Hon Deputy Chairperson of the House, the National Council of Provinces is constitutionally established; it is the glue that binds the provincial aspirations of diverse provinces, as they are for a common good as a nation. This debate is on "The role of the National Council of Provinces in co-operative government and intergovernmental relations: Unlocking the synergy for collective effort". Despite the enormous progress made over the past years in growing the national economy in an inclusive way and extending access to basic services, South Africa is still faced with massive unemployment, poverty and inequality. This is not surprising, taking into account the scale of transformation required in overcoming entrenched inequalities and spatial distortions. Intergovernmental relations, as a crucial element of government organisations in the South African context, is not in itself a solution, but a means to achieve effective outcomes in the different municipal spaces across the country.
Developmental local government has to be conditioned with regard to the practicalities of managing limited state resources in a prudent and efficient way. This lies at the heart of intergovernmental relations, where the optimal use of resources needs a collective effort that fosters an integrated, predictable and sustainable input for community development to evolve.
Experience has shown that alignment of governmental plans and strategies has been an illusion, because it is difficult to pursue outside a strategic national thrust and if it is based on mere paraphrasing of provincial and national priorities without a genuine contextualisation and localisation of national policies, objectives and targets in different municipal areas.
The key challenges that we face as a province in broad terms relate to the following areas. Firstly, co-ordination and integration of provincial and municipal strategic planning must take place in such a manner that provincial and national planning in the province are informed by and inform the national plans, provincial growth and development plans, PGDPs, and IDPs. Secondly, there is an absence of a credible, single, integrated planning, budgeting and reporting schedule for the province. Thirdly, there is a need for the existence of a coherent IGR framework for the province. And fourthly, on governance, there is a devolution of powers that is not always accompanied by capacity-building. Concurrent functions, like housing, also call for maximum co-operation among the spheres as a concurrent function, while public participation among the spheres and between organs of state remains a bit disjointed.
Taking our cue from national legislation such as the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, Act 13 of 2005, as well as Chapter 3 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, in addition to the whole plethora of legislation geared towards improved service delivery, we adopted a provincial intergovernmental relations strategy, together with the protocols of engagement, at the end of the last financial year, as a mechanism to foster working together in the province.
The strategy was based on an assessment that was done of the state of the intergovernmental relations in the province, which found a number of weaknesses in the IGR co-ordination and management, including a lack of capacity on the secretariat functions; delays in the implementation of decisions of IGR structures; a lack of linkages between the various IGR structures; limitations in the communication system within the IGR function in the province; a lack of proper co-ordination and communication of the national interventions in the province, with regard to the provincial administration and local administration, leading to multiple challenges, and many others. To change the situation for the better, the provincial government has introduced an annual executive council, Exco, outreach, which brings the spheres together under one roof to discuss issues of importance in service delivery, while at the same time the office of the premier and the department of local government are currently playing their role of IGR co- ordinators in the province to ensure that the provincial and national departments participate in the local planning.
In conclusion, as part of the above work, a roll-out plan by the department of local government and traditional affairs together with the office of the premier, Salga and the provincial treasury, will be implemented to strengthen the IGR system in the province, and this will include capacitating various functionaries of IGR within the province, particularly in the local sphere.
There is a concerted effort to implement the provincial IGR strategy that was developed in 2009 and approved by the Exco to ensure a proper and functioning IGR system in the province. I thank you.