INDUSTRY INSIGHT | INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING & IMPLEMENTATION
The reality of government’s DDM When infrastructure plans don’t achieve their objectives, there’s a breakdown in trust between government, business and civil society. The District Development Model (DDM) of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) sets out to address this, with the Development Bank of Southern Africa appointed as an implementing partner. But can Plan, the Spatial Development government’s DDM deliver? Initiative, and the National Spatial By Alastair Currie
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ncouraging open debate and inclusive viewpoints is the foundation for excellence in any society or nation. For South Africa’s construction sector, this is especially important given its negative GDP performance in recent years, which has had a corresponding knockon effect in terms of shrinking employment. Government’s response to Covid-19 is an infrastructure-led economy, and South Africa’s world-class built environment sector is more than ready. But is government? On 27 January 2021, Cogta and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) cohosted a webinar entitled ‘What is the government’s District Development Model and is it achievable?’ Government has appointed the DBSA as an implementing partner for the roll-out of the DDM. The webinar panel responses are published in this edition in an article entitled ‘Industry engagement on DDM implementation’. This article is the flip side of the coin, where we report on what the delegates thought within the real world of construction and service delivery. After all, this is not the first government attempt at a transformational infrastructure model. Past examples include Project Consolidate in 2005, the 2009 Local Government Turnaround Strategy, and Back to Basics in 2014. These have all run in parallel with overarching initiatives such as the National Development
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Development Perspective. The two industry experts on the webinar panel were Dr Tracy Ledger, senior researcher, Public Affairs Research Institute; and Professor Louis Scheepers from the School of Government at the University of the Western Cape. Common responses stressed the need for clarity on the when, where and how?
Positive poll survey While there’s a great deal of frustration from industry, the upside is that the built environment remains cautiously optimistic; however, many feel their hands are tied by public decisionmakers with limited or no proven field experience in successfully budgeting and implementing infrastructure programmes. This cautious optimism is reflected in the webinar poll survey, where 69% answered ‘Yes’ to the question, ‘Does South Africa have real prospects in achieving the vision of the DDM?’ Some 73% said the DDM was achievable; however, only 41% said ‘Yes’ to the question, ‘Do we have evidence demonstrating the success of localising and spatialising in the context of local government initiatives?’ The last response shows that there’s definite misalignment. But that’s the rationale for this debate in the first place, and the DDM’s introduction: nothing meaningful can be achieved if the private and public sector are not equal stakeholder partners.
What the delegates said Any built environment professional – public
or private – in the 45-year-plus band will have invaluable input since they comprise graduates with 20 or more years’ applied experience post 1994. They also comprise the essential mentorship group that will transition the next generation to professional registration. Mature delegates dominated, which makes their opinions count. Most delegates said they’d experienced a “lack of a development logic” and some questioned whether previous models hadn’t ended up compounding the situation. Examples cited included the over-regulation of local government with complex legislation that few were qualified to understand or implement. For some, this has led to a “strangulation of local government effectiveness”. Others questioned the ‘bigger is better model’, particularly when it comes to the demarcation of municipal boundaries. An overriding question was, ‘How do we get the right people in place?’ This is an obvious one, given the evidence presented by the Auditor-General’s reports on underperforming municipalities over the past decade.
Joint planning Breaking down silos within the three spheres of government is a key policy shift. The emphasis is now on joint planning and execution, as defined by the DDM’s One Plan approach. ‘Will this joint planning philosophy work in practice?’ asked delegates, citing the previous infrastructure development framework models. Added to this were the questions: ‘How do we avoid repeating past mistakes?’ and, ‘Can we stick to the DDM plan?’
