Chairperson, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members, distinguished guests, the ANC Lekgotla which sat on January 2010 confirmed that intergovernmental relations between the spheres of government and departments had to be radically improved. This would contribute directly to building and supporting local government in a co- ordinated manner. The purpose of strengthening our intergovernmental relations systems must be to accelerate the implementation of our priority programmes.
Sections 152 and 153 of the Constitution also confirm that local government is in charge of the development process in municipalities. However, they also require local government to improve intergovernmental co-ordination and co-operation to ensure integrated development across the three spheres of government.
The Municipal Systems Act, Act 32 of 2000, defines integrated development planning as one of the core functions of municipalities in the context of developmental orientation. The Municipal Systems Act requires the integrated development plan to be strategic and inclusive in nature. It should be aligned with the municipalities' resources and capacity, while forming the policy framework on which annual budgets are based. Integrated development planning must be compatible with the planning requirements of national and provincial departments. All these processes form part of public participation.
The supervisory function of the upper spheres of government entails regulating the structuring of municipalities and the exercise of their competencies. Therefore monitoring is crucial. We also urge the upper sphere to monitor very closely structures such as Minmecs, premiers' forums that engage mayors, and mayors' forums, including chief financial officers' and municipal managers' forums. They should monitor whether these bodies sit or not.
We have seen challenges where the forums of chief financial officers and of municipal managers were not sitting regularly to plan development initiatives and share information. Such structures are critical and ought to be institutionalised and strengthened in order to facilitate sound, integrated relations, a common understanding as well as a planning framework for joint project implementation.
Urgent attention needs to be paid to the two-tier system of local government. District municipalities are parachuting projects in that have not been planned for by local municipalities and have not even been included in their integrated development plans. This undermines the planning capacity of local municipalities. District municipalities are expected to assist and guide local municipalities, especially those municipalities that continuously receive disclaimer audit reports.
Sihlalo, ukubambisana nokusebenzisana ndawonye kwalabohulumeni bobathathu kungaluqeda lonke udlame olukhona kohulumeni basekhaya. Sithanda ukuxwayisa- ke ukuthi ohulumeni bezifundazwe abayeke ukuletha intuthuko komasipala maqedane bashiye kanjalo umsebenzi ungaqediwe. Lokhu sikubona kakhulu kwenzeka ekwakhiweni kwezindlu. Ezinye izindlu azikho ezingeni elifane;e, ziyawa, ziyanetha, azinamanzi, futhi azinagesi. Lokhu kubangwa ukungaxhumani kweMinyango eyahlukene. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[Chairperson, if these three spheres of government work together, they can help stop these local government protests. We would like to warn local government to stop bringing developments to the municipalities and then leave the work incomplete. This happens mostly when houses are being built. Some houses are of poor quality - they collapse, they leak when it rains and they do not have water and electricity. This is because the sector departments do not work together.]
Bantfu-ke, Sihlalo, abati futsi abehlukanisi kutsi nangabe tindlu tabo tingakapheli nome tingakakheki kahle kufanele baye kuphi nakufanele babeke tikhalo tabo, nabangeneliseki ngaleto tindlu. Ekugcineni kutfolakala kutsi sekwesulelwa kubomasipala. Ngaleso sikhatsi bantfu bekhwela bayatehlela nje kumasipala.
Sihlalo, loluhlelo lwekuya ebantfwini kumele kutsi luciniswe. Bantfu kumele batjelwe kutsi kulomnyakatimali masipala unemali lengakanani. Bona-ke njengemphakatsi babona kutsi kucalwe ngani. Batisholo bona ngekwabo kutsi bafuna ini. Nakungenteki loko labakufunako, emakhansela kufanele abuyele kubantfu, ayobatjela kutsi lesikwentile ngunaku nanaku, lesingakakwenti nguloku naloku, tizatfu nguleti naleti. Aphindze abute kubo kutsi batsini- ke bona ngaloko? Loluhlelo sitawuchubeka nalo yini kulomnyakatimali lotako nome cha. Bantfu bayeva futsi bayalalela, nakunjalo-ke ngeke uwubone umsindvo.
Lenye-ke yetinkinga lesihlangabetana nato kutsi; kuyaye kutsi sekuphelile ngeluhlelo lwetetimali, ngelwabiwotimali; utsi uyavuka ekuseni ubone imikhukhu seyivumbuke njengemakhowe. Kutawutsi kungakapheli nenyanga ubone sekuhlala bantfu. Dvukudvuku, labo bantfu sebayagwayimba, sebafuna emanti, bafuna tindlu kanye netindlu tangasense. Ukhandze kutsi labo bantfu batihlomile nje kuleyo ndzawo, yindzawo yemuntfu, akusiyo indzawo yamasipala.
Nabatsi bayesuswa kuleyo ndzawo, kuze batewunikwa lusito loluncono, kusuke lesikhulu sidvumo semsindvo. Konkhe loku kubangwa ngulesimo selubandlululo lesibuya kuso. Bantfu bafuna kuya emadolobheni, bayewufuna imisebenti, nemphilo lencono kunalena yala lapho bahlala khona - lapho babekwa khona. (Translation of Siswati paragraphs follows.)
[Chairperson, people do not understand and they also do not differentiate between houses that are not completed and those that are not built properly. They do not know where they should lodge their complaints if they are not satisfied with their houses. This results in their putting the blame on the municipalities. By this time people will be lashing out at the municipality.
Chairperson, the programme of Taking Parliament to the People should be intensified. The municipality must disclose its allocation for that financial year to the people. The people, as members of the community, should therefore be able to say what they want. If what they want is not fulfilled, councillors should go back and report to the people about their successes and failures and also provide reasons for their failures. They must also ask what they say about these successes and failiures. Are we going to proceed with the programme in the next financial year or not? People can listen and hear what is said. If this is done, there will not be any complaints.
One of the problems that we are facing is that sometimes it happens that after having finalised our financial planning and budgeting, when you wake up one morning, you find shacks all over the place. Within a month those shacks will be occupied by people. Soon after that those people will be protesting for water, houses and toilets. You will find that those people have just forced themselves in that place which is privately owned and does not belong to the municipality.
If you remove them from that piece of land so that you give them better assistance, it results in a big uproar. All of these are caused by the previous system of apartheid. People want to go to urban areas to look for employment and a better life than the one they are used to in their present residential areas - where they are placed.]
Our liberation struggle was also against racist and tribal tendencies that confined the indigenous people of South Africa to tiny, rocky and mountainous Bantustans surrounded by bushes.
Singazi-ke Sihlalo ukuthi sasihlaliswa emahlathini nasezintabeni sasiyizimfene yini na? [Chairperson, I am not sure if they made us stay in the bushes because we were baboons?]
We inherited this kind of planning from the old planners and engineers whose planning accommodated whites only. They did not know or dream that one day "lezimfene zizophuma ehlathini" [these baboons would come out of the bush] through the liberation struggle of the ANC, to become human beings and join the ANC. [Applause.]
The ANC is the only movement that is caring, the only movement that is people-driven, the only movement that is people-centred and the only movement that is non-racist. The ANC is the only movement that knows that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white. [Applause.]
On 27 April 1994 we opened a new chapter in the history of the struggle to build a common citizenship and equal rights for all South Africans. We embarked on a journey to bring an end to the legacy of apartheid and build a prosperous South Africa.
I want to emphasise this within the context that I am talking about: There is no island and there will never be an island here in South Africa. In 2011 we will have local government elections. We will end the reactionary tendencies and behaviour that set the Western Cape up as an island. That behaviour is counterproductive to the spirit of building a united and democratic South Africa. [Applause.]
Paragraphs 188 to 192 of the ANC strategy and tactics document state that the state must exercise its leadership by an informed popular mandate. The statement of 8 January 2010 says that this is a year of working together to speed up effective service delivery. A successful developmental state must have committed, skilled public servants, not office servants.
Accountability is key. Some councillors have fallen into the trap of outsourcing power to officials. They have allowed the officials to run the show. Officials lead the programmes and they influence the council's agenda. We urge councillors to read documents and take back their positions of political leadership.
In some municipalities accountability and the rule of law are in a state of near collapse due to corruption, patronage and factionalism. In these cases the rules of accountability don't apply. We end up with the wrong people in municipal offices. The wrong culture has taken root and there is little hope of a professional administration ... [Time expired.]