SOUTH AFRICAN CITIES LEARNING AND SUPPORT NETWORK
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
Proposal Call: City Audit Project
Introduction
The South African Cities Learning and Support Network (SACN) has been
established to promote good governance and management of South African
cities. This will be achieved by analysing strategic challenges facing South
African cities, particularly in the context of globalisation and national
economic development; by collecting, collating, analysing, assessing,
disseminating and applying the experience of large city government in a
South African context and by promoting partnerships between different
spheres of government to support the governance of South African cities.
The nine cities which form the SACN are Buffalo City Municipality, the City of
Cape Town, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, Ethekwini Metropolitan
Municipality, the City of Johannesburg, Mangaung Municipality, Msunduzi
Municipality, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality and the City of
Tshwane.
The Economic Development Programme of the SACN has been established to
increase national economic growth and development by strengthening the
economic efficiency and effectiveness of the participating cities through
mutual support, learning and cooperation on economic development.
The Terms of reference of the Economic Development Programme is attached
for information.
Project Objective
The objective of the City Audit Project is to determine the economic
development resource capacity, operational arrangements and initiatives of
the participating SACN cities relative to one other.
The information from the audit will be utilised to establish the status quo of
the cities, which will in turn be used to determine areas of improvement in
order to establish the necessary conditions for the municipalities to become
effective agents for economic growth.
On-site surveys are to be undertaken at each municipal locality. The
approach to be followed is to ensure that all information collected from the
cities is unambiguous and comparable in all respects.
The required deliverables are electronic and hard copy documents consisting
of both qualitative as well as quantitative information. The report is to be
completed in Microsoft Word and the spreadsheets are to be provided in
Microsoft Excel.
Audit Components
The following components are to be captured in the audit for each city:
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Staff employed in economic development functions.
o Total
o By organisational level – management, professional, administrative.
o By employment status – full time, fixed term contract, short term
contract/temporary
o By race
o By gender
o By skills - certificate/diploma/graduate/honours/masters/PhD
- economics/project management/ development/ finance/
other
o By experience – number of years in economic development
functions and related disciplines
o By years of service – total, per private and public sector
(national/provincial/local)
o By age
o Total cost to employer
o Average cost to employer per staff member – total, per
organisational level
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Description of economic development functions
o Type of function – people management, data analysis, information
management, strategy development, project design, project
management, project monitoring, performance monitoring,
organisational marketing, investment, trade and export promotion,
informal trade and sector facilitation, by-law enforcement, SMME
training and support, and inter-governmental liaison.
o Clients – local business (established, small, and informal); tourists
o Stakeholders – provincial and national government; NGOs; CBOs;
organised labour, ratepayer organisations; academic and research
institutions
o Organisational composition – organisational design and linkages,
institutional arrangements (agencies and separate business
entities), membership of organisations

Economic infrastructure investment
o By type
o By number and size
o By market value
o By location
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Budgets – Operating and Capital
o By type of economic development function category
(policy/information, project implementation, facilitation, and
marketing)
o For operating budget only - broken down into administration
(stationery, tools and equipment, office space); salaries (staff)
and fees (consultants); other expenditure (to be specified)
o For previous, current and next two financial years
o Percentage of Economic Development budget (per item)
o Percentage of municipality budget (total)
o Include provincial and national budgets for city area?
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Strategies, plans and policies
o
o
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o
o
o
o
o
o
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Further details to be addressed via “Rethinking Economic
Development Strategies” Project
Projects
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o
o
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o
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o
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Completed since 1999 and currently being undertaken
Name
Objective of strategy, plan or project
Geographical area
Sectoral description
Date of completion/planned completion
Period of relevance
Key clients, beneficiaries and stakeholders
Completed since 1999 and currently being undertaken
Name
Project objective
Geographical area
Sectoral description
Start date and completion/planned completion date
Period of relevance
Key clients, beneficiaries and stakeholders
Project Cost – total and per financial year
Data, information and research
o Name of data set, information or research report per
municipality
o Detailed investigation to be undertaken by the Data and
Information Project
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Inter-city cooperation
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
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Name of initiative
Cities involved
Objectives of initiative
Key clients, beneficiaries and stakeholders
Geographical area
Sectoral description
Start date and completion/planned completion date
Period of relevance
Cost of initiative
International benchmarks
Appropriate international city benchmarks are to be identified and
similar data sets are to be collated as far as possible.
Criteria for the identification of international benchmarks:
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Cities which have a good track record in facilitating economic
growth and development
Existing relationships between participating cities and foreign
counterparts
City in a country with similar economic trajectory dynamics
Metropolitan city/economic centre of country
Preferably similar three sphere government system
Hub function – business activities outside of city’s immediate
borders
Skills and Competencies Required
The following skills and competencies will be required to ensure the
successful completion of the City Audit Project:
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Knowledge/experience of economic development
Knowledge/experience of local government
Data collection
Data capturing
Data collation
Interviewing/inter-personal skills
Project management
Strategic planning
Timeframes and costing
Individual timeframes and fees are to be attached to each of the following
phases/activities of the project:
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Project plan
Survey design
City surveys
Data collation
Analysis
Monitoring
Communication and reporting requirements
Integration with SACN web site
Final report submission
Project completion is expected by March 2003.
Proposal Submission
Proposals are to be submitted to Mr/s . . . . . . . by no later than 16h30 on . .
. . at the following address: . . . . . . .
Further Information
Further information on this project is available from Mr/s . . . . . . . .
Contact details: . . . . . . . . . . .