Chairperson, the ID would like to welcome the report and recommendations of the Ad hoc Committee on Co-ordinated Oversight on Service Delivery. Government has allocated over R2 million to this ad hoc committee to hold these public hearings around the country. This committee had the crucial task of helping Parliament better understand the root causes of service delivery protests.
However, the ID was extremely disappointed to find that only a handful of councillors and members of the provincial legislature, MPLs, actually bothered to attend the meetings. This lack of interest makes one understand exactly why voters are losing patience with them. Other public representatives were reluctant to speak openly on causes of bottlenecks in service delivery.
During our visits, it was sad to see children playing in fields of material and human waste; budgets unspent because of a shortage of project managers; the bucket system still in existence in many informal settlements in spite of a government promise to eradicate it by 2007 and, finally, a complete lack of sporting and other facilities.
Most disturbing for me were the many stories of councillors making empty promises to the community, while also failing to attend any public meetings. It seems that some public representatives are more interested in stealing from the poor than serving them.
We also visited Doringbach here in Cape Town, where 2 800 informal dwellings have been erected on private property. Although these structures are being serviced by the city, this does not include electricity, which is a basic right. We applaud and welcome the move by the City of Cape Town to pass a bylaw that will deal with the personal safety of residents on private property.
In the case of Renosterberg Local Municipality, we saw that interns had been employed to run the finance department. Unsurprisingly, the department received a disclaimer.
I would like to thank the chairperson, hon Tsenoli, and the entire committee for their dedication. I think my colleague, hon Tsenoli, as a philosopher, will agree with me that it was once said that a fool elected by a fool will be led by a fool but the biggest fool is the fool who elected that fool. I thank you. [Applause.]