Thank you, Chairperson. This debate on local government and service delivery is long overdue, and it is an extremely critical and important issue. Today we can see how serious the ANC takes this debate if you note all the absent MPs here today. Where are the MPs? They have all gone.
The ID supports the Minister in his attempts to address the challenges of poverty and poor service delivery. The role of Salga must be reviewed to ensure the implementation of national programmes.
Many municipalities are abusing the indigent grant given by national government to help the poor. In some cases, these grants are being used to pay salaries.
The performance bonuses paid to municipality managers must be linked to actual achievements in service delivery and should not be interpreted by municipal managers as an extra perk for them. We in the ID believe that payment of performance bonuses for municipal managers must be determined by the national Minister and not by the local municipality. Currently, the ID has a performance agreement with its councillors and we would like to advise that the ANC and all other parties do likewise. Thank you. [Time expired.]