Housing, local gov and digital transformation at the forefront of Operation Vulindlela phase II

Government has officially launched the second phase of Operation Vulindlela, with spatial inequality, local government and digital transformation at the forefront of the programme’s agenda.

Established in the aftermath of Covid-19 in October 2020, the joint initiative of the Presidency and National Treasury was formed with the aim of driving rapid and inclusive economic growth and job creation through structural reforms.

The first phase of Operation Vulindlela focused on tackling issues in five areas – energy, logistics, water, telecommunications and the visa system.

Need for growth

Watch the phase II launch here:

Addressing the media during a briefing at the Union Buildings on Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the three new focus areas arose out of the need for growth that serves millions of South Africans who remain unemployed.

He said the country also needs growth that improves people’s daily lives by fixing the infrastructure that is broken.

Spatial inequality

“We will address the apartheid legacy of spatial inequality, which has forced millions of South Africans to live far from economic opportunity,” Ramaphosa said.

“The poorest South Africans spend as much as 40 percent of their income on transport to get to work, more than almost any other country in the world. The structure of our cities has to change to enable people to access work,” he added.

The president said this meant changing the country’s housing policy to allow people to choose where they want to live through subsidies for home ownership and affordable rentals.

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“While the millions of homes that we have built since 1994 have given families shelter and dignity on an unprecedented scale, we cannot continue to build houses on the periphery of our cities and towns.”

Ramaphosa said the government would accelerate the release of publicly owned land and buildings for affordable housing, with a particular focus on inner cities.

In addition, it will clear the backlog of title deeds for affordable housing while making the titling system more accessible and affordable.

This, he said, would turn houses into an asset for poor households and enable them to access credit and use the asset to advance themselves.

“Finally, we are going to undertake a comprehensive regulatory review to remove barriers to low-cost housing development and incentivise investment in urban centres as opposed to outlying areas. These reforms will help turn our cities and towns into thriving centres of economic activity.”

Improving local government

Acknowledging that municipalities are struggling with delivering basic services to homes and businesses, Ramaphosa said the aim of the joint operation is to improve local government’s performance.

The second area of reform for this phase of Operation Vulindlela is to improve the performance of local government.

The agenda is clear, he said, and it starts with improving the delivery of water and electricity services through professional utilities that have the right technical skills, strong regulation and oversight, and full control of their billing and revenue functions.

This control would allow them to invest in infrastructure and maintenance.

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Another key step is to strengthen local government administration by appointing capable, qualified people like municipal managers and chief financial officers, the president said.

“This will be done by extending the mandate of the Public Service Commission to local government and taking action against municipalities that fail to comply with minimum competency standards,” he said.

“National Treasury will review the local government fiscal framework, including the design of conditional grants, to ensure that the revenue of municipalities matches their responsibilities.”

Digital transformation

Where digital transformation is concerned, Ramaphosa said Cabinet approved a Digital Transformation Roadmap last month to drive the adoption of digital technologies in government and to build digital public infrastructure that can be used by all South Africans.

“This will include a digital identity system, rapid payments to expand financial inclusion, and enabling people to access services like applying for an ID or passport online.”

‘Meaningful progress’

Giving an update of the five focus areas in the first phase, Ramaphosa said the economy is already starting to reap the benefits of the operation, and changes are attracting private investment.

“I commend in particular the ministers, deputy ministers, directors-general and CEOs that have provided leadership to these efforts,” he said.

“Over the last four years, Operation Vulindlela has become a government-wide initiative. This is meaningful progress, and it will enable higher growth in the years to come.”

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