Chairperson, Chairperson of the NCOP, Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP, Deputy Minister Carrim, hon members of the NCOP, hon MECs, representatives of the SA Local Government Association, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf the Northern Cape provincial government, I would like to convey our best wishes and sincere appreciation to the NCOP for its continued support in ensuring that provinces carry out their mandate to the best of their abilities.
Our relatively new administration, under the custodianship of President Jacob Zuma, is convinced that through effective co-ordination across government as a whole, and acting in harmony with communities, we can accelerate service delivery and sustainable development. Hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup is an example of co-operative governance and intergovernmental relations in action.
We established the framework for intergovernmental relations which provides ways for all spheres to work together effectively. The three spheres of government need to work in partnership and constantly communicate with each other, so that each sphere is aware of its roles and responsibilities in driving provincial priorities and ensuring that local needs are considered in line with national and provincial law-making processes.
Intergovernmental relations are intended to promote and facilitate co- operative decision-making and ensure that policies, activities and programmes encourage service delivery across all spheres of government to meet the needs of the citizens in an effective way.
For us to achieve our vision of a caring, responsive, people-centred and people-driven government, it is essential for all spheres to work in harmony with each other. We must work together to achieve our goal of effective service delivery to our communities in terms of poverty eradication, good governance, enhancing social integration and promoting the advancement of women, which remains among the key priorities in our programme for decisive action and change.
Of critical importance is the ongoing need to strengthen partnerships between national government, provincial government and local government as well as our communities and civil society. We need to ensure that communities and other development partners are mobilised to partner with municipalities in service delivery and development.
Various challenges, especially the poor revenue base of the majority of the municipalities in the Northern Cape, have negatively affected the capacity and performance of our municipalities to deliver services effectively to our communities who interact directly with them on a regular basis.
It is for this reason that all spheres of government must play a distinct and proactive role in the process of socioeconomic development, with a special focus on our province's rural population, in terms of their maintaining sustainable livelihoods. Through sustained efforts our system of co-operative government has made impressive progress in various segments of our economy, particularly in tourism, infrastructure development, agriculture and rural development.
The Northern Cape province has prioritised the important issue of co- operative governance and intergovernmental relations. We have committed ourselves to ensure that systems, structures and procedures are developed and enforced to deal with challenges and to ensure that provinces and municipalities communicate and account more to communities. We have also worked around the clock to ensure that the core administrative and institutional systems are in place and are operational to improve performance.
Through co-operative governance and intergovernmental relations we will ensure that our municipalities are able to attend effectively to the matter of quality service delivery in a manner that continues to improve the lives of all our people. Local government is thus the focal point of delivery of all government services.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to advise that our executive council, together with municipalities in the province, has embarked on an interactive programme with communities, which is termed the executive council, or Exco, outreach programme. In essence, this programme is characterised by intense and meaningful engagement with communities to determine their needs, particularly from a service delivery perspective. Although certain challenges remain, we are, by all accounts, convinced that we are gradually making the necessary inroads in addressing the needs of communities.
This strategy is designed to ensure that municipalities meet the basic needs of communities. This implies that an environment is created, support provided and systems built to accelerate quality service delivery within the context of each municipality's specific conditions and needs.
As South Africans we are indeed a unique breed of people, for we have pioneered a system of co-operative governance underpinned by democratic norms and values. In a short space of time we have made progressive strides in giving meaning to our co-operative model of governance, based on our constitutional imperative for co-operation between the spheres of government.
This constitutional imperative therefore calls on the respective spheres to assist and support each other in order to protect the wellbeing of our country, by providing a government that is both transparent and accountable to the people. Indeed, we have formalised and put structures in place with specific focus areas and objectives, outlined in the policy and legislative framework. Be that as it may, our system of co-operative government needs re-evaluation to ensure greater efficiency.
One of the critical factors that must be addressed in the enhancement of this system is the principle of accountability. In my home province, the Northern Cape, as in all other provinces, we have intergovernmental structures that interact and operate on a so-called gentleman's agreement, in the absence of a legal framework. Attendance of meetings is not obligatory and this has a negative impact regarding the content and quality of debate and discussion.
In conclusion, since the promulgation of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act on 13 August 2005, we have, on a government-wide basis, established formal structures with specific focus areas and objectives. However, the following questions remain: Firstly, how many of these are in sync with the aims and vision of the IGR Act?
Secondly, do we need a more rationalised and strategic IGR and co-operative governance approach?
Thirdly, is the substance of the current IGR engagements adequate and in the best interests of the people we serve?
Lastly, how does contestation between spheres of government, government departments and organs of state undermine the letter and spirit of co- operative governance?
While we are proud of our system of co-operative governance and intergovernmental relations, much more work needs to be done to synchronise the planning and delivery cycles of the three spheres of government. What is also needed is a simpler and more effective IGR approach to accelerate our developmental objectives to ensure a degree of coherence in the intergovernmental arena. I thank you. [Applause.]