Comrade President, I completely missed your state of Cote d'Ivoire address. I will have to reformulate my speech because that is what we have just heard now. I am afraid I have to clear the air here first. I would like to start with the Deputy Minister: Now, I am not accusing you of poor intellectual rigour. When you compare, you must proceed and contrast; you did not talk about the differences between us and the National Party and how rooted we are in reality.
You also failed to recognise it as normal that there is always tension between vision and the reality of implementation at any point and therefore this stretching does not mean the invalidity of the vision. I do not understand what you were trying to tell us.
Hon Dreyer, it is very fascinating that you talk about clean books without any reference to delivery on the ground where it matters most. [Interjections.] I do not think that it is an accident; it is because it is absolutely difficult. Veteran Turok was correct, the performance is absolutely bad.
Speaker, President and Deputy President, I thought I should start on a sombre note. I am going to quote the words of someone I do not know, frankly, but I like the words they used because I think they express collectively what we should use:
In the end we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.
The reason I cite this is because, as we wrap up the 10 years of a truly democratic dispensation in our country, as we wrap up the second five-year term of local government, there are people I would like to mention because they were part of this process.
They were pioneer councillors in building a truly democratic dispensation in our country: John Ndlovu, who died this January in Mpumalanga, Jimmy Mohlala also from the same region and Ridah Mofokeng from the Free State. I cite these three particularly because they died violently. The work of the police and the Justice cluster must be commended for doing its work and must continue to do so, so that those who are guilty ...
... Mongameli, sibatshele ukuthi balibambe lingashoni. [Ihlombe.]Asikwazi ukuvuma ukuthi kube khona abantu abathi bona bazosebenzisa udlame lapho sithi thina sifuna ukusimamisa inkambiso yaleli lizwe lakithi ngentando yeningi. Asizukuyivuma leyo-ke Mongameli. Siyabacela nje ukuthi mabaziveze ngoba vele bazotholakala. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[... President, we told them that their days are numbered. [Applause]. We cannot allow people to say they will use violence when we say we want to strengthen the democratic dispensation of our country. We will not allow that, President. We request that they come forward because we will find them.]
I want to add two very talented officials also; one of them is Thabo Nosi, the municipal manager of Frances Baard District Municipality, who died in his sleep at the ANC Local Government Summit in December.
The reason he is particularly significant is that in the campaign for clean audits in the past two years, that district was performing particularly well. This could be seen, not only in its clean books without matters, but also in its support to local municipalities and in service delivery on infrastructure. [Applause.]
Musa Soni also died several years ago; he was a key leader in Salga and later in Tshwane. The reason we ought to say this is because of the advice of the German revolutionary poet, Brecht, that "Lest we forget", because they played a crucial role in the sort of work we are trying to do.
We take our hats off to them for their contribution as pioneer councillors and officials and for their commitment to dedicated leadership with integrity. This must inspire all of us to pursue a truly people's government at the local level. In the work we do we must build a monument in their memory.
Ek wil asseblief ook oor Kobus Pienaar praat. Kobus Pienaar ... [Please, I also want to talk about Kobus Pienaar. Kobus Pienaar ...]
... the director of the Legal Resources Centre in Cape Town ...
Hy was 'n groot landhervormingsaktivis. Die onregverdigheid wat hom ontstel het, is wat hom ons kameraad gemaak het. [Applous.] Minister Nkwinti en Voorsitter Sizani, laat die man nie sterf nie. Hy was ons man. Laat ons werk in landhervorming asseblief vir hom 'n monument wees. Die mense van Lawaaikamp ken hom baie goed. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[He was a leading activist for land reform. The injustice, which dismayed him, made him our comrade. [Applause.] Minister Nkwinti and Chairperson Sizani, don't let this man die. He was our man. Let our work in land reform be a monument to him. The people of Lawaaikamp know him very well.]
We must congratulate councillors who have done sterling work. The people will say you did it well and they will repeat that in the truly democratic processes that are currently underway inside the ANC; and we hope they will repeat it later on. Those who have not succeeded in the process and who will not succeed in the process, we hope they will continue to serve the community in different ways to lift our people out of the poverty and inequality that continue to bedevil our country.
Comrade President, the ANC which you lead is a people's movement; it learns from its constituency and uses its resources and the state's resources to better people's lives. In the past two terms important progress has been recorded, some of which you spoke about. An independent survey confirms that millions of people are receiving services and that their needs are being met.
Even as we recognise this, they also record that many more still need these services. You were spot-on, Mr President, in your observation during that interview after the state of the nation address, that poverty is also at the heart of poor performance of some of the municipalities and that something must be done about it.
We must reflect on their appropriate demarcation and/or other forms of support that they deserve because on their own they will not cope. We, therefore, draw lessons from last year's World Cup. It was a giant success in terms of intergovernmental relations work.
The host cities played a critical role in making that project the success it became. It illustrated how the potential for mobilisation behind a common goal is key. This view was confirmed by the parliamentary ad hoc committee led by hon Donald Gumede. We want to suggest that pursuing the five priorities of government, especially with job creation as a priority, lends itself to unleashing a similar focus and creative input for their realisation.
Local government, as the centre of a developmental state in the making, is best placed to unleash community creativity to fast track socioeconomic development. Critical support has been given to municipalities in the past for local economic development. The turnaround strategies you spoke about have made a critical input into this process.
The challenge is that the robust monitoring and evaluation that Minister Collins Chabane correctly spoke about yesterday, is what is going to make a difference. In the year that we are talking about, the parliamentary ad hoc committee, which we led to assess service-delivery concerns and the state's readiness to implement these strategies, proved to be very useful.
This is because it showed us that people at those municipalities, including those which were under administration, were involved in the practical consultation that we saw to formulate those strategies so that it could be informed by their own concerns and the priority that they themselves were identifying.
We are excited that work is already underway to transform the political and administrative culture of the state machinery. We intend recommending strongly that there should be a deeper and much more intense induction of local councillors and officials in the coming period.
This month we will complete the Municipal Systems Amendment Bill, which aims to create local public administration stability by tightening the already existing professional requirements, reducing perverse political influence and empowering the Minister to regulate the system further.
Comrade President, it is often also easy for public perceptions to be swayed by the drama and sensation in the media about things which government itself does to expose and deal with, for example, corruption. This often masks the significant and important patterns of institutional collaboration that is emerging to deal with clean governance.
We, in Parliament, are increasingly working in collaboration with the Auditor-General and the Finance and Fiscal Commission so that we are able to look at the issues underlying maladministration, underspending and overspending, as well as underfunding, especially of local government.
We are initiating dialogue and discussions - not just dialogue, but practical action that should ensue from this by various key players, who can make a difference to this area in an environment which is defined by the Constitution as interdependent, interrelated, yet distinct.
In other words, we would be still respecting the fact that the different spheres should be able to use their own creativity to deal with their challenges, but working together effectively as much as possible to minimise the weaknesses that the system is showing. And this is a timely space and period to review that and deal with the emerging 12 outcomes that you have identified and are leading.
We were also convinced of this, sir, from our own experience in interacting with municipalities in the nine provinces. We visited two municipalities in each of these provinces in the last year on which you are reporting. We were excited by the enthusiasm with which communities met us - albeit with absolute militancy - because they showed confidence in government as a whole, even if they were angry.
They were confident that steps and actions are being taken, and they could cite some of these actions that were being taken. However, they were saying that they would like to see these being fast-tracked and our responses must be much swifter so that a big difference can be made.
The Constitution and the government it has created emerged from the mass struggles, such as we are seeing in North Africa, which culminated also in the release of our former president, Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela, this month 21 years ago. We make this observation to say that the ANC has always maintained that people are their own liberators.
The ANC rightly insists that the state must respond to community needs as an obligation to banish the impact of past discrimination and ongoing inequality. Hon Kopane, there is nothing to be ashamed of about there being over 15 million people who receive grants from government.
The multiplier impact of these grants has not only been reported, but has been seen in the outcomes of the schooling of grandchildren, of the nutrition that those people were not able to have at that time without grants, and that is critical to poverty.
The President makes a crucial point that this must be linked to economic activities, and so there should be no contradiction between the state carrying out its responsibility, its side of the bargain, and the people themselves doing what they should be doing. They are doing it anyway - they are not waiting for you to tell them that.
We have always propagated a collective helping of one another in a manner that builds on each other's strength. There is recognition that the people themselves, in spite of whatever government exists, are capable and have shown in practice that they can solve their own problems.
I want to say that the Constitution's language is simple but very profound when talking about the reason for the existence of local government or municipalities. Let me cite them merely as a reminder because we do not often go back to this material. It does, however, serve a useful purpose as we are moving on to receive a new batch of councillors. Some of them might be old and some will be new. This is what the Constitution states as the reasons for local government's existence:
(a) to provide democratic and accountable government for local communities;
(b) to ensure the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner;
(c) to promote social and economic development;
(d) to promote a safe and healthy environment; and
(e) to encourage the involvement of communities and community organisations in the affairs of local government.
This is not a statist approach as our accusers often say, but this is the expression of people themselves, having found their language in the supreme law of the land, the Constitution.
When we say, therefore, that mass struggles were responsible for this Constitution and the government it created, it is reflected in the language it uses. Those who go on to run and oversee these processes, including ourselves, must be cognisant of these issues.
We must not dream that because people are getting support from the state it is wrong, it is a shame. It is an obligation of the Constitution. You can't have your cake and eat it. You either like the Constitution and agree with it, or you don't. You can't be half pregnant! [Laughter.]
Speaker, local government has played a crucial role, for instance, in so far as mitigating the impact of poverty on our communities through its indigent policies. The benefits that people from throughout the country get from these indigent policies are massive. We cannot recognise fully the difference it makes to the quality of life of people. Without these indigent policies, we would be in big trouble; and the reason why people continue to trust in the ANC is because of its consistency in providing these services.
We must also talk about the manner in which local government works. It is also potentially very crucial in job creation, not only, as the President has said, in the filling of funded vacancies including those in municipalities. It is also crucial because in the past we recognised a decline in employment uptake inside municipalities. This is why we want this process reversed; so they will also have to fill these positions.
The national Department of Public Works is playing a crucial role in guiding these councils to also use labour-intensive methods to do what we are talking about. Comrade President and Deputy President, we are convinced that your overview and assessment of the state of the nation elaborated on by the leadership of the clusters the other day, is not only a signpost of actions already underway, but a crucial indicator of things yet to come. Ke lebohile, ntate. [Thank you, sir].
Business suspended at 15:52 and resumed at 16:09.