Chairperson, I'll be responding to hon Watty, where he raised an issue around the leaders who are speakers, mayors and chief whips. You find that, in terms of the rankings of the party, they are junior. Therefore, they are instructed. This distorts the system of governance where you find that officials begin to instruct their bosses in the council. The respect for the institution gets undermined.
In this case, one would say that the matter, hon Watson, is something that is applicable across parties. If you can go to KwaZulu-Natal under the IFP, the same thing applies. If you can come to the Western Cape under the DA, the same thing applies. It is even worse here because you have coalitions that change from time to time. [Interjections.] People go to bed with different partners at different times based on the coalition system of governance. This also applies to areas where the ANC rules.
We are, in fact, developing what is called governance values. We want to say that all South Africans, irrespective of political affiliation, must live by these values and live according to these values. It means that even the ruling party and other parties are going to be engaged on these values so that we can follow them, be united behind them and rally behind them as South Africans, in terms of what should be done.
But it is a matter of concern to us that the institution of local government is being interfered with by political parties. At times they give illegal, unconstitutional instructions. This is a matter we want to take up with the parties so as to ensure that the institution remains respected and enjoys legitimacy and accountability in the way things are done. We will be engaging with the parties.
I have already indicated this to Mr Doman, who is a shadow Minister for Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, to Madam Wenger, who is a shadow Deputy Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and also to other parties that we will be engaging with on these matters. I have even spoken to the IFP's national chairperson and told her that we will be taking up the issue.
I am saying that South Africans must rise above petty politics and know that local government is something that affects everyone; it's quite important. So, let's ensure that we do things in the right way, not for ourselves but for our children and future generations. Thank you very much.
Hon Chair, I would like to thank the Minister for a very frank and honest answer to my question. But my question had two parts, hon Minister - namely the long term and the short term. What you have given us now is an exposition of your plans and interactions in the long term. But in the short term, our findings are that particularly in municipalities where strife and riots are the order of the day and of course where, in terms of my question here that referred to Operation Clean Audit, there have been no clean audits forthcoming for some time, this type of political interference is taking place at this very moment.
You have a short-term plan to deal with instances like these in the interim, whilst interventions are taking place by the MECs and whilst the NCOP is conducting visits to ascertain whether interventions are acceptable or not - whichever party it may be? Will it become clear that the strife and bad governance in that municipality is because of officials interfering with executive decisions because of their political superiority?
Thank you very much, hon Watson. Of course, we have short-term measures. One of the short-term measures is the fact that we are intervening decisively in areas where we hear about this. I will tell you that we received a report where in one province, that I am not going to mention, the municipal manager was about to be suspended last week. This was because she refused to implement a legal instruction. This was done by a junior official who is a senior member of the party. We dispatched a team, led by the Deputy Minister and other officials, to go to that place. They reversed the situation, and everything is going well. We want to be a responsive government. We must act if we hear anything; we must be there on the ground and deal with the situation. To illustrate that, hon Watty, the department is going to be divided into provinces. This is because we believe that one cannot run 283 municipalities - working with all nine of the provinces - while being in Tshwane. We don't know what is happening on the ground. We must therefore ensure that we are at the provincial level.
I am saying that we are intervening. If you hear anything, you have the right to communicate with us. My cellphone number has not changed; it remains the same. We will be there on the ground, dealing with the issues. We don't want to allow a situation where the power, prestige and authority of a municipality is undermined. If we allow this to happen, we will regret what we have done over time. We must stop the rot before it gets worse. Thank you very much.
Action taken against municipal managers who have failed to comply with performance agreements
53. Mr D A Worth (DA) asked the Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs:
Whether any action has been taken against any municipal managers who have failed to comply with their performance agreements; if not, why not; if so, how many municipal managers have been dismissed and/or suspended in the (a) 2008-09 financial year and (b) from 1 April 2009 up to the latest specified date for which information is available?