Chairperson, I apologise for Mr Botha who has, unfortunately, contracted a cold and had to excuse himself from this debate today. First of all, Minister, Deputy Minister and all colleagues present here today, with the local government elections behind us, all participants and, in particular, the Independent Electoral Commission, IEC, need to be thanked and congratulated on delivering another successful election.
With a voter turnout of 57,6%, as compared to 48,4% in 2006, South Africans sent a clear message of their high expectations for local government service delivery. The enormous responsibility to meet those expectations now rests with the parties and their councillors who will be controlling those municipalities.
Two weeks ago, Cope had only a handful of councillors at local government level. Notwithstanding predictions of the demise of Cope, the party and its members rose to the occasion and, despite a number of serious challenges, overcame logistical and material obstacles to gain 261 seats in councils across the country. Cope is one of only three parties with definitive national representation in all provinces. Our first Cope mayor, Mr Jan Julies, was elected to the Karoo Hoogland local council today, a huge challenge posed because they must take over an ANC- controlled municipality to deliver effective services to the people. And, incidentally, the staff expenditure in this council runs at 51% of the total municipal budget, yet lack of skills and commitment to service delivery result in very serious hardships for the communities in that area. That probably explains why there is now a change of government.
A year ago, in this debate, the Minister assured the House that we should "expect dramatic announcements this year in terms of what is going to happen". Yet since then the Minister has remained silent and the country is waiting. But it is not only the Minister who is silent; the President is also silent on the Minister. No steps have so far been announced to repudiate the Minister who has been accused of abusing public funds; this, in a portfolio where he should lead by example, particularly because he has to oversee effective clean local government service delivery. The sooner this indiscretion is repudiated the better, for both the Minister and the country.
Let me proceed to the next problem that we face in local government. The employment of people on the basis of their party affiliation is wrong and it has undermined the functioning of municipalities. This is one of the very serious reasons why service delivery protests have become the order of the day. The Local Government: Municipal Systems Bill, which was approved by this House and the National Council of Provinces, was not signed into law because the President could not do so as a result of his party's alliance partner that was not willing to make it law.
Cadre deployment has crippled local government, as articulated by Sipho Pityana who said, and I quote:
The ANC has lost the capacity it had, as a liberation movement, to develop its cadres, through political education programmes and other means, to assume strategic roles in the organisation, in government and in society.
Poor planning, inadequate maintenance and indifferent management result in poor service delivery. These issues cannot be addressed if municipalities fail to spend the budgets allocated to them for infrastructure development. Of the R24,4 billion allocated by National Treasury for municipal infrastructure development, billions were returned unspent, owing to failure to plan and execute projects effectively.
Minister, we are already suffering from huge infrastructure backlogs, yet municipalities fail time and again to spend their allocated monies. This is not only because of corruption, but also owing to the failure to know how to govern effectively, and as a result of cadre deployment.
The failure to understand and apply the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act is another matter of serious concern. How can we succeed in delivering to the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalised if we cannot grasp the basic principles of responsible public resource management?
Skills shortages in local government are a ticking time bomb. In 2010, there were fewer than three civil engineers per 100 000 of the population employed by local government. The Local Government Budgets and Expenditure Review of 2003 to 2009 showed that 28% of municipal employees were appointed to posts that were not reflected in the municipality's organisational structure.
Massive urbanisation in South Africa impacts negatively on both rural and urban municipalities. Rural municipalities see growing numbers of economically active young people moving out in search of employment opportunities and a better life.
On the other hand, urban municipalities are faced with an ever-increasing population, resulting in enormous stress on municipal budgets and a lack of capacity to deliver housing, water, electricity and health services. This is further complicated by unfunded mandates from national and provincial governments to local government.
In terms of housing and the many despicably corrupt contractors who line their pockets while people sleep under bridges, it should be noted that this should be rooted out and prosecutions should follow, without mercy, together with prosecutions of their collaborators in government. These contractors should be blacklisted to ensure that they will never ever be allowed to get back into the system.
Cope calls for an effective system of local government, liberated from the scourge of cadre deployment and inadequate skills. We call for spatial reintegration, so that all South Africans have access to basic human rights and good service delivery. We call for corruption-free service delivery to all communities and new innovative economic opportunities that would benefit all members of the communities. Local government cannot be allowed to deteriorate any further. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]