Hon Speaker, let me first express my appreciation to the mayors and municipal managers of all 283 municipalities for having taken the time to attend the meeting that was held in Khayelitsha on 20 October 2009. We had fruitful discussions and the meeting was a success.
One of the recommendations of the meeting was that government should do everything possible to address the major challenges facing local government. We also resolved that we needed to capacitate municipalities and strengthen intergovernmental relations in order to improve delivery of services to the people. We also resolved that we would improve governance, financial and administrative capacities in some municipalities, root out corruption and address the political problems that are causing great delays in service delivery.
Furthermore, we agreed that there was a need for municipalities to prioritise skills development as well as the recruitment of accountants and other skilled personnel to ensure efficiency. It is apparent that at some municipalities, lack of service delivery and the mismanagement of resources are the result of poor or unavailable skills.
The local government indaba on the state of local government, which was held a day after the Khayelitsha meeting, resolved to develop a turnaround strategy for local government, which will be ready in the next few months. The strategy is aimed at explaining in detail how government plans to change the state of local government in a manner that will ensure that local government functions efficiently and effectively in delivering services. This strategy is also designed to provide solutions on how the lack of service delivery in municipalities could be turned around for the benefit of our people.
We have asked the other two spheres of government to provide all the necessary support to municipalities in order to make sure that local government functions better. In addition, provincial and national departments as well as other state organs that owe money to municipalities have been encouraged to pay what is owed as soon as possible.
Perhaps, most importantly, we have made a call to all municipalities to focus on their mandate of serving our people with dedication, humility and honesty, because we believe that better-functioning municipalities will play a meaningful role in ensuring that our dream of a better life for all is achieved.
The Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs will monitor progress in this regard and report back on a quarterly basis. I thank you. [Applause.]