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Financial reports won’t save local government crisis, warns town and regional planners

All the major media and even some political parties in the country published the dire findings of Ratings Afrika’s latest Municipal Financial Sustainability Index covering the financial year ended June 2021. Over the past few years, it has become an annual ritual to bemoan the financial position of local government. This process repeats itself with […]

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Combined index (6/6)

The Functional Area index combines the previous four indices. It considers all the above aspects and connects them to form a final index. Each of the indices mentioned above carries an assigned weight as part of the process. The weighting is derived from policy documents such as the IDP and SDF that guide the municipality’s

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Economic index (5/6)

The index assesses people’s ability to reach areas of employment or specific commercial and industrial activities. An intense concentration of activities is evident within the CBD of Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark. It shows its economic dominance in the area. The impact of mining activities in the northern parts of the municipality is also evident. URL/Link: http://maps.mapable.co.za/link.asp?g=19178

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Demographic index (4/6)

The demographic index considers three aspects. It firstly assesses the spatial density and distribution of people. The second aspect is where and to what extent population change has occurred between 1996 and 2020. The third aspect is how accessible the population is. This accessibility to people is essential, especially for service delivery and general well-being.

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Urban Morphology (2/6)

The urban morphology index considers some of the most significant physical and human-made structuring elements that impact development. Two main aspects are analysed. The first includes the accessibility, hierarchy and impact of existing towns and the second aspect consists of the effects of access and mobility features. The road network, its hierarchy and walkability are

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Where does it rain?

South Africa’s well-being cannot be separated from rainfall. Good rainfall gives good agricultural years which is good for our economy, and may we say our county’s mood. Today’s map shows two significant aspects of rainfall. Firstly, by all definitions, South Africa is an arid country with the more substantial portion getting less than 400mm per

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Vacancies in Finance and Administration and Audit Outcomes

Today’s first map shows the vacancies in finance and administration departments in local municipalities in FY1920 as reported by StatsSA in the Non-Financial Census for Municipalities. The financial well being of our municipalities is a concern. The lack of people or skills is often blamed. However, by comparing the first map with the second map

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Town and Regional Planning in South Africa – inconsequential and a waste of money?

The extent to which urban planning has degenerated into a more or less meaningless self-centred humdrum with little or no impact on the future of our cities stands out like a sore thumb to all experienced and capable town and regional planners in South Africa. Any perceived impact could be considered negative and constraining development

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