Sihlalo ohloniphekileyo, Mphathiswa ohloniphekileyo, malungu namagosa onke aseburhulumenteni, manene namanenekazi, ndiziva ndinelunda ngokuthabatha inxaxheba kule ngxoxo-mpikiswano ebalulekileyo yanamhlanje emalunga neVoti yoHlahlo-lwabiwo-mali yoRhulumente woBambiswano ngoLawulo kunye neMicimbi yezeMveli.
Eli sebe liyinxalenye ebalulekileyo nengundoqo yorhulumente wophuhliso, nanjengoko sasijonge loo nto ekusekweni kwalo. Oku kubangelwa yindima yalo ekulungelelaniseni ukudluliselwa kweemali zikazwe-lonke kumacandelo amaphondo nakoorhulumente beendawo, ngenjongo yophuhliso lweziseko zolwakhiwo nokuxhaswa kokuhanjiswa kweenkonzo ezingundoqo. Omnye wemiba ephambili yeli sebe kukuxhasa oomasipala ekunikeni kwabo iinkonzo ezingundoqo ezifana namanzi, ugutyulo, umbane nokuthuthwa kwenkunkuma. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraphs follows.)
[Nkosi Z M D MANDELA: Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, members and all government officials, ladies and gentlemen, I am honoured to take part in this important debate today on the Budget Vote of the Department of Co- operative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
This department is one of the very important and significant players in the country's development, and this was our aim when it was formed. The reason for this is its role in the planning of the budget for government departments and the provinces, with the aim of infrastructure development and significant service delivery of basic services. One of the other key priorities of this department is to give support to the municipalities in their delivery of basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity and waste collection.]
Since 1994, the ANC-led government has made access to basic services and infrastructure development its key priority, targeting previously underserved and poor areas of our country in particular. In recent times, we have observed a degree of discontent in some communities about access to and delivery of services in different municipalities. The ANC, as a movement that has for the century of its existence been rooted among the people, is mindful of these challenges and is responding to them through its elected government.
An assessment of the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs budget should be consistent with the ANC's policy interventions in building a developmental local government that is people-oriented and therefore always responsive to their needs and aspirations.
As we face today's challenges, we need to appreciate the many strides that we have made since 1994. In this regard, we are guided by the values of the Reconstruction and Development Programme and the call that was made at its launch by our first President of a democratic South Africa, uMongameli uMandela:
... for the rich consumers to subsidise the poor so that they can have access to services. It further calls for the funds to be made available from other sources of government and to address the backlog of services in some areas.
The RDP constituted the first of numerous policies and programmes that the ANC has implemented to address massive deficits in access to basic services and infrastructure backlogs. The deficits and backlogs are now more pronounced in the rural and poor areas. The establishment of a developmental local government and a system of wall-to-wall municipalities was aimed at addressing these challenges.
As we debate this budget today, we must recognise the reality that the long- term impact of the apartheid legacy and the ravages of its discriminatory spatial planning continue to manifest most glaringly at the local government level of our society. As an example, it is estimated that in 1994 more than 15 million people did not have access to a safe water supply and over 20 million did not have access to basic, decent sanitation.
Upon the dawn of democracy and the establishment of a new democratic developmental local government, we knew that the road towards transformation would be hard and long. We knew that this road would be bumpy, but that we would also have successes. We faced challenges and sometimes failures. What is crucial is to stay the course, correct our mistakes and move forwards with determination.
Ulonyulo loorhulumente beendawo lwama-2011 lusifundise isifundo esibalulekileyo malunga nomgama esele siwuhambile ekuhanjisweni kweenkonzo, kunye nemingeni esijamelene nayo. Ngale nkqubo siye seva amazwi oluntu, sabona iimeko abaphila phantsi kwazo abantu belizwe lethu, sabona nenkqubela, saza sazibona ukuba sisilelephi. Sifunde ukuba sikhulile, kwaye sinamandla netshisakalo yokuqhuba nokwakha oorhulumente bophuhliso beendawo. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[The local government elections of 2011 have shown us how far we are with the process of service delivery and the challenges that we are faced with. In this process we have heard the people of this country voicing the conditions under which they live. We have seen the progress and where we have failed. We have learnt that we have grown and we have the determination to continue developing local governments.]
We are more determined not to fail in our quest to achieve the Freedom Charter's commitment when it declared:
All people shall have the right to live where they choose, to be decently housed and to bring up their families in comfort and security; Unused housing space shall be made available to the people; ... Slums shall be demolished and new suburbs built where all have transport, roads, lighting, playing fields, crches and social centres; ... Rest, leisure and recreation shall be the right of all; Fenced locations and ghettoes shall be abolished and laws which break up families shall be repealed.
The Freedom Charter's commitment, together with the promises we made in the RDP, should serve as a baseline progress indicator by which we assess to what extent our local government is providing security and comfort to our communities. Hon Steenhuisen, it should be a measure for assessing how local government is providing infrastructure and basic services to people, as well as eradicating the legacy of apartheid spatial planning and inequalities.
There has been great progress. Figures provided by the department show that between 2008-09 and 2011-12, R43,3 billion was spent through the municipal infrastructure grant on basic services infrastructure. Over the period, an additional 7,25 million people were given access to water services, while 5,87 million people were given access to sanitation services. This was not in the areas governed by the DA, hon Steenhuisen.
In 2011-12 alone, 1,8 million people were given access to water services and 1,3 million were given access to sanitation services. Approximately 1,3 million households benefited from the extension of access road projects and more than 600 000 households benefited from community lighting.
Frans Cronj of the SA Institute of Race Relations, in his article on service delivery, says that service delivery has not failed. That contradicts the usual refrain perpetuated by the DA.
I want to assure the House that where the DA governs, we have seen that minorities living in areas like Constantia and Bishopscourt are the ones benefiting, but if you go to Khayelitsha and Gugulethu, you will see how our people are treated.
Clearly, the toilets that you gave to our people were totally unacceptable.
Xa sijonga ubunzulu bokusilela kulwakhiwo lweziseko zoluntu kunye nokunikezelwa kweenkonzo ezingundoqo awathi wafikela kuko urhulumente okhokelwa yi-ANC, kufuneka ezi mpumelelo zithathwe njengobungqina benguqu koorhulumente bendawo, sikuqhwabele izandla nokonyuswa kwemali eyabelwe isibonelelo sikamasipala yolwakhiwo lweziseko ngokuphindwe nangaphezulu kwesibini. (Translation of isiXhosa paragraph follows.)
[When we look at the depth of the failure of infrastructure development and the delivery of basic services before the ANC-led government took over, this shows that those achievements should be regarded as proof of change within local government. We should applaud the double increase of the local government budget for infrastructure development.]
I quote: "... from R7,2 billion in 2008-09 to R15,8 billion in 2014-15 at an average annual rate of 14,6%."
We are grateful for the priority that the department is placing on infrastructure investment in the budget. However, our considerable achievements do not blind us to the enormous challenges that lie ahead, hon Boinamo. We are mindful today, 18 years into our democracy, of a degree of discontentment in some communities about access to and delivery of services by municipalities.
The ANC, as the movement that has for a century been rooted among the people, is very mindful of the impact of tardy delivery on the poorest of the poor and it is responding to the challenges through its elected government. [Applause.]
Maladministration and corruption cannot be tolerated. Hon Groenewald, though you are not here now, if you had attended any of our parliamentary committee meetings, you would have known that the ANC-led government has undertaken that officials found to be guilty will ... The ANC supports this Budget Vote. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]