Deputy Speaker, Mr President, the fact that a turnaround strategy for local government was approved is an honest acknowledgement by the government that in South Africa there is a crisis in the majority of municipalities. In the real state of the nation we are plagued by a delivery crisis with more than 50 major protests at municipalities since the election, with R58 billion in debt owed to them and a 12% vacancy rate of senior managers. The President referred to water losses. At the 12 municipalities in Gauteng alone it amounted to a loss of R1,3 billion in the previous financial year.
Wat ons nou nodig het, is die leierskap en politieke wil om hierdie omkeerstrategie deur te voer. Die DA stem volkome saam met wat die President verlede jaar in Khayelitsha ges het: (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[What we need now is the leadership and political will to effect this turnaround strategy. The DA completely agrees with what the President said last year in Khayelitsha:]
We must find ways of attracting the best technical, managerial and financial minds to our municipalities, even the most remote, to effect a turnaround.
Mr President, there is one way of attracting them: Appoint them on merit and being fit for purpose, and stop cadre deployment! Cadre deployment, the national democratic revolution policy of the ANC, singlehandedly destroyed the capacity in our municipalities within 10 years of the fully democratic local government elections in December 2000. [Interjections.]
What is the ANC councils' idea of transformation? First, all contract positions - the section 57 appointments, as we refer to managerial positions - are reserved for politically connected persons who, in many cases, totally lack the skills and, sorry to say, the integrity for the positions they're appointed to.
The third municipal manager of Tshwane is now under provisional suspension, with full pay! Two municipal managers left, while under suspension, with huge golden handshakes before disciplinary hearings were concluded. [Interjections.]
And then, with these appointments the Peters Principle kicked in: Incompetent managers appoint incompetent staff to protect themselves. Another unintended consequence was that career staff, who still today do the bulk of good work at our municipalities, have become more and more unproductive because they see no reason why they should excel if there are no promotion possibilities.
The number of employees who have become so despondent that they have left local government is shocking. Civil engineering professionals, for example, have come down from more than 2 500 to only 1 300; while the population that must be served has grown by several million in the past decade. Let's professionalise staff selection, not politicise it.
Mnr die President, die DA het ook saam met u gestem toe u in Khayelitsha ges het:
Secondly, we must deal with the fact that many municipalities face a deep crisis of governance due to political power struggles. These battles for control over resources render the affected municipalities effectively dysfunctional.
Die 8 000 raadslede in Suid-Afrika het die wonderlike geleentheid om die potensiaal van al ons gemeenskappe te help ontluik, maar dit is tragies dat so baie van hulle net op eie belang ingestel is.
'n Tekort aan geld is nie die groot probleem nie. Die ANC-regering moet geloof word daarvoor dat meer geld vir infrastruktuurskepping - vanjaar is dit R11 miljard, tesame met ander toekennings - beskikbaar is aan munisipaliteite as wat hulle kan bestee.
Hoe is dit moontlik dat al die plaaslike munisipaliteite in die Noord-Kaap en talle in Noordwes en die Vrystaat tegnies bankrot is, maar Laingsburg- munisipaliteit, wat dieselfde moeilike omstandighede het, naamlik gele in die Karoo, wyd uitgestrek, min werkgeleenthede en baie armes, tog die een toekennning na die ander wen?
Twee redes maak 'n verskil. Die raad, wat uit presies 50% ANC- en 50% DA- lede bestaan, werk verstandig saam, en dan het hulle nog al die jare net een munisipale bestuurder gehad. Terloops, hy is nie 'n wit amptenaar uit die vorige bedeling nie, maar eenvoudig 'n goeie bestuurder op meriete aangestel.
Wetgewing is ook nie die grootste probleem nie. Hoe is dit moontlik dat talle munisipaliteite onder dieselfde wetgewing in Suid-Afrika wel presteer? Mosselbaai, byvoorbeeld, het nie 'n sent leningskuld nie, miljoene in die bank en van 'n uitkykpunt op die N2 by Mosselbaai kan 'n mens die duisende laekoste-huise sien wat gebou moes word weens verstedeliking en wat gratis dienste kry.
Behalwe dat die DA natuurlik daar regeer, kan ons ook s dat die munisipale bestuurder en burgemeester vroue is wat daarin slaag om wetgewing toe te pas.
Die probleem bly swak, selfsugtige, moedswillige raadslede vir wie eie belang en politieke mag primr is. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Mr President, the DA also agreed with you when you said the following in Khayelitsha:
Secondly, we must deal with the fact that many municipalities face a deep crisis of governance due to political power struggles. These battles for control over resources render the affected municipalities effectively dysfunctional.
The 8 000 councillors in South Africa have the wonderful opportunity to help develop the potential of all our communities, but it is tragic that so many of them are only focused on their own interests. A lack of funds is not the big problem. The ANC government should be commended for the fact that more money is available to municipalities for infrastructure development - this year it is R11 billion, combined with other allocations - than they can spend.
How is it possible that all the local municipalities in the Northern Cape and many in North West and the Free State are technically bankrupt, but Laingsburg Municipality that is experiencing the same difficult circumstances, such as being situated in the Karoo, covering a vast area, offering few job opportunities, and being home to many poor people, is still winning one award after the other?
Two factors make a difference. The councillors, comprising exactly 50% ANC and 50% DA members, work together wisely, and in all these years they have only had one municipal manager. By the way, he is not a white official from the previous dispensation but simply a good manager who was appointed on merit.
Legislation is also not the biggest problem. How is it possible that many municipalities are performing well under the same legislation in South Africa? Mossel Bay, for instance, does not have a cent of loan debt, has millions in the bank and from a vantage point on the N2 in Mossel Bay one can see thousands of low-cost houses that had to be built because of urbanisation, which are receiving free services.
Apart from the fact that it is governed by the DA, of course, we can also mention that the municipal manager and mayor are women who have succeeded in enforcing legislation.
The problem remains incompetent, selfish, recalcitrant councillors for whom their own interests and political power are paramount.]
In Rustenburg the 60-odd councillors misused ratepayers' money by voting themselves an expensive bottle of whisky and a tailor-made blazer each for Christmas. [Laughter.] The Speaker only sent us a Christmas card and I want to ask the Speaker, where is our whisky!? [Laughter.]
The ANC councillors of the city of Matlosana in Klerksdorp are now in the process of buying - listen to this - 500 World Cup Football tickets out of the municipal budget for themselves, staff, family and friends. They don't even have the loyalty towards our country to support this great upcoming event out of their own pockets. Thank you. [Time expired.] [Applause.]