We are in the process of developing these plans. We won't announce them prematurely. The programme is with us now; we are driving it and we are taking it forward.
We are raising issues that are important to all of us as Members of Parliament and as citizens. Before we can become Members of Parliament, we must ensure that the municipalities where we live are doing what they are supposed to be doing.
Hon Chairperson, Martin Luther King Jr said:
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
From our side, we believe that we will be able to turn local government around, because its functionality or dysfunctionality affects everyone. Municipalities are run by different parties. No party in government can claim to be immune from the challenges of local government. If you go to KwaZulu-Natal's municipalities under the leadership of the IFP, they are also experiencing problems. The same applies to the Western Cape - municipalities under the DA are also experiencing challenges. Equally, municipalities under the ANC are experiencing problems.
You would know that the municipalities under the ANC would enjoy prominence, because the ANC is running over 70% of the municipalities. This means that seven of every 10 municipalities are run by the ANC. Therefore they will enjoy prominence in terms of what is going to happen.
We have taken the view that a one-size-fits-all approach to dealing with municipalities doesn't work, because the conditions are objectively and subjectively different in each and every municipality. So we have developed a programme called the Municipal Specific Turnaround Strategy. In terms of that strategy we are able to gather the views of every municipality so that we can respond to their situations. As we speak, we have managed to go to 232 of the 283 municipalities. We are at 82% of the turnaround strategy. We believe that by the end of this month all municipalities will be covered, including those in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
We also believe that this programme will inform the municipal budgets that have to be approved now, in May and June. Their implementation is based on the will of our people and the strategy that has been developed. It is not something that was developed around the corner, or somewhere out there. As a department we should engage political parties in the preparations for the local government elections.
One of the things that we are going to look at is that, come 2011, the quality of cadres deployed by political parties to lead municipalities should be able to take them to another level. We also believe that when these cadres come, we are going to train them so that they can hit the ground running. We are strengthening our local academy to ensure that people are trained and that they have the same way of doing things. What we have experienced in South Africa is that people come from different schools of thought. Training is given by different institutions and there is no uniformity in their approach. We ended up being unable to run the same system in the same way. We are doing it differently. We are going to address those issues.
Our vision is to ensure that by 2014 we should have municipalities that are efficient, effective, responsive and accountable to the citizens. We are urging everyone to focus on that vision. Let us ensure that this vision is implemented, translated into reality and that we are able to move forward.
One of the most exciting things is the establishment of the Department of Traditional Affairs, and not traditional leadership. We hope that by 1 July, the DG and the DDGs will be starting to work in this department. This department is going to ensure that the voices of the indigenous people, those in rural areas, are heard in policy development, legislative crafting, budgeting, planning and implementation.
This means that people from the rural areas will now have a voice in the way things are done. At the same time we believe that we will be able to ensure that we address the issue of culture and diversity in this country. People must understand that we should be able to live together as South Africans. We should be able to accept the fact that at times the way we do things is different. People must not impose their own cultures on others. [Applause.]
We have developed policies around uKuthwala, "nokungenwa" and also ... [Interjections.] [Laughter.]