Chairperson, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, comrades and friends ...
... ngizothi angiqale nje ngiveze ukuthi uma sikhuluma ngohulumeni wasekhaya, sikhuluma ngohulumeni obalulekile ngoba sonke lapha akekho ongahlali kuhulumeni wasekhaya, ngisho uMongameli uqobo lwakhe uhlala ewadini. Ngakho-ke kufanele njalo sazi ukuthi izinqumo esizithathayo akekho umuntu lapha okuthiwa unguzwelonke uma ngabe kukhulunywa ngewadi ngoba sonke sihlala emawadini, kuhulumeni wasekhaya.
Engifisa ukukuveza lapha kubahlonishwa yilokhu kokuthi unyaka wezimali komasipala awuhambisani nonyaka wezimali onjengokahulumeni kazwelonke. Siyazi ukuthi laphaya unyaka wezimali komasipala uqala ekuqaleni kukaJulayi bese uphela ekupheleni kukaJuni onyakeni olandelayo. Lokhu-ke ngikuphakamisa ngoba ngifuna ukuthi sikuqonde lapha esikwenzile ngesikhathi sichibiyela lo Mthethosivivinywa, akuthi uma kuzothintwa imingcele yomasipala, kofanele sazi ukuthi ukuthinteka kwaleyo mingcele kumbe ukusebenza kokuthinteka komngcele kuzosebenza njalo uma kuqala unyaka wezimali, ukuze izimali lezi ezisuke sezabelwe ngokwamawadi noma omasipala zikwazi ukuthi zabiwe ngendlela eyiyo.
Lokhu sikubona ngokuthi esizamile ukukwenza lapha njengekomiti ukuthi uma kuzothinteka imingcele yomasipala kuzofanele ukuthi bonke abantu ababambe iqhaza bangedlulwa bashiywe, bese kutholakale sekukhulunywa nabalaphaya phezulu bezange abantu bathintwe bonke. Lokhu sikubonise ngokuthi sikuveze laphaya ukuthi ikomiti eliklama imingcele esikhundleni sokuthatha isikhathi eside njengezinyanga eziyisithupha, sasibone ukuthi kungakuhle ukuthi isikhathi esingathi siningi kunaso sonke kube izinyanga ezine.
Saphinde futhi sakuveza laphaya ukuthi uNgqongqoshe wezaseKhaya esifundazweni kofanele ukuthi uma ebona kudingekile ukuthi isikhathi sibe sifushane kunalokho, kube nguye othatha isinqumo kodwa ngemuva kokuxhumana noNgqongqoshe wezeziMali kazwelonke.Senzela ukuthi kungabi khona ukushayisana kutholakale ukuthi imali uyinqumile uNgqongqoshe wesifundazwe kanti uNgqongqoshe wezeziMali kazwelonke akazi. Senzela futhi ukuthi kungavele kugxume kuvele kube nguNgqgongqoshe woHulumeni beziFundazwe nezaseKhaya kazwelonke othintana kuphela noNgqongqoshe wezeziMali bese benquma. Sithi-ke bonke laba abathintane uma kukhona uguquko olufanele ukwenziwa kumasipala wasekhaya.
Ngiyadlula lapho ngiza lapha esigabeni se-139 lapho sithola khona ukuthi uNgqongqoshe wohulumeni basekhaya osesifundazweni unamandla okuhlakaza uhulumeni kumasipala. Sithi-ke into ebiba yinkinga lapha, uma ngingakhumbuza iNdlu noSihlalo wami ohloniphekile uShiceka, ukuthi ngesikhathi sivakashele abaQulusi lapha kumasipala wabo, sahlangabezana nenkinga ngesikhathi uhulumeni wasekhaya kamasipala wawusuhlakaziwe uNgqongqoshe. Sathola ukuthi ikomiti yewadi ayazi ukuthi izosebenza kanjani ngoba yayingasenaye usihlalo. Phela isigaba se-139 sithi uma kuhlakazwa umkhandlu, wonke amakhansela abe eseyaphuma bese kufanele kwenziwe ukhetho olusha.
Ngaleso sikhathi kwatholakala ukuthi amakomiti amawadi awasakwazi ukuhlangana ngoba osihlalo bawo abasekho. Yikho-ke sivele nalo mthetho othi koba kuhle ukuthi usihlalo wekomiti lewadi akhethwe yibo labantu abayishumi laba esithi bakhethwe abantu ukuthi babe sekomitini lewadi. Ngakho sithi asibanikeze ilungelo lokuthi bamkhethe usihlalo ukuze noma ungahlakazwa umkhandlu kodwa kwazeke ukuthi kuxhumaneke nabantu futhi kukhulunywe nabo ngenqubekela phambili.
Sithi-ke, njengohulumeni onakekelayo oholwa uKhongolose, okuningi esikwenzile lapha sikwenzele ukuthi abantu bakwazi ukubamba iqhaza uma kuthathwa izinqumo ngabo futhi kungatholakali zikhala emoyeni nje kukhulunywe ngabantu bese kuthathwa izinqumo. Sithi abantu kusukela phansi laphaya abambandakanywe ukuze bakwazi ukuthi uma kukhulunywa ngokuphathwa kwabo nabo babekhona. Baye basho njalo ukuthi ayikho into engathi ngaphandle kwethu.
UKhongolose uyawuxhasa lo Mthethosivivinywa nezichibiyelo ohamba nazo. Ngiyabonga. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[... let me start by pointing out that when we are talking about local government, we are talking about the most important sphere of government because among all of us here, not even a single one of us is not from a local government, even the President himself comes from a ward. We must therefore always know that there is no one here who can claim to be solely concerned with issues of national interest only when crucial decisions about wards are taken, because we all live in wards.
What I want to highlight to the hon members is that the municipalities' financial years do not coincide with that of the national government. We know that their financial year starts at the beginning of July and ends at the end of June the following year. I mention this because I want us to understand the whole process that when we amended this Bill, we had to know that the affected boundaries would only start working at the beginning of the financial year, so that the funds which were allocated according to the wards or the municipalities could be properly allocated.
What we have tried to do here as a committee is that when the municipal boundaries are affected, none of the stakeholders should be left out. We don't have to find ourselves engaging with the top officials whilst we did not consult with people on the ground. We have highlighted this by pointing out to the Demarcation Board that instead of taking a longer time, like six months, it should take the maximum of four months.
We have also pointed out that the relevant provincial minister of local government should be the one who decides on the timeframe if he feels that the time allocated should be shorter than that, but this should only happen after consultation with the national Minister of Finance. Such consultation would avoid confusion whereby the relevant provincial minister allocates funds only to find that the Minister of Finance knows nothing about that.
We also want to avoid the bypassing of protocol whereby the national Minister of Provincial and Local Government would only consult the Minister of Finance and then take final decisions, without the involvement of other relevant stakeholders. We are therefore saying all the above-mentioned people should consult one another when there are changes that need to be done in municipalities.
The other important point here is section 139 which states that the provincial minister of local government has the power to dissolve the local council. What we are saying, therefore, is that the problem here was that - if I can just remind the House and my hon chairperson, Mr Shiceka - when we visited the AbaQulusi Municipality, we found that there was no local council, hence the MEC had dissolved it. We discovered that the ward committee did not know how it would operate because it did not have a chairperson anymore. As we all know, section 139 states that when the municipal council is dissolved, all the councillors forfeit their positions and then a new election is held.
At that time we found that the ward committees could not hold meetings anymore because their chairpersons were no longer in office. That is why we came up with the rule which states that the chairperson of the ward committee should be elected by the same 10 people who are said to have been elected by the people to be in the ward committee. We are therefore saying that, let us give them the right to elect the chairperson so that, even if the council is dissolved, at least it would still be possible for them to meet with people and talk to them about development.
We are therefore saying, as the ANC-led and a caring government, everything we have done here is for the people. And they need to play a role when decisions affecting them are taken. Things should not be simply said into the air. And the people must be involved when decisions about them are taken. We are saying people from the grassroots level should be involved when decisions about their governance are taken. As they always say, "nothing about us, without us".]
The ANC supports this Bill with amendments. Thank you.