Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon special delegates and delegates, let me congratulate the Minister at the outset on his reappointment to the newly named Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and also the Deputy Minister on a well- deserved appointment. I can assure both of you that from a financial support perspective, we cannot fault this department. No less than 98,7% of the department's annual budget is allocated to local government, of which the encouraging amount of R11 billion is dedicated to municipal infrastructure grants.
It has also become abundantly clear in recent times that Minister Shiceka openly admits to problems facing his department and displays a willingness to tackle challenges head-on. Both this attitude and the department's liberal funding programme bode well for local government, because this is where the fundamental malfunctioning of ANC governance has been paramount, and it has been showing tendencies of rapid growth since 1994 and particularly in these past five years.
Let's be honest, Minister, there is very little wrong with the structure and systems of local government. After all, these emanate from the most lauded Constitution in the world. But any system could stand or fall because of the way it is implemented, monitored and maintained, and that is just where the real problem lies. Your government was in such a rush to implement affirmative action that you hurriedly and systematically evicted all those officials with expertise and experience from municipalities and replaced them with crony deployment in a closed patronage system - truly a recipe for disaster.
What we need now is for an early warning system to be implemented by all provinces, so that the problems that are developing in municipalities can be identified and addressed before it is too late. Just last week, Chairperson, we learnt of 13 pending interventions in no fewer than 13 municipalities in one province alone, and we in the DA know of at least one more to be added to that list in that province. This sad situation is no different in other provinces, and I can quote many examples of where my colleagues and I called for early interventions.
But, you see, hon Chairperson, the problem also lies with the ANC's system of cadre deployment. Very often the MEC in question is lower in rank within the ANC or SACP than the municipal manager or the mayor, and therefore fearful and apprehensive of acting against such a party's superior. [Interjections.] That is the truth. You can't argue with that. I have seen it.
Die toestand, Voorsitter, van die onderpresterende munisipaliteite is derhalwe die gevolg van hierdie wydverspreide ontplooiing van onbekwame kaders en die oorkoepelende hirargie van die ANC. Dt, Voorsitter, is hoekom wydverspreide boikotte en weerhouding van belastingbetaling in bykans alle provinsies aan die orde van die dag is. Die DA steun glad nie di boikotte of enige vorm van weerhouding van belasting nie, maar 'n mens kan jou nie blindstaar teen die frustrasies van die belastingbetalers nie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[Chairperson, the situation of the underperforming municipalities can therefore be ascribed to this widespread deployment of incompetent cadres and the overarching hierarchy of the ANC. Chairperson, this is why widespread boycotts and withholding rates seem to be the order of the day in all the provinces these days. The DA does not support these boycotts or any form of withholding, but one cannot ignore the frustration of the ratepayers.]
The bottom line is that service delivery is nonexistent in many municipalities because of incompetence and corruption. In Thaba Chweu Local Municipality in Mpumalanga, Eskom reportedly suspended the supply of electricity last week because of nonpayment, while the theft of R3,2 million of taxpayers' money in April, allegedly by computer hackers, remains unsolved.
Decisive action must now be taken, hon Minister, to reverse this situation, because if we don't take such action, we will be faced with the total collapse of services in most of our towns and cities, and the health of all our citizens will be at risk, not to speak of that of the thousands of Fifa soccer fans expected to visit us next year.
So, hon Minister, please convince your colleagues in Cabinet that you do not have to rush to Parliament for the adoption of the Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Bill to give central government more power over local government. [Laughter.] Just make it work by applying the principles of best-person government in an open opportunity society, where there is a progressive transfer of knowledge and expertise and an uppermost desire to deliver quality services at affordable rates.
And for goodness sake, Minister, don't tamper with the provinces and their areas of competence. Just because the ANC provincial governments are all dysfunctional, and the one DA provincial government is already excelling ... [Interjections.] ... there is no reason to do away with provinces.
The ball is firmly in your court, hon Minister. You are a seasoned politician and a local government petitioner, and you have a very experienced Deputy Minister, so please go for it and let us get municipalities back to basics and working again, but don't try to fix what ain't broken. I thank you. [Applause.]