Speaker, hon members, representatives of local government, today is an important milestone in our ongoing march to realise our vision of a developmental local government in South Africa.
This vision is fundamentally about people-centred local government, and the need to make our municipalities administratively and professionally sound so that we can improve the lives of all our people.
Since 1994, we have seen a reduction in the number of municipalities and an increase in the number of wards. After this year's local government elections, the decrease would be from 283 to 278, with wards growing beyond 4 000. This shows our commitment to the intensification of local democracy in our communities.
Today, we are tabling the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill, which is an important piece of legislation that addresses the following key matters.
First, the Bill sends a clear message that our municipalities must and will be more professional in the manner in which they do their business.
Second, it seeks to ensure that competent and well-qualified officials are appointed to provide the best possible service to our people.
Third, it also regulates various matters on human resource management in a manner that promotes greater uniformity and predictability across municipalities.
Fourth, it deepens accountability of senior municipal officials to the council, and by the same token places certain obligations on politically elected officials.
Fifth, the Bill also prohibits municipal managers and those directly reporting to them, referred to as section 57 managers, from holding any position as office bearers in any political party.
Finally, the Bill makes provision for organised local government to consult with the Minister responsible for co-operative governance and traditional affairs, prior to entering into negotiations with the Local Government Bargaining Council.
In 2009, we undertook a thorough assessment of the state of local government in South Africa. Our view was and is that local government is functional, but there are critical areas that require urgent attention.
The legislation before the House today is aimed at learning from the lessons of and addressing the weaknesses of the democratic local government since 1994, and 1998 in particular. This was the year in which the White Paper on Developmental Local Government was adopted. We also focus squarely on key issues that arose from the 2009 State of Local Government report.
Today it is therefore a positive step that requires all of us and all political parties, particularly those represented here, to support this.
The Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill introduces a number of provisions that seek to professionalise local government administration in order for better services to be provided. In defining our future trajectory, we have resolved that professionalism of local government must take centre stage.
One of the key objectives of this legislation is to progressively align our systems of municipal administration and human resource management with that of the Public Service in the national and provincial governments.
Firstly, we are all aware that our local administrations in local government take different forms and are highly fragmented. Secondly, we have realised that in some cases municipalities, regardless of the political party in leadership, are staffed by employees who are not necessarily qualified for the duties that they are undertaking.
It is for this reason that the Bill makes it mandatory for municipalities to employ appropriately qualified and competent people. We want to go further and call on all political parties who are running our municipalities to ensure that we implement the legislation. It is our view that municipal managers and their direct subordinates should possess inherent requirements for employment in order to ensure excellence in our institutions. In the event that the councils act against this measure, we have made specific provisions to enable MECs and the Minister responsible to act in this regard.
It has always been our view that political micromanagement of municipalities is not desirable. This was demonstrated during our assessment exercise when we experienced a shockingly high level of inappropriate political interference in the administrations. This is the case regardless of which party is in leadership in the municipalities. As a progressive government, we have resolved that municipal managers and those directly reporting to them ought not to occupy political office in any political party.
You will agree with me that corruption is an enemy of development in our endeavour to eradicate the poverty and unemployment that are facing us today. We are tackling these issues head-on. We have taken a major step by regulating the re-employment of employees dismissed for serious misconduct. Those found to have defrauded the state will have no space in our local government sphere.
We have agreed that officials found guilty of such serious misconduct as fraud and corruption should not be re-employed by any municipality for a period of 10 years. We are a government at work and dedicated to achieving clean, effective and efficient local government.
We are also concerned about the manner in which collective agreements have been entered into in the past. That is why we have made a point that, in the process of consultation, the Financial and Fiscal Commission is one key player to be consulted.
The government adopted the Local Government Turnaround Strategy in 2009. Our primary aim is to restore the confidence of the majority of our people in our municipalities.
We also aim to rebuild and improve the basic requirements for a functional, responsive, effective, efficient and accountable developmental local government. This Bill takes us boldly in that direction.
Today, we call on this House to support the Bill. I thank you.
Somlomo lohlon, siyalemukela Libambela Lendvuna Libambela kulelitiko, futsi-ke sifisela neNdvuna Shiceka kutsi yelulame masinyane. [Hon Speaker, we welcome the Acting Minister in the department, and we wish Minister Shiceka a speedy recovery.]
Hon members, local government is the centre of gravity where all government service delivery functions find focus. To ensure service delivery and sustainable municipalities the executive system chosen by municipalities must reflect the will of the voters.
The Local Government Turnaround Strategy was adopted to improve local government performance and service delivery through the application of correct management, administration and deployment of technical skills. This was followed by a process of assessment of municipalities, which found that local government was in a state of distress and confronted by problems ranging from a poor grasp of governance and financial matters to a lack of skills and service delivery problems.
These assessments were actually designed to ascertain the root causes of the current state of distress in many municipalities.
The Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill was submitted to Parliament and referred to the Portfolio Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs on 27 July 2010. The Joint Tagging Mechanism classified it as a Bill to be processed in terms of section 75 of the Constitution.
The Bill before the House today seeks to amend the Local Government Municipal Systems Act and to make further provisions that include three key issues: to empower the Minister to regulate the sector further; to professionalise the sector; and to promote good local governance, ethics and anticorruption measures. My area of focus will be on good governance, ethics and anticorruption. The main issues that seems to be crippling service delivery are corruption, fraud and tender irregularities. To curb this scourge, the ANC-led government is committed to implementing the Local Government Anticorruption Strategy. This strategy has been rolled out to all municipalities.
The government has in the recent past, through the Special Investigating Unit, SIU, instituted various investigations in 38 municipalities for fraud and corruption. Twenty-five municipalities in the North West are being investigated, followed by six municipalities in the Eastern Cape, five in Mpumalanga, and two in Gauteng.
This shows that the ANC is serious about combating fraud and corruption. Corruption is one of the key priorities of the current administration. These efforts are now bearing fruit and sending a clear message to corrupt officials and contractors alike.
Through ethics and good governance, the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill introduces the professionalising of local government in order to prevent unethical conduct. This will be done through ensuring that section 57A is inserted in the principal Act after section 57.
Any staff member dismissed for misconduct may only be re-employed in another municipality after the expiry of a prescribed period. The Minister must prescribe different periods as contemplated in subsection 1 for different categories of misconduct. A staff member dismissed for financial misconduct contemplated in section 171 of the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act of 2003 may not be re-employed in any municipality for a minimum period of 10 years.
A municipality must maintain a record that contains prescribed information regarding the disciplinary proceedings against staff members dismissed for misconduct. A copy of the record must be submitted to the MEC for local government on a quarterly basis.
Sihlalo, lapha-ke tsine sinembono lowehlukile kunewe-DA. I-DA yona itsi, lombiko lekufanele ucokelelwe ngumasipala njengebufakazi lobugciniwe bekutsi sisebenti lesitsite sendlulile emigudvwini yeluhlelo lwekucondziswa kwetigwegwe, satfolakala sinelicala, sate sacoshwa emsebentini; kufanele ubikelwe Indvuna Yelitiko Letasekhaya lesifundza, na-MEC nome itfunyelelwe satiso salombiko kanye ngenyanga; lapha-ke tsine sitsi akabikelwe ngekota - ngetinyanga letintsatfu. (Translation of Siswati paragraph follows.)
[Chairperson, we have a different view from that of the DA. The DA says that the report should be compiled by the municipality as recorded evidence that a certain employee has undergone disciplinary proceedings and has been found guilty and eventually dismissed from work; and should be reported to the provincial Department of home affairs, and be submitted to the MEC or once per month. We say let him be informed quarterly - every three months.]
The MEC for local government must, within 14 days of receipt of the record referred to in subsection 6, submit a copy to the Minister. The Minister must maintain a record of all staff members who have been dismissed for misconduct, or resigned prior to the finalisation of disciplinary proceedings.
Ngetulu kwaloko, siyagcizelela kutsi umuntfu kufanele aphumele ebaleni nakafaka sicelo sakhe, acacise kutsi yena umsulwa kangakanani, akate yini atfolakale acondziswa tigwegwe tenkhohlakalo, nome kweba imali yahulumende. (Translation of Siswati paragraphs follows.)
[Furthermore, we emphasise that a person must come clean when applying and must disclose his innocence and that he has never had disciplinary action taken against him for corruption or fraud.]
Speaker, section 106 of the Act is amended to enable the Minister to conduct an investigation into maladministration, fraud, corruption or any other serious malpractice in a municipality. If the MEC fails to conduct such investigation within 90 days, the Minister must send a report detailing the outcome of the investigation to the President.
Finally, the ethics and disciplinary code of councillors, Schedule 1 of the principal Act, is hereby amended by the insertion of section 2A, which makes provision for preventing councillors from voting in favour of resolutions before the council or a committee of the council where such resolutions are in conflict with legislation applicable to local government.
Ngalomtsetfo sivimbela letinye tehlakalo lesesike satibona. Emakhansela ayavota, avotele kutsi Umphatsi wamasipala ahole kakhulu.
Sengephetsa nje Somlomo, silikomidi sitsandza kwendlulisa kubonga kwetfu kubo bonkhe labatsintsekako,lababe yincenye yekuphosa esivivaneni kulomtsetfo lesiwuchibelako lamuhla nje. Singu-ANC siyetsemba kutsi siyilandzele yonkhe inchubo lekufanele ilandzelwe Ngekwemtsetfosisekelo walelive. Ngekungangabati-ke i-ANC iyawusekela lomtsetfo lobekwe embikwa Lendlu Yesishayamtsetfo Savelonkhe. Ngiyabonga. (Translation of Siswati paragraphs follows.)
[With this Act we curb other incidents that we have experienced before. Councillors vote for the municipal manager to earn a lot of money.
In conclusion, Speaker, as a committee we would like to thank all stakeholders who were part of this amending Bill exercise today. As the ANC we hope we have followed all procedures according to the Constitution of the country. Without any hesitation, therefore, the ANC supports the piece of legislation tabled before this National Assembly. Thank you.]
Madam Deputy Speaker, local government is a mess. For political reasons, of course, this government would argue that it is not as bad as it actually is.
Nevertheless, we all agree that there are problems that need to be addressed. The question then is: Will this Bill lead to municipalities being better governed? The answer is yes, but it is a qualified yes.
This Bill has some dozen significant provisions and they tick some of the boxes about what is wrong in municipalities. We like the fact that municipal managers and managers reporting directly to them are prohibited from being office bearers of political parties.
We believe, however, that the provision to this effect in the Bill is still so wide open that you could drive a bus through it. The definitions are sloppy; for instance, we believe that this provision should also apply to certain politically active trade unions. Nevertheless, it is progress. Another significant effect is that this Bill provides for the reporting of disciplinary actions against municipal officials to the MEC and then to the Minister, so that other municipalities are warned against employing managers with poor disciplinary records.
The reporting time periods, however, are not consistent and once again the effect is that loopholes arise. When we pointed these out in the committee, we were told that they could be sorted out through the courts. That comment is the comment of people who have never experienced how slowly the courts work, or how high legal bills can climb. Nevertheless, this is once again another step in the right direction.
As an exercise to try and find out the effect of this Bill on a dysfunctional municipality, it is useful to see what impact it would make. I recently visited Sannieshof in Tswaing municipality in the North West province, and surveyed some of the problems there. About half of the significant provisions of this Bill might have some effect on the problems in Tswaing. Yes, there would be stricter frameworks within which local government would operate. Yes, the personnel could be better chosen, but there are still problems.
Cadre deployment strictly limits the pool from which national government draws the people it deploys to conduct work in the municipalities. Are there other people outside the ranks of the ruling party who could help put these dysfunctional municipalities back together? Yes. Is there a chance that they will be employed? Very little!
Thus, you can have all the rules you want, but if you do not have the people who are able to carry out the work, nothing will get fixed. This Bill won't fix the water pumps and it won't provide taps for the people of Pelindaba.
I have already talked about a provision in this Bill which stops the appointment of political office holders. This has been trumpeted as a move against cadre deployment, but this boast is really just a publicity stunt. Senior members of the ruling party have indicated that cadre deployment remains policy, and this practice on the ground shows it is still rife.
If you want to challenge me on this, look at the case of Siphiwo Sohena, who has been deployed as the acting municipal manager of Mbhashe Municipality in the Eastern Cape. This is a deployee who already has a record of ruining one municipality and being dismissed from it.
The MEC in the Eastern Cape says that this gentleman has proven himself to have the required capacity and capability needed to manage a municipality! That would certainly be true if the required capabilities are being capable of issuing illegal tenders and spending wastefully. The point I'm making here is that if the political will does not exist to fix these problems, you won't fix them. Even more, it cannot exist while the ruling party's policy of cadre deployment remains in force.
Looking at this Bill, another question arises. Why is it necessary? Surely most of the changes to the Local Government Municipal Systems Act contained herein could have been taken care of through regulation; or alternatively, the same effect could be achieved through party discipline. Again, the problem is one of a lack of political will.
I do not believe that the ANC wants to risk upsetting its own local structures by imposing party discipline on them. Thus it wants to pass this law and use it to sort out its own mess. So we are in effect using legislation to try and fill the gap that has been left by political weakness.
There's another overarching problem that makes us uneasy about this Bill, despite its positive aspects. It is the increase in powers given to central government over the municipalities. We are told that this Bill helps to prepare the way for a single Public Service, which, if it happens, will be the biggest assault on democracy this country has seen since 1994.
We are guided in this belief by the long-established principle, written about by Alexis de Tocqueville as long ago as the 1830s, when he said municipal independence is a natural consequence of the principle of sovereignty of the people.
Now Tocqueville never saw Tswaing Municipality, or confronted our dilemma, which asks the question: What can we do to make it better?
Under current circumstances this Bill is part of what we can do, but it is not enough. We are told that further revisions to legislation are on the way and we look forward to seeing what will be proposed. However, we believe that without addressing the political weakness that underlies the problems in our municipalities, we will struggle to achieve efficient local government in our country. [Applause.]
Thank you, Deputy Speaker. I am actually deputising for my Chief Whip, who was to have debated on this matter and who is far more au fait with local government than I am.
Deputy Speaker, we believe that this Bill attempts to further regulate the system of local government, which is clearly in dire need of a complete overhaul in our country. As far as that is concerned, Cope believes that some of the measures that are introduced through this amending Bill are much needed measures.
In particular, the measures to combat corruption, tender fraud and so forth, should be welcomed by all South Africans who have become very despondent as a result of the level of corruption in our country.
Deputy Speaker, one of the amendments restricts the practice of allowing an official to serve in an acting capacity for too long, and it also makes provision for acting appointments of longer than three months to be endorsed by the MEC.
Although interference in the affairs of municipalities is a concern, Cope believes that the Constitution should always be adhered to. We accept that the role of MECs and the Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, at this stage of our democracy, is one that needs to be strengthened. We believe a lot is wrong in the sphere of local government and therefore any measure to improve service delivery in that sphere of government will be welcomed.
As far as some of the specific measures are concerned, we welcome the measure to curtail the re-employment of people who have been found guilty of misconduct. We believe it is a good signal that is being sent out to South Africans that there will be no tolerance of corruption.
We, however, want to say that seeing is believing, and that will only be once steps are really implemented. We must bear in mind that we do have very good legislation in place, but we have not really seen it being used to curtail corruption, especially by some deployed cadres who seem to be above the law in this country.
I also want to refer to one additional matter. We really welcome the idea that councillors will have to mind their step and not vote in favour of, or agree to, a resolution that is before a council or a committee of council and which conflicts with any legislation applicable to local government. It will be a very important measure to introduce and to workshop new councillors on after the elections, in order to make sure that they understand all its implications.
We would also like to know what the consequences would be if they overstep the line. Madam Deputy Speaker, it is important that we move towards taking the necessary steps, including punitive steps, against officials and councillors who are not doing their work and who do not respect the laws of this country. Thank you. [Applause.]
Phini likaSomlomo, ngikhuluma lapha egameni lelungu elihlala kuleli komidi. [Deputy Speaker, I'm speaking here on behalf of the member who serves on this committee.]
This Bill seeks to introduce a uniform and consistent system and procedures for all municipalities across our country. It further aims to make greater strides in the depoliticising of our municipalities. Furthermore, it aims to do this with the employment of municipal staff that are skilled, competent and dedicated to serving their communities.
Certain high-level municipal positions will have competency criteria in place, which all candidates must measure up to. In addition, the Bill will also facilitate the removal of unsuitable employees from local government, should they be found to be unfit or unable to carry out their duties.
Our municipalities are the first line of contact between government and the citizens of our country. This line of contact has, by and large, been in a nonfunctioning state, owing mainly to the continued cadre deployment policy of the ruling party within the majority of municipalities under its control in South Africa.
The net result is that incompetent, unskilled and unscrupulous persons have been appointed to positions of power, based solely upon political affiliations and connections, with the citizens of our country ending up as the victims of service delivery failures throughout South Africa.
Local government through service excellence must become the champion of service delivery to the citizenry.
Inkatha ye Nkululeko yeSizwe iyaweseka lo Mthethosivivinywa. [The Inkatha Freedom Party supports this Bill.]
Agb Adjunkspeaker, die langverwagte Plaaslike Regering: Wysigingswetsontwerp op Munisipale Stelsels, wat vandag voor ons dien, demonstreer die gevolge van kader-ontplooiing regoor die land. Dit kom veral voor in arm munisipaliteite waar politieke leiers munisipale bestuurders vertrou het en wat, in antwoord daarop, hulle uiteindelik bitter teleurgestel het.
Ons wil van hierdie geleentheid gebruik maak om die Minister te prys dat hy sy weg oop gesien het om hierdie saak reg te stel, maar ons wil die aandag daarop vestig dat hoe nader plaaslike regering aan ons mense is, hoe beter. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Mr J J MCGLUWA: Hon Deputy Speaker, the long-awaited Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill, which is before us today, demonstrates the effects of cadre deployment throughout the country. It occurs especially in poor municipalities where political leaders placed their trust in municipal managers who, in return, disappointed them terribly in the end.
We would like to use this opportunity to congratulate the Minister who saw fit to rectify this matter, but we wish to draw attention to the fact that the closer local government structures are to our people, the better.]
While we welcome this Bill, we think that what is also necessary is for the ANC to finally end, in its entirety, this devastating policy of cadre deployment. I thank you. [Applause.]
Deputy Speaker, Ministers, Deputy Ministers and hon members, in his January 8 Statement, the President of the ANC, President Jacob Zuma, stated that local government was not working as effectively as it should.
He went on to say that the report on the state of local government indicated that systems in many municipalities were characterised by critical problems and challenges. These include dysfunctional councils, ineffective professional administration, weak or absent mechanisms for local democracy and weak municipal performance management.
We are all very aware that local government plays a key role in reconstruction and development in our country. Despite the great progress that has been made in many areas, the state of local government report informs us that local government is in distress, and there are worrying trends and signs that the progress and successes achieved thus far are being undermined.
The Local Government Turnaround Strategy, which emanates from this report, amongst other things, is aimed at counteracting forces that are undermining our local government system. Various causes for these problems were identified, three of them being policy and legislative factors, weaknesses in monitoring systems and political factors.
The intention of our organisation, the ruling party, is to build a responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government system. We also remind ourselves that building a democratic and accountable government for local communities is a constitutional requirement.
Gedurende die oorsigbesoeke aan munisipaliteite was raadpleging en terugvoering van sommige raadslede aan die gemeenskap een van die punte wat gedurig opgehaal is. Hierdie aspek is in die vergaderings wat met die publiek gehou was, genoem. Die wysiging in die wetgewing wat vandag voor ons dien, is juis om sulke en soortgelyke probleme aan te spreek. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[During the oversight visits to municipalities consultation with and feedback to the community by certain councillors was one of the issues that was raised constantly. This aspect was raised in the meetings with the public. The amendment to the legislation before us today is precisely to address such and similar problems.]
The Local Government: Municipal Systems Act of 2000 provided a framework for local government public administration, human resource development and personnel administration. It gave municipalities the autonomy to develop and adopt systems and procedures to ensure fair, efficient, effective and transparent personnel administration.
As much as the Act empowered the Minister to set norms and standards with regard to personnel matters, it did not give the Minister effective regulatory powers relating to these matters. In 2008, the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Act attempted to remedy the situation by giving the Minister more direct regulatory powers. These amendments, however, proved to be insufficient.
The Bill before us today seeks to amend the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act, making further provision for the appointment of municipal managers and managers directly accountable to them, and to provide for procedures and competency criteria for such appointments.
In order to build this responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local government system that was alluded to, municipalities need to become sites of excellence, with office bearers and public servants who are efficient, effective and accountable, and who carry out their duties with pride.
It will become a requirement that vacant positions for municipal managers and managers accountable to them must be advertised nationally, in order to draw from a huge pool of candidates, nationwide. The Bill goes further to say that the person appointed must at least have the necessary skills, expertise, competencies and qualifications, as prescribed. Should the person appointed not meet the necessary requirements, the appointment then becomes null and void.
The Bill addresses the issue of people acting in the position of municipal managers and managers accountable to them. When these positions remain vacant for long periods, it presents problems and, ultimately, challenges to service delivery. It is now prescribed that people may only act for a period of three months and if, because of any special circumstances, this period needs to be extended, the municipality needs to get permission from the MEC.
Hon members, we are all aware that filling these positions in metros and bigger towns around our country is not a problem. The challenge lies in rural areas, which are still struggling and sometimes lack the capacity and resources they need to fulfil their functions. The Bill now makes provision for such a municipalities, in the event of their not being able to fill these positions, to request the MEC for local government to second a person to act in that position.
An important section of this Bill relates to compliance and timeframes. Should a person appointed as a municipal manager or manager accountable to them be in contravention of the Bill, the MEC for local government must, within 14 days of receiving the information, take the appropriate steps to enforce compliance by the municipality.
The principal Act refers to the performance agreement being concluded in a reasonable amount of time after the person has been appointed. The Bill now prescribes that the performance contract must be concluded within a period of 60 days after the appointment has been made, failing which the appointment lapses.
Section 66 of the amending Bill states that a staff establishment needs to be developed and submitted to the municipal council for approval and that no person may be appointed unless the post is provided for by this staff establishment. Any appointment made contrary to this then becomes null and void.
It then goes further to say that any councillors who vote in favour of the appointment of a person knowing that that appointment was in contravention of the Act will be held liable for fruitless and wasteful expenditure that may result from an invalid appointment.
Another new insertion into the Bill is section 56A, which has already been alluded to, regarding the limitation of political rights of municipal managers and managers directly accountable to them. It must be stated here that this insertion stems directly from the policy position taken by the ANC at the national general council held in September last year, which also confirmed the national executive committee decisions announced by the President previously.
This section prevents municipal managers and managers accountable to them from holding political office. Political office is then defined as "officials of a political party". It is important to qualify here that other political rights of senior managers are unaffected by the amendment and they remain entitled to enjoy and exercise these rights freely.
At this stage, I want to say to the hon Lorimer that he was not very satisfied when this was not in the Bill. Today we find it in the Bill and he is still not satisfied, so we do not know when the DA will ever be satisfied. Furthermore, amazingly, their bed partner, the ID, is satisfied with this, so one would like to see what is going to happen in future when they cannot agree on issues. [Interjections.]
Section 67 of the Act states that municipalities must develop and adopt systems and procedures to ensure the fair, efficient, effective and transparent administration of personnel. To ensure stability and consistency in the local government workforce, this section is amended to ensure that these systems and procedures are consistent with uniform standards prescribed by the Minister through regulation.
Lastly, there is the amendment of Schedule 1, which has also been alluded to, which is the disciplinary code for councillors. This prevents councillors from voting in favour of resolutions before a council or a committee of council that are in conflict with legislation applicable to local government. This therefore means that every councillor, before voting on any matter, needs to be very sure of what they are aware of and that they are aware of what they are voting for.
Hon members, the amendments that I have alluded to all relate to improving performance and professionalism in the local government sector. Improved performance and professionalism in the local government sector can only improve municipal service delivery, thereby ensuring that together we can build better communities. I thank you.
Deputy Speaker, I want to say to the hon Minister that if local government was a patient, it would have been in the intensive care unit by now, because it has a deadly virus - they call it the ANC virus.
Why do I say so? It is a virus that promotes corruption by appointing unqualified people into positions. Therefore, I want to say to the hon Minister that at least this Bill is a step in the right direction.
Agb Minister, veral klousule 7 van die wetsontwerp word verwelkom, maar dit los nog nie die probleem op nie. Daar word nou wel daarna verwys dat munisipale bestuurders wat vorige veroordelings het en teen wie daar dissiplinre stappe gedoen is, byvoorbeeld as hulle van korrupsie skuldig bevind is, vir 10 jaar nie aangestel mag word nie.
Dit spreek egter nog nie die probleem aan waar daar dissiplinre stappe teen 'n munisipale bestuurder gedoen is en daardie munisipale bestuurder, voor die saak afgehandel is, na 'n ander munisipaliteit gaan nie. Daar word daarna verwys dat 'n rekord daarvan gehou moet word, maar dit moet verder aangespreek word, anders kan ek u verseker dat hierdie pasint sal sterf. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Hon Minister, clause 7 of the Bill is welcomed in particular, but it does not solve the problem. Mention is indeed made of the fact that municipal managers with previous convictions and who have been subjected to disciplinary steps, for example, those convicted of corruption, should not be appointed for a period of 10 years.
However, it does not address the problem where disciplinary steps have been taken against a municipal manager and that municipal manager has moved to another municipality, before the case has been concluded. Reference is made to the fact that a record be kept thereof, but this must be addressed further, or else I can assure you that this patient will die.
Deputy Speaker, one of the main reasons for dysfunctional municipalities is cadre deployment. It results in unqualified persons being appointed to run municipalities.
This Bill seeks to address this to a degree by stipulating that any appointment to management positions will be null and void if the persons appointed to such positions do not have the prescribed skills, expertise, competencies or qualifications. Additionally such managers are prohibited from holding political office in any political party. Now this, clearly, the ACDP supports.
The question is whether the ANC has the political will to enforce these provisions and to stop cadre deployment. Any municipal officer or staff member who is dismissed for financial misconduct may also not be re- employed for a period of 10 years.
Whilst the ACDP believes that such a staff member should not be re-employed at all, one should bear in mind that this 10-year period will be in addition to any sentence of imprisonment or order to repay stolen funds imposed by a criminal court following a conviction for corruption or fraud.
Proper record-keeping by the Minister should also ensure that such dismissed municipal employees are not re-employed by other municipalities. Corrupt municipal staff members also are apt to resign before the completion of disciplinary action against them and are then redeployed to other municipalities.
We hope provisions in this Bill will stop this practice. Moonlighting by municipal staff, which has resulted in tender corruption and staff members not giving full attention to their work, is also prohibited.
Mr Shiceka has been very courageous in tackling the problems at the local government level head-on and for that we commend him. We trust that this Bill and other interventions will go some way to improve service delivery at the local government level. This will, of course, depend on the political will to enforce these provisions.
Lastly, the ACDP would like to wish the Minister a speedy recovery following his illness. The ACDP will support this Bill. I thank you.
Deputy Speaker, I would like to welcome the Minister to the world of local government: Nyambose, thank you for stepping into the shoes of the choirmaster.
We regret that he is unable to be here himself to drive this Bill as enthusiastically as I am sure he would have done. It is also with great pleasure that we express our appreciation to all the political parties for accepting the Bill. This is in spite of the fact that they are disgruntled, as we can see from the qualifications they are conveying to the House today.
One of the things that the Minister did quite robustly was to confront the reality that for 10 years we have been in a truly democratic local government and that the problems that the people express to us, as we do our work on the ground, needed a response. This Bill is, therefore, one of the first steps in what has arisen from that process.
We have listened to the people, as the ANC has always done, in order to be able to rectify the mistakes that have occurred in the process of governing. This is an important tradition that explains why the ANC will be 100 years old in January 2012.
Not only does it adapt well, it adapts as a result of listening to others. We also listened to those in the public hearings who expressed their views on a number of the problems confronting local government.
Despite the process undertaken by the Ministry and department to invite stakeholders to express their views on the Bill, we also felt it was necessary that we request the Minister to send the Bill to the National Economic, Development and Labour Council, Nedlac. That institution could then exercise its authority over matters that some in the labour movement and municipalities suspected might, in fact, fall in the realm of bargaining council issues.
As a result, when we received it back, as we did, there was a degree of satisfaction that some of those fears had been satisfactorily addressed. This is because Nedlac is one of our key institutions that ensure participation of key stakeholders in our system of governance.
That process was very instructive and useful; it showed Parliament itself to be in co-operation with other institutions outside its sphere. I think that is a very important process and we must not lose sight of its significance.
It is absolutely catalytic, but we have no illusions about this Bill. It was never presented to us by the Ministry and department as a panacea or that it contains solutions to the multitude of problems that confront municipalities. Rather, it was presented as being significant.
The existing legislation in some instances was not being properly implemented and some of the provisions were not sufficiently tight and often vague, therefore easily allowing for unacceptable practices to take root.
We agreed with the Minister's proposal in the Bill that he must be allowed to further regulate areas that require regulation. We have agreed with his role that the relationship between the three spheres must be co-operative. In instances where there is need for further regulation, it should be allowed and this Bill provides that space.
We also agreed with the suggestion that the skills requirements - the competency requirements - must be tight so that we make it unacceptable that people in positions of responsibility continue if they do not have those skills.
Their employment, in certain circumstances, will be rendered null and void should they continue to be in those positions later on. We also, as members have already said, are tightening accountability and ensuring compliance generally with the law.
This means accountability in the sense that the decisions that are taken must be taken properly after it has been satisfactorily found that there isn't any indication that they might in fact violate the law in any sense.
Not to pretend otherwise, we ourselves, in processing the Bill, had to satisfy ourselves that the fears that were expressed to us as a committee were, in fact, justified or not. We undertook a robust debate and discussion with the support of the state law adviser office and other legal representatives of the department, so that we satisfied ourselves that we were not threatening the integrity of the negotiations, as often takes place in the bargaining council.
We also wanted to satisfy ourselves that the requests for consultation that the Ministers sought were legitimate and appropriate. While some in the labour movement still have concerns about this, we felt relatively certain that the exercises we undertook to consider the degree and extent of the consultation were sufficiently limited not to go beyond the boundary that otherwise belongs to the power play that the Constitution itself allows in the negotiation process.
That area was an important one and constituted an important part of the work that we did. We must also express our appreciation to the many stakeholders who came in to talk about their concerns regarding the relationship between the council itself, the municipal manager and the administration.
Whilst those concerns were legitimate and we felt that the provisions in the existing legislation were appropriate, we nonetheless felt we needed a better and much more robust follow-up for its implementation and that that would make a difference.
Although the law itself is intended to provide changes in behaviour, the ANC, of necessity, as it has already done in the national general council, has given guidelines to its candidates who are going to be councillors. This is so that they can understand what is expected of them.
It is, therefore, inaccurate and completely wrong and, in fact, it is amazing that people speak about things they have hardly read about. They could not have bothered to do so, otherwise what they said here would not have been seen as inappropriate.
Members feel some of the provisions that bar certain political office bearers from acting, must be extended to what hon Lorimer calls "politically active trade unions". This is actually naive because I would have thought that because the Constitution allows for trade union activity in the workplace, the Constitution itself was appropriate for regulating those affairs.
This does not need to be the case, and how do you prevent people from acting politically if you claim to be a democrat, or if you claim to respect the Constitution?
Hon Lorimer, I think it is also important to accurately represent the views expressed in the processing of the Bill. The provision for communicating on a regular basis, quarterly and/or within 14 days, in certain instances, is an important one.
We acknowledge that it is absolutely crucial that the Minister and MECs must receive quarterly reports and that we must not extend the reporting requirements unnecessarily to burden municipalities, which is one of the biggest problems. You have heard them expressing that with more frequent reporting the timing given there for quarterly reports be appropriate.
The costs may have come up in a comment someone made, but that is not what the official record of our meetings will reflect. We are also not surprised that you quote municipal independence. If you read the Constitution properly, our Constitution is clear about this relationship and it makes no room for doubt. It says that, whilst the relationship between these three spheres is distinct, they are interrelated and interdependent, and so we cannot talk about any one of those as being independent.
The reason we argue that this Bill is catalytic is because of what it is going to help us do beyond these elections. Most importantly, however, it also illustrates the significance of co-operative governance that we are referring to in its formulation.
The reason the DA lost the court case in Overberg, is because it ignored one of the key injunctions of the Constitution for co-operative governance - that the courts must be the last resort. The ANC intervened to plead with the DA to withdraw from this case and allow the council to operate properly. They refused and rejected the overtures of the ANC which were being expressed in the spirit of co-operative governance. The result is that the Supreme Court, as well as the Constitutional Court, taught them a lesson; that you do not do that. It was clear that the actions they were taking were politically driven and had nothing to do with the proper sorting out of relationships in that municipality in Overberg. It is indicative of their failure to appreciate in practice the Constitution of which they often want us to believe they are the champions.
We are expected to co-operate, as we have done to date, in the processing of this Bill because it really signifies the challenge that we face as the ANC in building local economies and creating more decent work and sustainable livelihoods.
We have to work towards improving local public services and broadening their accessibility to the rest of the people; to build more united nonracial, integrated and safer communities; to promote more active community participation in local government and to ensure more effective, accountable and clean local government that works together with the national and provincial government.
There is no doubt that by working together we will build better communities. The spirit of co-operation that we think we have achieved in processing this Bill will enable us to achieve better results as further initiatives arising from the Local Government Turnaround Strategy come the way of Parliament and see the light of day in municipalities where it matters most. I thank you. The ACTING MINISTER FOR CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL AFFAIRS (Mr E N Mthethwa): Thank you, hon Deputy Speaker and thanks to all who participated. I think the chairperson covered at least one or two points which needed further clarification.
It is a pity that the hon Groenewald is no longer here and has left; I wanted to assure him that, in fact, the ANC is not a virus. If he understands, it's vitamin A, N, C. So, if he understands that he would know what we are talking about. All in all, I think all members have made their contributions and everybody supports the Bill. We think that we will continue to make local government everyone's business. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Madam Deputy Speaker, this piece of legislation, as is the case with all pieces of legislation, is important. I do not believe that we can move to a vote in this House because according to Rule 25 (2)(a), there has to be a quorum; that is, 201 people or certainly 200 people. I would suggest, Madam Speaker, that while we understand the importance of this legislation, we cannot pass it by default.
The bells will be rung for five minutes to establish if we can make the quorum of 201 people. The hon member is correct; we can't pass the Bill without 201 people. Can we ring the bell for five minutes.
The bells were rung for five minutes.
Order! Are all members in their seats? Hon members, we now start an electronic counting. It is not voting. We are counting members in the House. I will ask all members to press "yes", so that we are ... [Interjections.]
Madam Deputy Speaker ...
Have all members ...
Madam Deputy Speaker, my members are deeply concerned that this is a trick on the part of the ANC, to get us to vote for something that maybe we do not want to vote for. [Laughter.] Can you give us your assurance that everything is above board?
Deputy Speaker, can you also ask the DA to press the "yes" button, so that they record their presence in the Chamber as well? [Laughter.]
Have all members pressed "yes"?
HON MEMBERS: Yes.
The counting is now closed. [Laughter.]
Madam Deputy Speaker, we would like to ask Mr Ellis: Now that he's pressed "yes", how does it feel? [Applause.] [Laughter.]
Madam Deputy Speaker, if I have to respond to that, I want to say it is a wonderful feeling, and I am very grateful to you for that! [Laughter.] [Applause.]
My machine is not working.
Your machine did not work? [Laughter.] I hope it is not an issue of lots of machines not working here. I am told that we do not have a quorum. I am told that we have 169 people. We either continue with the other business of the day or we resort to manual counting. Can we postpone the voting on this particular Bill?
Have we verified that the DA actually recorded their presence? [Interjections.]
No? Then we are postponing the voting on this one.
Madam Deputy Speaker, the hon Masutha certainly says some very strange things from time to time, but I just want to say in response to what the hon Pandor said earlier, that the DA thoroughly enjoyed voting "yes". We only wish that the ANC will give us more opportunity or more reason to vote "yes" in the future.
Decision of question postponed due to absence of a quorum.