House Chair and hon members, the topic for discussion today is long overdue. Municipalities have failed to govern effectively for almost two decades and yet we keep debating, without much progress and noticeable results. It is time to act on this issue and finally implement solutions.
We must address the roots of the problem and not the symptoms. The failure of municipalities to spend their budgets effectively remains a problem and becomes a greater obstacle for the socioeconomic progress of the nation. It is therefore of the utmost importance that this inability is not only debated, but acted upon immediately.
According to the Treasury, for the nine months as at 31 March, only 45% of the funds in all metros have been spent. The root of the inability to spend the allocated funds points directly to the deployed cadres' inability, poor financial management, poor project management and a lack of skilled personnel.
Proper financial management has to be in place in order for municipalities to collect revenue and function effectively. We are in need of a long-term strategy that will include a coherent supply chain alongside the technological solution.
Every municipality should have a clearly defined financial operation in place to ensure that money is spent optimally for cost-effectiveness. It is therefore vital that improved financial management is practised and critical senior positions are filled with suitably qualified people.
Municipalities' failure to collect money owed to them and to spend their budgets means that service delivery is severely compromised. According to Treasury, municipalities around the country are owed R62 billion for outstanding property rates and services fees. The government debt is also unpaid.
Currently South Africa is faced with a R1,5 trillion infrastructure backlog. It is unacceptable that, while money is available and people are waiting for service delivery, the municipalities are dragging their feet. The failure to spend the allocated funds also means that we have failed to deliver basic services to many South Africans.
The Bill of Rights of the Constitution, sections 26 and 27 states, and I quote: All South Africans have the right to adequate housing, health care services and sufficient food and water.
Almost in every corner of South Africa we continue to witness potholes, poor sanitation and poor infrastructure. Provincial and municipal roads are not well maintained, whether you are driving at Sekhukhune, Dewetsdorp, or on the R702 or R26 roads. What you see is a lack of road infrastructure maintenance.
Although South Africa has over 500 government-built dams and the infrastructure to connect them to water resources, rural communities are still lagging far behind with access to water.
In 2007 R1,6 billion was invested to eradicate the bucket system. Now, in 2011, as we speak, 1 480 houses at Botshabelo in Thaba Nchu still have this toilet system. By 2007 the National Bucket Eradication Programme deadline had not been implemented. When you drive along the N2 in Cape Town and pass Khayelitsha, you see the dehumanisation of our people.
The bucket system is one of the most demeaning systems of apartheid. Despite government's promises in 2011 for a better life for all, the system has not yet been eradicated. [Time expired.]