Hon Chairman, hon Ministers present here, colleagues, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, first and foremost, thank you, Chair, for giving me this opportunity to air the views of the people's movement that I represent, the ANC.
The ANC is committed, and consistently so, to improving the role played by all organs of state in all spheres of government in order to achieve our broader objectives as a movement. Progress has been made by the movement in transforming local government while we also acknowledge the challenges and obstacles still besetting this sphere of government.
The Reconstruction and Development Programme, RDP, document set out our policy as follows, and I quote:
Local government is of critical importance to the RDP. It is the level of representative democracy closest to the people. Local government should be structured on a democratic, nonracial and nonsexist basis.
The ANC has been at the forefront of championing the transformation of local government, hon Doman. This transformation agenda has always been informed by the strategy and tactics, in particular, of the task of building a developmental state. It is therefore imperative that the future political trajectory of developmental local government be consistent with the attributes of the developmental state.
The ANC's 2006 local government manifesto, amongst other things, acknowledged the following: one, to ensure that more resources and trained personnel are provided for local government; two, to audit skills in each municipality; and, three, to employ more competent managers and technicians.
The 52nd national conference of the ANC in 2007 provided another important platform for our movement to confirm and redouble its efforts relating to transformation of the state, in particular of legislature and governance. Again, the conference, through its commission on strategy and tactics, defined and articulated its understanding and vision of the key attributes of the South African developmental state. The four key attributes are outlined as follows - and listen, DA. They are strategic orientation, capacity to lead in the definition of a common national agenda, the state's organisational capacity, and the state's technical capacity. I lead now, and I am going to do that by also teaching you.
The local sphere of government must be assessed and positioned in accordance with the above attributes of a developmental state. It is also imperative that all organs and spheres of government are aligned and guided by the same vision of building a developmental state.
Our achievements thus far ... Listen! As the ANC we have committed ourselves to providing a better life for all. As such, the transformation of the apartheid local government was a central pillar in achieving our objective. The local government transformation process was a complex one, and it involved the basic and most critical services that affect our people on a daily basis. You were privileged at the time, fortunately.
The ANC has made significant strides towards local government transformation and towards ensuring that the majority of our people have access to basic services. Over the past 10 years, the ANC has succeeded in directing a huge process of transformation that has certainly put municipalities on an irreversible path towards achieving our objectives of ensuring united and integrated nonracial communities, building critical infrastructure for communities and deepening democracy.
The ANC government ensured that massive strides were made by municipalities in extending service delivery to our people. This is clearly indicated in the community survey of 2007. For instance, we showed national levels of access to basic services to be as follows: 92% for water, 69% for sanitation, 81% for electricity, and 64% for refuse removal.
Despite the significant progress made, there remain some constraints in accelerating service delivery. The cornerstone of the ANC government programme is redistribution and poverty eradication in all municipalities. Meeting the basic needs of the millions of South Africans living in poverty remains our fundamental objective. The local government sphere is critical in our efforts to achieve our goals of a better life for all, and this sphere can only do more by all of us working together. [Applause.]
Local government, therefore, have challenges that can be categorised in two parts: structural challenges and system challenges. Let me deal with the structural challenges so that you understand, and these include service delivery backlogs. There are high levels of backlogs regarding municipal service delivery, in that the overall national level of access to basic municipal services - water, sanitation, electricity and roads - stands at 54%, and we know that. The lowest level of access in some provinces stands at 15%.
Secondly, the need to roll out service infrastructure to previously neglected areas while still maintaining infrastructure in the well-serviced areas has placed an enormous financial and capacity burden on municipalities. Thirdly, the financial viability of some of the municipalities is questionable. A proper assessment of the financial viability of many of the municipalities, particularly the smaller municipalities, has yet to be determined in the context not only of newly drawn geographical and factional boundaries, but in terms of the impact on revenue streams.
Fourthly, with regard to rapid urbanisation and migration, the urbanisation of our cities is accelerating at a rapid pace. The cities are constantly required to extend services to new migrants. The migrations experienced are from people from rural areas and also migrants from outside South Africa. Lastly, in terms of building the local economies, the municipalities are continually faced with the challenge of building their local economies to provide sustainable employment.
Let us deal briefly with the systems. Poor financial government is a key challenge for municipalities, which is reflected in the audit opinions over the past few years. The overall number of municipalities with qualified audit opinions only decreased by 28%, from 199 in the 2007-08 financial year to 144 municipalities in the 2008-09 financial year.
Corruption at the local level is also a trend that requires decisive intervention. [Applause.] This is evident through the collapse of the basic government system, blatant transgression of legislation passed by this House on supply-chain management and inappropriate appointment of people to key positions in municipalities, including the DA-controlled municipalities. There is a shortage of some required capacities to implement and manage the new system and the functions of local government. This is especially the case for smaller, rural municipalities that are not able to recruit the necessary technical expertise.
Financial and engineering capacities are specific challenges in many municipalities.
What are the key issues for consideration, because the DA is moaning and moaning? These include the following: the system that we have is complex and ineffective; the system is different in every province, that is, there is no consistency in functional arrangements; the system creates challenges of unfunded mandates for local government; the system creates four layers of government; and the system creates a high level of grant dependency.
There are little developmental planning facilities, redistribution and support for local government. There is poor intergovernmental cohesion between local municipalities and district municipalities. Districts perform few functions with capacity, including priority functions such as development planning, water services, bulk supply of electricity, domestic waste removal and municipal roads.
We believe good governance and professionalism of local government is key here, and I want the DA to listen carefully. Democratic and professional local government is not incompatible. The professional integrity of municipalities requires strengthening from various perspectives. Furthermore, professionalism in local government must be seen as an additional quality to the atavistic, responsive, accountable, effective and efficient municipal system that we seek to build. [Applause.]
Specific issues to consider to improve the overall professionalism of municipalities should include the following: Government must develop a clear policy that clarifies the roles of troika plus one; the municipal, executive and legislative functions must be separated more clearly; the code of conduct of elected public representatives and appointed officials must be strengthened; the framework of government relations between elected and appointed officials must be reviewed; and mandatory internal audit functions in municipalities, which are accountable to the independent audit committee of municipalities, must be introduced. That is not all.
The municipal public accounts committees must be established as a legal requirement that operates similar to public accounts committees at national and provincial spheres. A statutory inspectorate for local government must be established. I am sorry to tell you, hon Doman, we are not going to go back to what you want us to go back to, that is, to have the old apartheid legislation of town clerks in place. Not at all. [Applause.] We want to go forward; we have buried the apartheid that you are so fond of forever. We must ensure that the professional associations monitor the code of conduct of their members in local government. All section 57 managers must belong to a professional organisation and a statutory inspectorate. Therefore, a statutory inspectorate for local government must be established and will be established by the ANC government.
On suspension of section 57 managers, all municipalities must get concurrence from the MECs, as well as our national Minister. Again, common and/or compatible ICT systems must be in place across all municipalities to accelerate service delivery, improve efficiency and accountability. The internal capacity of municipalities must be strengthened to reduce reliance on external consultants. Apparently, your friends - those people who were skilled and who had experience in local government - left when the new democratic government took office, because they couldn't serve the people's government and they turned themselves into consultants and are actually milking us of millions of rands. [Interjections.] That is not going to happen. Qualified and skilled staff should be appointed to oversee the implementation of bylaws. Also, the induction of new municipal councillors must be standard.
Last but not least, I have heard the hon Minister Shiceka and the Deputy Minister, Comrade Carrim - and I am happy the Deputy Minister is also here - saying that they have heard the voice of the people through the ANC, and it is indeed music to their ears. We'll do everything to make sure that we have disciplined and dedicated personnel properly skilled and dedicated to do more. [Interjections.]
Chairman, the people of South Africa, and I dare say those of Africa and the world, have confidence in the ANC, and we are humbled by this and determined to accelerate the pace of delivering a better life even more, and we trust that the people will encourage us by voting for the ANC more in the 2011 local government elections. [Interjections.] I need to also advise the DA, through the hon Doman, that a rabble-rousing argument cannot impress anyone. I understand that the DA is a concoction of liberals and "verkramptes" of the old and, of course, the ultra right, and cannot impress the people of this country ... [Applause.] But, perhaps, they impress only the rabble: themselves, the DA.
I want to point out, therefore, that whatever you have said against the ANC is not founded at all. [Interjections.] We have not appointed people on the basis of political connections, as you have done in the Cape Town municipality. [Interjections.] And that is why the people in Langa and also, unfortunately, the people that you are using as pawns in many parts of rural Cape Town are suffering today, as Comrade Nhlengethwa correctly pointed out.
To you, Comrade Botha and Cope: I see my comrade's one finger pointing at the ANC, but four squarely at Cope. I mention this as it is a pity that my comrade from the Eastern Cape, the hon George, has just left because he was talking about a city that we all know or the municipality we all know about, Buffalo City Municipality. He knows - I come from the Eastern Cape - as he was the ANC chairperson of the Amatole region then, before the divorce papers were filed by the hon Terror Lekota ... [Interjections.] ... that whatever he was doing, he was doing ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]