Chairperson and hon members, in 2000 the ANC-led government ushered in a new system of local government. In fact, this took place immediately after the local government elections of November 2000. Five years after the introduction of democracy in this country, indeed in all spheres of government, democratic practices have become paramount. Central to that is the importance of participatory democracy, which we do not have to overemphasise for it is the pillar of our fundamental policy, as enshrined in the Freedom Charter, that the people shall govern.
Local government in any society is the most important practical sphere of government. This sphere of government is so important as it is the one that is very close to the people it serves. For democracy development to be realised, it should be mostly effected at the level where people stay in their daily lives, influenced by their environment.
To ensure participatory democracy, a system has to be developed and structures have to be created to facilitate and promote participation of communities in local government activities. This is done to ensure proper services for development and a better life. Without sketching the history of the past in our country, we are still faced with huge problems of amongst others underdevelopment, poverty and inequality. One does not need to be a rocket scientist to realise that.
To improve the quality of life for every South African in terms of basic services, such as clean water provision and environmental health care, sanitation, electricity, roads, etc, people themselves have to participate constructively in such programmes, not only by periodically going to the polls every five years, but by ensuring that development and improvement of the quality of life is ongoing to address the huge backlogs of underdevelopment, as development is for the people.
From government's perspective to deepen democracy and promote participation, the ANC-led government, for the first time, has created a legislative framework to ensure that there is indeed participatory democracy. The ANC-led government did not stop there, but also introduced other measures, such as the izimbizo led by the President himself and others by Ministers, Premiers, MECs and mayors. This government has ensured the establishment of community radio stations where people are able to debate local issues of development.
In a structured form, the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act makes provision for the establishment of ward committees. These ward committees are established in terms of section 72 and their functions are clearly spelled out in section 74 of the Act. In an effort to strengthen these structures, community development workers are encouraged to be part of these structures, as they are involved through their daily work with various communities.
Chapter 4 of the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act ensures the operational sustainability of these structures. It then becomes important not only to draw this House's attention to relevant sections of this chapter, maybe to refresh our minds to quickly read those provisions, to signify their importance in participatory democracy. Now I refer members to chapter 4 of the Act, which deals with community participation and section 16 reads as follows:
A municipality must develop a culture of municipal governance that compliments formal representative government with a system of participatory governance and must for this purpose, amongst other things, encourage and create conditions for the local community to participate in affairs of the municipality, including, amongst others, the establishment and implementation and review of its performance management system in terms of chapter 6 and contribute to building the capacity.
Section 17 also indicates that participation by local communities in the affairs of municipalities must take place through, amongst other things, other appropriate mechanisms, processes and procedures established by the municipalities. All of the above is geared at promoting and deepening participatory democracy.
The introduction of community development workers has assisted in ensuring that community issues are part and parcel of the council's agenda, either through the ward committee or the IDP forums. As we all know, one of the functions of the community development workers is to work closely not only with ward councillors, but to perform some duties for the ward committees. As previously indicated, izimbizo at various levels have created another platform for communities to engage with government. We would, at this point, like to recognise efforts by the MECs, who crisscross the various provinces, conducting izimbizo, which are, in many instances, not published by the mainstream media institutions. To them we say: May the stork not grow old. This also applies to some hon members of the House.
The department has launched various community participation forums at national level where issues of service delivery and development are debated. I know the department has made calls to other spheres of government to do likewise, so as to ensure participatory democracy is alive. All this, to a large degree, has empowered our community but largely the previously disadvantaged communities. People are now able to stand up and argue their case confidently. A forum and culture has been created both materially and otherwise to ensure the deepening of participatory democracy. Various interventions took place at various levels of government, in some instances in the form of Project Consolidate and others.
Today as we speak we are able to say that this has all impacted positively on the lives of the people, particularly the previously disadvantaged communities. So we are able to say that today is different from yesterday, and tomorrow will be different from today - as stated by the President. This comes in various forms and sometimes with an element of mere protest. Through the principal policy of the ANC that the people shall govern, participatory democracy is now being implemented as a programme of social evolution and material development. By and large, we are now able to see the impact driven by the spirit of hope.
Once more allow me to emphasise the commitment that was made 50 years ago that the people shall govern. Ours is to strengthen popular participation. Participatory democracy must find expression in a structured form amongst others in ward committees, IDP forums and any other relevant forums. Indeed, through the establishment of ward committees, IDP forums and local economic development forums and others, public participatory democracy has become a reality and has impacted positively on the lives of the people. All those issues such as clean water, halving poverty and others as espoused by the President in his state of the nation address are now reality and are beginning to impact positively on the lives of our people. The people shall govern. Thank you. [Applause.]