IDP Document Summary
 
In terms of the Municipal Systems Act, the municipality has embarked on the second round of the IDP Review process. The review of the IDP was done simultaneously with the development of Performance Management System which was identified as a gap by the MEC for Local Government.  An IDP has once been defined as participatory approach to integrate sectoral and fiscal strategies to support the optimal allocation of scarce resources between sectors and geographical areas across the population in a manner that provides sustainable growth, equity and the empowerment of the poor and marginalized (FEPD : 1995). It is at this juncture that an IDP is referred to as council’s living document to which citizens must use to debate development issues of the municipality.

IDP Context

With introduction of new legislative and policy frameworks after 1994 there has been paradigm shift in the manner through which municipality must conduct their business.  The Municipalities are now required to be developmental in approach and IDP has been developed as tool in fulfilling this mandate.  The Municipal Systems Act (No 32 of 2000) requires each municipality to prepare an Integrated Development Plan which must supersede any other plan within a municipal area. Chapter 4 of the Municipal Systems Act requires the municipality to develop a culture of municipal governance that complements the formal representative government with a system of participatory governance. The Act requires the municipality to encourage, and create conditions for the local communities to participate in the affairs of the municipality. Chapter 6 of the Municipal Systems Act (No 32 of 2000) requires municipalities to establish a Performance Management System that is in-line with the priorities, objectives, indicators and targets contained in the IDP.  The Municipal Finance Management Act (Act No 56 of 2003) requires the alignment of the IDP with the budget process.

The purpose of the IDP is to:

• assess service delivery
• make adjustments and amendments
• feed new information into budget
• ensure relevance of the plan as the Municipal Strategic Plan and
• assess changing internal and external circumstances