Chairperson and Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, it is true that the Auditor-General is measuring the performance of the municipalities. However, it is not his responsibility to rectify their faults. Politicians are the ones who are accountable and responsible for the bad performance of municipalities. The municipal manager and chief financial officer are appointed by the councils and so are those appointed in terms of article 56 to 57. Mayors and the mayoral committees are appointed by the political parties. Municipalities will only improve if political parties take responsibility. The income bases of municipalities differ a lot. Small municipalities are struggling because their salaries take a big chunk of their income. Only a small part is left to do capital work. This is a great stumbling block to the delivery of services.
Housing is a great problem. Grants are given to municipalities to build houses. The quality of work is sometimes very inferior. The aim of the Vote is to improve co-operative governance across the three spheres of government, in partnership with institutions of traditional leadership to ensure that provinces and municipalities carry out their service delivery and development functions effectively.
The mandate is to develop, monitor and support the implementation of national policy and legislation; to promote and monitor mechanisms, systems and structures to enable integrated service delivery and implementation within government; and to exercise oversight over provincial and local government. There are areas that need intervention for the municipalities to perform. These are supply chain management; financial management; information technology controls; human resource management; municipalities under administration; the use of consultants; and government structures.
Our municipalities are marked by service delivery protests. The increase in service delivery protests clearly indicates that all is not well in our local municipalities. People are not happy and we all urgently need to come up with a positive solution to improve the situation. Underspending is caused by a lack of capacity and of technical and management skills. Millions are being spent by municipalities on consultants.
Our municipalities are infested with corruption. Corruption has become endemic in our society. It is one of the things that people in South Africa are becoming more and more worried about. Corruption disturbs what we do and we simply cannot build if that is the basis. It leads to poor quality in construction. Cement is like glue for a house.
There is also the problem of price fixing. Nothing is as dangerous as the inflation of prices. We as the DA spend time acting like policemen, chasing after corrupt people, because their actions inconvenience the beneficiaries. [Interjections.] Nepotism, favouritism and the manipulation of waiting lists are all ills that we have to deal with. [Interjections.] As the DA, our message to the corrupt officials is simple: We will continue to embarrass and to name and shame.
One of the ANC stalwarts, Andrew Mlangeni, once said:
The Rivonia trialists did not go to prison so that the ANC members could reap the rewards of freedom through self-enrichment and greed. Money is the source of all evil. Some people are so corrupt in my organisation, the ANC. You put people in leadership positions in government because you know them to be trustworthy. You know that they are going to carry out the policy of the ANC, helping the people of South Africa. They start off by being good people, but ultimately they change and start filling their pockets with money through tenders. Tenderism has destroyed many of our honest people. The pursuit of money and instant wealth is devaluing the sacrifice of those who went to prison and those who died fighting for freedom.
[Interjections.] The lasting lesson of universal leadership is the celebrated South African clich, -A better life for all|. The -all| in this case is emphatic, democratic...