Modulasetulo ...
English:
... Ministers and hon members, like the Chairperson indicated, the ANC supports the Division of Revenue Bill. Hon members, the majority of South African population depends on public health facilities for their wellbeing. According to the General Household Survey, seven in every 10 households use public health facilities rather than private hospitals. The survey further shows that in a population of over 56 million, only 16,9% of South Africans had medical aid in 2017. Twenty five percent of households with medical aid are concentrated in Gauteng and the Western Cape. Limpopo province has the lowest rate of medical coverage of 8,3%, followed by the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal at 9,9% and 12,6% respectively. This is a direct reflection of a deep unequal society and it is against this context that as the ANC we support the drive for the implementation of the National Health Insurance. We cannot in this day and age allow for inequality of access to quality health services.
To continue, the ANC says that good quality health services for all is non- negotiable. The changes and interventions in the
Division of Revenue Bill, amongst others, is 289,3 million that is shifted from the National Health Insurance direct grant, personal services component to the direct National Health Insurance grant for contracting health professionals to enable provinces to pay nurses, doctors and other professionals to create further capacity in health facilities. A total of R89,3 million is rolled over from the procurement of medical equipment and linen, especially for hospitals in Limpopo provinces.
Most of the reductions in the NHI indirect grant come from funds that were not spent in some provinces, and this has no bearing or impact on the roll- out of the NHI. The most recent General Household Survey indicates that the ANC government has made significant progress to give South Africans access to safe drinking water. In 2017, 88,6% of South Africans households had access to piped water. However, more needs to be done for rural communities where 3,7% of the population still fetch water from rivers, from streams, from stagnant water pools, dams and springs.
The recent drought has significantly damaged the economy and threatened our people's right to safe drinking water. However, we also note that the devastating drought has taught us important
lessons about the value of water and the need of treating water as a precious and scarce resource.
We all know that water and electricity infrastructure development and maintenance is capital intensive. It is for this reason that as Members of Parliament and leaders, we should pay for these services and equally encourage our people to pay for the provision of these services. We need to revise the Masakhane Campaign; to instil a culture of payment for services.
According to SA Local Government Association, Salga, by the end of June 2019, households owed municipalities R118,6 billion.
Setswana:
Re re fa re ntse
English:
But I also want to say to the Minister and MECs of Public Works, it is unacceptable that government departments and their entities should be owing municipalities. And accounting officers and chief financial officer, CFOs, should be held responsible. An amount of R10,3 billion owed by organs of state is no small money. None of them should boast about their performance when one sphere of
government is burdened by their lack of payment for services. But I also want to respond to the hon Wessels, and say that businesses owes municipalities R24,7 billion.
Afrikaans:
Dit is baie geld wat die ... [Onhoorbaar.] ... werke kan herstel en baie dienste in gemeenskappe verbeter.
English:
Hon members, remember that in terms of the Local Government Fiscal Framework, the size of own revenue to be generated by municipalities is determined by the volumes of water and electricity that is consumed by businesses and nonpoor households. So, nonpayment for these services denies municipalities an opportunity to raise the requisite 70% to fund their budget, resulting in the inability of these municipalities to deliver on the intended objectives.
The municipal disaster recovery grant allocation of R113 million to Ethekwini Metropolitan Municipality and R20,3 million to Ugu District Municipality to repair roads that were damaged by floods in 2017 is appreciated. But also, it is concerning to see reductions from local government indirect grants due to projected
underexpenditure in the regional bulk infrastructure grant, the integrated national electrification programme grant and the municipal systems improvement grant. Local government is at the coalface of service delivery and these reductions will definitely have a negative impact on services at this level.
We are calling on National Treasury and the Department of Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs to support municipalities in ensuring that they develop plans on how to improve spending at this level. The amendment that to be made in the Division of Revenue Act on school infrastructure backlogs grant is critical to demonstrate the progress that has been made by the ANC government in the education sector. These are critical to reflect the increase in the number of schools provided with improved sanitation from 195 to 717 schools, and water from 177 to 227 schools. Seven hundred million rand was added to this grant in the 2019- 20 financial year to make sure that we can address sanitation appropriate for education, which is called safe Infrastructure.
The ANC is equally concerned by the reduction of R40 million of the school infrastructure grant. We saw children writing exams under the scorching heat in this country. This infrastructure
needs to be addressed. We have also seen and heard the MEC saying that is will take us more than 100 years to eradicate the deplorable latrines that we see our children being subjected to in rural areas.
We cannot have a situation where our children here in South Africa are still carrying the burden of segregated apartheid planning in terms of education and allocation of resources. [Time expired.] So, we are saying that we want to make sure this infrastructure is developed ... Thank you, House Chairperson. [Interjections.]