Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, the sphere of local government is charged with the fundamental responsibility to integrate a number of government programmes in order to change the lives of ordinary people. Due to enormous challenges facing local government, it becomes particularly important that municipalities have adequate capacity to render services to the poorest of the poor to ensure a better life for all.
Municipalities must have sufficient financial, administrative, technical and institutional capacity to develop and implement their integrated development plans. Local government, as the sphere of government closest to the people, is at the coal face of service delivery and is confronted by service delivery protests.
It must be said that some of the challenges are not purely within local government competency. In this context other spheres of government are bound by the Constitution to provide support and supervision to the municipalities to ensure delivery to the people.
This support is provided in different ways, including, and more importantly, through capacity building and training of municipal officials and councillors. It is important to know that the government, over a number of years, has devoted funds to support capacity building and training, together with training institutions such as the local government sector and education and training authorities.
There are also a number of training institutions such as the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy, Palama, formerly known as the SA Management Development Institute, Samdi; the Vulindlela Academy, run by the Department of Public Service and Administration; and other private training providers directly involved in the training of municipal officials and councillors on an ongoing basis.
Notwithstanding this funding, there are persistent challenges. Systemic weaknesses and low capacity translate into poor responsiveness and structural ability to act as a responsive sphere of government.
The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs administers a Municipal Systems Improvement Grant, MSIG, while the National Treasury administers a Finance Management Grant, FMG. In the current year a total of R577 million is allocated to these two capacity-building programmes, with 212 million to MSIG and R365 million to FMG. The ANC feels that it is important to applaud this financial commitment to address the capacity challenges.
However, there are other weaknesses that must be resolved. The persistent underspending of these grants shows that municipalities are sometimes unaware of what should be done with the funds, which is perhaps due to a lack of proper planning. The most disturbing feature of these grants, with specific reference to MSIG, is the lack of clearly defined objectives and targets. The other challenge is the inadequate co-ordination of capacity- building programmes.
There is a serious need to streamline in order to eliminate suboptimal impact. In the absence of streamlined co-ordination structures, each programme tends to establish its own structure, which results in duplication.
Although their intentions are similar, various capacity programmes have different monitoring and evaluation arrangements and reporting requirements. This creates an administrative burden for municipalities which may have to complete several similar monthly quantitative and narrative reports to different donors.
A further challenge is that most programmes are not independently evaluated and linked and they are not evaluated against financial and nonfinancial objectives of municipal performance. Such criteria should be used in motivating for the continued existence of the programme and to stimulate an analysis of why some municipalities continue to experience distress.
It is worth noting that government and other partners have been engaged in a process of capacity building through various interventions, including Siyenza Manje, which deploys 97 experts, as well as Project Consolidate, which deployed 281 experts, to provide hands-on support to struggling municipalities.
Letona le le tlhololo, nna le wena re a itse gore puso ya ANC e dirile go le kanakang le gore ANC e fitlhetse puso ya selegae e le mo maemong afe. Mo pusong ya maloba, batho ba rona ba ne ba ka se ka ba ngongorega, ba ikuela kgotsa ba dira ditshupetso ka ntlha ya gore ba ne ba ka iphitlhela ba latlhetswe mo ntlong lefitshwana. ANC e rutile batho ba rona ka ga ditshwanelo tsa setho. Batho ba itse seo se ba tshwanetseng. Se re tshwanetseng go se dira ke gore re gatele pele re ba rute ka maikarabelo a a lolameng. (Translations of Setswana paragraph follows.)
[Hon Minister, we both know how much the ANC has done and what a state the homelands were in when the ANC came into power. In the previous government, our people could not complain, voice their concerns or protest because that would result in their imprisonment. The ANC taught our people their human rights. People know what their rights are. What we need to do is carry on by educating them about their responsibilities.]
The National Treasury provides training accredited by the SA Qualifications Authority for officials and councillors. However, there is great concern and complaints that some councillors do not attend such initiatives and some do not complete courses. This must be addressed to ensure that maximum benefit accrues from the training to the municipality and the public at large.
I'm happy as I stand here, because the hon Doman did not forget my slogan, "Together we can do more". At the end of the day, irrespective of how you'd like to twist it, that phrase is a fact. Together we can do more. [Applause.]
What I can point out is the difference between the ANC and the DA, in particular. The ANC always acknowledges where it should improve. The DA thinks they are angels and need not improve. That is a serious problem because ... The ANC supports the Budget Vote. [Time expired.] [Applause.]