Final Adopted IDP - KZN Development Planning

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
On an annual basis a percentage of the operational budget approved for the Municipality
is set aside for skills development in accordance with the Workplace Skills Plan.
Because the Municipality has experienced cash flow constraints on a regular basis, the
training and development budget has not been fully expended; it is proposed that the
training budget be ring fenced annually to prevent this situation from reoccurring.
Based on the skills audit conducted at the Municipality the training contracted should be
a reflection of the skills gaps identified rather than implementing a situation where
course availability is the criteria and individuals are nominated to attend without due
cognisance being given as to whether the training course is able to adequately build the
capacity to address the identified need. Courses offered by service providers
accredited with the Local Government SETA only are considered for training and
development purposes – the Municipality is then able to claim a percentage of the course
fee back from the SETA.
PROMOTION OF EQUITY
The Municipality has developed an Employment Equity Plan as required by the legislation;
the Plan is reviewed on an annual basis in terms of the legislation. At present, however,
the provisions of the Employment Equity Plan have not been implemented by the
Municipality; each of the Directorates is required to review its situation with regard to
the employment equity imperatives. With the filling of vacant posts during the 2012 /
2013 financial year, one of the prime factors in the recruitment and selection process
will be addressing the employment equity imperatives; this will continue throughout the
remainder of the third generation IDP.
MUNICIPAL TURNAROUND STRATEGY
The national Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, late in the
2009 calendar year, published the Local Government Turnaround Strategy, developed as
a consequence of an assessment of all of the municipalities in South Africa and following
an extraordinary sitting of the three spheres of government involving the entire Cabinet
on 20 October 2009 in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. As part of the implementation of the
national strategy, each municipality was required to develop its own turnaround strategy
by 31 March 2010. In this regard the national strategy noted that the different
municipalities within South Africa have different capacities and are faced with
different social and economic challenges. The Ulundi Municipality developed its own
turnaround strategy utilizing the situation as at 31 March 2010 as the baseline and
setting a number of targets to be achieved. In this regard it is noted that the
Municipality prepares half yearly reports in terms of the turnaround strategy, at the
96