Hon Chairperson, Cabinet Ministers, distinguished members of this House, honourable premiers, MECs, executive mayors, mayors and councillors, traditional leaders present, chairpersons of entities, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, we are honoured to present to this august House the integrated Budget Vote for the Departments of Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs for the financial year 2011- 12.
As we meet today, it is with deep sadness that we are meeting under the shadow of the passing away of one of our towering giants in the liberation movement and the country. May the soul of Ma Sisulu find eternal peace. May the values she dedicated her life to be the beacon that shows direction to all leadership in all spheres of government and other sectors of society across the nation.
Chairperson, we are also meeting here today with the memory of the recent local government elections still fresh in our minds. New leadership is assuming office in municipal councils in cities and towns across the country. The renewed focus on accelerated service delivery should be a call to immediate action to all of us in national, provincial and local government.
The priorities of the Departments of Co-operative Governance and of Traditional Affairs for the 2011-12 financial year are streamlined to achieve the mandate just received from the electorate during the local government elections. The two departments have managed to align their programmes with a new vision and extended mandate of the Ministry of Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and are ready to support local government with increased vigour.
Government remains committed to building on the progress that we have made in realising our vision of a better life for all. A number of flagship projects and critical interventions have been identified to give effect to the Ministry's mandate.
After the successful roll-out of the Clean Cities and Towns programme in three municipalities in the Eastern Cape earlier this year, this programme will be further rolled out to other cities and towns. The objective is to promote environmental health and programmes to change waste into wealth, particularly the recycling of waste and refuse-removal initiatives. These will include the installation of refuse bins in our communities.
The Operation Clean Audit 2014 campaign will be further intensified to promote unqualified audits by 2014. The improvement of results in 2009-10 compared with 2008-09 was encouraging, but still more needs to be done. The department will continue strengthening its relationship with the Auditor- General and continue collaborating with provinces with regard to the support and monitoring of municipalities to improve on their audit outcomes.
During 2011-12, the focus of the Business Adopt-a-Municipality initiative will be more on facilitating further engagement with the business sector and state-owned entities to support municipalities with institutional and service delivery challenges. Infrastructure backlogs and service delivery challenges in the country call for more creative solutions and stronger partnerships with the private and other sectors of our society to find lasting solutions.
An inspectorate to fight fraud and corruption in municipalities has been established. The inspectorate will collaborate with and complement the ongoing work done by the Department of Public Service and Administration, the Presidency and other stakeholders. In order for the inspectorate to be successful in its work, co-ordination with provincial anticorruption units and forums is crucial. The support and co-operation of elected and appointed officials in municipalities will also be key to combating corruption in the sphere of local government.
Work on a policy paper on co-operative governance will continue during this financial year. The aim is to develop a governance model that assists in the conduct of co-operative governance and bringing government closer to its people. This work will run in parallel with an updated policy paper on developmental local government. The policy paper on local government aims to assess progress made thus far in democratising our society through the achievement of a responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government system within the context of a developmental state.
A differentiated approach to managing service delivery through interventions in municipal financing, planning and support underlies several of the sub-output areas. In this regard, a policy framework to bring intergovernmental coherence to the approach is being developed. This will include the concept of segmentation of municipalities, a revised integrated development plan framework to bring critical focus to the priority service delivery areas, a simplified revenue plan for poorer performing or more vulnerable entities, and further studies on the governance options for viable and nonviable municipalities.
The emphasis during the 2011-12 financial year will be on strengthening support to municipalities to ensure access to quality basic services. The department will also work together with municipalities that are underspending on infrastructure, to turn the situation around. Although service delivery challenges exist, I am proud to announce that in the past financial year, the department achieved its targets of increasing access to basic services and, in particular, of rolling out water and sanitation to more poor households.
We are also in the process of developing a technical capacity-building and skills development programme, in conjunction with tertiary and further education and training institutions, towards building the capacity of poor, weak and rural municipalities in the areas of engineering and artisans. This programme is also designed to address skills challenges within the sector generally.
With regard to the Siyenza Manje programme, in an attempt to ensure better co-ordination of technical support programmes provided to municipalities as per the department's strategy, government took a decision to integrate Siyenza Manje with the new technical programme of our department. We will redesign the programme to ensure that these engineers also mentor professionals deployed in municipalities.
Within the context of the New Growth Path, the department will in this financial year remodel the framework and approach to local government economic development also to place the private sector at the core. The main aim is to promote and support private-sector-driven catalytic business ventures and programmes, which can support job creation on a larger scale. We also recognise that small, medium and micro enterprises, ie the SMME sector, emerging farmers and co-operatives have a critical role to play in job creation, and that they need to be mobilised. Our view is that this sector should benefit directly from the value chain and other beneficiation downstream.
Amongst its objectives, the 2011 amending Bill of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act focuses on strengthening the Minister's powers to regulate human resources matters in local government. The purpose is to professionalise municipal administration and set uniform norms and standards regarding municipal administration. As the first steps of the recruitment and retention strategy for specific occupations and professions in local government, three draft frameworks have been developed. These are, one, a co-ordination framework for the deployment of professionals and scarce skills in local government; two, a capacity-building plan for local government; and, three, job classification for local government.
The Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Amendment Bill of 2011 will provide for a more equitable and transparent system of rating different property categories with strengthened regulatory provisions that protect against excessive rating in the interests of a stable macro economy, and that protect the vulnerable through fairer treatment of those who cannot afford to pay rates.
The Bill on monitoring, support and intervention makes provision for the supervision of provinces and municipalities, including both monitoring of and intervention in a municipality when executive obligations are not fulfilled, and for the provision of targeted national and provincial support.
Work on the National Traditional Affairs Bill has commenced with work to consolidate the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act of 2003 and the National House of Traditional Leaders Act of 2009 into a single piece of legislation. The National Traditional Affairs Bill also provides for the amendment of certain provisions of the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers Act and section 81 of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act in order to provide for the remuneration of Khoisan leaders and to enhance the participation of traditional leaders in municipal councils, respectively. The strategic role of the Department of Traditional Affairs is to assist the institution of traditional leadership to transform itself into being a strategic partner with government in the department.
The department has committed itself to contributing towards the achievement of Outcome 9 in a number of ways: firstly, through a consultative process with traditional leaders and the national, provincial and local houses of traditional leaders, the department has sought to facilitate communication leading to the release of land to municipalities for housing, burial and other developmental purposes.
Secondly, the department supports the delivery agreement of Outcome 9 by strengthening collaboration between councils and traditional leaders at the local level for development and service delivery purposes.
The department has also co-ordinated a project on the assessment of the state of governance within the area of traditional affairs. To date, six provincial assessments have been conducted. The process is currently under way to analyse data from provinces and develop a province-specific report, and one composite national report. The relations between the traditional councils and municipalities need to be improved. Both municipalities and traditional councils need to respect their respective statuses and roles. They have to be better informed about the policy and legislation that defines their roles and relationships. They also need to see the potential of mutually beneficial relationships. If municipalities and traditional councils develop effective relationships, service delivery and development can be significantly advanced in rural areas where the biggest challenges are.
Within the system of co-operative governance, each sphere of government needs to work with the other to achieve the developmental outcomes required to ensure a better life for all the people. We also acknowledge the important role of the legislature in keeping the executive to account. In this regard, we acknowledge the important contribution made by initiatives such as the Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on Service Delivery.
We also challenge members of the National Council of Provinces on this occasion to ensure that there is vigilance in oversight and that the unique mandate of the House to allow the provinces and local government to participate in policy-making is further enhanced. Let us all make our contribution to ensure that local government is, indeed, everybody's business. Ngiyabonga. [Thank you.] [Applause.]
Thank you, hon Minister. I now call upon the hon Mokgobi, the chairperson of the select committee.
Hon Chair, hon Minister Nathi Mthetwa, hon Deputy Minister Yunis Carrim, distinguished guests and the House, indeed we bow our heads in memory of the passing of Comrade Chris Hani, a consummate activist, a freedom fighter and a stalwart of the class struggle who stood as tall and unbreakable in life as in death.
We owe our freedom and lives today, amongst many of our heroes and heroines, to leaders who gave up their individual and family lives for our right not only to vote, but to lead free and decent lives and make decent earnings. Their blood has indeed nourished our freedom, and we should all lead responsible and accountable lives, in honour of their memories.
We also convey our heartfelt condolences on the passing of yet another icon of the struggle, Comrade Albertina Sisulu. In memory of this heroine, we urge all of us to view and use the local government election results, not for petty politicking, but as an important opportunity, earned through her sacrifice, to improve the livelihood of our people.
Way back in 1992, 19 years ago and two years before our first democratic election, the ANC adopted a policy guideline for a democratic South Africa called "Ready to Govern". We asserted then, as we do today, that the basic objectives of the ANC policy are fourfold: to strive for the achievement of the rights of all South Africans as a whole to gain political and economic self-determination in a united South Africa; to overcome the legacy of inequality and injustice created by colonialism and apartheid in a swift, progressive and principled way; to develop a sustainable economy and state infrastructure that will progressively improve the quality of life of all South Africans; and to encourage the flourishing of the feeling that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, thereby promoting a common loyalty to and pride in the country and to create a universal sense of freedom and security within its borders.
We have won the freedom to choose our own representatives and, in doing so, to decide for ourselves the character of the state and the actions to direct it towards socioeconomic resolution.
In his state of the nation address in February 2011, the President, Mr Jacob Zuma, emphasised that job creation remained the foremost government priority in this financial year. It is in this context that the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs has ingrained job creation in its strategic plan and budget as the pillars of economic development.
The recent local government election manifesto of the ruling party calls on all of us to "Work Together to Build Better Communities". We believe that creating local governance systems and structures that are effective, efficient, responsive and developmental is the key to the realisation of the vision of making 2011 a year of meaningful job creation and a year of moving the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs to take South Africa forward towards building better communities. All the efforts to create jobs should find expression and constitute the apex in the department's strategic focus during this financial year.
During the presentation of the national Budget, Minister Pravin Gordhan indicated that, and I quote:
We have taken on the challenge that the legacy of apartheid left us - a legacy of disempowerment, landlessness, inequality of opportunity, and millions of unemployed young people who cannot see a realistic prospect for a decent life.
He continued:
... now is the time to do extraordinary things in dealing with our particular development circumstances. It requires new ideas and bold efforts from all - government, business, labour, communities and every family.
It has been our conviction, as the ANC, that the aim of democratising our society and growing our economy inclusively can only be realised through a responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government system that is part of a developmental state, which is the antithesis of the apartheid state.
In the context of the South African Constitution, a developmental state implies that municipalities assume a greater and more significant role in economic and social development: in the context of anything that should be informed by the New Growth Path, the provision of basic services, clean governance, development and redistribution, and the eradication of corruption.
Local government is expected effectively to attain its mandatory mission of delivering services that are adequate and responsive to the needs of our communities. Therefore, there is a serious need for the department to look at issues of capacity-building, as we have just held elections.
This year the department needs to intensify the Operation Clean Audit 2014 campaign, with the aim of improving not only the financial management of municipal revenue, but also asset management, procurement and the overall performance of municipalities, particularly in ensuring more effective and efficient service delivery and development.
In our recent engagement with the Auditor-General on the 2009-10 audit outcomes, current capital assets constitute 75% and 73% of repeated qualifications during the audit outcomes, not to mention disclaimers and other opinions.
During the financial year, the department needs to double its initiative to support municipalities gradually to improve their financial and performance audit outcomes to reach the 2014 clean audit target. This can be the resolution of avoiding section 139 interventions, as most of these interventions arise as a result of financial noncompliance, management incapacities, political leadership challenges, fraud and corruption, incompetency and many other challenges.
One of the obstacles to achieving clean audits in local government is the appointment of people without the required technical skills, which is the fourth attribute of building a developmental state, in terms of the strategy and tactics document of the ANC. Specific shortages identified include economic development specialists, project managers, engineering specialists, development planners, and spatial planners.
I would like to reiterate the point made by the President that local government must appoint people with the appropriate expertise to serve in the right positions in municipalities and government in general. Therefore, speeding up the passing of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill is necessary.
I would further like to reiterate the point made by the Deputy Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs at the conference of the Institute for Local Government Management of SA in Durban. He said: "We are appealing to the newly elected councillors not to arbitrarily replace qualified senior managers." This is the phenomenon that is happening in some municipalities now, so we can expect anything from now on.
We all know that our municipalities have different capacities and are faced with different social and economic challenges. Depending on the different challenges, it will be necessary for municipalities to focus on those responsibilities on which they are able to deliver.
The department therefore needs to do a rigorous data-driven and detailed segmentation of municipalities into a number of categories that better reflect the varied capacities and the context within municipalities across the country.
During the course of the 2011-12 financial year, the department should continue focusing on strengthening and giving all the necessary support to the institution of traditional leadership. Going forward, the capacity of traditional leaders must be more fully leveraged in assisting municipalities in service delivery issues. Creative ways and means are needed to ensure that traditional leaders are fully involved in service delivery and planning for their areas, as well as the structures operating in local municipalities.
Amongst other things, the process should also make sure that society is educated to understand the role of traditional leaders in local government, their place and their status.
The other teething issue that emerges from time to time is one the Minister has raised: the issue of Khoisan leaders. It must be taken on, so that the matter can be laid to rest.
I would like to pay tribute to all municipal councillors, the majority of whom are ANC councillors, for the outstanding service that they have rendered to our communities over the past five to 10 years. They have worked under very difficult conditions and yet continue to inspire with their leadership and commitment to do well in highly challenging environments.
In recognition of the selfless sacrifices of these councillors, and being mindful of the fact that they rely on all our people working together with them, we salute them for carrying out their political mandates and constitutional responsibilities with honour, distinction, dedication and commitment.
We should approach the new term of local government with renewed hope and a high degree of optimism. While there are some challenges that municipalities face, the department should not allow these challenges to detract it from the many successes that municipalities have already enjoyed.
Let me restate the words of our icon Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela in his book, Conversations with Myself, when he said, and I quote:
The ideals we cherish, our fondest dreams and fervent hopes may not be realised in our lifetime. But that is beside the point. The knowledge that in your day you did your duty, and lived up to the expectations of your fellow men is in itself a rewarding experience and magnificent achievement.
Indeed, together we can do more. The ANC supports the Vote. [Applause.]
Chairperson, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for the opportunity to address you in my capacity as Minister of Local Government in the Western Cape. We have just been through very exciting municipal elections and, as I noted during the Budget Vote debate earlier this year, we have now effectively closed a five-year chapter of local government and are opening a new one.
By now it is a known fact that we in the Western Cape have excellent ratings under the Universal Household Access to Basic Services Index, or uHABS Index, in terms of which it has been confirmed that 88% of the people in the Western Cape do have access to basic services, which is the highest in the country. [Interjections.] One hundred percent of poor residents do have access to free basic services, and 22 out of 30 municipalities received unqualified audits. But we cannot rest on our laurels. The coming five years is going to be even more challenging because we want to do better.
We would like to start with the ideal that we are going to have local governments in our province that are going to work effectively, and more importantly, we want local governments that are going to be free of all types of corruption and maladministration.
Our three spheres of government are equally important to our communities, but, at the end of the day, I believe that the bedrock of our democracy is local government. That is why it is vital that we have local government that works for all our communities across our province. I have said on a number of occasions during the build-up to the municipal elections that there is only one thing worse than losing an election, and that is winning an election and governing badly.
There is no doubt that communities across our country are fed up with local governments that have been inefficient. The time has come for councillors to strive towards good governance and, together with local government officials, understand and respect the law, their roles and their responsibilities. The communities must also feel free to engage with their elected representatives on the issues they believe are at the heart of their problems. In this regard, I again want to stress the importance of the ward committee system. We must encourage people actively to engage with their representatives and to keep their councillors on their toes.
As stated earlier, we have welcomed a number of new councillors into local government throughout the Western Cape. I am pleased to confirm that my department of local government is conducting an all-encompassing training and support programme in this regard across the province.
The election help desk that we set up prior to the elections to assist municipalities with queries relating to matters demanding attention was so successful that we have maintained it as a post-election support mechanism in order to ensure that municipalities are compliant with prescribed legislation regulating their functions and the powers of councils until 30 September 2011.
In a nutshell, the assistance and support from my department has been widely welcomed by incoming councillors and officials, and I am proud of my department's ongoing efforts in ensuring a seamless transition.
As far as the post-election activities are concerned, I can confirm that most of the new councillors who took up office will receive council induction training and subsequent detailed training, which training has also been scheduled.
The exciting news is that my department, in partnership with the SA Local Government Association, Salga, the provincial treasury and the Development Bank of Southern Africa is rolling out a phased training programme for councillors. In this regard, the political parties will also provide training for their councillors.
This strategy to roll out training to councillors will consist of three phases. The first phase of training will consist of two parts, which Salga will co-ordinate. Salga will also provide, through the University of the Western Cape, an executive leadership course for councillors during the latter part of this year. The department of local government has made a contribution over the past two years to support this programme.
The second phase will be facilitated by the department of local government, and the content thereof has been developed by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and funded by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. This phase consists of different programmes: rules of order, leadership and conflict resolution, oversight and article 53 relations, delegations, supply-chain management, and speaker-and mayor-specific training. The third phase of training will be functional-specific training aimed at portfolio members within our councils. Amongst other things, this training will include technical, ward committee, and municipal communication training provided by the department. The provincial treasury will provide financial management training for councillors, while the DBSA will provide local economic development training. This specific training is scheduled to commence during January 2012.
Together with the final budget, municipalities need to consider and approve the integrated development plans, service delivery and budget implementation plans and the budget-related policies which include tariff policies rates policies and credit and debt-collection policies. We also have 24 mobile Thusong Service Centres that will go to out-of-the-way regions to assist, thereby taking the government to the people in the rural areas.
In conclusion, the recent focus on the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill must be maintained at all costs. The national government has confirmed that this was due to be on the Statute Book before the recent municipal elections, but, as we all know, this has not taken place. The question that needs to be answered is: Where is the delay?
The Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill will assist us in providing more stable municipal management across the board and is in line with the general thrust to tighten up municipal staff matters. In short, it is going to put an end to the deployment of unqualified people, which we should all welcome here today.
Many local authorities have suffered in this way, but the biggest losers are our communities who are faced with no service delivery whatsoever. I want to make an urgent appeal to the Acting Minister to apply himself to drive this amending Bill to its logical conclusion.
As stated, I want to see our new councillors on a strong footing as soon as possible. I know that in spite of all the support, things may go wrong. But with the various support mechanisms my department has put at the disposal of local government, I have no doubt that we can aim to achieve the noble goals we have set ourselves in the Western Cape. I thank you. [Applause.]
Modulasetulo, Letona, Motlatsa Letona le Maloko a hlompehang a Ntlo, ngangisano ena e atsahala ka nako e hlokolosi ho makgotla a metse, nako ya mathata le qaka ho Lefapha la Puso ya Kopanelo le Merero ya Setso. Palamente e sa tswa fetisa Bili ya Tokiso ya Mmuso wa selehae: Mekgwa-Tshebetso ya Bomasepala ya 2010, e bile re tswa dikgethong tsa makgotla a metse. Ketsahalo tsena ka bobedi, di na le seabo sa bohlokwa dingangisanong le dipuisanong tsa ntshetsopele le bolaodi ba bokgoni ho bomasepala.
Re tshwanela ho hopola hore kgoeletso ya ntwa ka nako ya letsholo la dikgetho e ne e le mabapi le kaho ya bokgoni ba bomasepala ho bula phano ya ditshebeletso. Re se ntse re kena dipakeng tsa sena ka ho netefaletsa tshebeletso e ntle makgotleng a metse ka phetiso ya Sekamolao sena. Sepheopheo ka Bili ya Tokiso ya Mmuso wa selehae: Mekgwa-Tshebetso ya Bomasepala ke ho shebana le mathata a bokgoni ba bolaodi, le tsamaiso e shebaneng le bomasepala ho matlafatsa makgotla a metse ho phethisa thomo ya Molaotheo.
Ha o ntse o itlhophisetsa dikgetho, mokgatlo wa ANC o hlokometse hore leha bomasepala ba bangata ba sebetsa hantle, bongata ba bona haholo dibakeng tsa mahaeng bo ntse bo e na le mathata. Bongata ba bomasepala bo hloka bokgoni le disebediswa ho phetha mesebetsi ya bona. Ka ho hlokomela sena, ANC e ikitlaetsa ho kgothatsa makgotla a metse a sebetsang hantle, a nang le boikarabelo, a hlwekileng, mme a sebetsa mmoho le Mmuso wa Porofense le wa Naha.
Molaetsa o ka sehlohong o tswang ho mokgatlo wa ANC, e ne e le hore:
Re hloka ho etsa dintho ka mokgwa o fapaneng, ho netefatsa phetoho e potlakileng.
Boikitlaetso bona ke ba bohlokwa tekolong ya seabo le thomo ya Lefapha la Puso ya Kopanelo le Merero ya Setso, CoGTA, haholoholo ho netefatsa mokgwa o lokileng wa ho matlafatsa bokgoni ba bomasepala. Re ikutlwetse ka borona ho tswa setjhabeng hore bongata ba mathata bo bakwa ke bofokodi ba Bolaodi ba Basebetsi le bosiyo ba batho ba tsebang mosebetsi bomasepaleng. Qeto ena e netefatswa ke diphumano tse diphuputsong tsa lefapha ka bolona mabapi le boemo ba Makgotla a Metse.
Phuputso ya bona e hlwaile a mang a mathata a latelang a amanang le basebetsi: Ditheo tse sa tsamaisweng ka bokgabane; kgaello ya botsamaisi ba kamehla le ho boloka phano ya ditshebeletso e nang le boleng ebile e fihlelleha hammoho le tshebedisanommoho e ntle le setjhaba; bolaodi bo tsheremang ba ditjhelete le putlamo ya mekgwa ya botsamaisi ba ditjhelete; kgaello ya bokgoni ba basebetsi le ditjhelete ho sebetsa ho ya ka thomo ya Molaotheo, molao le ditebello tsa baahi; le kgaello ya boikarabelo bo kgabane ditheong le boipelaetso.
Tshekatsheko ya rona Ditekanyetsong tsena tsa Ditjhelete e bontsha hore lefapha le motjheng wa ho rarolla mathata ana ka mananeo a lona. Bili ya Tokiso ya Mmuso wa selehae: Mekgwa-Tshebetso ya Puso ya Selehae e tla netefatsa boteng ba botsamaisi bo babatsehang ho bomasepala, esitana le taba e hlokolotsi ya kgiro ya semphato e tletlebisang bokgekgethane.
Sekamolao se thibela baokamedi ba bomasepala le baokamedi ba itlalehang ho bona ho dula ditulong tse phahameng mekgeng ya dipolotiki. Se boela se fana ka mokgwa-tsamaiso wa kgiro, tsheko ya boqhetseke ho baokamedi ba bomasepala le baokamedi ba ikarabellang ka kotloloho ho baokamedi ba bomasepala.
Hore setshwantsho sena sa molao se theang boporofeshenale botsamaising le tshebeletsong ya setjhaba se sebetse hantle, lefapha ka Leano la ho Fetola Mawa la Mmuso wa Dibaka, le tla tsepamisa maikutlo mesebetsing ya tlhopiso ya thupelo le ntshetsopele ya Balekgotla, bahlanka le Marena.
Le ikitlaeditse hore dintho tse latelang di tla etsahala: Balekgotla ba a rupellwa mme bokgoni ba bona ba dikgokahanyo bo a matlafatswa; ntshetsopele ya mokgwa-tshebetso e tla netefatsa boteng ba tshebedisanommoho pakeng tsa ditheo tsa Marena le Mmuso wa Dibaka; Akhademi ya boetapele ba Mmuso wa Dibaka e tshwanela ho shejwa botjha. Ho netefatsa hore bao ba ka rupellehang ba a rupellwa, mme bao ba sa rupelleheng ba tloswe ka thuso ya Akhademi ya Boetapele ba Tsamaiso ya Setjhaba le Bolaodi, le Lefapha la Thuto; ho netefatsa hore lenaneo la Naha la thuto ya setjhaba le a etswa, ho tsepamiswe maikutlo ho Dikomiti tsa lehae, Balekgotla ba lehae, Basebetsi ba Ntshetsopele ya Setjhaba, Baetapele ba Setjhaba le Balwanedi ba Setjhaba, le hore Baokamedi ba karolwana ya 57, ba tshwanela ho ba mekgatlong e tshwanelehileng ya boporofeshenale.
Leha mehato ena e bonahala e reretswe bomasepala, ha re a tlameha ho lebala hore bokgoni ba bona ba ho sebetsa thomong ya bona ya ntshetsopele bo itshetlehile dikamanong tsa bona le Marena. Ho bomasepala ba mahaeng moo mathata a bokgoni a totileng, seabo se hlokolotsi sa Marena se bohlokwa.
Lefapha le entse mosebetsi o motle ka ho hlophisa Lefapha le sa tswa thewa la Ditaba tsa Setso. Lefapha lena, le tla netefatsa phumantsho ya bokgoni le thupello ya Baetapele ba Setso. Ponelopele ya Setheo sa Boetapele ba Setso se sebetsang hantle ka ho ntlafatsa ntshetsopele e itsosolosang, le phumantsho ya ditshebeletso, e kenyeletsa seabo se bohlokwa sa Baetapele ba Setso boemong ba metse.
Seabo sena se hloka kgokahanyo e ntle ya tshebedisano ya bomasepala le Baetapele ba Setso. Bomasepala le Baetapele ba Setso e tla ba karolo ya lenaneo la ntshetsopele ya bokgoni le tla netefatsa selekane sa tshebedisanommoho. Leha lefapha le sa fane ka ditshebeletso tse kang thupello ka ho otloloha, le na le seabo sa bohlokwa hobane le fetisetsa ditjhelete ho Mokgatlo wa Puso ya Selehae wa Aforika Borwa, Salga.
Selemong sa ditjhelete sa 2011-12, Ditekanyetso tsa Ditjhelete tsa Mokgatlo wa Puso ya Selehae wa Aforika Borwa, Salga, ke dimilijone tse R257 , mme e tla nyolohela ho dimilijone tse R295,6, bakeng sa selemo sa 2013-14, ho latela dikakanyo tsa tshebediso ya ditjhelete tsa 2011. Mokgatlo wa Puso ya Selehae wa Aforika Borwa, Salga, ke setheo se hlokolotsi bakeng sa kaho ya bokgoni le thupello ya Balekgotla. Re lokela ho ba thoholetsa ka ho kenya tshebetsong Lenaneo la Thupelo ya Balekgotla hanghang kamora dikgetho tsa makgotla a metse.
Sepheo sa lenaneo ke ho netefatsa hore Balekgotla ba sa tswa kgethwa ba fuwa kutlwisiso e akaretsang ya seabo sa bona boetapeleng, melao e tataisang mmuso wa metse, mekgwa-tsamaiso ya bohlokwa ya masepala, le mmuso wa dibaka o ntshetsang pele phano ya ditshebeletso. Ke kopa hore Ntlo e tshehetse Ditekanyetso tsena. Ke a leboha. [Mahofi.] (Translation of Sesotho speech follows.)
[Mr T M H MOFOKENG: Chairperson, Minister, Deputy Minister and hon members of the House, this debate happens at a very crucial time for local councils, a time of problems and confusion for the Department of Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs. Parliament has just passed the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill of 2010 and we are also coming from local government elections. Both these events play an important role in the debates and discussions about development and skills management in municipalities.
We should remember that the call during the election campaign was for building capacity in municipalities, in order to unlock service delivery. We are already intervening in this matter by ensuring good service in local councils through the passage of this Bill. The purpose of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill is to deal with problems regarding management skills, as well as municipal administration, in order to strengthen local councils so as to fulfil their constitutional mandate.
The ANC is aware that even though many municipalities are functioning properly, most of them, especially in the rural areas, are still experiencing difficulties. Most municipalities lack the capacity and resources to carry out their duties. As a result of this awareness, the ANC has committed itself to supporting local councils that perform well, that are responsible and clean, and work well with the provincial and national governments.
The leading message from the ANC was: We need to do things differently in order to effect change speedily.
This commitment is of importance in the assessment of the role and mandate of the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, particularly in ensuring the right method of strengthening the capacity of municipalities. We heard for ourselves from the communities that most of the problems are caused by poor management of employees as well as a lack of individuals with municipal expertise. This decision has been confirmed by the findings of the investigation of the department itself in regard to the situation in the local councils.
The investigation identified some of the following problems: institutions that are not properly managed; a lack of daily management and maintenance of quality service delivery which is easily accessible, and good co- operation with communities; poor financial management and the collapse of financial management systems; shortage of employees and funds in order to fulfil the constitutional and legal mandate, as well as communities' expectations; and a lack of accountability within institutions and concerning grievances.
Our assessment of the Budget suggests that the department is in the process of resolving the problems with its programmes. The Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill will ensure effective municipal management, as well as address the critical issue of nepotism, which is a source of discontent among employees.
In order for this Bill, which provides for professionalism in the management and servicing of communities, to work properly, the department will focus on the task of organising training and development of councillors, public servants and traditional leaders.
It has committed itself to the following: councillors will be trained and their communication skills will be consolidated; the development of systems will ensure co-operation between institutions of traditional leaders and local government; the Local Government Leadership Academy should be reviewed; those who can be trained should receive training, and those who can't should be removed with the help of the national leadership and management academy and the Department of Basic Education; ensuring that the national education curriculum is applied; focus should be placed on municipal committees, municipal officials, community development workers, community leaders and activists, and section 57 managers should belong to appropriate professional organisations.
Even though these measures seem to have been intended for municipalities, we must not forget that their ability to work in pursuance of their development mandate is dependent on the relationship of municipalities with the chiefs. In the rural areas where problems of capacity are at their most severe, the role played by chiefs is quite important.
The department has done a wonderful job by creating a new Department of Traditional Affairs. This department will ensure the provision of skills and training to traditional leaders. The vision for the establishment of a well-functioning leadership academy to strengthen sustainable development and service delivery includes the important role played by traditional leadership in local government. This role needs good communication between municipalities and traditional leaders. Municipalities together with traditional leaders will be part of a programme of skills development which will strengthen co-operative agreement. Although the department does not provide services such as training directly, it plays an important role in that it refers funds for this to the SA Local Government Association.
In the 2011-2012 financial year, the SA Local Government Association's budget is R257 million, and it will increase to R295,6 million for the year 2013-14, based on the budget estimate of 2011. The SA Local Government Association is a critical institution for the purpose of development of skills and training of local councillors. We should support them by implementing a training programme for local councillors immediately after the local government elections.
The purpose of the programme is to ensure that recently elected local councillors are given a general understanding of their leadership role, laws that guide local governments, important administrative systems pertaining to municipalities, as well as the provincial government that provides service delivery. I would like the House to support this budget. Thank you. [Applause.]]
Chairperson, Acting Minister Mthethwa, MEC Bredell - I don't see the other MECs here - hon members, friends, comrades, in different ways, most of us, across political parties, are saying that the local government elections we've just had were seminal. More than any other election in our country, they signal the urgent need significantly to improve service delivery and development.
There has indeed been significant delivery - certainly more than is made out in public discourse, even if less than there should be. All of us, not least the ANC, agree that we need to do better. So, what do we do? My input will focus merely on some things we could do. It is by no means comprehensive and many of the issues raised will need to be processed further. Some will require substantial consensus.
Overall, we have done well, considering the magnitude of the challenges. So we have a good base from which to accelerate service delivery. But there has to be a new thrust to delivering services following these elections, which will have immediate, short-term and long-term aspects, and there have to be effective interconnections between these different aspects.
Perhaps what we need most urgently is a better sense of what we have in fact delivered. We have the statistics of delivery: That refers to quantity. But we also need to consider the quality, consistency and durability of the services.
Last week Minister Nathi Mthethwa also raised the issue of looking at the quality of services provided, and the Minister of Human Settlements has also been reviewing the quality of the houses we have provided since 1994.
The respective departments dealing with services, such as water, sanitation and electricity, set their own norms and standards for what constitutes a basic service. There is a need for a greater measure of consistency across departments on these norms and standards. These norms and standards also have to be reviewed over time.
We need a better sense of what we have delivered, so that we have a better sense of what we still have to deliver. The population census to be taken in October this year will be valuable in getting a more accurate picture of our population size, age and geographical distribution.
But we must be clear at the outset. The responsibility to accelerate service delivery does not rest with local government alone, nor with the Ministry for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs. All three spheres of government, other organs of state and state-owned enterprises need to work much more closely together to accelerate service delivery.
But the public, too, has a crucial role to play. We need a massive co- operative effort involving all stakeholders and the public to ensure improved and sustainable service delivery.
Consolidating and strengthening the Local Government Turnaround Strategy, or LGTS, as it's known, is important to accelerating service delivery. As the Minister indicated last week, over the next few months the Ministry for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, together with our partners, will give a new thrust to the Local Government Turnaround Strategy. We need to improve the quality of the municipal turnaround strategies, shaped in terms of the LGTS, including through more active participation by the residents of municipalities. Greater emphasis has to be placed on these municipal turnaround strategies prioritising access to basic services.
We need Parliament, not least the NCOP, not least the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, to play their full roles in this regard. They also have to continually monitor the progress of the LGTS and hold us strenuously to account.
Of course, key aspects of the Local Government Turnaround Strategy are now incorporated into the Outcome 9 performance agreement which the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs signed with the President. You will, of course, regularly call on us to give account of progress as part of your oversight role. To deliver services better, we need a far more integrated relationship between integrated development plans, IDPs, budgets and service delivery plans, programmes and targets. This also means a better alignment of the municipal infrastructure grant and the human settlement grants, and better alignment too of bulk infrastructure and reticulation plans. What, for example, is the value of having access to a tap but no water?
Municipalities also need to exercise far more effective oversight over municipal entities and public utilities. Many of our difficulties in speeding up service delivery revolve around two major issues: capacity and resources. The two are related. If we had capacity, we could make more effective use of our limited resources. And, if we had more resources, we could spend more on developing capacity.
What about capacity? What can we do about improving this? In the first place, we need to rationalise the many local government capacity-building programmes that are run by the different departments, the SA Local Government Association, the Institute for Local Government Management, the Institute of Municipal Finance Officers, the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority and other organisations.
It must be stressed that the main focus should be on good governance and improved service delivery. Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs has begun a process with National Treasury to rationalise local government capacity-building programmes. This process needs to be speeded up. Importantly, the Local Government Seta needs to be far more active and effective than it currently is. Both the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Parliament need to put much more pressure on the Seta to do more and be more effective.
There is also a need to find the necessary planning, engineering, electrical, project management, financial management and other skills. The universities and other tertiary institutions, the state-owned enterprises and other relevant organisations need to play a more effective role in this regard. The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs is to meet the Department of Higher Education and Training on 24 June to take this forward.
The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs is also in the final stages of setting up a special purpose vehicle, the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency, to accelerate municipal infrastructure delivery. Particular attention will be paid to the weaker municipalities.
The special purpose vehicle would aim to support comprehensive infrastructure planning at municipal level; support municipal infrastructure development, maintenance, operations and service provision in low-capacity municipalities; support the management of operations and ensure a proper maintenance programme for their infrastructure; co-ordinate a focused technical support programme with existing support partners; monitor the quality of infrastructure; develop and co-ordinate the implementation of an appropriate sector-wide capacity development initiative; and assist municipalities to develop a capacity development plan to strengthen their institutions over the long term.
A fundamental focus will be on the effective maintenance, repair and operation of infrastructure, as this has been a major failing until now. Service delivery has often been compromised by this.
In view of the pending establishment of the special purpose vehicle, funding for the infrastructure component of the Siyenza Manje project, currently run by the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the DBSA, to which the Minister has just referred, has been transferred to the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, while the funding for the financial management support will continue to be administered by National Treasury.
A task team comprising senior officials from the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the DBSA and National Treasury is working on ensuring a smooth transfer of aspects of the project. If necessary, this will take place in a phased manner.
Consideration is also being given to the establishment of a bulk infrastructure grant. This is part of Output 2 of the Outcome 9 performance agreement. The following is noted in the agreement, and I quote:
Consideration must be given to the establishment of a bulk infrastructure fund to unlock delivery of reticulation services, fund bulk infrastructure, procure well-located land, align provincial infrastructure grants and municipal infrastructure grants with housing projects and grants, and to upgrade and rehabilitate bulk infrastructure.
The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs is still in the early stages of considering this.
As raised in the Budget Vote debate in the National Assembly last week, the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs is working with National Treasury and other stakeholders to review the financial model of local government. This includes a review of the intergovernmental fiscal system with the aim of increasing the share of the national budget allocated to local government. An important part of any increase to local government has to be directed at both building capacity and delivering basic services on a sustainable basis to more people. It is of no use allocating more money if municipalities do not have the capacity to spend it effectively. Last year municipalities were unable to spend 17% of their capital budget.
So, to ensure full use of the expanded funds, it's crucial that national and provincial government assist municipalities to develop the necessary capacity.
To improve service delivery, municipalities have to ensure more active participation by communities. The proposals of the Department of Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs on strengthening ward committees and community participation in general, as part of Output 5 of Outcome 9, would, if agreed on and effectively implemented, assist greatly in this regard. If communities are more involved in local government, they are more likely to have an understanding of the possibilities and limits of service delivery and to take greater responsibility for both the achievements and the failures of delivery.
Community involvement in service delivery and local government generally can be very challenging. But municipalities simply have to take communities more seriously and, as difficult as it can sometimes be, reach out even to the leaders of community protests. Municipalities have to respond to community protests more creatively and effectively. Community protests are an important aspect of a vibrant democracy, and can serve to put pressure on municipalities and government more generally to speed up service delivery. But, if they are violent and include the destruction of municipal offices, community halls, libraries, schools, clinics and other buildings, they undermine service delivery and development.
Whatever the challenges, responding appropriately to community protests is important in stabilising and improving service delivery. To improve service delivery we also need the public to use scarce resources such as water and electricity more sparingly and avoid waste.
As the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Parliament we need, for example, to support Eskom's demand-side management campaigns more actively. In our constituency and political work as MPs, we constantly need to make people we come into contact with aware of the need to save electricity, water and other scarce resources. Municipalities also need to act far more decisively on water leakages, for example. And they also need to ensure that councillors and administrators use electricity sparingly.
Although legislation passed since 1994 has been directed to service delivery and development, aspects of it have had the unintended consequence of serving to impede service delivery. Mandated by the President, the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs is spearheading a process involving 10 national departments, the provinces and Salga to review aspects of the legislation that impedes service delivery.
Among other restraints, the relevant legislative provisions are administratively burdensome; make consultation with stakeholders inordinately time-consuming and bureaucratic; and provide for approval from structures that don't have the capacity and resources to process issues within reasonable timeframes. Many of the provisions also substantially overlap, where they are not in contradiction with each other.
The interdepartmental committee working on this project has so far identified more than 350 provisions in 30 pieces of legislation that have the unintended consequence of impeding service delivery. The relevant departments have been approached to begin addressing the anomalies. The key legislation being prioritised involves housing, land-use management, and the prevention of illegal evictions.
It is crucial, friends, that we don't just deliver more and better, but that we also transform the municipal landscape, Mr MEC of the Western Cape. We shouldn't just chase statistics, as important as they are. We also have to ensure that the services are not delivered top-down but involve communities as far as possible. They also have to be of a necessary quality, they must be sustainable, and they must not produce inequalities either, Mr Bredell. The Minister will no doubt reply to those issues, if he has the time.
We must stress that improving service delivery is ultimately about transforming the society we live in. Many of the issues raised here, and many others not even raised, need to be taken further and concretised. To the extent that there is consensus on these issues, we need to discuss them further, especially in terms of how we do the things we agree on and how we do them faster. As part of the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs fulfilling Output 2 of Outcome 9, we are discussing these issues within our ranks and with other departments. We are keen to hear your voice, as the NCOP, and would welcome, chairperson, a sitting of your committee soon that focuses on how we accelerate service delivery and work together on this.
As I conclude, I would like to express our appreciation to the select committee and its wonderful chairperson, Mr Humphrey Mokgobi.
Now, I know this might be unusual, Chairperson, but these are unusual circumstances, and I must say this publicly: I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the Acting Minister. He is not just a Bollywood actor, or a Hollywood actor, or a Nollywood actor - for those of you who don't know, Nollywood is the Nigerian film industry, which is really growing now - he is a very hands-on Minister, and he gives me a tougher time as a Deputy Minister than the Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs does! [Laughter.] [Applause.] So I want to take this opportunity to thank him and tell him that he has a flair for and a sensitivity to the issues. He picks up on them so fast. I think it is time that I get a stint as Deputy Minister of Police, so that we encourage even greater co-operation! [Interjections.] Or maybe even as Minister! Who knows? [Laughter.]
Finally I want to say that the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs needs your support. We have read your report, chairperson, the 6 to 10 September report, on your provincial week, as well as the ad hoc committee report that came from the service delivery side. We have discussed these - chairperson, you would be pleased to know - in the Minmec, and we have asked the provinces to respond. Hopefully, it will be taken forward tomorrow.
Finally, we want to say that there is a lot of synergy between the reports you have produced and what we are doing. We want you to hold us to account. There is considerable synergy, but we need to act more decisively and faster in bringing in other stakeholders and the public more actively. Ultimately, we are saying that we are all in this together: government, Parliament, other components of the state and the people. We need a massive, co-operative World Cup effort to accelerate service delivery and development. We did it in 2010; we can do it again. Thank you indeed. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Acting Minister, Mr Bredell and hon members, by now the system of local government should be reaching a level of maturity, as local government is the backbone of service delivery to our people.
The municipalities have been confronted with many intractable problems, amongst other things, huge service delivery backlogs, lack of capacity, poor communication and accountability, fraud and corruption. The objects of local government are to provide democratic, accountable government for local communities; to ensure the provision of basic services to communities in a sustainable manner; to promote social and economic development; to promote a safe and healthy environment; and to encourage community involvement in local government matters.
When one studies the root causes of failing municipalities, one finds that basic management principles are not applied. With regard to institutional capacity, the organograms of some municipalities are not necessarily determined to optimise service delivery, but rather to create posts for cadre deployment. The majority of municipalities are not working according to section 53 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act to define the role and functions of office bearers and municipal managers. Municipal managers are not always appointed because of their skills and because they are fit for the purpose, but to give jobs to cronies.
Unfortunately, the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill has not yet been signed off by the President, with the result that municipalities can carry on with the past bad practices that will result in business as usual, with communities that will suffer because of poor service delivery.
In terms of human resource management, proper service and performance contracts are not signed, with the result that control over senior management cannot be exercised. There is also a lack of appointment policies, resulting in the unfair appointment of incompetent staff. Financial management is in a crisis in local government. Some councillors are illegally involved in tender procedures, with officials applying corrupt practices in the awarding of tenders, and there is a lack of control over the performance of contractors. In many municipalities, money is spent on expensive vehicles and social functions. Sometimes one can judge a poor municipality by the expensive car of the mayor. [Interjections.]
The status of audit results in municipalities is alarming. The audits in 219 municipalities on predetermined objectives reported that 25% composed of late or nonsubmission and 88% of noncompliance with the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act, the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, and with municipal planning and performance management regulations. Independent audit and oversight committees are not appointed to do the necessary independent oversight. Some senior officials are being paid excessive salaries in relation to their performance and skills, and in terms of the affordability to the municipality.
There is also the problem of unfunded mandates. Certain functions, such as libraries, which are very important for our communities, are not properly funded by the relevant spheres of government. The funding for nature conservation is inadequate, and the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs should do much more to get rid of red tape to support projects which are very important for job creation and to create a safe and healthy environment.
The municipal infrastructure situation is critical in terms of replacing and maintaining ageing infrastructure. There is no local municipality which is in a position to be sustainable regarding infrastructure challenges.
The provision of housing is a huge challenge. Housing is not an all- municipal competency, but municipalities take responsibility on behalf of the provincial and national governments.
Therefore, it is imperative to make adequate funds available for infrastructure and also for the long-term maintenance of housing projects. Much effort must be put in to root out corruption with regard to the allocation of housing and the social compact processes.
The immigration of people into South Africa is also a big problem, because the demand is increasing by the day. Poverty relief by means of equitable share is imperative, in conjunction with local economic development, and must be well managed to ensure that we can create an environment for better living for all. Land reform and the provision of basic services in rural areas are becoming huge challenges, and municipalities need government support to fulfil this commitment.
Disaster management and the long lead times for support must be addressed, as climate change in the world is going to be less predictable and the reaction times must be as fast as possible to support communities and repair damage.
The functioning of ward committees is vital for the public participation role, where the integrated development plans must be compiled with the inputs of communities. Once again, the quality of ward councillors and representatives will determine the success of ward committees.
The picture that I project is not good and is a rather alarming one. The legislation is good, but if municipalities in the Western Cape can perform well because of good governance and doing the right things, then the rest of South Africa can also perform better.
The oversight role of the NCOP is now more important than ever before. The robust intervention by provinces is imperative to achieve our goals. The strategic plan of the department of local government is commendable and is addressing the majority of the issues, but the execution of the plan will be challenging, and I wish the department all the success. The NCOP will scrutinise its performance on a regular and robust basis.
Regarding the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, serious intervention needs to take place and the outstanding issue regarding the Khoisan needs urgent attention.
The most important priorities of local government are to provide basic services, to provide sustainable local economic development to create jobs, and to strive for good intergovernmental relations to align all the functions of the different spheres of government.
Ek dink ons het in hierdie land die mense en die vermo om die munisipaliteite te laat werk. Ons moet vir almal die geleentheid gee, ons moet die beste kundigheid bymekaar kry, en ek glo dat ons in die volgende vyf jaar baie suksesvolle munisipaliteite aan Suid-Afrika kan lewer. Ek dank u. [Applous.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[I am of the opinion that we do have the people and the skills in this country to ensure that municipalities function effectively. We should grant everyone an opportunity, we should round up the best expertise, and I do believe that, within the next five years, we will be able to offer South Africa very successful municipalities. I thank you. [Applause.]]
UMntwana M M M ZULU: Sekela likaSihlalo, Mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe neSekela lakho, abasebenzi abasebenza eMnyangweni wakho, amalungu ahloniphekile ale Ndlu, uMnyango wakho nguMnyango oseqhulwini lokuba usondelane nezinhliziyo zabantu noma okufuneka wazi ukuhlupheka kwabantu ezindaweni zabo; yingakho kuthiwa uhulumeni wasekhaya - nguhulumeni wokuqala ezingeni likahulumeni.
Lo hulumeni udinga ukuba wesekwe ngalowo mthwalo owethwese nguMthethosisekelo wezwe ukuthi ubhekelele izimpilo zabantu ezingeni lokuqala likahulumeni. Ayikho neyodwa imfihlo engingayisho ukuthi abantu banezikhalazo, mhlawumbe lezi zikhalazo zingavezwa yiwona amakhansela njengabantu abaseduze nabakhethwe ngumphakathi. Mhlawumbe okunye kukhona la abathinteka khona kodwa ezintweni ezisuke zenziwe ngabasebenzi abasuke beqashwe uhulumeni. Lokhu akuyona inkinga yozakwethu - lapho uthola khona sekuneziteleka, kucekelwe phansi izimpahla zomphakathi kuze kube khona nabantu abalahlekelwa yimiphefumulo yabo.
Lapho kufanele sazi ukuthi singenzenjani ukubhekisisa lolu daba njengabantu abamele abantu. Kuphinde kubhekisiswe nokuthi nemali eyayinikezwa uhulumeni wokuqala kwakuyimali engagculisi ngoba ngendlela abantu abaningi ngayo ezindaweni zasemakhaya asikwazi ukusheshe sibalamulele ukuze baphume kwizifo zokungazi nasendlaleni, nokwenza yonke into engacacile ngayo yonke indlela. Ukulethwa kwezinsiza angeke kube khona.
Okunye kulo nyaka wezi-2011-14, ngibuka laphaya ukusetshenziswa kwemali yezinhlekelele; sengathi uhulumeni useyinciphisile kanti isivuvu jikelele yinto esekhona, ngendlela esingakaze sayibona - nawe uyindoda umdala kangaka, awukaze uyibone imvula ena ebusika kugcwale imifula. Kusho ukuthi kukhona okonakele ngokubona kwalabo abazi kangcono ngeZezwe.
Inkohlakalo, Mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe, kufuneka siyibheke, - ngoba ngasho nakuloya mbhalo engakunikeza wona - kumele nibabophe abenza inkohlakalo. Ngangisho ukubopha umuntu wasendlini, owakwethu nomkami uqobo, engiqamela phezu kwakhe, uma enza inkohlakalo, uyisiboshwa nje ngoba uyobe entshontsha imali yomphakathi. Mhlonishwa Ngqongqoshe uma ningasibhekela lezo zinto njengohulumeni sizokwazi ukubhekana nezinselele izwe lakithi elibhekene nazo. Ngiyabonga. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of isiZulu speech follows.)
[Prince M M M ZULU: Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister and your deputy, employees of your department, hon members of this House, your department is close to the hearts of the people or the one that is supposed to know the hardship of the people, in their areas, which is why it is called "local government". It is the first level of government.
This government needs to be supported in respect of the responsibility which was entrusted to it by the country's Constitution - to cater for the lives of the people through the first level of government. It is no secret that people have some complaints, which could be revealed by these councillors as the people who are closer to the community and who were elected by the community. Maybe there are some of them who were involved in the things that are done by government employees. This is not our colleague's problems, where you find that there are strikes and damage to public property, which leads to the deaths of other people.
We must be knowledgeable on what we might have to do when we look at this issue carefully, as the ones who are representing the people. We must also look at the fact that the budget allocated to local government was not sufficient because of the large number of people in the rural areas. We are unable to help them immediately in order to do away with ignorance and hunger, and prevent them from doing all those funny things. Service delivery will not take place.
I'm looking at the way in which the disaster relief fund will be used between 2011 and 2014; it seems as if government has reduced the funding while global warming is getting worse - even you as an adult have never seen such heavy rains which flood all the rivers during winter. It means there's something wrong, according to the climatologists.
Corruption, hon Minister, must be looked at, and I mentioned that in the document that I gave you. You must arrest those who are corrupt. I mean arrest even those at home, my sibling and even my wife - the one I get intimate with - if she is involved in corruption; she is a criminal if she is stealing public funds. Hon Minister, if you could look at those issues as government, we will be able to address the challenges that our country is faced with. Thank you. [Applause.]]
Chairperson, Minister and Deputy Minister, it is a very sad state of affairs that we are facing in this country. Chairperson, some in the ANC are preaching and screaming at the top of their lungs that they will not tolerate any member who is corrupt in their ranks. They are putting in place anticorruption units in each and every department, but I can tell this House that it is only window-dressing.
Two weeks ago, the ANC in the Free State promoted a mayor who is being investigated for fraud in a municipal council that he led for the past five years. [Interjections.] I'm in possession of a document that was compiled from an investigation by a government institution, which document was handed over to the municipal manager in August 2009. This document is very clear when it comes to recommendations.
Let me tell the House what the investigation unearthed. I will now quote from the document submitted to the municipal manager. The investigation reveals serious petrol card fraud in the Ngwathe Local Municipality. The document reads as follows:
According to the records at the disposal of the investigation, most of the cars are not running but cards allocated to them are being used. In other instances, the cards have been withdrawn but transactions on these cards continue to take place.
I will now tell the House the numberplates of these cars. Firstly, there is a Ford Ranger 2.2. The vehicle was released from a panel shop in Parys on 14 July 2009. The card was withdrawn and is currently with the fleet manager but it is being used elsewhere. There is also a Nissan Hardbody 2.4. The vehicle is at a panel shop in Parys. The card was withdrawn and is currently with the fleet manager, but it is being used elsewhere. I can go on.
But let me tell you this: Registration number DHP670FS, a tractor, has not been running for the past two years, but the card number allocated to it is in use in Parys at Normal Vulstasie. A vehicle with registration number OMG3374 used petrol to the amount of R21 000 between 15 June and 16 June 2009 - R21 000 in one day! [Interjections.] This has been identified as a tractor, Fiat 604. [Interjections.]
Registration number "what what" is a new Toyota VVT-i that fills up with petrol every 200 kilometres - a new car. A Nissan 1400 in Edenville is not working but the card is operational. A Nissan Hardbody 4x4 has not been running since 30 November 2008 owing to the engine breaking down, and the card will only be used to pay for the engine repairs but it is used to fill up with petrol.
Arrest the whole Free State!
Thank you very much, Mama. I will hand over this document to the Minister for him to investigate further and to arrest the people that are involved. [Time expired.] [Applause.] [Interjections.]
Hon Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister and hon members, we wish to begin by acknowledging the intense work of the Independent Electoral Commission, the IEC, political parties and municipal officials who conducted the very successful 2011 local government elections from which we have just emerged.
In the wake of recent uprisings around the world, this is something to be celebrated. The aggressive media, communication and marketing strategies and resultant voter turnout, as well as the competitive nature of the electoral campaigns, indeed highlight that we are beginning to entrench a vibrant local democracy.
As many new councillors have taken office, we must be mindful that the burden on them and on local government is immense. Indeed, local government has been given a very broad and challenging set of responsibilities. As the national and provincial governments begin to engage with the new councils, they must be mindful that effective performance by local government against their mandate requires a much more coherent and co-ordinated set of support initiatives from the other two spheres of government in terms of policy and resources than has been the case to date. Parliament and provincial legislatures, crucially, must play their part in ensuring that this support is forthcoming at national level and in the provinces.
As the department seeks to strengthen co-operative governance, through instruments such as the Green Paper on Co-operative Governance and the policy review process, we would appeal that extensive consultation with us, as the SA Local Government Association, Salga, be emphasised and prioritised. The same goes for the induction of a number of support and monitoring mechanisms, such as the special purpose vehicle for infrastructure and the inspectorate for fraud and corruption that the Minister referred to. The ultimate objective of these initiatives must be to build and strengthen a decentralised form of government. We premise this on the assumption that the country has not lost faith in a decentralised system of government and in the role of local government.
Whilst we would welcome additional support to municipalities, we must be careful and ensure that these instruments are indeed consistent with our developmental local government objectives and are not indicative of national government appearing to have lost faith in the decentralised system of government and attempting, through policy and legislation, to centralise powers and functions.
Moreover, in intervening and supporting municipalities, national and provincial government must realise that there is a dialectical relationship between capacity and responsibility: both work on condition of and define the other. Absence of responsibility diminishes the force to build capacity and vice versa. Therefore, any policy or legislative intervention and support should not take away responsibility for service delivery from municipalities.
In 2009, Salga recommended a comprehensive review of the local government fiscal framework. While there has been common agreement on the challenges, there has since been little progress to resolve them. In our view, there needs to be a comprehensive review of the fiscal framework to address the fundamental structural challenges rather than introducing minor ad hoc adjustments to improve operational efficiency in the short term.
While there have been some attempts to introduce a differentiated approach to local government finance, we believe that there must be a comprehensive review outlining a long-term vision for sustainable local government finance. This must entail a differentiated approach to all the main elements of the fiscal framework configurations: expenditure assignment, revenue assignment, the vertical division of revenue, the local government equitable share, conditional grant design, infrastructure funding and borrowing powers.
One of our continued struggles over the past decade has been inadequate support for councillors, in comparison to our national and provincial counterparts. Despite our comprehensive submissions to the commission, the remuneration and benefits of councillors have not been addressed conclusively, which still results in significant inconsistencies between remuneration and benefits for office bearers in the national and provincial government vis--vis those in local government.
If we are serious about having a strong local government sphere and about establishing a developmental local government and a vibrant democracy, then we must put our money where our mouth is. We must have due regard to the vulnerability and safety of councillors through remunerating them accordingly and providing them with appropriate insurance cover.
With these discrepancies and the number of councillors who have lost their lives, the message we are sending to our political parties and the state is that local government is not important: you send your senior politicians to national and provincial government, and whoever is left is deployed to local government. Yet councillors are at the coalface of delivery and bear the brunt of citizens' unhappiness. This is where we need experienced political leadership the most.
On the role of organised local government, it is a fact that Salga is undertaking legislated functions regarding its mandatory participation in the various intergovernmental relations structures. The extent and form of such participation, and whether representation is set at national or provincial level, is effectively required in terms of the legislation. On that basis, we have consistently argued, and again appeal, that the mandatory participation in the intergovernmental relations structures should be funded by the national fiscus. The current application is miniscule in relation to the obligation participation imposed on us as Salga.
Salga plays a crucial role in the intergovernmental arena on behalf of local government. Yet Salga's part-time leadership, most of whom are mayors in municipalities, is expected to participate in Parliament and its committees, formal and informal intergovernmental structures, and many other forums where its counterparts are employed full time. In order to optimise local government's participation in key national and provincial structures, full-time political leadership at the helm of Salga must become a reality.
In order to play its role effectively, Salga needs adequate resources, both human and financial: full-time councillors to represent local government in all intergovernmental relations structures, where their participation is required, and to advance the local government agenda are critical if Salga is to be effective as a representative body of local government. Failing this, Salga will continually struggle to represent local government, at the least adequately, or at best effectively, in these kinds of structures.
In conclusion, we want to consolidate the gains made in the last decade by addressing some of the fundamental constraints hampering local government in our quest to effect development, so that the third generation of councillors who have just stepped into the fray and those after them have a more stable, sound and equitable policy framework to deliver on their developmental mandate.
We are committed to working with the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs to ensure an integrated approach to service delivery and the realisation of the developmental vision of local government. We trust that the department will take these issues into account as we begin our work for the next term of local government.
Ndiyabulela, Sihlalo. [Kwaqhwatywa.] [Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]]
Hon Deputy Chair, hon Acting Minister, hon Deputy Minister, the House and hon members, indeed it is true, hon Deputy Minister, that you were honest with yourself today. The man that you are working under now is hands-on. He is hands-on. You can give him everything in his department; he is doing all of it.
Local government is at the core of service delivery. It is here where the people make contact with the government that they have elected. It is therefore very important to treat the communities with the same respect and dignity that we used before the elections.
Municipalities must acknowledge that they do not do the people a favour. Service delivery is their responsibility. We don't deny the progress made, but we must however acknowledge that there are shortfalls. All aspects of failure and corruption in our system have to be rooted out. We are still confronted with poor service delivery in our provinces, which leads to poverty and unemployment. If there is adequate support from the department to municipalities, we will enhance a credible and integrated development plan.
We acknowledge the municipal improvements in provinces, such as 6% in the Northern Cape, yet, compared to other provinces, this improvement is dismal. This places a huge strain on communities as they are the people who have to bear the brunt of these inadequacies. We must also take into consideration that the Northern Cape is one of the provinces that is most deprived in terms of financial resources. The committee has been put under pressure to get the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill, a section 75 Bill, passed. But today we are still waiting for the President's response.
South Africa is known for its multitude of cultures. The issue of unity in diversity has to be attended to in reality. Last year the Minister said that the voices of people in rural areas and traditional communities must find expression in policy development and formulation, legislative development, planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. We are still waiting to see if this is going to happen.
We looked forward to the incorporation of these policies into legislative processes before the end of last year following discussions and deliberations by the nation, so that leaders of cultures such as the Khoisan can be recognised as leaders in their own right. We welcome the fact that Acting Minister Mthethwa has said that Khoisan traditional leaders will be remunerated, but we hope that this remuneration and the recognition of Khoisan traditional leaders will not be delayed. We are still waiting for that; I wonder how long we will wait. Also, we welcome the vision of Deputy Minister Carrim and hope that his vision will become a reality. It's a good thing to dream, but dreams must become realities and sometimes we must put our dreams on paper so that we can see how far along they are to becoming reality.
Hon Acting Minister, let me say this last thing to you, through the Chair: I really appreciate what you have done in this department. I just hope that we will see the fruits in the near future. I thank you.
Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members, traditional leaders, director-general, ladies and gentlemen, in the presentation of this budget we have been made aware of the enormous challenges facing our municipalities.
Credit must be given to the department for undertaking extensive research on the state of local government. From the perspective of the ANC, some of the problems identified in the research findings are systemic and structural in nature. Their root causes are directly linked to the legacy of apartheid spatial planning and the economic exclusion of the majority of our population.
They include, among other problems, the breakdown of local representative and participatory democracy; poor, weak and unco-ordinated intergovernmental relations; race and class divisions b ased on spatial planning in terms of communities and human settlements; backlogs in the achievement of universal household access to basic services; the nonviability of municipalities; and increasing grant dependence of municipalities.
Up to now, we have assumed that the constitutional and legislative mechanisms established since the advent of democracy in 1994 were sufficient to address the systemic, structural and legacy issues of local government. These mechanisms included constitutionally determined funding through the division of revenue, the powers of local government to raise revenue, as well as the provision of conditional and unconditional grants flowing from national government to assist municipalities.
Among these is the municipal infrastructure grant. This is an important and strategic intervention which is aimed at supplementing municipal capital budgets to eradicate the backlogs in municipal infrastructure.
The introduction and implementation of integrated development plans for municipalities was also an important transformation tool that, if followed properly, would assist in strategic leadership and logical thinking in addressing some of the systemic, structural and spatial planning legacy problems.
In addition, the type of co-operative governance system that is embedded within our Constitution allows for a range of state interventions through various legislative instruments in areas such as human settlements, land management, spatial planning and implementation of the Bill of Rights. The adoption and implementation of the White Paper on Local Government in 1998 constituted an important milestone in the process of transformation at local levels.
The lessons we have learnt from community protests in the past few years, the outcome findings arising out of this research and what we heard from communities first-hand during the recent local government election campaigns tell us that these measures have shortcomings and have become inadequate.
An assessment of the persistent problems in municipalities would need to take this into account - the success and failures in the implementation of the White Paper on Local Government should be a starting point of departure.
In trying to address these systemic problems, it would be important for the department to lead a process of a comprehensive review of the White Paper on Local Government. This review will assist in evaluating the impact of all the mechanisms that have thus far been implemented and suggest how transformation should be deepened in order to complement the Local Government Turnaround Strategy, the LGTS.
In addition to this, there is also a need to review the current funding model for local government and its formula. These reviews will be consistent with the ANC resolution at its 52nd national conference, which decided that a process should be put in place to develop a White Paper on provincial government and to review the local government White Paper. This process would, in our view, complement the current programme of the department on provincial and municipal government systems.
The main objective of this programme is to provide capacity-building to municipalities through the implementation of the LGTS. The main pillars of the LGTS are: tightening the municipal supply-chain management mechanisms; establishing a single window of co-ordination to curb overregulation of municipalities as identified in the inaugural intergovernmental relations report; implementing special purpose vehicles for infrastructure development, particularly in struggling municipalities; refining the model of ward committees to give effect to participatory democracy in communities; and establishing a single election for all three levels of government in order to save resources and build unity, in line with a single Public Service as well as the financial terms of municipalities.
Its overarching aim is to create a countrywide programme, mobilising all of government and society to embark upon a concerted effort to deal with factors undermining local government and to restore good performance and community confidence in the country's municipalities, leading towards the fulfilment of Vision 2014.
Although the LGTS is new, we are pleased that some of its short-term measures are now in place, such as the passing of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act Amendment Bill; the development and implementation of the Clean Cities and Towns campaign and the Operation Clean Audit 2014 programme; and the establishment of the special vehicle to drive infrastructure development.
Lastly, in recognising the crucial role of local government in the social and economic transformation of our country, service delivery and nation- building in general, the ANC is fully behind the implementation of the Local Government Turnaround Strategy. We want the department to be supported in leading and co-ordinating its implementation by all spheres of government, as articulated in this budget. The ANC is committed to ensuring that the transformation of local government is achieved in order to enable it to play its constitutional role effectively and efficiently.
Local government is an important element of the developmental state that we are building, and therefore requires the collective participation of all relevant spheres of government as well as the public. To this end, the ANC calls for the House to support this Budget Vote. Thank you. [Applause.]
Thank you, Chair, and hon members. From hearing the contributions of members, I think we are all of one mind in wanting to strengthen this sphere of government.
Firstly, the chairperson of the select committee raised a number of issues, which I think have to be followed up, in particular issues relating to clean audits, as this issue affects us at management and procurement level. Perhaps I must say here that from the point of view of the executive, processes have been put in place to strengthen particularly procurement. The major problem at local government level, which does not only exist in that sphere of government, has to do with how the procurement process is conducted and to what extent it affects service delivery. The challenge which was raised about political leadership is welcome, and will be taken on board to ensure that it is corrected.
The specialist the chairperson talked about leads me to my second point: from MEC Bredell to the hon member Byleveldt - all the members who spoke, including the Deputy Minister and the hon Mofokeng - emphasised the point of capacity-building. I think this area has been raised time and time again. What is important now is to focus on specific programmes. What do we do to come back tomorrow and not raise the very same questions? The Siyenza Manje programme and special purpose vehicle are aimed at that, because capacity-building, over and above what we need to do for councillors, has to do with skills - technical skills - in this particular sphere of government. So, when it comes to these two areas, the Siyenza Manje programme and what the Minmec said last time must be communicated to the people concerned. These programmes aim to address just that, and I think that we will succeed in doing that. Again, hon MEC, the issue of the Bill is important to all of us. It is also important to the President of the Republic himself. I think one of the things that we said last week is that if the President wants to satisfy himself that everything is in order, we will not be challenged when we implement the law. Let that happen. I am sure that as he does that, as he has said in the past, he himself wants to see speedy movement particularly in this area.
I want to emphasise the issue raised by the Deputy Minister, in particular, on service delivery. To our communities and the public out there: whilst government has to lead in service delivery, the public has a role as well. If we take, for instance, the Clean Cities and Towns programme, it is the duty of everybody not to litter, so that we also make our towns and cities habitable and clean. It is a job for all of us. It is a very important aspect of our lives which, in most cases, is taken very lightly.
I also want to move to what the hon member Zulu raised, but just before that, I would just like to say that I agree with the hon Byleveldt, particularly on the strengthening of the ward committees. It will also depend on the type of councillors. That is why it is very important that we implement the councillor induction programme, the CIP, in a co-ordinated fashion. In fact, the MEC has forgotten one very important aspect and that is the training of councillors on the Local Government Turnaround Strategy. There has to be a programme. After you have skilled people, after you have built up their capacity, what is it that they have to do to ensure that there is progress in so far as that is concerned? We also emphasised that, when it comes to councillors, from a conceptual perspective we needed to ask why it would be important for communities to have good councillors. It would also be important for us, as public representatives, to interact with communities and ensure that the very basic duty of ward committees is collectivism in terms of committees, so that the councillor himself or herself is not a lone ranger in that sphere. I fully agree with that.
Hon Zulu, there are a lot of challenges on the issue of funds, as you referred to. Part of the challenge is what we are dealing with: capacity- building. The capacity to spend is one such challenge. We should look at how much municipalities are given but, at the same time, how much they are able to spend in terms of what they've been given or allocated. The issue of corruption in local government is a very important issue, on which the Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the Minister of Police are working together. [Laughter.] Indeed, there is progress. There are people who have, through the process, been imprisoned and others who have been released in the process.
All in all, I think that the criticisms and points raised have been very productive, and I think that we have to go back, do our homework, and correct some of the things the hon members have raised. Thank you very much. [Applause.] Debate concluded.
Business supended at 11:39 and resumed at 14:00.
Afternoon Sitting
Hon members, we're sorry, but we were at a memorial service. I'm sure some members are still on their way, but we will continue with the motions. Does any member wish to move notice of a motion?