Hon Chairperson, His Excellency the Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa hon Kgalema Motlanthe, members of the NCOP, guests and members of the public, this sitting is taking place a day after Human Rights Day, the theme of which was Working Together to Protect Human Dignity for All. The adopted theme for this debate is "Working together to respond to the developmental challenges facing our communities."
Part of the context in this debate includes our reality and therefore the following: In less than two months, the third local government and nonracial democratic elections, after a decade of democratic local government in South Africa, will take place on 18 May 2011. The historic April 1994 elections placed the liberation movement in a position of responsibility to lead the process of reconstruction and development aimed at eradicating the problems of poverty and inequality, created in the main by apartheid.
In turn, as elected public representatives, this places on our shoulders a responsibility to help create a just and equitable economic and social order. Given the Libyan political problem and the generalised instability in Northern Africa, one cannot help but ask if man is a rational animal endowed with a most evolved and distinctive quality: his ability to reason. Why is it that we seem to be bent on repeating history with regard to wars, genocide and unprecedented cruelties?
The accomplished writer, Mark Twain, put it thus, and I quote:
Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, war. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind.
If rationality is the trump card in evolutionary survival, why has no other animal ever come closer?
As the SA Local Government Association, Salga, we have long held the view that when government is working alone and in isolation, it cannot achieve much. We know that what is needed are partnerships that straddle all spheres of government that seek to include all organisations of civil society and collaboration with local communities. Going to the future, we will strengthen and deepen our plans of the development strategies in every municipality, the five-year integrated development plan, IDP and the annually revised and reviewed IDP.
This will not only help in the process of building a South African nation with a common patriotism and loyalty in which the cultural, linguistic and religious diversity of the people is fully recognised, but it will also be able to promote economic development for the benefit of all; advance the cause of gender equality and women's emancipation; support and promote the struggle for the rights of children, the elderly and the disabled; and support and advance the cause of national liberation development, world peace, and disarmament; and environmental sustainable development.
The municipalities across the length and breadth of our country have been grappling with the question of how we make the commitment of building a more humane and caring society an even more palpable reality.
Despite whatever limitations are imposed on us by lack of resources, human and financial, we have consistently maintained our unambiguous commitment to the poor. We have articulated our understanding that government is about the wellbeing of people and that both the elected public office bearers or representatives and the administrative executive authority at each local government and municipality have a responsibility to serve.
This should become a generalised experience from the uppermost to the lowest level of each municipal organisation. What brings all of us together are the people, their wellbeing and the advancement of their lives - the improvement of quality of life of all our people in general, and the poorest of the poor in particular.
The achievements are indeed many. There is differentiated evidence in all the 283 municipalities. The national picture is quite clear. On water, the slogan that comes to mind is Water is Life; and on sanitation, the slogan that comes to mind is Sanitation is Dignity. All of these things are becoming a reality at a local level. More people have clean drinking water than ever before. As the Deputy President has already indicated, about 59% to 69% of people have access to sanitation.
More people than ever before have access to electricity. More and more waste is now being removed from local areas than ever before. Free basic services have ranged from 10 kilolitres of water to 100 kilowatts of electricity per hour being delivered to rebates on sanitation. Even as we say this, directly speaking, we know that much more still needs to be done. We acknowledge both the extent of the challenge and the levels of commitment required in addressing these. We also accept the guidance of political leadership on the new growth path, as articulated by President Jacob Zuma, when he said, and I quote:
Our goal is clear. We want to have a country where millions more South Africans have decent employment opportunities, which has a modern infrastructure and a vibrant economy and where the quality of life is high. We all have a responsibility to work hard to make this a reality.
Let me assure all of you that the municipalities will play a critical role in ensuring that this happens. We will ensure that this does not merely become a routine slogan. Therefore, detailed plans will have to be developed from each metropolitan municipality, local municipality and district municipalities, to individual entities and municipal-owned enterprises. As we make this commitment, we also wish to state that we will endeavour to do more with less and creatively or innovatively intervene to advance our country and its entire people.
It is our view that the future of local government is indeed a bright one for organised local government and municipalities in South Africa. Some of the objective indications are as follows: firstly, the steady increase of resources being allocated to the local government sphere; and secondly, the announcement by the Minister of Human Settlements that some municipalities, including all the six metros, some districts and local municipalities, are being accredited to deliver level one and level two of the housing development.
Of course, as we move to the future, we are expecting more responsibilities to be handed over to municipalities and that they would seize the opportunity in turn to demonstrate capability and ensure a sense of being more effective and efficient. The separation of powers at local government level ... [Interjections.]