Chairperson, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for the opportunity to address you in my capacity as Minister of Local Government in the Western Cape. We have just been through very exciting municipal elections and, as I noted during the Budget Vote debate earlier this year, we have now effectively closed a five-year chapter of local government and are opening a new one.
By now it is a known fact that we in the Western Cape have excellent ratings under the Universal Household Access to Basic Services Index, or uHABS Index, in terms of which it has been confirmed that 88% of the people in the Western Cape do have access to basic services, which is the highest in the country. [Interjections.] One hundred percent of poor residents do have access to free basic services, and 22 out of 30 municipalities received unqualified audits. But we cannot rest on our laurels. The coming five years is going to be even more challenging because we want to do better.
We would like to start with the ideal that we are going to have local governments in our province that are going to work effectively, and more importantly, we want local governments that are going to be free of all types of corruption and maladministration.
Our three spheres of government are equally important to our communities, but, at the end of the day, I believe that the bedrock of our democracy is local government. That is why it is vital that we have local government that works for all our communities across our province. I have said on a number of occasions during the build-up to the municipal elections that there is only one thing worse than losing an election, and that is winning an election and governing badly.
There is no doubt that communities across our country are fed up with local governments that have been inefficient. The time has come for councillors to strive towards good governance and, together with local government officials, understand and respect the law, their roles and their responsibilities. The communities must also feel free to engage with their elected representatives on the issues they believe are at the heart of their problems. In this regard, I again want to stress the importance of the ward committee system. We must encourage people actively to engage with their representatives and to keep their councillors on their toes.
As stated earlier, we have welcomed a number of new councillors into local government throughout the Western Cape. I am pleased to confirm that my department of local government is conducting an all-encompassing training and support programme in this regard across the province.
The election help desk that we set up prior to the elections to assist municipalities with queries relating to matters demanding attention was so successful that we have maintained it as a post-election support mechanism in order to ensure that municipalities are compliant with prescribed legislation regulating their functions and the powers of councils until 30 September 2011.
In a nutshell, the assistance and support from my department has been widely welcomed by incoming councillors and officials, and I am proud of my department's ongoing efforts in ensuring a seamless transition.
As far as the post-election activities are concerned, I can confirm that most of the new councillors who took up office will receive council induction training and subsequent detailed training, which training has also been scheduled.
The exciting news is that my department, in partnership with the SA Local Government Association, Salga, the provincial treasury and the Development Bank of Southern Africa is rolling out a phased training programme for councillors. In this regard, the political parties will also provide training for their councillors.
This strategy to roll out training to councillors will consist of three phases. The first phase of training will consist of two parts, which Salga will co-ordinate. Salga will also provide, through the University of the Western Cape, an executive leadership course for councillors during the latter part of this year. The department of local government has made a contribution over the past two years to support this programme.
The second phase will be facilitated by the department of local government, and the content thereof has been developed by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and funded by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. This phase consists of different programmes: rules of order, leadership and conflict resolution, oversight and article 53 relations, delegations, supply-chain management, and speaker-and mayor-specific training. The third phase of training will be functional-specific training aimed at portfolio members within our councils. Amongst other things, this training will include technical, ward committee, and municipal communication training provided by the department. The provincial treasury will provide financial management training for councillors, while the DBSA will provide local economic development training. This specific training is scheduled to commence during January 2012.
Together with the final budget, municipalities need to consider and approve the integrated development plans, service delivery and budget implementation plans and the budget-related policies which include tariff policies rates policies and credit and debt-collection policies. We also have 24 mobile Thusong Service Centres that will go to out-of-the-way regions to assist, thereby taking the government to the people in the rural areas.
In conclusion, the recent focus on the Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill must be maintained at all costs. The national government has confirmed that this was due to be on the Statute Book before the recent municipal elections, but, as we all know, this has not taken place. The question that needs to be answered is: Where is the delay?
The Local Government: Municipal Systems Amendment Bill will assist us in providing more stable municipal management across the board and is in line with the general thrust to tighten up municipal staff matters. In short, it is going to put an end to the deployment of unqualified people, which we should all welcome here today.
Many local authorities have suffered in this way, but the biggest losers are our communities who are faced with no service delivery whatsoever. I want to make an urgent appeal to the Acting Minister to apply himself to drive this amending Bill to its logical conclusion.
As stated, I want to see our new councillors on a strong footing as soon as possible. I know that in spite of all the support, things may go wrong. But with the various support mechanisms my department has put at the disposal of local government, I have no doubt that we can aim to achieve the noble goals we have set ourselves in the Western Cape. I thank you. [Applause.]