Technical capacity within municipalities play a central role in addressing service delivery and infrastructure challenges, says the Institute of Municipal Engineering of Southern Africa (IMESA), calling for the appointment of more engineers.

Residents and communities are increasingly frustrated by water shortages, failing roads and broken infrastructure, and President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his State of the Nation address, acknowledged that patronage at the expense of technical capacity and merit, is weakening local government administrations in many places.

The ratio of technical to support staff necessary for a municipality to operate professionally and efficiently is important. While this is legislated, most municipalities are not compliant, says IMESA president Geoff Tooley.

“The Municipal Staff Regulations in South Africa were formally introduced in 2021 to professionalise local government and standardise human resource practices across municipalities.

“These regulations call for a ratio of three technical service delivery staff members, such as engineers, planners and artisans, for every one support staff member, such as human resources, finance and supply chain management professionals,” he explains.

IMESA is not aware of a single municipality in the country that meets this requirement, although some of the better-run municipalities have a one-to-one ratio at present, he adds.

Municipalities must rectify the imbalance and meet the requirements of the Municipal Staff Regulations to start to turn the tide in service delivery, says Tooley.

“IMESA urges residents and communities to recognise and support the pockets of excellence that exist in their municipalities and to participate in local government wherever possible to help ensure that technical capacity shortfalls are addressed.”

Further, the Local Government White Paper is being rewritten with a view to improving professionalism and service delivery in municipalities. However, it is essential that municipal engineers are involved in writing the final document, he adds.

“Strengthening technical capacity, aligning staffing structures with regulatory guidelines and ensuring that the expertise of professional engineers informs policy development are all important components of sustainable municipal service delivery,” Tooley says.

Additionally, when service delivery does not meet the required standard, all municipal employees are often painted with the same brush.

The competency of the technical staff is brought into question when there is good work done by a limited number of efficient staff under difficult conditions, which has a demoralising impact on the technical staff, says Tooley.