can easily identify challenges.