Introduction and Background

Metsimaholo Local Municipality, like all other municipalities in South Africa, has to use Integrated Development Planning as a method to plan future development in its areas. Integrated Development Planning is an approach to local government planning that was developed with an objective to ensure developmental municipalities and also to overcome the poor planning arrangements of the past. The apartheid planning left us with towns that:

Have racially divided business and residential areas Are badly planned to cater for the poor – with long travelling distances to work and poor access to business and other services. Have great differences in level of services between rich and poor areas Have sprawling informal settlements and spread out residential areas that make cost-effective service delivery difficult Left rural areas underdeveloped and largely unserviced. In order to overcome the above mentioned and other challenges, the legislative framework upon which Integrated Development Planning is derived, requires that the entire municipality and its citizens must work together in finding the best solutions to achieve good long-term development.

The outcome of an integrated development planning is an Integrated Development Plan (IDP). An IDP is a super plan for a municipality that gives an overall framework for development. It aims to co-ordinate the work of local and other spheres of government in a coherent plan to improve the quality of life for all the people living in an area. It should take into account the existing conditions and problems and resources available for development. The IDP should further look at economic and social development for the area as a whole. It must set a framework for how land should be used, what infrastructure and services are needed and how the environment should be protected. These are all the goals that this IDP seeks to elaborately outline and achieve.

Metsimaholo Municipality was established in 2000 through the amalgamation of the then Sasolburg, Deneysville and the Oranjeville Transitional Local Councils. In simple translation, the name Metsimaholo means “Vast Waters” due to the abundance of water resource available in this area.
The municipality is located within Fezile Dabi District Municipality and covers an estimated area of 1 739 square kilometers. The major towns within the Metsimaholo areas of jurisdiction include Sasolburg, Zamdela, Deneysville, Refengkgotso, Oranjeville, Metsimaholo, Viljoensdrif and Coalbrook.

The dominance of Sasolburg because of its population density and its proximity to the economically active Johannesburg city provided the area with the opportunity of being declared the “head-offices” of the entire Metsimaholo Municipality. According to Statistics South Africa’s 2016 Community Survey, it is estimated that the total population of the municipality is 163 564 with 59 113 estimated households. Given the context of the fundamental reform of local government, the rationalisation and the wide mandate of developmental local government, Metsimaholo Local Municipality, like many other municipalities in the country, still faces some challenges in implementing and sustaining the new system. These challenges include amongst others, governance challenges, accountability challenges, capacity and skills shortages, financial constraints, and general service delivery challenges.