Deputy Speaker, Deputy President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, members, this topic is inspired or prompted by the fact that last year, 2008, constituted the 10th anniversary of the White Paper on Local Government. We couldn't engage in that evaluation at that time because we went into an election period. Now that we are back, it is important to reflect on this issue.
But the other important reason, naturally, is that we have just come from a decisive conference and an election that gave us an important mandate to do things differently this time and, in fact, act to improve the quality of service to the people in the country as a whole. This reflection, therefore, is an important one for us in Parliament, so what we are calling for is that this matter be seen to be particularly urgent.
It is made urgent especially because of the presentation we just had earlier on by the Minister of Economic Development on the global crisis and its impact on our society as a whole. In fact, this represents one of the biggest challenges that municipalities face - that if a crisis is allowed to reverse the gains we've made it will perpetuate a crisis that the poor have been left with for a long time, which the ANC-led government and Parliament have taken significant steps to reverse. It is for that reason that in reflecting on the state of municipal governance, we identify factors that are crucial to doing that exercise, including a brief reflection on some of the instruments that we used to do so.
We also need to persuade the public out there that the message of the ANC that we need to work together is indeed correct and that the government is demonstrating this in practice and in action, for example, by firing corrupt people and taking action against those who do not do their work properly. This process, which has been led by the President, is the correct path, and the announcement of the presidential co-ordinating committee that includes Premiers and mayors is an important vehicle that is going to be used to achieve this objective.
Also, it is useful to note that last year was also the first time that we received the annual report on municipal performance, which naturally we couldn't deal with in this Parliament because of the elections. When we looked at that report it was already inadequate in that many municipalities had not complied - they had not given their annual reports which they were meant to do according to the law so that the provincial and national departments can do their reports, and so on.
But also, we came to the conclusion that some of the reports that were presented were quite frankly works of fiction, they were not based on the actual performance of the municipalities as reflected by reality, and that correction was needed there. There were also catch-up reports that reported on previous years that were already outdated.
Therefore, they couldn't give us reliable assessments of things and where they were. This is why it is absolutely necessary that going forward we do things differently. We must ensure that each municipality undertakes to provide an accurate and reliable report according to the law so that the provinces themselves, as well as the national departments, present us with reports that we can rely on.
Just recently, but also consistent with the previous report of the Auditor- General - which is another state institution that provides observations and therefore assessments of municipalities - the report concluded that while there are skills shortages at national and provincial levels they are "thinnest", to quote the word he used, at municipal level.
The challenge, therefore, for doing the work properly there requires urgent attention in the area of skills and skills development. But it also requires the political leadership requirements to create an environment which enables the skills that are there to be kept, to retain them there and to attract them as well - both of people who work for the municipalities as administrators, and also of those who make themselves available to become councillors, and those who make themselves available to partner with municipalities in their civil society organisations and as individuals to bring about a different system of work at municipal level.
The other important state mechanism that does this is the Demarcation Board. When they spoke to the committee, they indicated that many provinces were not, in fact, using the capacity assessments that they were obliged to do by government as an instrument in order for provinces to make interventions in those municipalities. These things were not used, and therefore, must be used this time around. It is crucial that they are used as a basis for dealing with these issues.
It is important that the topic speaks about the state of local governance, meaning that it is not just about what government does, but what it does with people on the ground. Historically, the democratic movement has worked with NGOs both in local and in rural local governments to provide support to the work that was being done to bring about change in the localities, and so on. Post 1994 they have played an important role in the reconstruction process. Some of them have come together to constitute the Good Governance Learning Network, GGLN. They have for the first time compiled a report, and we would like to say from this podium that we appreciated its presence, because it represents the input of people who work with municipalities from outside and, therefore, it gives us valuable information that we can use.
We do not necessarily always agree on things, but some of the issues that they raised are critical, especially public participation which is one of the most important requirements that municipalities need to be on top of to perform their work properly.
In other words, the work, for example, the fact that the Department of Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs is undertaking to lead an enquiry that would lead to a turnaround strategy is crucial, and it must take on board some of this work that has been done in civil society. This must happen inside the government itself.
I also want to mention our interaction with the Public Service Commission. The work that they do is crucial and as the Constitution says, it needs to be replicated towards municipalities; the useful information that emerges from the reports that they produce is equally valid for use at municipal level.
Therefore, the priorities that the new Parliament and government now have of principally dealing effectively with poverty and inequality in broad terms, and specifically with issues of health, education, rural development and combating crime - to mention those four - make up a crucial area in which municipalities are going to play an important role. And they cannot do so if institutionally they are not well capacitated and are not in a position to undertake their job properly.
With regard to the protests that have taken place, the count that we received from both Salga and others, who are local government watchers, is 35 municipal areas. But this is not taking place throughout these municipalities. It is in specific wards in those municipalities and in many of those instances there are understandable explanations. This means that there are reasons that can be traced that led to those protests, that the impatience of people often is justified in those areas. But in general, it is the requirements for our intervention both at parliamentary and government level that will turn things around at that level.
So, these protests are an indicator, not an exaggeration, of the need for us to intervene. It is a requirement for the period in which we are in to reconfigure, not only municipalities but the state as a whole, to become developmental, that is, decisive and action-oriented to bring about the kind of programmes that people on the ground require. Thank you. [Applause.]
Voorsitter, elke ideologie en gepaardgaande beleid word deur die harde werklikheid van die praktyk getoets. Kommunisme en apartheid het nogal lank geneem om deur die praktyk ontbloot te word, maar die ideologie van die nasionale demokratiese revolusie van die ANC, waarvolgens kaders ontplooi word as burgemeesters en topamptenare, met die gepaardgaande luukshede en uitspattige vergoeding te midde van totale onbevoegdheid in baie gevalle, het minder as nege jaar geneem om deur die praktyk ontbloot te word as 'n stelsel wat nie dienste lewer in munisipaliteite nie. Daarom het ons nou al hierdie opstande.
In die negentigerjare met die geleidelike transformasie van plaaslike regering is goeie munisipale diens gelewer, maar sedert 5 Desember 2000, na die eerste volle demokratiese verkiesing, is die nasionale demokratiese revolusie voluit toegepas en swak dienslewering het dit nou ten volle ontbloot as 'n stelsel wat nie kan werk nie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Mr W P DOMAN: Chairperson, every ideology and accompanying policy is tested by the harsh reality of practice. It took quite some time for communism and apartheid to be exposed by practice, but the ideology of the ANC's national democratic revolution, according to which cadres were deployed as mayors and top officials, along with the luxuries and extravagant remuneration in the midst of total incompetence in most cases, was exposed by its practices in less than nine years as a system that does not facilitate municipal service delivery. That is why we are having all these protests.
With the gradual transformation of local government in the 90s, municipal service delivery was good, but since 5 December 2000, after the first full democratic election, the national democratic revolution was implemented in full force and poor service delivery has now exposed it completely as a system that cannot be successful.]
Therefore, the DA fully agrees with the topic of this discussion. It is a governance problem, and it is brought about by an ideology that demonstrated that it cannot deliver and will lead to more protests. Therefore, we also agree with President Zuma's pronouncements last week that the ANC will no longer wait for the laws of the country to kick in, but will hold its mayors and councillors personally accountable and remove those who transgress or do not perform.
This view that it is the ANC, as a party, that must take responsibility, and the very fact that we, at long last, are allowed to have this debate in Parliament, which the DA has been calling for since last year, bodes well for a possible turnaround strategy for municipalities. This is because we have honesty here, and we have openness. This is progress, and the hon Tsenoli also talked in this vein today, with openness, in addressing the serious issues that we have. However, Chairman, we must start by acknowledging that it is a governance problem, and then we must do something about it. Therefore, the DA calls for the ANC to stop deployment and to let the local people decide on merit. Hold individuals responsible and do not allow them to hide behind the collective or else individuals will never perform, but they will rather only cement their own positions by appointing buddies and awarding contracts to well-connected friends. At the moment, at municipalities, it is more important what your position in the party is than what your obligations are to the public office you occupy.
This is when governance at municipalities goes all wrong. Let me give you a few examples: an executive mayor who doesn't act on the wrongdoing of an official because the official is high up in the ANC, and right there you have the collapse of discipline and performance at that municipality. It can also be the other way around, where mayors and councillors meddle in the domain of officials and actually force them to do illegal things just because they believe that they are politically untouchable.
Another example is an MEC who doesn't act against the nonperformance or even corruption of an executive mayor or municipality out of fear of political retaliation. Then ANC politics is more important than what the laws of the country in terms, in this case, of co-operative governance demand of the public office of the MEC. Or you have the situation where the South African Municipal Workers' Union, Samwu, through their powerful local bosses at certain municipalities actually run those municipalities, instead of the duly elected office bearers.
The governance shortcomings are further demonstrated in what is the priority at many ANC-led municipalities: an expensive mayoral car, overseas trips, large advertisements in papers, always with a picture of the mayor and other seniors, and excessive spending on nonsensical community projects that only benefit a few, instead of aiming to deliver the basic services that should be the core function of a municipality. So, I want to reiterate that it is a governance problem that must be sorted out by the governing party within its own ranks, or else poor service delivery will show up the shortcomings of this ideology more and more.
Apart from this governance problem, I want to state categorically that a municipality needs skilled and dedicated officials to deliver services. Even if councillors are failing dismally, a decent level of services will be delivered if the municipality has competent and hardworking officials. It is common knowledge that the implementation of the national democratic revolution, whereby cadres must occupy all positions, has led to an exodus of skills and experience from local government.
To get service delivery back on track, as a short-term measure, interventions at a substantial number of municipalities will be necessary to allow for the appointment of competent administrators. Some service delivery achievements have been registered with partnerships with the private sector, whereby professional and technical experts have been parachuted into municipalities to assist them. We need much more of this.
Baie munisipaliteite het so 'n slegte naam by professionele mense dat hulle weier om direk vir 'n munisipaliteit te werk. Hulle verkies eerder om, byvoorbeeld, deur die Ontwikkelingsbank van Suider-Afrika by 'n munisipaliteit geplaas te word.
Oor die lang termyn is volhoubare opleidingsprogramme ook nodig om kundigheid te verbeter, maar dit is baie belangrik dat die hele kultuur wat tans by munisipaliteite se werkerskorps aanwesig is, omgekeer moet word sodat dat daar groter toerekenbaarheid, hardwerkendheid, beloning vir uitnemendheid, en trots op skoon oudits en op ho standaarde is. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Many municipalities have such a bad reputation with professional people that they refuse to work directly with a municipality. Instead they prefer, for instance, to be placed at a municipality via the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
Sustainable training programmes to improve skills are also needed in the long term, but it is important that the entire culture that currently prevails among the worker corps of municipalities be reversed in order to promote greater accountability, diligence, reward for excellence, and taking pride in clean audits and high standards.]
You know, it will be one of the most shocking studies if someone were to list the municipal managers of the 283 municipalities since 2000 and what happened to each of them. The list of those who were prosecuted for corruption and maladministration is endless, not to mention those who simply ran away to avoid prosecution, and there is even a number of them who just continued with their bad habits in other municipal positions.
In this regard, the DA welcomes Minister Shiceka's strong stand on corrupt officials all over the country. We fully grant that South Africa has a skills shortage, and especially municipalities in the rural areas are battling to attract professionals and technical people. If the prevailing culture at many municipalities is not turned around, service delivery will remain poor. The time is long overdue for municipalities to appoint on merit and provide for career development on performance, rather than misuse the substantial power it has in this regard.
The Municipal IQ foundation found that by mid-July this year 24 major protests had been recorded. This is close to the entire total, namely 27 for 2008 and 31 for 2007, and is likely to exceed the peak of 35 in 2005.
Minister, the DA supported the budget this year because it believes that under your leadership the budget and its programmes can make a difference for the better. Then we must address the real issues, of which I've only addressed two today, that are hampering service delivery. At the municipalities where the DA governs, it applies the ideology of an open- opportunity society. We appoint on merit, we prioritise service delivery and, therefore, those municipalities excel. I thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Hon Chair, let me thank the ruling party for opening this debate on this crucial issue of service delivery. Hon Speaker, it is the state's responsibility to ensure that citizens of this country receive quality services. When the executive promises to deliver services to the citizenry, it first has to ensure that it has both the capacity and the resources to fulfil that constitutional mandate. The ruling party cannot justify its failures by blaming them on a third force or, even worse, on the previous administration, an administration it was part of.
It is public knowledge that approximately 90% of municipal water-treatment facilities in this country, which treat bulk-water supplies from dams and rivers, need replacement. The sewerage systems in Gauteng are said to be operating at 102% over their capacity, a situation that is untenable and a time bomb that, if not attended to, will collapse ablution in this busy city region.
In places such as Umtata, although the water and sewerage systems are within the city, the council has no control over the provision of these services. The sanitation services are rendered by the district authority of the O R Tambo District Municipality, while the King Sabata municipality oversees power and roads. This unwieldy situation was brought about by the ANC-controlled O R Tambo District, supported by the provincial government in 2003. [Interjections.] I was not there. [Laughter.] It was not motivated ... Listen to this; listen to this before you talk. It was not motivated by any desire to ensure efficiency of service delivery, but driven by the political desire to punish the UDM-controlled municipality.
This situation has, unsurprisingly, therefore resulted in the collapse of services in the town, with the city bursting at the seams, as there is no planning that has been put in place for the ever-growing population that now has more than doubled from 400 000 to over a million people - without services being upgraded. This conduct of placing party politics above the interests of citizens is at the heart of the crisis in local government. This behaviour results in the appointment of incompetent ANC deployees to run municipalities and the appointment of ANC-connected contractors to deliver services. Hon Speaker, while Cope wishes to condemn the violent destruction of property by the protesters, we are equally convinced that these citizens have legitimate complaints and demands. They have been let down by successive ANC governments at local government level. They are equally shocked that the government's first reaction has not been to listen but to condemn and to duck responsibility by blaming the so-called previous administration.
We are of the view that the ruling party has created unrealistic expectations which are not matched by deliverables. Let us remind you, hon members, that it was the ANC conference in Stellenbosch that resolved to address the challenges of cross-border municipalities. [Interjections.] This was resisted by its allies, the SACP, who went on to mobilise the community of Khutsong until this decision was reversed.
Has government learnt anything from this fiasco? It seems not, to me. Ironically, it is this lack of backbone that gives communities the impression that if you are unruly, you will get your way and, in fact, you will be rewarded by doing what you are doing. An example of this shocking value system is that of Jomo Mogale, a teacher who rendered the schooling system ungovernable in the same community of Khutsong. Today he is reinstated and branded a good teacher by the current government.
The government will not solve these problems by continuing to transfer functions to municipalities without the commensurate budget. The revenue bases of the municipalities are shrinking and their populations are growing. This situation, coupled with nonpayment for services, has reached crisis proportions and requires long-term solutions.
Cope calls for a national indaba in which all sectors of civil society come together to deliberate on the solutions to this crisis so that government can stop using stopgap measures to solve what is an endemic problem.
We therefore believe that three critical things must be addressed. There must be an audit of municipal management which must take place throughout the country. The multimillion-rand projects that have been awarded to incompetent companies owned by civil servants need to be reviewed and stopped in order for the resources to be directed or redirected to service delivery. Government must put in place an early warning system to avoid the unnecessary takeovers of functions belonging to local authorities as a crisis management solution, because these takeovers do not solve the problem. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Thank you, hon member. I'm glad that when you referred to me as "Speaker",but my parliamentary boss was not here otherwise you would have gotten me into trouble. [Laughter.]
Thank you, Chairperson. Colleagues, I think that if we were to be honest with each other in this House today, we would have to admit that the state of our municipalities is not what was expected a decade ago and that the hopes and expectations of millions of people have, in fact, been dashed.
It is also true, of course, that the state of local government in the country is uneven and the most serious situation pertains to the poor and largely rural municipalities, many of which are in a critical state and are, in fact, sometimes barely functional.
Now, the starting point in looking at this very poor state of affairs is the Constitution, or rather, the manner in which the provisions of the Constitution have been inadequately implemented. I just want to highlight two pertinent issues here. There are many which the other speakers have referred to.
Firstly, the drafters of the Constitution placed an injunction on the national government, which is given the power to raise national taxes, to share the income so raised between the three spheres, including the respective municipalities, and I quote:
... to ensure that they are able to provide services and perform the functions assigned to them.
Now, unfortunately, notwithstanding the significant increases in disbursements from the national government - and I acknowledge that local government financing has never been adequate - there is absolutely no way that the financing of poor rural municipalities, even at today's levels, has ever been sufficient to address historic backlogs or current needs or, in fact, even to fulfil the developmental role they have been given.
Secondly, the drafters of the Constitution placed another injunction on government, both national and provincial, to support municipalities. Now, it was understood by all that the enormous delivery tasks facing municipalities required that everybody work together and that municipalities would need lots of support to make this happen. But instead of doing this, too many municipalities were thrown to the wolves and left, effectively, to their own devices to fend for themselves as best they could.
In desperation we had Project Consolidate, which was meant to have been a short-term measure, but has now become quasi-permanent. But at least it showed us what support means and what can be achieved. In our opinion, a lot more could have been done in the past in respect of years gone by, which would have made all the difference and this debate today would have been of a different tenor.
So where do we go from here? Well, I want to make just two points perhaps as a starting point. Firstly, we have a Constitution: Why don't we just implement it for a change? Secondly, if we really want to know what has gone wrong, I think we need to start by looking at the top rather than at the bottom. What's going wrong at the bottom is a consequence of what's gone wrong at the top.
Unfortunately, I feel that government's response to the problems has been inappropriate. The single Public Service story is just going to nationalise poor governance, and the notion of more intervention powers - which is now this constitutional amendment we'll be looking at - is completely unnecessary. Government has a whole armoury of intervention weaponry and it doesn't need more.
What we really expect is a mantra from the Minister and the Deputy Minister. Every day they should wake up and say: "More resources, more support, more resources, more support!" If you do those two things, we will see a difference. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Thank you, Chairperson. This debate on local government and service delivery is long overdue, and it is an extremely critical and important issue. Today we can see how serious the ANC takes this debate if you note all the absent MPs here today. Where are the MPs? They have all gone.
The ID supports the Minister in his attempts to address the challenges of poverty and poor service delivery. The role of Salga must be reviewed to ensure the implementation of national programmes.
Many municipalities are abusing the indigent grant given by national government to help the poor. In some cases, these grants are being used to pay salaries.
The performance bonuses paid to municipality managers must be linked to actual achievements in service delivery and should not be interpreted by municipal managers as an extra perk for them. We in the ID believe that payment of performance bonuses for municipal managers must be determined by the national Minister and not by the local municipality. Currently, the ID has a performance agreement with its councillors and we would like to advise that the ANC and all other parties do likewise. Thank you. [Time expired.]
Chairperson and hon members, the 2009 ANC Election Manifesto clearly states that we must be proud of our past and be confident of the future. For 97 years the ANC has led the struggle to bring about a South Africa that belongs to all people, black and white. We moved on to embrace the unity of all South Africans, irrespective of race, colour, culture and religion.
This unity is the source of our strength and inspired many who sacrificed their lives for us to attain our freedom and helped us to cope with and tolerate each other in the ANC. The 1994 and 2004 elections were about the aspirations and the collective desire for a better South Africa and a journey to bring an end to the legacy of apartheid.
Fifteen years into our democracy, together we have achieved much in building a new society, uniting all our people in reducing poverty. Much of the economic and social devastation of apartheid as well as its scars are still with us. However, in December 2007, the ANC met in Polokwane where delegates brought messages from South Africans of different cities and towns and from different rural areas. They brought these problems and we talked about those that we know: the challenges of unemployment, poverty, and challenges of poor service delivery.
We heard and shared experiences about many municipalities which are dysfunctional. During the door-to-door campaigns, we heard what people said. In our resolutions, as the ANC, we agreed to come up with a turnaround strategy which would be an intervention to overcome all these challenges.
With the changing conditions, environment and political consciousness we will turn around all the so-called instability in municipalities. We have 283 municipalities and 48 district municipalities in this country. According to our statistics, we had only 24 protests about service delivery. But now it seems, Mr Doman, as if the whole country is ungovernable.
Yini ihaba kangaka? [Why are you exaggerating so much?]
We know that some of the communities have valid reasons for why they are protesting. We know that some communities demand proper consultation and some are complaining about poor service delivery and public participation in some structures; and poor financial management and fraud and corruption in others. In those affected municipalities, the department has managed to use section 139 as an intervention strategy required by the Constitution. There is also a team from the national Ministry that is travelling around the country doing interventions, interviewing communities and holding meetings with stakeholders. The Sunday Times newspaper dated 16 August 2009 also published the Mpumalanga report on this.
Sihlalo siyati futsi kutsi tonkhe letiphitsiphitsi naletibhelu lesitibonako nalokungavisisani kwetakhamuti. Lokunye kubangwa yimincele, sibonelo, sikubonile kwenteka eMatatiele nakumasipala waseMoutse.
Silikomiti, sivumelene naNgcongcoshe, babe Sicelo Shiceka, kutsi sitawucala kabusha luhlelo lwekuvakashela tonkhe letindzawo letitsintsekako kuva kutsi bantfu bona batsini; bafuna kuwela ngakuphi. Siyati singuleNdlu kutsi ludlame lwemincele alupheli kungakatsatfwa tinyatselo letisemtsetfweni.
Lokunye futsi lesikubonile lokubanga letibhelu lesitibonako kufudvuka kwebantfu basuka kulenye indzawo baye kulenye, lesikubita ngekutsi kutfutsa. Kwandza imikhukhu lengenamanti, lenganato tindlu tangasese. Ngesintfu sakitsi sitsi, "Leyomile iya emtfonjeni." Bafudvukela etindzaweni ngenhloso yekuyofuna imisebenti.
UMhlonishwa, babe Zuma ukhulumile ngelilanga lekubekwa kwakhe njengeMengameli walelive, watsi:
For as long as there are communities without clean water, decent shelter or proper sanitation, we shall not rest, and we dare not falter, in our drive to eradicate poverty.
Nantsi-ke sisho njalo. (Translation of Siswati paragraphs follows.)
[Chairperson, we also know that some of these protests, riots and conflicts that we see amongst community members, are caused by the issue of boundaries, for example, we saw it happening in the Matatiele and Moutse municipalities.
As a committee, we agreed with the Minister, Mr Sicelo Shiceka, that we will resume the programme of visiting all these places to find out which municipalities people want to belong to. We know as the House that these protests will not end if legal steps are not taken.
Another issue which we have identified as a cause of these protests is the movement of people from one place to another, which we call migration. More informal settlements without clean water and proper sanitation are created. People move to a place where they see an opportunity to benefit. So they move to these places to search for jobs.
The hon Mr Zuma on the day of his inauguration as President of the country, said:
For as long as there are communities without clean water, decent shelter or proper sanitation, we shall not rest, and we dare not falter, in our drive to eradicate poverty.
We also share the same sentiments.]
Chairperson, part of the turnaround strategy is that municipalities must have debt recovery plans that will address backlogs over the medium term and the long term and the capacity to generate revenue. In this regard, ultimatums of implementation are crucial to be able to achieve the target date for 2011.
In order to make sure that the disseminated information reaches the intended beneficiaries, ward councillors must be revived and be supported with the necessary tools of their trade, such as offices in which to operate. That is when councillors will be vibrant in calling report-back meetings and be accountable to the communities they serve.
The latest Markinor public opinion and perception surveys of May 2009 show that the majority of our people have very low levels of confidence in their municipalities. This negative perception of the state of local government is also common across all parties.
With the intervention that we have put in place, the ANC is very confident that we will bring back confidence and hope to our people by rooting out all the corruption and throwing out all the rotten apples which do not want to deliver.
We are now approaching the local government elections. By going back to the people and listening to their views, we will be able to get individuals who influence people to protest against those who are in authority, so that they can be elected to those positions.
Since we are nearing the end of the month of August, I would like to congratulate women in the provincial and local governments who successfully had their 7th Summit in Bloemfontein from 16 to 18 August 2009. We hope that their discussions will enable us to get 50% representation of women in the forthcoming local government elections.
To conclude, I would like to extend my sympathy to those families who have been affected by these protests, some of whom had their houses burnt down. We all know that the victims of these incidents are women and children. We urge those perpetrators to stop this. It is barbaric and inhumane. We know that they are doing this for political gain. I thank you. [Applause.]
Agb Voorsitter, ek wil net vir die agb lid s as sy sekere vrot appels gaan uitgooi, gaan sy 'n skok opdoen, want sy gaan agterkom op party plekke gaan sy die hele sakkie moet weggooi. [Gelag.]
Die onderwerp van hierdie debat is die noodsaaklikheid om die uitdagings van plaaslike regering aan te pak. Ons mislei onsself. Dit is nie uitdagings wat daar bespreek moet word nie, dis krisisse! Ek wil sover gaan om te s die onderwerp behoort te wees "die noodsaaklikheid om die totale ineenstorting van plaaslike regering aan te pak".
Die agb Tsenoli het hier kom spog dat die probleem oor korrupte amptenare aangepak word en dat daar teen hulle opgetree word. Ek wil vir hom geluk s, maar ek het reeds by verskeie geleenthede van hierdie einste podium gevra dat die agb Minister regulasies moet uitvaardig wat bepaal dat 'n bepaalde amptenaar wat onder dissiplinre verhoor is by n munisipaliteit nie by 'n ander munisipaliteit aangestel kan word alvorens daardie dissiplinre verhoor afgehandel is nie.
'n Tipiese voorbeeld is die munisipale bestuurder van Klerksdorp. Ek het dit al hveel hier genoem! Hy was aangekla van diefstal, bedrog en korrupsie, en vr sy saak afgehandel is by Kroonstad, is hy aangestel as munisipale bestuurder van Klerksdorp.
Agb lid, u tyd is verstreke.
Dan sal u begin optree! Dankie. (Translation of Afrikaans speech follows.)
[Mr P J GROENEWALD: Hon Chairperson, I just want to say to the hon member that if she is going to get rid of certain bad apples, she is going be shocked, because she will realise that in some instances she will have to throw away the whole bag. [Laughter.]
The subject of this debate is the urgent need to address the challenges of local government. We are deceiving ourselves. It is not about the challenges that there should be a discussion, but rather about the crises! I will go as far as saying that the topic should be "the urgent need to address the total collapse of local government".
The hon Tsenoli came here and he boasted that the problem of corrupt officials is being addressed and that action is being taken against them. I want to congratulate him, but from this very same podium I have asked the hon Minister on several occasions already to issue regulations stipulating that when a particular official is facing disciplinary action at one municipality, such official may not be appointed at another municipality until that disciplinary hearing has been concluded.
A typical example is the municipal manager of Klerksdorp. I have already mentioned it here so many times! He was accused of theft, fraud and corruption and, before his case was concluded in Kroonstad, he was appointed as municipal manager of Klerksdorp.
Hon member, your time has expired.
Then you will be taking action! Thank you.]
Speaker, the ACDP shares the view that the state of service delivery in many of our municipalities is appalling. Minister Shiceka was very frank during his Budget Vote earlier this year when he said:
It is a crying shame that after 15 years of democracy, parts of our country still reflect a legacy of apartheid and the unacceptable face of underdevelopment, poverty and marginalisation.
And in commenting on the deplorable state of certain municipalities, he stated further:
The extent of the breakdown in trust is so great that it is placing our democratic state at risk.
We thank him for those frank words. We have also seen a number of areas being engulfed by service delivery protests. Twenty four is too many, hon member. Clearly, we in Parliament must exercise a far greater and more robust oversight function. We welcome the Minister's commitment to deal quickly and effectively with corrupt officials. Citizens are crying out for better service delivery.
Should these issues not be urgently addressed, we will continue to see protests and demonstrations that can, indeed, place our democratic state at risk. I thank you.
Mutshamaxitulu na Yindlu ya wena, ndzi yima laha mahlweni ka n' wina ndzi lava ku kombisa erivaleni vuxaka na ntirhisano exikarhi ka vurhangeri bya ndhavuko na vurhangeri kun'we na vuyimeri bya masipala kumbe mimfumo ya xikaya.
A swi kanakanisi Mutshamaxitulu leswaku eka tindhawu tin'wana ta tiko ra hina, ku suka hi lembe ra 2000 loko ku tumbuluxiwa mimfumo ya xikaya kumbe timasipala, ku kwetlembetana, ku pfumaleka ka ku twisisana na ku tsandzeka ku tirha swin'we exikarhi ka vukosi na vamasipala ku ve kona. Sweswo swi endle leswaku vukorhokeri eka vanhu byi nga vi kona. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)
[Mr D W MAVUNDA: Chairperson and the House at large, I stand before you to illustrate the relationship and co-operation between traditional leadership and representatives of the municipalities or local governments.
There is no doubt, Chairperson, that in some parts of our country since the establishment of local governments or municipalities in 2000, infighting, lack of consensus and failure to work together between traditional leadership and municipalities has always been there. That has resulted in the lack of service delivery for the people.]
In a true sense, there is no structure or leadership in our rural communities that does not want development in their respective areas. Traditional leaders, church leaders, or democratically elected leaders are always concerned about their status and the status of the communities where they live.
Secondly, the two components that I have mentioned, the local municipalities and the traditional leadership institutions, were both established by legislation, they are entrenched in the Constitution of our country and have the same common purpose, which is to serve the needs and interests of the previously disadvantaged communities.
The unfortunate situation between the two components has caused and perpetuated a nightmare for the underdeveloped rural areas and the rural communities. Interestingly, Chairperson, this House has promulgated laws and Acts to distinguish between the roles of the two institutions, their respective duties and functions, as well as their legislative mandate for operating and servicing the previously disadvantaged and underdeveloped rural communities.
For example, section 5(2) of the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act of 2003 provides for the partnership between municipalities and traditional councils, where those partnerships must be based on the principles of co-operative governance.
However, the two parties chose not to abide by those Acts; instead, they fought for power to rule over the same previously disadvantaged communities. This has posed a very serious challenge for our municipalities as there is a lack of legislative compliance.
This was because the two parties did not have insight into the legislation or a proper interpretation of the Act - something that needs to be looked into. There is no sign of a serious commitment to consultation between the two components.
Community development has since been paid lip service in most of our rural communities because, in reality, there are no clear policies or programmes to deal with this.
We, therefore, call for the publication and immediate implementation of the Communal Land Rights Act of 2004, which provides, amongst other things, for the establishment of the land administration committees by the local people themselves.
Their functions, amongst other things, are to ensure the allocation of new- order rights to all persons, including women, people living with disability, youth and all vulnerable community members.
The fast-tracking of the Land Management Bill, which also provides for working together with our people in the rural areas, will ensure a comprehensive rural development strategy linked to land, agrarian reform and food security, as alluded to by the President of the country in his state of the nation address.
Consultation by councillors with community members on key strategic policies and decisions is a great necessity, for example, on the revision of the Integrated Development Plan, IDP, tariffs, indigent programmes, and so on.
Again, section 81 of the Municipal Structures Act states categorically that any municipality that wants to bring any development to an area within the jurisdiction of a particular traditional leader, must have proper consultations with the said traditional leader and other relevant stakeholders.
However, councillors in some other municipalities chose not to have such consultations, and such practices have led to confrontation and retarded the needed development in those communities. In order for proper and comprehensive rural and community development to take place in our rural communities, there must be peace and stability at the level of community leadership.
The fact that Chapter 6 of the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act 2003 makes provision for the establishment of a commission to deal with dispute resolution concerning customary laws and customs in our communities and with traditional leaders, speaks for itself. It is something that should be very desirable.
Community development programmes and strategies can only be conducted and implemented in communities where there is peace, no infighting between the leaders of various stakeholders of that community and where co-operation and working together prevails. We therefore call upon the Ministry to speed up the process and pave the way for the Department of Community Development and Land Reform to operate with ease in the best interests of our communities.
We also call for the speedy establishment of the department of traditional affairs as already discussed and agreed upon. This will serve a better purpose in the smooth running of community development programmes and local economic development.
Ku dya ngopfu a hi ku hlula ndlala. Ndza khensa. [These few words will suffice. I thank you.]
Mr Chairperson, once again local government finds itself in a crisis, and the latest violent demonstrations bear testimony to this. We find communities without water, sanitation or electricity, and without decent roads, schools and clinics. Fifteen years down the line they are no better off but are, in fact, worse off as the recent recession finds more and more people unemployed.
During July, the DA's parliamentary leader the hon Athol Trollip, hon Doman and I visited hotspot areas around the country and found the situation disastrous. Promises were made and expectations created in order to win votes, but the same individuals who had made those promises are nowhere to be found post the election. The frustrations of these communities are ignored.
The placing of a few police vehicles outside the informal settlements, as we have observed, will not change the mood within the townships. Service delivery issues, as well as housing, need to be addressed as a matter of urgency and should dominate debates in this House.
The time is now. We must take action to help communities that are living in squalor and rat-infested townships. We must take steps to assist communities living in unacceptable living conditions where adults and children alike are exposed to infections and diseases as part of their daily lives.
Most of the people we spoke to during our visits have been on the housing waiting list since 1996. What has happened to that list of 1996, Minister? Why have the people on those lists not yet received their houses? Who are the people who are receiving preferential treatment, and why?
We met with some who have now, out of sheer frustration, moved into RDP houses built in their own areas, but allocated to other people. We also saw first-hand the quality of these houses: The structures are falling apart, water connections as well as sewerage systems are not connected and there is no electricity. How could such a project be signed off and the unscrupulous contractor paid?
We need to ask these questions so that the problems can be addressed, and those involved must be held to account. The fact of the matter is that our citizens deserve better. Let us learn from good examples such as those set by Helen Zille, the best mayor in the world! [Interjections.]
Salga has, on behalf of the municipalities, without the correct mandate, negotiated a 13% increase which municipalities have not budgeted for. This, Minister, will put further strain on municipalities and will result in less services being delivered. Work ethics and productivity, strangely, were not addressed in these negotiations, thus making municipal labour very expensive. Vandalism of council-owned assets and private property should be billed to the unions.
Furthermore, the exorbitant membership fees to Salga which run into hundreds of millions of rands, should rather be used for service delivery instead of being wasted on a structure that does not really represent the true views of its members.
Finally, I would like to address the financial viability of municipalities. The rates and taxes accounting systems have been changed. But instead of improving the situation, billing has been plunged into disarray, and now accounts are not sent out on time. As a result, outstanding debt owed to municipalities is increasing, further crippling efforts to improve service delivery. Credit control measures are not taken seriously, and debts keep on rising without action being taken. Shortfalls cannot be addressed simply by raising taxes simply to balance budgets. Our rates base is overloaded already, and we are facing a situation where residents can no longer afford it. Only when debt control measures have been addressed can we begin to provide free and proper services.
A few days ago we learnt of problems facing Tshwane. Not only did they exhaust the R500 million overdraft, but now they cannot pay Eskom or Rand Water. We also found that at the end of June 2009, debt owed to them amounted to R3,4 billion, and that a huge chunk of it is owed by government departments.
A leading jurist once said:
If government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for the law. It invites anarchy.
In order to prevent anarchy, we must ensure that our government and its representatives are held to account. Thank you. [Applause.]
House Chairperson, colleagues, members of this august House and members of the public, this debate is taking place in an important month, a month that is important in the struggle for women's emancipation. It is also dealing with an important topic that touches the lives of all our people. Local government is the structure that touches everyone.
Ifana noNdabazabantu ... osithinta kusukela sizalwa ukufinyelela ethuneni uma ujabulile ukwazi ukuthola-ke isithifiketi somshado yindlela akuthinta ngayo uNdabazabantu, Umnyango Wezasekhaya. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[This is like Home Affairs ... which has your particulars from birth to death; if you are lucky you can even get your marriage certificate which is one of the ways in which the Department of Home Affairs works for you.]
I have listened to everyone who engaged on this critical subject matter, and we have heard views from various parties. The ANC also raised critical issues and at the same time talked about the best practices that are prevailing. There are those who are cynical when raising their issues, as if there is nothing positive that has been done here.
We would like to commit ourselves here in this House, as a big family for local government, to build a local government that is efficient, effective, responsive and accountable. We are telling you that this is the task that we are going to do in the next coming five years. By the year 2014, we should all be able to experience the four things that I have spoken about.
We are also saying that it is important that all of us in this House should rise above petty political differences and also our ideological orientation, and ensure that we all contribute to building local government, not only for ourselves but for our children and future generations. It is in our interest that we do so.
As the department, we have unleashed a comprehensive assessment of each and every municipality in this country, because we would like to understand what is happening. We do not only have to understand that, but we should be able to come up with solutions that are tailor-made and are specific to each municipality.
We can't use a one-size-fits-all approach to deal with the issues of the local government, because where these challenges are experienced, they are not the same. This revolutionary process is driven at the provincial level by the MECs, and co-ordinated at the national level by the Department of Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs. At the same time, we believe that the consolidated reports that come from municipalities should be approved by provincial Cabinet, that is, the provincial executive committees at that level.
They should be able to do so by the middle of September and ensure that there is an outline of the state of municipalities in each and every province - a process that is driven at a political level, and that is going to enjoy political oversight.
Those reports should be sent to my department at the national level, so that we can outline the state of municipalities in South Africa. We should be able to take the report to the summit. We would like to have a national indaba, as it has been raised by Cope. We agree with you on this one and the process will be undertaken. We would like to hold this national indaba at the end of October, where all of us would be able to engage on the state of municipalities and begin to draft a turnaround strategy for local government in this country.
Now we are saying to everybody who would like to express their views and opinions to come forward to the conference. Governmental and nongovernmental organisations, including universities and learning institutions, should be able to come and contribute in taking this process forward. From our side, we are saying that this turnaround strategy should be approved by Cabinet before the end of this year. Next year we should be able to implement the turnaround strategy that has been agreed upon by all South Africans. Once we have come up with a turnaround strategy for each and every municipality, people should be able to engage and say how they would like to be governed in their own localities. At the end of the day, they would be able to monitor the implementation of a turnaround strategy. We don't want to allow anyone to be left out. Wonke umuntu makaze ngaphambili. [Everybody must come on board.]
Together, we should be able to turn this country around. That is why we are saying we should rise above petty political things because local government is a matter that concerns everyone. You can't afford to politicise it. We should be able to confront the issues and to engage from the side of the Ministry. We are also going to engage Cope, the DA and all other opposition parties so that we are able to find solutions for South Africa, because it is in our interests to do that.
We believe that there is a requirement from you. The requirement is that you should accept that the outcome might require us to amend the laws. One of the major weaknesses that you have in the local government legislation is that there is no oversight, and there is no separation of powers between the executive and the legislative component. That is within the Constitution. It might mean that for us to be able to deliver services to our people, we should be able to ensure that we amend the Constitution. At times we should be able to amend the laws so that we are sharper at the end of the spear in dealing with these issues. We are calling upon you, so that when that time comes you would be able to support us. You should be able to agree with us that that should be done in the interests of the country and its people, wherever they are. We are also saying that in dealing with the turnaround strategy, we should agree that all of us should make a contribution where we live, because every public representative who is here has his or her own municipality.
The question that we should be asking ourselves is: What is your contribution to your own municipality? Because you are not just an ordinary citizen, you are a public representative who is supposed to be playing an oversight role wherever you are and wherever you stay, to ensure that local government is taken forward.
We are calling upon you to give us reports on whatever you've experienced in your own areas, good or bad, so that we are able to take the best practices forward and at the same time deal with and undermine the negative tendencies that are prevailing in our municipalities. We are the first to admit that not all is hunky-dory in municipalities. Together we can find solutions and ensure that we take these processes forward when dealing with them. Therefore, we believe that all of us, together with this Parliament as an institution and as individuals, should ensure that we make local government everyone's business.
We should be able to ensure that in the next five years, in local government, we don't speak in the same way, in all respects. I won't talk about the content of the state of the municipalities because due process is unfolding and is taking place. Let's await that process to go forward. We will be able to report on the outcomes of the state of the municipalities in this House so that it engages itself with that process.
From our point of view we would like to agree with some members on the issues raised concerning corruption, that it does not have any place in this country. Together we should be able to combat corruption, uproot nepotism and state that it is not allowed. I would like to indicate that the issue of nepotism and appointing people from the same party is not only an ANC matter. Let's talk about the DA here. The DA has removed almost all Africans who were in leadership positions in the city of Cape Town. [Applause.] One of them was the most able person, Mr Nhlakanipho Nkontwana, who is now my special adviser. He was one of the best people who performed his work very well. Last year, his achievement was the amendment of the Constitution which was presented in this House concerning the issues of Merafong and the law within a period of three months. That has never been done anywhere in this country.
Therefore, the issue of removing people is not only an issue of the ANC. You have recently removed a woman, Ms Majiet, who was the head of the Department of Local Government in this province. She is a disabled woman who was removed by the DA. Her sin was that she was not appointed by the