Deputy Speaker, I understand the Minister's answer that intervention is foremost a provincial competence but if a provincial intervention fails or does not happen obviously the Minister must step in or at least engage with the matter.
The Eastern Cape provincial government has accused the council of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality of being dysfunctional and of failing to meet its obligations. It has assisted the council by offering to appoint an administrator but this offer has been rejected by the
mayor and the acting municipal manager has called it premature.
Considering the political chaos in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and the fact that they are forfeiting R3 billion in national government's funding which they still have to pay back and could bankrupt that municipality, would the Minister support the DA's call for the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality council to be dissolved? Thank you. [Applause.]
The MINISTER OF CO-OPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL
AFFAIRS: Section 139(c) of the Constitution allows for the dissolution but there are processes that are followed. A political party does not come to the Minister and say, "can we dissolve?" and we dissolve. There are processes that are followed that start from the province.
I would advise the DA to follow the processes and not say whether or not I will support or not; I will only exercise my mind when I have got a request for concurrence. Thank you.
Question 298:
The MINISTER OF COOPERATIVE GOVERNANCE AND TRADITIONAL
AFFAIRS: Deputy Speaker, the implementation of the Integrated Urban Development Framework, IUDF, and the National Skill Development Fund, NSDF, will not require major changes to the current government functioning, however it will require better co-ordination and the provision of coherence and various government programmes. This would be enhanced through the district development model and other complimentary interventions. The district development model seeks to ensure co-operation, collaboration and co-ordination across the three spheres of government, to enhance local planning, spatial development amongst other objectives. The model is a practical intergovernmental relations mechanism for all three spheres of government, to plan, budget, implement, monitor jointly and act in unison.
In terms of functioning areas, there are no additional capacity requirements in order to mainstream the NSDF and IUDF across government, however there is requirement for supporting and deepening existing capabilities. For instance in the areas of planning, spatial planning,
financial management, infrastructure management, development planning, project management, economic planning, information and information technologies and ICT, if those capabilities are weak they will need to be strengthened. Additionally, to implement the two policies, they will be a further requirement for alignment and co-ordination of the Offices of the Premier as well as Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
At local government level, the department will establish district or metro hubs and these districts and metro hubs will be established in phases, across the various districts and metros in consultation with the provinces and the municipalities. The hubs will ensure that there is integrated planning and implementation, sharing of resources and services, that there also transparency and accountability and impact monitoring within all districts and metro spaces.
The districts hubs can also be complimented and by co- ordinating the learning networks amongst municipalities,
as a platform to learn together, share ideas and jointly seek solutions to the challenges faced by the urban agenda. Currently the department through the IUDF programme has established a peer learning network that consists of six municipalities, namely; the City of Mbombela, City of uMhlathuze, Kwadukuza, Steve Tshwete, Polokwane Municipality and Stellenbosch Local Municipality. The peer learning network brings together officials from planning, infrastructure delivery and budgeting offices of the participating municipalities, in order to promote collaboration, planning and integrated service delivery, in support of the IUDF as oppose to current silos. So, this is really a sharing and learning and networking of municipalities. That's the platform they have for the IUDF. Thank you.