Hon Chairperson and hon members, good afternoon. The ANC inherited a local government that was dysfunctional, unco-ordinated, unequal and geared to serving a society of few people. These obvious inequalities are defined by the informal settlements that lie all over the show. The advent of democracy meant that these imbalances must be addressed.
The democratic governance in local government is a new phenomenon, as it was introduced in 2000. Today, 11 years later, that legacy will manifest itself in different forms, and that's what the ANC government must reverse to extend services to all people of South Africa, including Khayelitsha, Kwa-Langa, etc.
Therefore, the underspending in infrastructure must be understood in the context of the reconstruction and development of our country. This government is investing a lot on financial resources in infrastructure, to bring back the dignity of our people and create a better life for all. Maybe it is also important not to generalise too much about the underspending. However, the ANC does not necessarily condone it. Therefore, the question is: What is it that should be done, as the member was asking what the government is doing about it?
In 2006-07, the municipal infrastructure grant, MIG, expenditure was at 97%. It did go down the following year to 93%. It went up to 96%, and later this year we understood that it is at 86%. This is just one grant. It excludes the MIG for cities that is accounted for within the equitable share of municipalities. This is not an end in itself, as this grant is meant to augment other infrastructure resources of the municipalities.
The government has created support systems in order to improve infrastructure spending in local government. For example, the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency, which is the initiative of the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, was aimed at creating a dedicated and focused institutional mechanism for managing and co- ordinating the provision of technical support. It was also aimed at the creation of a technical capacity in local government for the accelerated and sustainable provision of municipal infrastructure and services.
The proposal to establish the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency, Misa, as a ring-fenced government component under the Department of Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, was approved recently in August, by the Acting Minister. It is currently being evaluated by the Department of the Public Service and Administration, as provided for in Chapter 6 of the Public Service Act.
Meanwhile, the department is simultaneously undertaking the process of institutionalising and putting the agency into operation. The process entails creating a programme-management unit to run Misa operations; consultations with the relevant stakeholders at all three levels of government on Misa programmes and its operational model; contracting of technical experts, including planning and engineering professionals, to give practical effect to Misa programmes; and managing the transition from the Siyenza Manje programme.
The target is to get Misa support programmes for municipalities off the ground by 11 November. This process of contracting technical experts, currently under way, has an initial target of getting 115 experts on board. In order to improve the spending on infrastructure, the Division of Revenue Act enjoins the municipalities to submit to National Treasury detailed plans of their envisaged project plans for the next financial year, and even for the outer year of 2013-14.
The receiving officer of a municipal infrastructure grant must, by 31 May 2011, submit all technical reports to the sector department responsible for water services, sport and recreation, roads and transport, including environmental affairs matters for all projects to be implemented for 2012- 13. The responsible sector department must evaluate the reports and provide final recommendations to the receiving officer by 29 July. The receiving officer of the municipal infrastructure grant must summit all the project registration forms, including business plans for the projects to be implemented in the next financial year, to the provincial department of local government by 31 August.
The provincial department must provide full recommendations to the receiving officer by 30 September 2011. The receiving officer must submit a detailed project implementation plan of all projects to be implemented in the 2012-13 financial year to the transferring national officer by 31 October. Such details should include timelines regarding project designs, initiation of procurement, and environmental impact assessment, EIA, approvals.
The above are measures that will assist only in part the MIG, which is only a fraction of the infrastructure budgets of municipalities. The introduction of comprehensive planning in municipalities and master infrastructure plans in the Integrated Development Plan, IDP, will improve municipal spending in that all the municipalities will have the designs of all infrastructure projects well in advance and will be able to plan the procurement of this through the current Supply Chain Management policies.
The Misa, Public Services and Utilities, PSU, capacity-building framework seek to address these challenges. The fact that around 24% of engineering capacity in the municipal sector is above 50 years requires that the acceleration of training in these fields must happen, so that the Misa might have the people with experience to assist municipalities in this regard. The sector departments are required to support ... [Interjections.]