Speaker, a survey by Productivity SA in 2008 revealed that South Africa has the world's highest brain drain and the worst skills shortage of the 55 countries surveyed. In the consolidated general report on the local government audit outcomes for 2008 to 2009 published recently, the Auditor-General gave reasons why remedial action was not taken by municipalities on audit outcomes of previous years. These reasons include: "Failure by the leadership to adequately deal with the level of vacancies and instability at senior leadership level" and "Ineffective recruitment, training and supervision of finance staff".
The skills shortage crisis in local government is, to my mind, one of the main reasons for nondelivery by municipalities. For instance, since the first democratic local government elections in December 2000, the number of civil engineering professionals in the local government sphere were reduced from 2 500 plus to less than 1 300, the capacity effectively being halved within the past 10 years.
Here, I must remind you that between 1994 and 2000 no capacity was lost, and it went well in local government because of shared, responsible transformation, but the moment the ANC alone got their hands on the levers of power at municipalities, capacity imploded just as dramatically as the Cape Town power station towers two weeks ago. Dit is 'n gemene saak dat apartheid-onderwys die oorgrote meerderheid van ons bevolking met swak onderwys en min geleenthede vir verdere opleiding gelaat het. Dit is 'n groot bydraende faktor dat die ekonomie vandag vaardigheidstekorte ondervind. Alhoewel die toegang tot onderwys die afgelope twee dekades verbeter het, het die gehalte ongelukkig nie verbeter nie. Munisipaliteite word deesdae genoodsaak om nuwe werksoekers aan te stel wat net eenvoudig nie oor die basiese vaardighede beskik nie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[It is common knowledge that apartheid education left the majority of our population with poor education and few opportunities for further training. It is an important contributing factor to skills shortages in our present- day economy. Although access to education has improved over the past two decades, the quality, unfortunately, did not improve. Municipalities are forced nowadays to appoint new job seekers who simply do not have the basic skills at all.]
However, cadre deployment at ANC-controlled municipalities has been the biggest culprit that has robbed local government of skilled people. The first step in cadre deployment is, of course, to get positions vacant. In the few years that the ANC controlled the Cape Town metro, 84 senior managers were given nice packages with the ratepayers' money. This was a trend all over South Africa. In the process, some highly talented people who could have fulfilled at least a caretaker role and could have assisted with in-house training were dismissed. [Interjections.] The ANC - listen, Minister - alienated so many professionals ...
Order, hon members! Minister of Labour, order please! [Interjections.] Continue, hon Doman.
The Minister of Labour should listen to this. The ANC alienated so many professionals that they are not prepared to be employed directly by municipalities any more but only to be placed there by agencies like the Development Bank or simply work as contractors. Indeed, the whole concept of contract positions has backfired. Instead of creating excellence, as we intended as lawmakers, it has been misused for political expediency, and it has led to the destabilisation of senior management at municipalities.
One of the biggest mistakes that the ANC made was to repeal the Profession of Town Clerks Act of 1988, and the Municipal Accounts Profession Act, Act 21 of 1988, without replacing them with proper ones. No wonder that the Institute of Municipal Finance Officers points out the lack of professional recognition and the current status on the appointment and regulation of municipal financial officers as the main reasons for the lack of financial skills at municipalities. Only now a Bill is before Parliament to set professional standards for positions and appointment procedures, which we support and which we think can go a long way towards alleviating the problem. Figures indicate that there is at all times at least a 12% vacancy rate in section 57 appointments - that is, municipal managers and managers reporting to municipal managers. Then there are those appointees who fill positions, but do not have the necessary skills and expertise. We know South Africa has a shortage of skills in general, but this is compounded in local government by the fact that at least more than 100 rural municipalities find it impossible to attract the necessary skilled people. If Buffalo City Local Municipality in East London, which is aspiring to become a metro in the near future, does not have one graduated engineer, where does this leave the other municipalities in the country?
The SA Institution of Civil Engineering says that only 51% of housing projects are successfully completed as a result of skill shortages. This shortage carries over to existing infrastructure as well, where maintenance is regularly neglected. The impact of poor maintenance reduces the quality of life of our citizens as broken pumps leave sewage in the streets, and this compromises the health of all of us. Electrical malfunctions leave houses in the dark, and power cuts erode business prospects. They also mean loss of income for municipalities because less water and electricity are sold. In summary, skills shortages reduce economic growth and job opportunities in South Africa and negatively affect municipal service delivery across all sectors.
If we start to look for solutions, the political mistakes, some unintended, must be acknowledged and corrected. Firstly, cadre deployment must be stopped. Councillors, especially ANC councillors, must appoint staff in a balanced way, as our Constitution and laws intend. The DA believes that the concept of fit for purpose must be applied where transformation is taken into account, where equity is taken into account, and also where skills, expertise and experience are taken into account and that these should all be balanced. Secondly, stop leaving positions open if a suitable cadre is not available. It is a pity and a travesty that skilled people are overlooked owing to the ideological blinkers of political leaders at municipalities. Municipalities can go a long way towards reversing the brain drain if the message can go out to South Africans abroad that their skills will not be overlooked and that there are plenty of vacancies at municipalities.
Thirdly, too many municipalities fail to enter into performance agreements so that staff can't be held accountable, or rewarded, for their efforts. If this is not done properly, it doesn't encourage staff to undertake training and to improve their skills. Fourthly, the Department of Co-operative Governance, Salga and the Local Government Seta should make a concerted effort to come up with applicable training and ensure that it is of good quality. It is disappointing that the department is still struggling to complete a skills audit of all municipalities. We are in total darkness about how this has progressed. A complete skills audit for this sector will go a long way towards identifying what our needs really are and how they can be addressed.
Another solution would be for the private sector to second experienced staff to battling municipalities. We also need partnerships with professional organisations that can make a big difference and are ready to assist.
Ten slotte sal die Minister van Samewerkende Regering en Tradisionele Sake en sy departement aan die een kant en ons, as parlementslede, aan die ander kant moet saamspan om wetswysigings deur te voer wat professionele standaarde gaan herstel. Dankie. [Tyd verstreke.] [Applous.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[In conclusion, the Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and his department on the one hand and we, as Members of Parliament, on the other hand will have to co-operate in passing amendments to legislation that will restore professional standards. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]]
Hon Speaker, hon members, today marks the end of Women's Month. The ANC has long debated and agreed on the need for women to access decision-making structures. It has also long emphasised that quantitative presence or access is not necessarily representation of women in decision-making, nor is it an achievement of gender equality, but it has recognised the importance of access and presence as only one of the critical pillars of indicators on the road map to gender equality.
The critical issue for women wherever they are is to enter these spheres and grab power to use it for transformation. It is accepted that women do not enter spheres as representatives of women, nor as the ones solely responsibly for raising the gender flag. It is imperative that women lead. They should lead in a sense that they participate in capacity-building programmes. They are part of skills development programmes.
Mr Chairman, on a point of order: The motion on the Order Paper deals with skills shortages in local government, and possible solutions to alleviate the situation. [Interjections.] But the hon speaker at the podium at the present time somehow appears to be using this opportunity to have yet another debate on women. I would suggest, Sir, that she sticks to the topic.
Hon Ellis, I think you are being unfair, because she has hardly begun her second paragraph. You don't know whether what's she has said is still part of the introduction. Let's just hear whether your point is in order.
It is a very long paragraph in that case, Sir. [Interjections.]
That's fine. It is the right of the speaker there. Hon speaker, continue.
Chairperson, this hon member is not a member of the ANC. He won't understand what I'm talking about. You are not part of the ANC component. So just listen and hear what I'm going to say. I've given you a chance; just give me a fair chance, too, to participate in these issues.
Comrades, it is imperative that women must lead, leading in the sense that they participate in capacity-building programmes because they are part of skills development programmes.
Allow me to quote from Comrade Thenjiwe Mthintso's letter in the ANC Today called, "The revolutions within the revolution": "We do not want only to support women to enter leadership positions in all spheres of life but also to transform these spheres." I am emphasising this point because in the recent service delivery protest against councillors, some of the municipalities were headed by women.
The decision of a skills audit in municipalities is not new to us. In 1956 we adopted the Freedom Charter. It says: "The doors of learning shall be open to everyone." It is one of our policies and one of the ANC's resolutions under the social cluster that countrywide, skills audits of municipalities must be done. This was also one of Cabinet's resolutions on 5 March 2007.
A national skills audit steering committee was formed, which consisted of provincial and local government: the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority, the SA Local Government Association, the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union - Imatu - and the SA Municipal Workers Union - Samwu. The main aim of the skills audit was to obtain baseline information that would facilitate the implementation of capacity-building initiatives and human resource planning in order to effectively develop appropriate interventions to redress local government skills and competence deficiencies. This process was facilitated over a period of 15 months in all nine provinces. Skill audits, inclusive of section 57 managers in the district and local municipalities, were conducted.
You are hounding me because I'm correcting what the hon Doman was saying here. He was talking about things that happened 10 years ago. [Interjections.] The methodology of the skills audit ... [Interjections.] ... I am debating the programmes that are in place in terms of which we can correct the skills shortages in municipalities.
The methodology of the skills audit was based on the customisation of the competency framework drawn from various government models, such as the Senior Management Services Competency Framework, the National Treasury and municipal regulations on the minimum competency level. Following all these guidelines, a competency framework was formed that consisted of six clusters.
I am going through all these processes to bring to people's attention the mere fact that because the DA has introduced this debate does not mean that nothing has been done. Things have been done. Listen to these programmes. [Interjections.] Through having done this exercise, we are very aware that a vacancy rate of 13,45% exists in municipalities nationwide. We know that. In accordance with organisational design and human resource principles, such vacancies ...
Chairperson, on a point of order: Is it fair that the DA bench is so irritated by the truth?
That is not a point of order. So long as they do not dominate the speaker and that the speaker at the podium is still audible. That is why I am also quiet.
But, Chairperson, it gives me difficulty. I need to ...
Could I ask the member a question? I want to find out why the ANC has qualified audits and the DA does not have qualified audits in local government. Will she answer that question?
Could the speaker proceed with her speech? If she does engage the issue you are raising, she will do so. But you are protected, speaker.
Thank you, Chairperson. Through this exercise we are very aware that a vacancy rate of 13,45% exists in municipalities nationwide. In accordance with the organisational design and human resource principles, such a vacancy rate is close to the acceptable rate of 13,0%.
We also know that provinces that have high vacancy rates in key positions are the Northern Cape - where the vacancy rate for chief financial officer positions is 36,6%, for municipal managers 35,45% and directors in community development services 25% - while the North West, the Free State and Gauteng have the same vacancy rates, with a vacancy rate of only 25% for directors in technical services. [Interjections.]
Only!
Yes, only! Of the total 785 section 57 managers who participated in the skills audits that were processed countrywide, only 70% of the submitted certificates were validated and qualified in the rate ...
We are very aware that there are challenges regarding some of the qualifications submitted. [Interjections.] There are also people who have not been placed in a related position according to their qualifications. One would find a ...
Chairperson, on a point of order: It is against the Rules - and the opposition knows it - to engage in running commentary. They have been persistently disrupting the speaker from continuing. Could you please protect the speaker?
Hon members, I think the point of order is in order. There has been running commentary, so please avoid doing it. Proceed, hon Nhlengethwa.
Those people are not placed in related positions according to their qualifications. You will find a Bachelor of Education graduate holding a director CFO position. Those are challenges we know of and we are correcting them.
We must not forget that officials in some municipalities from the apartheid era are still holding critical positions. We kept them as they must transfer their knowledge and skills. Some of them are still there, warming their seats and not monitoring even a single junior official.
Therefore, we are saying that temporary positions of CFOs, directors and others should be included in affected municipalities as special short-term programmes, rather than as established programmes designed as part of the permanent municipal structure establishment. Affected municipalities may be required to review their structures to realign to the original mandate. Once all this has been completed, it will be regarded as a big achievement in terms of municipal targets.
The structure development programme of section 57 managers has been established at a provincial level in order to expedite developments. Some of the section 57 managers that performed consistently at an intermediate level should be awarded the opportunity to be coached individually to enhance their personal growth, and development managers that scored at an advanced level are to be identified as mentors for specific competencies across the districts.
After the completion of the skills audit, we assessed that it was very important to emphasise training and capacity-building in local municipalities. As the ANC has, historically, committed itself to prosperity, this programme is being budgeted for every financial year, but the funds have not been used properly. There are also a number of training institutions such as the Public Administration, Leadership and Management Academy, the Vulindlela Academy and other private training providers. They are directly involved in the training of municipal officials and councillors on an ongoing basis.
In this current year, a total budget of R577 million has been allocated to capacity-building programmes. These training programmes are provided in the form of learnerships, short courses and bursaries in areas such as adult education and training, leadership and management, as well as administration and finance. However, there are general complaints that councillors do not attend such initiatives. Such people must be named and shamed.
There are many ANC-led municipalities that are doing very well and excelling in service delivery. [Interjections.] There are also many municipalities that have received clean audits. There are many ANC municipalities that have received clean audits. [Interjections.] The fact of the matter is that the ANC as an organisation is an organisation of many people, not of a minority. In other words, we are a majority party. We are expected to provide services to millions of South Africans who gave us this mandate, unlike you. [Interjections.]
It is good that you have received clean audits. We appreciate that, but how many people have you provided with this service? [Interjections.] There are very few minorities in the Western Cape, but what about the black people who stay in the Western Cape that you provide with Silahla toilets? Do you think that is proper delivery that gave you a clean audit? [Interjections.] What about the small DA-ID municipalities outside Cape Town? I want to give the example of the Oudtshoon Municipality. It's a complete disaster, but now you are coming here and saying that you have received a clean audit, knowing that you are serving very few people. [Applause.]
Hon Doman came here and said that, as part of the solution, we must stop cadre deployment. You are late in coming and saying that here. In terms of the ANC January 8 statement, the President stipulated clearly that we must come up with a Bill - the Bill that you know about. We are busy with that Bill to rectify all those things that you are talking about here. [Interjections.] I thought you were bringing the Bill to this Parliament to come up with constructive criticism, with constructive solutions - together as people who own the Western Cape with minority problems. But you are coming here to score cheap political points and saying that you have been receiving clean audits.
Chairperson, I won't argue any more. I've got three minutes left and I will give the three minutes to the hon Nonkonyana. [Applause.]
Hon House Chair, the example of some of the things that have been referred to here has to do with the Buffalo City Municipality where, within this period of democracy in our country, a fifth municipal manager has been appointed within the space of less than 15 years. You cannot have stability in that kind of situation.
The parachuting of cadres into top positions has led to grave concerns in public service delivery. For one thing, many of them did not have the right qualifications, or the necessary experience to enable them to manage. To make the situation even more untenable, those who entered the public service in the upper echelons sought to move on to greener pastures in a short space of time.
Career-pathing in the civil service is an essential requirement. Without it, young talent will not be drawn into the service. The move to create a unified public service will go a long way towards remedying this situation.
Instead of best practices, government adopted the worst practices and expected local government to function miraculously. Unfortunately, using political connections in place of qualifications and nepotism in place of knowledge have left local government in a dire situation.
In the rural areas the situation is worse as skilled personnel have neither facilities nor career prospects for them to be attracted to these areas. Unless public servants are suitably incentivised, they will give rural districts a wide berth. These disadvantaged areas will therefore remain seriously disadvantaged for a long time. Rural municipalities are the institutions that are suffering the most. They are the municipalities that receive the least amount of money because of their surrounding circumstances. Cope has consistently called for the professionalisation of the public service, because putting square pegs into round holes just cannot work.
Managing municipalities requires enormous skills. Reviving the principles of the Institute of Town Clerks and the Institute of Municipal Treasurers of a good code of conduct and minimum skills requirements were necessary. In fact, it was necessary to restore these codes of conduct.
Furthermore, an organisational structure must be built around the idea of making the public service an attractive area to draw skilled personnel: a system where qualified people would want to stay and work in their local municipalities because of the opportunities presented in a broader civil service that has to exist in those areas. Merit must be counterbalanced with the need to transform the public service.
A 2007 study found that a mere 1 400 civil engineers were left in local government; just three civil engineers for every 100 000 inhabitants, compared to 21 000 two decades earlier. One third of local authorities have no engineers at all. At present, just 7% of sewerage treatment plants meet international standards. On the financial side, qualified financial personnel or officers are in desperate demand, as are chartered accounts, statisticians, managers, forensic scientists and detectives. Transformation must rectify the apartheid legacy. Transformation must, at the same time, address the needs of the poor and the marginalised as it must address the needs for a transformed management. It must not only seek to address the one end of the problem to the exclusion of the other.
It is encouraging that 44% of university graduates are black. The problem, however, is that we do not have an adequate number of suitably qualified individuals to allow for an equitable appointment in terms of the totality of public sector vacancies. Our skills base must be further developed and empowered. Thank you, Chair. [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Chairperson, well apart from the troglodytes in the Department of Labour and the Employment Equity Commission and the Black Management Forum who can't see what's going on around them and who seem to think that skills shortage is a myth created by white supremacists, the rest of us know that, in fact, there is a skills shortage in the country, and that at a municipal level this applies to both the administrative and the technical level.
We've heard already that many municipalities, far too high a percentage, are without municipal managers at all, or without chief financial officers, CFOs, and a far higher percentage where the MMs, municipal managers, and CFOs are, in fact, underqualified or unqualified.
There's a wonderful case you might like to hear about of a municipality in Limpopo which gave the position of CFO to the tea lady. Another one has outsourced 95% of its financial functions, because it can't find anybody to do the work.
On a technical level, just to remind ourselves: in the 1980s and the early 1990s there were 2 500 engineers working in municipalities. With the increased wall-to-wall municipal system, the current number is 1 300, half of what we had then.
So what do you expect out of all this? You get weak internal project management, declining water quality, inadequate sanitation and waste-water treatment and, of course, the potholes everywhere - and corruption and patronage.
So, we have a real problem here. Now, of course, the government acknowledges, fortunately, that it is partly to blame. The District Manager who is sitting there now said, in fact: We overestimated their political depth; we overestimated government experience and technical capacity at local government level. So what can be done now to solve the problem?
Well, the first thing we need to do, of course, is to approve the Bill that the two colleagues before me have mentioned that is before the House. Some of this should have been introduced years ago.
Chairperson, on a point of order: Would the hon member take a question, because he is talking about Limpopo?
No, I have three minutes and you wasted half of it.
Hon Smith, just wait.
I have said no already, Chair.
It was not a point of order. It should have been whether you would take a question. So, you put it wrongly. Could we just leave it there then? You said "point of order" so we thought it was a point of order. It was never a point of order. Now you are asking a question. [Laughter.]
Thank you, Chair. May I correct it? I'm very new here. Could the hon member please take a question?
No, Chair. I've got one minute left, so it won't be very useful to do so, will it? [Laughter.]
Thank you very much. Hon Smith, continue.
So what do we do, Chair? Three things: We approve the Bill that's going through Parliament now, because it deals with some of the problems we have, such as making contract staff permanent, reducing the politicisation of senior staff and establishing special purpose vehicles to ensure delivery of municipal infrastructure.
We need far better linkages with the private sector. You can outsource many functions with skills transfers; you can establish a core of experienced engineers at a provincial level to engage in work at municipal level; you can second local staff to contractors to get skills.
But on the government side we really must say that much, much more needs to be done in respect of formal training. This includes training of councillors, of course, and more particularly focusing on the calibre of management.
Compulsory performance monitoring, which is due and is meant to be there in law - we don't really do it - is all very well, but that only works if the people you are monitoring are capable to start with. International experience tells us that if you don't secure the right talent from the beginning, you are not going to get the right outputs.
Fortunately, government at long last is doing something about the problem, having lived with blinkered eyes for a long time. But, nonetheless, we will therefore support what is being done to address the problems and give advice when asked. Thank you.
Thank you, hon member. Hon N M Kganyago ...? Oh, I skipped you, hon Smith; you will follow after him, my apologies. Kganyago, continue, then Smith will come after you. Oh, Smith has spoken. Kganyago, you are the right person. The confusion is who's sitting there, hon Groenewald.
... [Inaudible.] ... Chair. So I don't know where he came from.
No, I was sitting right there. Maybe you didn't see me.
Chairperson, the skills shortage in local government is a long-standing concern of the UDM. Indeed, in our most recent election manifesto it was an issue we raised, particularly in terms of poor service delivery. It is indisputable that a significant part of the frustration that communities express during service delivery protests relates directly to failures by municipalities. In turn, these service delivery failures are often the result of skills shortages in critical areas such as engineering, management and financial planning.
However, we need to be clear that the phrase "skills shortage" has become a more palatable way of saying "vacancy". The amount of critical vacancies in local government must be one of the first issues that must be addressed if we intend to address the widespread failure of local government.
Local government administration has suffered in many cases from undue political interference by councillors and the executive in the day-to-day running of a municipality. This is the root of the corruption which seems to accompany poor management.
In addition, there is anecdotal evidence that many vacancies stem from officials and politicians undermining or actively removing effective and dedicated specialists because these officials would not tolerate incompetence and corrupt behaviour.
Cadre deployment, which has become a byword for "nepotism", has rewarded political and personal connections over skill; just as it has celebrated mediocrity over competence. The net result is that the government, especially at local level, has lost many skilled professionals. The UDM repeats its policy proposal of filling some of these vacancies at local government level from among the ranks of the many qualified professional young people who are unemployed. I thank you.
Agb Voorsitter, ek het verlede jaar 'n vraag aan die agb Minister gestel, en die Minister het erken dat daar minstens 33 munisipaliteite is wat verlede jaar geen ingenieur in diens gehad het nie.
Die debat wat ons hier voer, gaan oor die tekort aan kundigheid. As ons gaan kyk na die finansile verslae, dan sien ons in die hele totale sfeer van plaaslike regering dat daar 'n gebrek aan kundigheid is.
Die agb Doman is korrek. Hy het die punte hierso een vir een aangespreek, byvoorbeeld vakatures wat ontstaan wat nie gevul word nie.
Maar, wat ek nie verstaan nie, is dat die agb Doman nie kan verstaan hkom dit nie gevul word nie! Die ANC noem dit regstellende aksie, en die agb Doman behoort aan 'n party wat regstellende aksie ondersteun.
Voorsitter, u het hoeveel sprekers van die DA op hierdie podium gehad wat s dat daar regstellende aksie moet wees. Agb Doman s hy bevestig dit, maar hy kan mos nou nie kla daaroor as hy nou begin saai wat hy gemaai het nie. Agb Doman, u versterk die ANC in hul soeke na regstellende aksie. U is die vennoot van die ANC in hierdie aspek. [Gelag.]
Voorsitter, ek wil vandag vir u s, die Vryheidsfront het Suid-Afrikaanse talent. Ons het hoeveel CVs van professionele mense - ingenieurs, ouditeurs - wat beskikbaar is. Ons bied dit aan u. Kom na ons toe; ons sal vir u die name gee om daardie kundigheid te herstel. Dankie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Mr P J GROENEWALD: Hon Chairperson, last year I posed a question to the hon Minister, and the Minister admitted that there are at least 33 municipalities that didn't have any engineers in their service.
The debate that we are conducting here is about the shortage of skills. When we have a look at the financial reports then we find that there is a shortage of skills in the entire sphere of local government.
The hon Doman is correct. He addressed the issues here one by one, for instance, vacancies that become available that are not being filled.
But, what I cannot comprehend is that the hon Doman cannot understand why it is not being filled! The ANC calls it affirmative action, and the hon Doman belongs to a party that supports affirmative action. Chairperson, you have had many speakers from the DA on this podium who stated that there has to be affirmative action. Hon Doman is saying that he upholds this, and then he shouldn't be complaining about it now that he has to start reaping what he has sowed.
Hon Doman, you are strengthening the ANC in their quest for affirmative action. You are in partnership with the ANC in this regard. [Laughter.]
Chairperson, I want to say to you today, the Freedom Front is in possession of South African talent. We have many CVs of professional people - engineers, auditors - who are available. We offer them to you. Come to us; we will give you the names in order for those skills to be reinstated. Thank you.]
Chair, the skills shortages in local government are evident throughout the country, particularly in the engineering field. The SA Institute of Civil Engineering, Saice, in a recent presentation stated that only 1 300 civil engineering professionals were available to serve a population of 47 million. There is thus only 2,8 civil engineering staff available per 100 000 people.
During a recent ad hoc committee oversight visit to Mpumalanga, we were informed that only three engineers were in service in municipalities to serve the entire population of the province, and this shows. Skills shortages will continue to hamper service delivery at municipal level in the absence of engineers, technologists and technicians in particular as projects will fail and huge amounts of money are wasted.
Municipalities are failing owing to limited capacity; funding; support for technical solutions; operations, maintenance and asset management; and leadership, discipline and corruption. Infrastructure projects fail mainly owing to limited capacity and control. Four percent of contractors abandon their projects as they cannot cope. One percent of contractors abandon projects as the municipality does not pay them timeously.
In the housing sector, 7% of contractors' work needed remedial work, while 18% was of a poor quality. Eleven percent had faulty designs. At the end of it all, only 51% of the work was completed satisfactorily with minor problems.
The above figures demonstrate the dire situation and wastage of funds that could have been put to better use.
The lack of maintenance in water and sanitation will continue to be one of our major challenges. We often say that water is life but, sadly, not all our communities have access to this basic need. In many instances, sewage runs down the streets and into our rivers. Pumps are broken, roads are impassable and many areas still do not have access to electricity.
Most of our municipalities suffer great losses in water, resulting in a loss of revenue to the municipality while, at the same time, causing structural damage to many of our roads. In Gauteng alone, R1,295 billion has been lost owing to leaking pipes. If we had efficient and competent engineers employed, this would not have happened. All too often the cost of their professional salaries is used as an excuse, but, if we take into consideration the figures of the losses, these amounts could rather have been used for professional fees.
In many instances, positions are politicised instead of professionalised. The time has come for all municipalities to appoint professional, registered, senior officials - with the assistance of the SA Institute of Civil Engineers - that have sound track records. Why are we not using the skills of professionals? Saice has developed job descriptions, training plans and policies that we should be looking at adopting instead of shying away from. Past experience has shown that, many a time, officials who are commissioned and tasked to do the interviewing are not qualified enough or competent enough to make the right decisions, but are rather biased through their political affiliations.
An action plan is needed urgently to avoid any further delivery problems. We should bring the professionals on board through Saice to assist municipalities by seconding young engineers, staff and apprentices under their professional watch. They could be responsible for assessing backlogs, come up with plans on how to refurbish and rehabilitate ailing infrastructure and put in place a maintenance plan that could be beneficial to the particular municipality.
This should also be linked to education and training. Tertiary institutions should consider offering courses that are geared towards local government, such as national diplomas in municipal engineering. There could also be courses offered in operations and maintenance as well as asset management.
We could also engage with the private sector and request them to assist with experienced professional staff in order to be effective, people who could assist in turning around the shortcomings that we are currently experiencing. There are solutions to the problem. What we need is commitment, commitment and commitment. Thank you. [Applause.]
Chair, the ACDP acknowledges that the culture of apportioning blame rather than finding solutions is decidedly unhelpful, and we enter this debate with this in mind.
If we are to alleviate the present skills shortage, local government must have the option to employ scarce skills from wherever they can be found - internally or externally - and to do so quickly and efficiently. Pervasive skills shortages imply that closed-economy solutions to the problem will not be sufficient or speedy enough to solve the skills crisis we are experiencing.
In 2008 there were at least 70 municipal authorities in the country without a single engineer or artisan. Government said that affirmative actions and employment equity policies would not be allowed to stand in the way of municipalities and local authorities, but we have yet to see this implemented. Unless we produce at least 2 400 artisans and engineers a year, we are not going to cope with the skills shortages in the country.
Right now, South Africa has a broad range of hard skills that could contribute directly to alleviating the skills and business management crisis in most municipalities and add considerable value to the areas of housing, health care, finance and many other critical areas. Not ensuring access to the skills of African nationals already within our borders, and being chained to affirmative action when service delivery is at stake, is irrational.
As the quality of life in South Africa deteriorates, crippling service delivery protests are likely to erupt again. The ACDP proposes drastically reduced restrictions on skilled foreign immigrants working in South Africa. Schemes like the one in the UK - that allow people that reside in the Commonwealth to work in the country for specified periods - should be considered.
South Africa needs expensive, highly qualified workers. We must find ways to encourage them to work here, and we must ensure that their skills and professional work ethics are transferred to local workers. Thank you.
Chairperson, efforts like the public-private partnership driven by Microsoft SA, the SA Local Government Association, the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority and the Development Bank of Southern Africa are appreciated and welcomed.
It is initiatives like these that will ensure that the legacy of the skills shortage in local government is changed for the better.
We also need a broader, comprehensive definition when we talk about a skills shortage. It should not only be about the scarcity of a qualified and employable workforce, but must also be linked to productivity.
Clearly, the co-ordination was very poor between the Department of Labour and the Sector Education and Training Authorities, Setas, which is why we are still sitting with the problem of skills shortages.
However, the UCDP hopes that, with the Department of Higher Education and Training holding the reins, there would be desirable progress. I thank you.
Mr Chairperson, government has lacked foresight since 1994 because, on the one hand, you have a large number of qualified people who are unemployed coupled with an utter failure to direct matriculants towards embarking on careers in which there is a shortage of manpower.
We should have recruited matriculants, taken them to municipalities, and shown them that we need town planners, administrators and people in municipal government, so that by now there should have been an oversupply of skilled manpower. It is a failure on the part of government not to have had the foresight to train people.
On the other hand, you have the Setas. Money is allocated for training and education, but there is no monitoring. So Seta has now become "cheater"! Those that are getting the money are cheating the government and taxpayers. And, of course, we should do things and get away from affirmative action and the equity policies. We should treat all South Africans as true South Africans and equal citizens and not do things according to race. It is the MF's considered opinion that had we started training our people since 1994, we would not have had a skills shortage in local government; we would have had an oversupply. I thank you.
Chairperson, we will start by stating the obvious: the answer to the skills shortage is skills development and training; it is identifying scarce and critical skills and redirecting young people to take up courses in the identified skills.
Municipalities must offer bursaries to young people in these scarce and critical skills so that these young people can, in turn, come and render services to the municipalities.
The Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority is charged with dealing with skills shortages in their sector. With the move to the National Skills Development Strategy III, NSDS III, it may be necessary for the Department of Higher Education and Training to commission an impact study to evaluate the impact that the Local Government Seta and other Setas have had on skills development in the country. The country is spending a lot of money on skills development, but is there value for money?
But then, is it correct, hon members, to say that there is a skills shortage in local government, or has nepotism and corruption in employment or cadre deployment brought us to where we are? Many professionals are reluctant to move to municipalities because the sector is unstable and experiences a lot of interference and suspensions of officials. Thank you.
Hon Chairman, hon Ministers present here, colleagues, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, first and foremost, thank you, Chair, for giving me this opportunity to air the views of the people's movement that I represent, the ANC.
The ANC is committed, and consistently so, to improving the role played by all organs of state in all spheres of government in order to achieve our broader objectives as a movement. Progress has been made by the movement in transforming local government while we also acknowledge the challenges and obstacles still besetting this sphere of government.
The Reconstruction and Development Programme, RDP, document set out our policy as follows, and I quote:
Local government is of critical importance to the RDP. It is the level of representative democracy closest to the people. Local government should be structured on a democratic, nonracial and nonsexist basis.
The ANC has been at the forefront of championing the transformation of local government, hon Doman. This transformation agenda has always been informed by the strategy and tactics, in particular, of the task of building a developmental state. It is therefore imperative that the future political trajectory of developmental local government be consistent with the attributes of the developmental state.
The ANC's 2006 local government manifesto, amongst other things, acknowledged the following: one, to ensure that more resources and trained personnel are provided for local government; two, to audit skills in each municipality; and, three, to employ more competent managers and technicians.
The 52nd national conference of the ANC in 2007 provided another important platform for our movement to confirm and redouble its efforts relating to transformation of the state, in particular of legislature and governance. Again, the conference, through its commission on strategy and tactics, defined and articulated its understanding and vision of the key attributes of the South African developmental state. The four key attributes are outlined as follows - and listen, DA. They are strategic orientation, capacity to lead in the definition of a common national agenda, the state's organisational capacity, and the state's technical capacity. I lead now, and I am going to do that by also teaching you.
The local sphere of government must be assessed and positioned in accordance with the above attributes of a developmental state. It is also imperative that all organs and spheres of government are aligned and guided by the same vision of building a developmental state.
Our achievements thus far ... Listen! As the ANC we have committed ourselves to providing a better life for all. As such, the transformation of the apartheid local government was a central pillar in achieving our objective. The local government transformation process was a complex one, and it involved the basic and most critical services that affect our people on a daily basis. You were privileged at the time, fortunately.
The ANC has made significant strides towards local government transformation and towards ensuring that the majority of our people have access to basic services. Over the past 10 years, the ANC has succeeded in directing a huge process of transformation that has certainly put municipalities on an irreversible path towards achieving our objectives of ensuring united and integrated nonracial communities, building critical infrastructure for communities and deepening democracy.
The ANC government ensured that massive strides were made by municipalities in extending service delivery to our people. This is clearly indicated in the community survey of 2007. For instance, we showed national levels of access to basic services to be as follows: 92% for water, 69% for sanitation, 81% for electricity, and 64% for refuse removal.
Despite the significant progress made, there remain some constraints in accelerating service delivery. The cornerstone of the ANC government programme is redistribution and poverty eradication in all municipalities. Meeting the basic needs of the millions of South Africans living in poverty remains our fundamental objective. The local government sphere is critical in our efforts to achieve our goals of a better life for all, and this sphere can only do more by all of us working together. [Applause.]
Local government, therefore, have challenges that can be categorised in two parts: structural challenges and system challenges. Let me deal with the structural challenges so that you understand, and these include service delivery backlogs. There are high levels of backlogs regarding municipal service delivery, in that the overall national level of access to basic municipal services - water, sanitation, electricity and roads - stands at 54%, and we know that. The lowest level of access in some provinces stands at 15%.
Secondly, the need to roll out service infrastructure to previously neglected areas while still maintaining infrastructure in the well-serviced areas has placed an enormous financial and capacity burden on municipalities. Thirdly, the financial viability of some of the municipalities is questionable. A proper assessment of the financial viability of many of the municipalities, particularly the smaller municipalities, has yet to be determined in the context not only of newly drawn geographical and factional boundaries, but in terms of the impact on revenue streams.
Fourthly, with regard to rapid urbanisation and migration, the urbanisation of our cities is accelerating at a rapid pace. The cities are constantly required to extend services to new migrants. The migrations experienced are from people from rural areas and also migrants from outside South Africa. Lastly, in terms of building the local economies, the municipalities are continually faced with the challenge of building their local economies to provide sustainable employment.
Let us deal briefly with the systems. Poor financial government is a key challenge for municipalities, which is reflected in the audit opinions over the past few years. The overall number of municipalities with qualified audit opinions only decreased by 28%, from 199 in the 2007-08 financial year to 144 municipalities in the 2008-09 financial year.
Corruption at the local level is also a trend that requires decisive intervention. [Applause.] This is evident through the collapse of the basic government system, blatant transgression of legislation passed by this House on supply-chain management and inappropriate appointment of people to key positions in municipalities, including the DA-controlled municipalities. There is a shortage of some required capacities to implement and manage the new system and the functions of local government. This is especially the case for smaller, rural municipalities that are not able to recruit the necessary technical expertise.
Financial and engineering capacities are specific challenges in many municipalities.
What are the key issues for consideration, because the DA is moaning and moaning? These include the following: the system that we have is complex and ineffective; the system is different in every province, that is, there is no consistency in functional arrangements; the system creates challenges of unfunded mandates for local government; the system creates four layers of government; and the system creates a high level of grant dependency.
There are little developmental planning facilities, redistribution and support for local government. There is poor intergovernmental cohesion between local municipalities and district municipalities. Districts perform few functions with capacity, including priority functions such as development planning, water services, bulk supply of electricity, domestic waste removal and municipal roads.
We believe good governance and professionalism of local government is key here, and I want the DA to listen carefully. Democratic and professional local government is not incompatible. The professional integrity of municipalities requires strengthening from various perspectives. Furthermore, professionalism in local government must be seen as an additional quality to the atavistic, responsive, accountable, effective and efficient municipal system that we seek to build. [Applause.]
Specific issues to consider to improve the overall professionalism of municipalities should include the following: Government must develop a clear policy that clarifies the roles of troika plus one; the municipal, executive and legislative functions must be separated more clearly; the code of conduct of elected public representatives and appointed officials must be strengthened; the framework of government relations between elected and appointed officials must be reviewed; and mandatory internal audit functions in municipalities, which are accountable to the independent audit committee of municipalities, must be introduced. That is not all.
The municipal public accounts committees must be established as a legal requirement that operates similar to public accounts committees at national and provincial spheres. A statutory inspectorate for local government must be established. I am sorry to tell you, hon Doman, we are not going to go back to what you want us to go back to, that is, to have the old apartheid legislation of town clerks in place. Not at all. [Applause.] We want to go forward; we have buried the apartheid that you are so fond of forever. We must ensure that the professional associations monitor the code of conduct of their members in local government. All section 57 managers must belong to a professional organisation and a statutory inspectorate. Therefore, a statutory inspectorate for local government must be established and will be established by the ANC government.
On suspension of section 57 managers, all municipalities must get concurrence from the MECs, as well as our national Minister. Again, common and/or compatible ICT systems must be in place across all municipalities to accelerate service delivery, improve efficiency and accountability. The internal capacity of municipalities must be strengthened to reduce reliance on external consultants. Apparently, your friends - those people who were skilled and who had experience in local government - left when the new democratic government took office, because they couldn't serve the people's government and they turned themselves into consultants and are actually milking us of millions of rands. [Interjections.] That is not going to happen. Qualified and skilled staff should be appointed to oversee the implementation of bylaws. Also, the induction of new municipal councillors must be standard.
Last but not least, I have heard the hon Minister Shiceka and the Deputy Minister, Comrade Carrim - and I am happy the Deputy Minister is also here - saying that they have heard the voice of the people through the ANC, and it is indeed music to their ears. We'll do everything to make sure that we have disciplined and dedicated personnel properly skilled and dedicated to do more. [Interjections.]
Chairman, the people of South Africa, and I dare say those of Africa and the world, have confidence in the ANC, and we are humbled by this and determined to accelerate the pace of delivering a better life even more, and we trust that the people will encourage us by voting for the ANC more in the 2011 local government elections. [Interjections.] I need to also advise the DA, through the hon Doman, that a rabble-rousing argument cannot impress anyone. I understand that the DA is a concoction of liberals and "verkramptes" of the old and, of course, the ultra right, and cannot impress the people of this country ... [Applause.] But, perhaps, they impress only the rabble: themselves, the DA.
I want to point out, therefore, that whatever you have said against the ANC is not founded at all. [Interjections.] We have not appointed people on the basis of political connections, as you have done in the Cape Town municipality. [Interjections.] And that is why the people in Langa and also, unfortunately, the people that you are using as pawns in many parts of rural Cape Town are suffering today, as Comrade Nhlengethwa correctly pointed out.
To you, Comrade Botha and Cope: I see my comrade's one finger pointing at the ANC, but four squarely at Cope. I mention this as it is a pity that my comrade from the Eastern Cape, the hon George, has just left because he was talking about a city that we all know or the municipality we all know about, Buffalo City Municipality. He knows - I come from the Eastern Cape - as he was the ANC chairperson of the Amatole region then, before the divorce papers were filed by the hon Terror Lekota ... [Interjections.] ... that whatever he was doing, he was doing ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]
Chairperson, I would like to thank the Whips for allowing this debate and to thank everyone that took part. I think that there is general agreement that we are sitting with a big problem and that we do not only want to apportion some blame, but we also want to provide solutions. By working hard and, at last, acknowledging all the things that have gone wrong, we can change things around.
On the issues of vacancies and the skills shortage, there is no question that the ANC dropped the ball. I think that the voters must punish them next year in the election. Even the President acknowledged that cadre deployment should no longer take place. I just want to say to the hon member Nhlengethwa that I am not against cadre development. I wish that there was a lot of cadre development. What I am against is cadre deployment.
But the hon Nonkonyana comes here and he doesn't want to acknowledge what even his President acknowledged. I must tell him that the facts speak for themselves. If the voters take into account what the ANC has done to local government in the past decade, there should be no support for them next year.
Die agb Groenewald is baie moedswillig. As dit kom by regstellende aksie, het ons mos 'n ooreenkoms in die Grondwet bereik. Op grond van daardie ooreenkoms is die wetgewing geskryf. Ons ondersteun die Grondwet en ons, as die DA, ondersteun die wetgewing. Ons probleem is hoe die ANC dit toepas.
Ek is baie teleurgesteld dat die VF Plus nou hier met 'n radikale standpunt kom dat daar geen regstellende aksie moet wees nie. Dit sal miskien julle kiesers tevrede stel, maar vir ons in ons land sal dit nie 'n goeie ding wees nie. Ons het verantwoordelike regstellende aksie nodig, waar nodig, en die DA ondersteun dit. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[The hon Groenewald is very mischievous. Regarding affirmative action, surely we have reached an agreement in the Constitution. It was according to that agreement that legislation was drawn up. We support the Constitution and we, the DA, support the legislation. The problem we have is the way the ANC implements this legislation.
I am very disappointed in the radical approach now take by the FF Plus that there should be no affirmative action. It might satisfy your voters, but it would not be a good thing for us in this country of ours. We need responsible affirmative action, where necessary, and the DA supports this.]
Chairperson, thank you very much to everyone that took part in the debate. I really hope that we will be able to address the skills shortage. I am sure that there are people outside there who are ready to assist, but we just need the political will, especially from this side of the House, to acknowledge it and to make use of those people. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.