Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister and colleagues, before I am told that I am not a member of this committee, yes indeed ... [Laughter.] Indeed, I am not a member of this committee, but the views that I will express this afternoon are documented by my colleague Mr Peter Smith, who serves on this particular committee. I will present his and the IFP's position in this regard. [Interjections.]
Chairperson, protection!
When our NCOP colleague Sicelo Shiceka was made Minister, the IFP not only wished him well, but genuinely had high hopes that here at last was someone who was genuinely passionate about local government and who could and possibly would make a difference, seemingly ably assisted by former local government portfolio chair Yunus Carrim. We thought here, potentially at least, was the ANC's A Team, that would go on and sort out the rot. Well, so much for expectations, Chairperson.
The self-styled choirmaster is singing no more. Certainly, he started the work by making the right noises, but after a while, it became increasingly clear that the task was simply too great for him. Sweet music was promised, but all we got was a cacophony of unpleasant noise. With inappropriate personal behaviour dogging his Ministry, the Minister's term of office has not been covered in glory.
There were some good initiatives to improve the rot but, ultimately, I think he and the ANC have consistently underestimated the enormity of the challenges they face in local government and have consistently overestimated their faith in the system, as well as in their ability to intervene and turn things around.
The reality is usually a lot worse than the ANC would have us believe. When Parliament established their task team last year to see for itself what was going on, Peter Smith was part of the team and he said that we saw the extent of the problem and how deep-seated and intractable it was. No wonder survey after survey shows that faith in local government is at rock bottom, compared to faith in provinces and in this national government.
I think the ANC is besotted with the real problem in that it doesn't want to have to acknowledge the fact that it is failing the people. Its belief in itself as the shining beacon of hope to the downtrodden, and as the only force for good in the universe, means that it won't really look reality in the face.
What is reality? To quote but a few instances of where it has gone wrong over the past decade and more, government has failed in its duty to adequately monitor local government; government has failed in its duty to provide adequate support to local government; and government has failed to provide a funding model that matches the delivery challenges of local government.
And, to this extent, my own comment, hon Minister, is that now I see that government is looking at a funding model for rural municipalities. This is about time as many rural municipalities fail to carry out the duties of service delivery, because there is just no rates base for them whatsoever and they have to rely on national and provincial government for funding. This is something that needs to be addressed very seriously. I am glad that, at last, there is probably going to be a position paper that will deal with this kind of issue. We welcome this initiative.
Frankly, if you go to certain parts of the country, it is evident that there is no idea of what local government is doing. Incompetence, corruption, mismanagement, waste, nepotism, greed - these and other sad adjectives describe the reality of the Msunduzi, eThekwini and many other municipalities.
Of course, sitting here in this House today, most members of the ANC, as they are doing now, will deny this. But we have to face the reality of the situation that all is not well in the state of Denmark and something needs to be done to correct it.
While it is fascinating to see how long it will take government to recognise the reality, in this House ... [Interjections.] Your project, your project - LFP. [Laughter.] In this House, year after year, the IFP has pointed to a number of critical challenges, including the need to review the funding model and the need to beef up monitoring and support. Year after year this is rejected by some members of this House. Yet, we now have the Deputy Minister espousing precisely these issues as key immediate challenges to be addressed, and we welcome that, hon Deputy Minister. Did we just realise this yesterday, or is it something that we have known over the years? [Time expired.]