Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, we all know that the National Development Plan, NDP, 2030 is currently the focus of all departments' objectives. These objectives are aligned to create 11 million jobs by 2030.
It is true that efforts in local government and the community work programme contribute towards the goal of broadening the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, as a driver of job creation. As a strategy, the focus is correct and the NDP's objective is realistic. However, the implementation and work ethos of officials who need to make this happen, based on the current reality in municipalities, is a concern.
In his 2009 state of the nation address, President Jacob Zuma promised a more interactive government. In October of the same year, 83 major and violent protests erupted. In 2013, Sasolburg, Kliptown, Sterkspruit and Gauteng province communities are up in arms, endorsing South Africa's reputation as the protest capital of the world.
Cope is convinced that if the hon Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs interacted with the Sterkspruit community and gave them an ear, shops would not have been torched; lives would not have been lost.
In Sasolburg, again, the hon Minister short-changed them. The Sasolburg community does not want to merge with Parys in the Free State. Premier Ace Magashule is going against the will of the people of Sasolburg. Why is the Premier of the Free State not waiting for the Municipal Demarcation Board report, but bulldozing everything to have his way? [Interjections.]
In the Estimates of National Expenditure, 768 000 communities received electricity. Why is the community of Kliptown risking their lives by connecting electricity illegally?
Currently the unemployment rate is 26% in the country. However, in places like Sasolburg, out of 84 000 people of working age who live in the area, only 30 000 are employed, and this means that 43% are unemployed. Most of the residents - 55% in the area - earn less than R400 a month, and the amount include social grants. Eighteen per cent of the population live in informal dwellings, 27% do not have piped water in their homes, 12% do not have a flush toilet, and 9% use pit toilets. This is degrading of people's dignity, 20 years after liberation.
Cope has serious concerns about these kinds of externalities that affect the quality of life in communities. These include the current record of what is happening in local government as the face of government.
In Gauteng, there had been 560 protests in the province within a period of 40 days. All these are service delivery protests - a growing discontent with the government. The department is a spectator while the country is burning. [Interjections.]
Municipalities fail communities. There are various disturbing illustrations of this poor state of affairs. The Auditor-General's report on the state of the municipalities indicated that only 13 municipalities had a clean audit report - representing 5% - and 45% had an unqualified report with various concerns. The disgraceful manner in which municipalities are managed affects people's wellness, and indicates how dangerous and reckless officials are when it comes to the quality of service delivery. As a result, protests are increasing dramatically. This is a testimony that something is radically wrong in this country.
The high level of corruption and lack of punitive action taken against these charlatans are depriving the poor of their basic rights to improved services.
Chairperson, when looking at selective programmes, Cope has serious concerns. Programme 3 on governance and intergovernmental relations states as its objective that everything possible must be done to promote good governance and public participation by strengthening the functionality of the ward committees. This implies implementing the funding model for municipalities, but the effectiveness of ward committees to make participatory governance possible is hampered by red tape, the lack of public participation and the alignment of legislation to give greater functional powers to ward committees.
This is preventing direct representation of the communities in councils to assist with matters of the integrated development plans, IDPs. Cope maintains that improved public participation legislation is important. [Interjections.]
Currently, the ward committee model is a top-down bureaucratic window- dressing exercise that renders public participation, as a civil tool, hollow. More must be done to secure greater service delivery, for it is all to do with the IDPs. The current Western Cape issue about the 80 000 toilet backlog, where people do not have proper sanitation facilities and 958 households still use the bucket system, is unacceptable. [Interjections.] The current situation in municipalities reflects this bias if we look at the lack of financial management, poor administration and corruption. The Global Competitiveness Index 2012 ranked South Africa 52nd out of 144 countries. This is reflected in the poor service delivery record, the lack of monitoring and evaluation processes, and their impact on citizens' wellness. This indicates that the Municipal Turnaround Strategy did not deliver on the expectations.
This highlights the need to secure greater skills development in the area of Programme 2 regarding planning, development and the implementation of a knowledge and information management system. However, again, if there is no incentive or punitive action, the lack of accountability will just further contribute to the current chaos.
The public participation process is skewed and needs tougher legislation. Society must become more involved to directly address the problems of communities.
Hon Minister, I want to use this opportunity to raise my concern regarding the Traditional Courts Bill, which gives unconstitutional rights to chiefs and practitioners of traditional rituals that are unsafe. There is also the aspect of discrimination against women who are not able to defend themselves in the presence of the chief. The current initiation deaths in Mpumalanga are also illustrating how the MEC is prevented from doing an inspection, in this case, on the mountain. The current initiation death toll in Mpumalanga, which stands at 27, indicates that serious amendments are needed to the Bill to be in line with the Constitution.
Hon Minister, Programme 3 on governance and intergovernmental relations ... [Time expired.] [Interjections.]