Local Government, Environ-mental Affairs and Development Planning
What assistance has he and his Department been providing to the Drakenstein region, the area worst affected by COVID-19 infections outside the metropolitan area?
The Department of Local Government (DLG) re-prioritised R16.2 million of the Local Government Grant Support re-funding to address COVID-19 requirements. A total amount of R1 million rand was transferred to Drakenstein Municipality in the form of a Special Support Grant for the purpose to support Humanitarian Relief efforts. The money was specifically earmarked to either procure and distribute 2,000 food parcels, or to partner with existing NGOs and civil society stakeholders to provide hot meals. DLG developed an electronic APP and live monitoring dashboard, to assist the Municipality and the broader Cape Winelands District to implement and monitor the project.
A total of R477 000 has been allocated by the National Treasury through the Disaster Relief Grant. The Department alerted the Municipality about the availability of the grant and requested them to submit their application. They assessed their business plan /application and advised on amendments to improve the chances of approval. The Department submitted a motivational letter to the National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) in support of the funding application. This is in relation to the Municipal Disaster Grant (transferred on 8 May 2020) in which the following projects were funded:
- Sanitation = R69 150
- Decontamination of specific selected public spaces; PPE, and Hygiene packs = R 87 570
- Waste & Refuse R320 280
The Department also assisted municipalities with applications in terms of the Disaster Relief Grant funding applications addressed to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) through the submission of an official application on 6 April 2020, addressed to the National DDG (Head) Disaster Management Centre to the value of R239 359 300 of which the allocation to Drakenstein was R23 982 627. The Department subsequently submitted a further prioritised list of interventions extracted from the aforementioned applications to the National DDG (Head) Disaster Management Centre on 11 April 2020.
The Department further supported the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) who provided funding to secure water tanks and water tankers to all municipalities in the Western Cape Province. DWS appointed Rand Water as the implementing agent and Overberg Water Board, to assist with the process in the Western Cape. The DLG assisted by:
Following up on installation on a weekly basis and assisted where problems were identified at specific municipalities regarding the implementation of the project. Drakenstein Municipality received 21 water tanks and all were installed and are in use at present. They only received one water tanker from Rand Water and have one of their own water tankers to fill the water tanks.
During May 2020, the Municipality further requested that the water tanker provided by Rand Water, that was recalled on very short notice for re-allocation to another Municipality, not be taken away from them. The matter was brought under the attention of DWS and the water tanker was not re-allocated. The matter was resolved within a few days and the water tanker was allocated to Drakenstein until further notice and is used to cart water to the water tanks installed.
The Department provided information and guidance at an Informal Settlement Support Programme (ISSP) Monthly Mini Forum to the municipalities on the key directions gazetted and published in Government Notice 339 of Government Gazette 43147 of March 2020, under the Disaster Management Act 57 0f 2002, covering:
- Provision of water and sanitation services;
- Hygiene education, communication and awareness;
- Waste management, cleansing and sanitization; and
- Municipal public spaces, facilities and offices, including regular cleaning.
The Provincial Cabinet has adopted a JDA response to COVID-19 in the Province. The JDA lead from the DLG with representatives of all provincial departments together with MEC lead, Dr I Meyer and the HOD lead, Dr Sebopetsa have been deployed to Cape Winelands municipalities and are assisting all the municipalities including Drakenstein Municipality. COVID-19 progress reporting and challenges are addressed through the Cape Winelands District Municipality (CWDM) Joint District Approach (JDA) to Cabinet on a weekly basis. Some challenges that have been escalated and receiving attention are, amongst others, COVID-19 risks imposed on municipalities such as the impact on cash flow, revenue and long-term funding of unfunded mandates. The JDA forms part of the institutional arrangements that make up the CWDM COVID-19 Joint Operations Committee (JOC) and the Local Municipalities JOCs which report to the Provincial Disaster Management Centre.
