By David Masango
THE two-day national Free Basic Services conference that ended on Tuesday 26 July, has come up with a set of resolutions to speed up and enhance the delivery of services to the destitute.
The delegates, amongst other things, have resolved that, with the help from the Department of Local and Provincial Government (DLPG), municipalities must develop indigent registers to ensure that free basic services are provided to the intended people - the poor.
The services relate particularly to the provision of free basic water and sanitation facilities. The conference acknowledged that it was difficult to include the beneficiaries of free electricity in this regard due to the difficulty in isolating the electricity beneficiaries.
They also called for the norms, standards and definitions regarding free basic services and indigents to be compiled at a national level.
The conference also emphasised the need to integrate and strengthen the processes of monitoring and evaluation of the provision of these services to the poor.
Patrick Flusk, DPLG Deputy Director General responsible for free basic services (FBS), said delegates agreed on a need for a master communication strategy to inform the public about FBS in the local language specific to certain municipalities.
He said the communication strategy would have to be formulated with the help of the Government Communication (GCIS) and the Department of Communication (DoC).
"All of us will have to contribute in communicating the free basic services communication strategy to the public. Ward committees will be instrumental in taking this forward," he explained.
In addition, the conference resolved that the provision of free basic services needed to be linked to the performance agreements of those responsible in municipalities.
He said his department would forward a number of the resolutions to be deliberated on at the next meeting between DPLG Minister Sydney Mufamadi, Deputy Minister Nomatyala Hangana and MECs (MIN-MEC) where decisions would be taken regarding those resolutions, including the indigent register.
"I think what has emerged during the conference is that we are doing well as far as free basic services are concerned. But it seems we have almost reached the ceiling, therefore we have to extend it in a holistic manner and the only way is if we take the inter-governmental relations framework into account and to work together to upscale and extend free basic services," explained Flusk.
Minerals and Energy Minister Lindiwe Hendricks expressed hope that the deliberations at the conference had "sharpened" the delegates' edge to deliver basic services to people.
She explained that her department was faced with challenges in targeting deserving beneficiary households for free basic electricity and that an indigent register was not the answer in this regard.
"Since the inception of the programme about two years ago, municipalities have been faced with the challenge to identify and to isolate their beneficiaries. Approaches to do this ranged from attempts to compile indigent registers, which are costly and impractical to administer, to more practical approaches," said Hendricks.
However, the minister explained that despite the challenges, some municipalities were successful in delivering free basic electricity. Hendricks said, “their efforts must be commended. We should be looking at such stories to benchmark other municipal practices in an effort to improve the extent of penetration of free basic electricity."
Regarding the three million households yet to be electrified due to the unavailability of infrastructure in their areas, the minister said her department had come up with a strategy that facilitated the use of different types of technology such as ethanol gel and LP gas.
"There is no infrastructure, so what do they do in the mean time? I think we should encourage the use of these alternative forms of energy, which I am informed are cheaper, safer and cleaner," the Minister explained.
Source: BuaNews
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