Cover

Praise for the book

About the authors

Title page

Copyright

Contents

List of figures

List of tables

Abbreviations

Preface

1. What is the ‘capable’ state?

1. Introduction

2. Building the capable state: a prerequisite for rights-based sustainable development

3. What is the capable state?

4. Keeping up with global development goals

5. The South African trajectory: time and constraints on building state capability

6. The structure of the book

2. Twenty years

1. Introduction

2. The political transition to 1994

3. Inheriting apartheid’s institutions and services: 1994

4. Negotiating the post-apartheid transition

5. Local government mandate and institutional design

6. Changing context in the post-apartheid years

7. Conclusions

3. Institutions

1. Introduction

2. Design of the system: structure of local government

3. Rationalising the structure: devolution and differentiation

4. The functions of local government

5. Intergovernmental relations

6. The role of state-owned enterprises

7. Partnerships with the private sector

8. Community role in service provision

9. Conclusions

4. Improving capability through regulation and support

1. Introduction

2. Balancing regulation and support

3. Assessing organisational capability

4. DPME and the delivery agreements

5. Regulating performance of local government

6. ‘Vertical’ support

7. Benchmarking mediated by national government

8. Horizontal learning and peer benchmarking

9. Citizens and civil society

10. When support fails

11. The role of national departments

12. Conclusions

5. Municipal organisational capability

1. Introduction

2. Twenty years of organisational transition

3. Governance and the political-administrative interface

4. Organisational leadership and the capability of the municipal manager

5. Financial management

6. Technical capacity: variations across the settlement spectrum

7. Incentives and the performance management system

8. Citizen engagement

9. Conclusions

6. Financing municipal services

1. Introduction

2. The twenty-year transition in financing municipal services

3. Functions of local government and associated expenditure

4. Structure of the local government fiscal framework

5. Profiling municipalities and their partners

6. The adequacy of municipal finances

7. Transfers from the national fiscus

8. Financing infrastructure

9. Property rates

10. Tariffs for ‘trading services’

11. Subsidising services to the poor

12. Conclusions

7. Water and sanitation

1. Introduction

2. Institutional transition

3. Access to services

4. Institutions

5. Financing water and sanitation provision

6. Conclusions

8. Electricity

1. Introduction

2. The electricity policy transition

3. Access to services

4. Power generation and the electricity crisis in South Africa

5. Institutions

6. Financing electricity provision

7. Conclusions

9. Roads and public transport

1. Introduction

2. Transition over the past twenty years

3. Access to transport services

4. Infrastructure

5. Institutions

6. Finance

7. Conclusions

10. Housing

1. Introduction

2. The housing transition over twenty years

3. Housing delivery

4. Housing finance

5. Housing in the broader context of human settlements

6. Conclusions

11. Is South Africa a capable state?

1. The capable SA state: ‘Yes, but ...’

2. The ‘time and sector’ differences

3. What does a capable state look like?

4. Conclusions

Appendix A

Appendix B

Notes

References

Index