Deputy Speaker, through you to the Chief Whip: The FF Plus does support the Bill. However, the biggest problem is the fact that this Bill will not actually address the collapsing municipalities and the biggest failure of the ANC-led government.
Since 1994, the single biggest failure of the ANC-led government has been at local government level - and you have many failures! The problem, the reason for that failure, is the fact that the ANC does not regard legislation as important. They regard legislation as guidelines, only guidelines. Go and look at what your
councillors, your mayors, and your speakers do on a daily basis in local council meetings. Illegal meetings take place. They have a complete disregard for the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act. These amendments will mean nothing because they won't be implemented. They won't be adhered to. The code of conduct for councillors is positive, but it won't be adhered to. It won't even be regarded as singly important because the ANC is only interested in a place to redeploy its cadres, a place to make more money, and a place to take more money from the people.
Local government is not the centre of service delivery. The second reason for our failures on local-government level is the ideology of the ANC to centralise everything. We heard the hon President say there should be fewer provinces. That is wrong! We must have more provinces, more local government units of service delivery because we have to take the power of service delivery closer to the people, not further away. [Interjections.] A lot of these amendments are only needed because the ANC cannot even trust its own appointed municipal managers. Why do you have to have
MECs declare vacancies and not your municipal managers? It is simply because you cannot trust them, because you appointed people that are not competent to do the job. You appointed people on political grounds, and now there are factions, and the ANC is falling apart, and you have problems. Now you need amendments to legislation.
We do support the Bill, but what we are saying is that the ANC will be ...
Afrikaans:
Die ANC gaan gestraf word by die stembus as gevolg van u mislukkings op munisipale vlak. Dit is waar die mense ly. Dit is waar riool tussen huise instroom. Dit is waar mense ly as gevolg van u swak dienslewering en die feit dat u glad nie belangstel in die mense nie. Ek dank u.
English: