Chairperson, hon members and Ministers present, Deputy President, the division of revenue is a vital instrument that provides the first step in the process of service delivery. It is necessary and logical that a large proportion of the revenue should be channelled towards the provinces and municipalities.
These two tiers of government have a constitutional service delivery mandate. What is more, they are, by virtue of proximity, supposedly better placed to deliver. Unfortunately this is where the entire process falters. We have, since the inception of democracy, witnessed a distinct inability amongst provincial and municipal administrations to manage these revenues and deliver the intended services.
Conditional grants do not solve this problem. At the heart of the matter is a severe lack of skills coupled with an institutional culture that celebrates ineptitude and turns a blind eye to crony-ism and tender fraud. National government will simply have to improve its ability to monitor the spending of provincial and local governments. We welcome the recent announcement of a dedicated unit to investigate tender fraud.
One of the leading causes of service delivery failures and key reasons that the division of revenue does not produce the intended results is the countless vacancies at provincial and municipal level in critical areas such as financial management and engineering.
As the UDM has indicated before, government is missing an opportunity. It could improve service delivery by providing jobs to qualified and skilled professionals whilst at the same time reducing reliance on expensive consultants. These vacancies present a major stumbling block. However, it will require political will to ensure that these positions are filled. By their nature, such positions will put the brakes on the gravy train.
It is time for those who ride on this gravy train to realise that they may be able to ignore our appeals to their consciences and moralities, but they cannot indefinitely ignore the increasingly frustrated communities marching in the streets. Thank you. [Applause.]