Suchergebnisse

A major objective of local government in South Africa, as defined in the Constitution, is to ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner. However, neglect of infrastructure continues to hamper access to service delivery, affecting all citizens and the economy. Informed by the author's own long career involvement and current research programme in infrastructure operation and maintenance, together with current extensive secondary research, he identified that lack of care for infrastructure leads directly to infrastructure failure. This, in turn, harms the economy and inconveniences citizens, and, in some instances, even deprives them of their rights. This article draws attention to some generic reasons for the failure of infrastructure and service delivery and explores ways for measuring infrastructure and service delivery deficits. It emphasises the consequences of service delivery failure and notes the experiences of four towns, all of which have service delivery deficits. The article then contrasts the public statements of authorities such as Ministers and the Auditor General with the dearth of effective action on the part of many municipalities, and asks why this should be.

This is a conference paper. ; Whereas in a country such as South Africa some public sector authorities are able to practise more or less competent management of their infrastructure assets, government intervention and assistance is needed in respect of many other authorities especially in respect of those at local government level. The National Infrastructure Maintenance Strategy sets overarching national policy for sectorbased initiatives, and describes the framework for a coordinated programme of actions. Simultaneous infrastructure investment and maintenance that will result from this strategy will not only improve infrastructure performance and underpin services sustainability, but will also contribute significantly towards national and local economic growth and will add long term jobs. Countries that do not enjoy the comprehensive information set upon which the Strategy was founded, should nonetheless make the start with such a strategy where they can, and set themselves on a path of steadily improving information and practice.

Private sector institutions utilise many different business methods, some of which can selectively be adapted for use by organisations outside the private sector, to the benefit of their service delivery responsibilities. But the best of the appropriate practices from the private sector have often "not crossed over".The Water Research Commission (WRC) of South Africa, working in collaboration with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), finds that the concept of franchising, so successfully used by the private sector to deliver many goods and services, if applied to water services operation and maintenance, could alleviate and address many challenges in the management of water services. At the same time, franchising could provide an ideal stimulus to support the development of local enterprises, all within the municipal service delivery environment.Franchisee water service providers, dependent for their livelihood on the success of their business, would have a strong incentive to perform, and would also enjoy the benefit of the franchisor's expert guidance and quality assurance. Some areas for potential franchising include meter management, billing, plumbing, pressure management, sewer maintenance, and wastewater treatment processes.The help from the franchisor would be of particular value to water services authorities at a distance from the major urban centres. Few of these authorities can afford to employ competent qualified staff, and often non-compliance with the laid down performance standards is a direct consequence of this lack. Significant improvements would soon be seen if the generally under-qualified and under-resourced water services staff could have this ongoing support, mentoring and quality control — or if the authority could enter into partnerships with small local enterprises or NGOs which would, through franchising, enjoy the necessary ongoing support, mentoring and quality control, and would have quick access to expert assistance when they needed it.

The quality of life and economic development of our country is underpinned by a vast infrastructure managed by local (municipal) governments and also provincial and national governments. There is strong evidence that insufficient attention has been paid by the great majority of municipalities to the operation and especially the maintenance of the infrastructure they own. In particular, there is too-frequent gross under-provision of budgets for infrastructure management. But if maintenance is inadequate, infrastructure will fail to deliver the service it is intended to deliver, and social and economic growth will be impeded - something that just cannot be afforded Municipalities must plan and provide for the long term management of all their infrastructure assets. There is a need for a structured approach to and methodology of infrastructure management ('management' in this sense includes operations and repair, routine maintenance, refurbishment and replacement). The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has reviewed published research into the state of South Africa's municipal infrastructure, has undertaken its own extensive research, and has investigated current management practice. The CSIR has also investigated concepts of sustainable management of that infrastructure, and what is needed in order for that infrastructure to be sustainably managed. This article describes selected findings, sketches implications, and makes recommendations.

This is a conference paper. ; The paper assesses the state of and sustainability of municipally-owned water services infrastructure in South Africa. It discusses some issues of concern that can be ascribed to infrastructure management policies and practices not meeting acceptable standards. The way forward is shown to legislative, financial accounting and other measures that would assist in greatly improving municipal infrastructure asset management.

This is a conference paper. ; The purpose of the "national infrastructure report cards" of the condition of engineering infrastructure in South Africa has been to draw the attention of government, and of the South African public at large to the importance of maintenance, and to factors underlying the state of repair of infrastructure. The success of these report cards, published in 2006 and 2011, has been such that a new report card is currently being prepared. Whereas completion of this, the third report card, will not take place until around mid-year, the objective of this paper is to briefly describe the background to and purpose of infrastructure report cards and the process by which the South African report cards are compiled, to discuss key findings of the previous report cards, and to describe the third report card's preliminary findings for the water sector.

"In the twenty-first century the wonders of science show its magnificent potential for good. The scientific successes we enjoy are rooted in the modern way of thinking about physics. But success has fostered a myth that the dialectic of physics should be used in other areas; thus contributing to global calamities, such as Dialectical Materialism in politics and Behaviorism in psychology. In the opening paragraph of The Modern Mind the author proclaims-and indeed others agree-a crisis has been reached in our evolving Western worldview. So the first requirement is a clear understanding of this development! In this work Kevin Wall illuminates this development in the light of philosophy, theology, science, art, and with reference to Greek and Scholastic minds-showing the real-world implications of Western speculative thought"--

This is a conference paper. ; In 2006 the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) released the first ever "report card" of the state of engineering infrastructure in South Africa. This report highlighted "the observations of the professionals responsible for the planning, construction, operation and maintenance of our nation's life-support system". It graded infrastructure on a scale from A+ through E-. The purpose of the report card was to draw the attention of government, and of the public at large, to the importance of maintenance, and to factors underlying the state of repair of infrastructure. The success of this report card was such that SAICE, with the assistance of CSIR, has prepared the next report card, to appear early in April 2011. It is anticipated that this next report card will be even more widely debated, because, since 2006, service delivery problems, particularly those attributable to operation and maintenance of infrastructure, have received heightened attention across the country.