Madam Speaker, hon Members of Parliament, molweni [greetings]! Cope wishes to congratulate the hon Minister and his Deputy on their appointment to these positions. Their vast experience in this field will stand them in good stead to address some of the challenges this department faces.
These challenges include, among other things, the inability of some provinces to spend their budgetary allocations and the failure of some municipalities to deliver on their mandates. Above all, the poor relationship between local government and institutions of civil society is a matter of concern.
Madam Speaker, let me begin by stating the obvious: Section 40(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa constitutes government as national, provincial and local spheres. It further emphasises that these spheres of government are distinct, interdependent and interrelated. These terms are not meant to be slogans or notes to be sung when it suits us.
To meet the objectives set out in the Constitution of the republic would require more than a good choir conductor and a hymn book. Provinces and local government ought to be not only geographically and demographically distinct; they should also distinguish themselves in their ability to raise their own revenue. As the Financial and Fiscal Commission recommended in its recent report to this Parliament, provinces must use the full extent of the Constitution to raise taxes so that they can bolster their coffers to fund their own programmes.
However, it would be meaningless to expect the provinces and municipalities to perform miracles if they do not possess institutional and human resource capacity, and if their revenue base keeps being eroded, as the regional electricity distributors are likely to do to municipalities.
Therefore, carrying out this constitutional mandate, there will have to be a lot of investment in institutional capacity-building in some of the provinces. It is very unlikely that government will succeed in its mandate to deliver services to the people of South Africa while other spheres of government are incapacitated.
Given the historical background of some of the provinces and their standard of living, coupled with poverty, it is the prerogative of national government to address some of these imbalances.
It is equally important that whilst trying to strengthen the provinces and local government structures, funding should also be made available to build the capacity of NGOs and community-based organisations, including the institution of traditional leaders. The above institutions should be in the forefront of working with local government to complement their delivery capacity, especially in rural areas.
I wish to commend the department on what we consider to be a programme designed to monitor and evaluate local government performance, the Vuna Awards programme. This programme has helped to promote the performance of many local authorities since its inception. However, its weakness is that it is voluntary and has no form of sanction. In the spirit of co-operative governance, national government should continue to persuade the provinces and local government to participate in this programme.
The Vuna process should not end with the evaluation of municipalities; it should also extend to provinces in need of support. Where weaknesses have been identified, corrective measures should be put in place. Failure to correct could lead to budgetary implications in the following year. Therefore Cope supports this budget. I thank you. [Applause.]