Chairperson, thank you very much for the opportunity to make some remarks regarding Taking Parliament to the People, which is one of our most effective tools of public participation. It is a tool for engaging with our people, discussing with, informing and educating them about how Parliament or the National Council of Provinces' functions, and how they can monitor government programmes on the ground. It is also a tool for making sure that information reaches the government on issues that need to be addressed on the ground.
Therefore, once again, the National Council of Provinces has reinforced this programme of Taking Parliament to the People. It has given us and the people an opportunity to raise the issues that bother them on the ground - bread and butter issues that affect them on a daily basis.
It has also given all the three spheres of government - national, provincial and municipalities - an opportunity to respond to these issues. Through this programme, South Africans living in remote areas are now in a position to access us as Parliament. It enables us to engage with them physically and have eye to eye contact with them and talk to them directly and get their issues resolved.
I just want to dwell on a few issues that have been raised by the people when we were at Lady Frere, in the Eastern Cape. I see that hon Moerane is here, as well as Mr Le Roux - no, Mr Le Roux, you are not from the legislature. You are part of the legislature anyway, because you are from that province. Who else comes from the Eastern Cape? Ms Dlulane is here, but I don't see other people. But, all I want to ask - Marius, where is he? - is that you make sure that you take the time to work in that particular area from time to time. Carry this report with you. Go there and make sure that the things that people have raised are happening on the ground. Follow them up. It does not matter whether it is the national government, the municipality or the provincial government that should do those things; it is our duty to make sure that those things are happening.
In terms of local government, the following issues were raised: the lack of access to clean water, sanitation and sewerage systems; the lack of service delivery in general; inadequate electricity supply; insufficient infrastructural development; decent housing; and no water for irrigation or less water in many areas. You would remember that we recommended that government should get involved to make sure that the big dam around Lady Frere is utilised so that people can get potable water from it. Because this dam is big enough, it could also be utilised for irrigation so that people can continue with farming in that particular area.
In terms of LED, Local Economic Development, some of the income-generating agricultural projects have ground to a halt at the moment owing to a lack of water. As I have said, if we can begin to generate water for that scheme, the people will be in a position to go on working on those agricultural projects which have almost ground to a halt.
The small, medium and micro enterprises are not supported enough and there is no evidence of municipal funding for some of them. We still have to do a lot of work in this regard to make sure that these small enterprises rise in number, because they are part of the economic hub in any province. They play a very significant role in developing our economy and that makes them full participants in the economy of the country. If they are not supported, they will not be in a position to participate fully in the economy of the country.
The lack of transport hampers the delivery of crops, the markets and other marketing strategies, and this is still a problem. That is what we have to look at. We have to talk to the Department of Trade and Industry and see how we can assist those people. There is very little capacity-building, particularly with regard to the administrative task and operations of these small enterprises.
The lack of security for initiated projects in some instances leads to theft and vandalism. Those are the things that government has to look at. Locally initiated projects dealing with education, school feeding, health, correctional services and social development are not fully supported by government at times.
With regard to integrated planning, which is a very important tool for the municipality to be able to deliver, we have noticed that priorities are sometimes duplicated in terms of the Integrated Development Plans. We now want to take this opportunity to encourage municipalities to make sure that, as they compile these IDPs, they go to the people themselves and not get consultants to do these things for them. Municipalities must go there and discuss with the people and find out what their needs are. Before compiling any IDP, they should first discuss with the people the priorities they would like to have funded.
The implementation of the IDPs is crucial because it is no use having an IDP and not implementing it. At the end of the term, you would find that you have had a lot of IDPs, but there has been a lack of implementation. Therefore, we need to strengthen capacity in terms of the delivery of that plan that has been identified by the municipality in co-operation with the people.
In terms of health matters, there was a notice of overcrowding owing to overutilisation of clinic services; insufficient staff in the clinics; lack of electricity and satellite installations at some health care facilities; reliance on old X-ray machines to perform scans and other related functions at hospitals; lack of provision of 24-hour services; and an insufficient number of ambulances and medical emergency personnel. Consequently, people have to be transported to clinics - some of them on wheelbarrows and others in hired cars - whilst they don't have money because they don't work. These are some of the things we have to look at. Another issue raised was the shortage of medication which has to be dispensed to people.
Regarding social security, land beneficiaries indicated that they were not receiving enough assistance from government. Individuals and communities have received land from government, but, to date, they have received little assistance, in the form of training and infrastructure from government, in order to become productive. Fencing of farming land continues to be a great challenge, because the livestock gets into the land and feeds on the product that has been planted by the people on their land. Therefore, we need to fence in this land for the people. Grazing land for stock is also limited and we should get enough grazing for the stock. Some of the issues that were raised were the need for proper irrigation systems, the catchment areas and incomplete work by contractors.
In terms of education and the Extended Public Works Programme, EPWP, the following issues were raised: some of the schools are still built from mud; the lack of electricity, water and sanitation in some areas; the schools nutrition programme is not very effective in some of the schools; and a lack of roads and bridges restricts access to some of the schools, because when the river is overflowing, children cannot go to school, leading to poor school attendance. These are some of the issues that were raised, including the insufficient budget to meet the needs of schools and the prevalence of a high teacher-pupil ratio.
In terms of the EPWP, accommodation and funding for home-based care are still challenges we need to look at. Further training is needed for administrative and financial skills. There is also a lack of support for municipalities to engage in projects. Applying for a foster care grant remains a challenge, and this leads to backlogs with regard to social workers processing child grants. Backlogs with regard to the establishment of Early Childhood Development Centres is also an issue that is raised in the report, and we have to look at it. It is therefore very important to note the lack of time we have experienced this year since this is an electioneering year and with the elections at our doorstep. Together we can do more in the fourth Parliament.
I would like to request that those who will be coming back to this House should take this work forward and not let it fall by the wayside. They must make sure that all the issues that have been raised by our people on the ground can be expedited so as to make their lives better. That is what we are committing ourselves to doing, and that should be done. We should not hesitate to say to them that we are here for them and can help them do these things. I table this report and I ask you to adopt it. I thank you very much. [Applause.]