Hon Chair, hon Minister, hon Deputy Ministers, hon Members of Parliament, hon MECs, mayors and councillors, traditional leadership, distinguished guests, and ladies and gentlemen, I extend to all, on behalf of the Portfolio Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, a warm welcome to this annual debate on the Budget Vote of the department. I stand on this occasion on behalf of the ANC, and with the backing of the portfolio committee, to support the Budget Vote allocation to the department.
We would like to reassure you that the portfolio committee is committed to exercising its oversight functions with more vigour and determination. We trust that the department will also respectfully, diligently and mutually respond in the same way in its relations with the portfolio committee, government and traditional institutions.
We have recognised that the 14-year transformation journey of our local government and traditional institutions was a very long, difficult and hard journey we had to undertake in order to ensure that South Africa indeed becomes a better place to live in, and that the lives of our people change for the better as we expand quality basic services to all South Africans. In this regard, the second radical phase of our transition calls for us urgently to attend to the transformation of local government and traditional institutions by improving their capability of providing quality public goods and services. For this second phase of our radical socioeconomic transformation to take place, we need to advance the strategic collaboration of cities and metros, as they are the key drivers of socioeconomic development in the society of any nation.
In this respect this budget is regarded as a work in progress, as it seeks to always improve governance, government systems, resources and skills, so as to continuously serve the people and change their living conditions for the better.
One of the most pervasive challenges facing our country as a developmental state is the need for our government to mobilise society in order to address the triple challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality, as well as other legacies of apartheid colonialism.
Consequently, our constitutional democracy has advanced the right of our people to the progressive attainment of access to the basic necessities of life. The ANC government has done well in expanding basic services to the people. As a result, more and more South Africans have been lifted out of extreme poverty and have had their dignity restored. As this has been achieved, the lives of our people have improved vastly, and South Africa is a much better place now than it was before 1994.
Yet the challenges still facing our country are immense. Poverty, inequality and unemployment still affect the lives of many people. Our local government and communities are also facing the major challenges of reducing unemployment; creating more access to better quality services; overcoming the legacy of apartheid spatial development; strengthening community participation; and building effective, efficient, accountable and clean local government.
Meanwhile, the National Development Plan enjoins us to improve local government performance, ensuring quality services and building a responsive, accountable and efficient local government system as a building block in the attainment of a capable and developmental state.
The above assertions are in line with the ANC government's efforts to revitalise local government through clearly defined action plans aimed at supporting municipalities in order for them to perform to the best of their ability through infrastructure development, job creation, the development of measures geared to addressing corruption and fraud, as well as devising mechanisms to manage urban development.
We will recall that the primary mandate of the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs is to develop and monitor the implementation of national policy and legislation, as well as to seek to transform and strengthen key institutions and mechanisms of governance to fulfil their developmental role.
Therefore, in this budget there is an attempt to reflect on how much the department has achieved in regard to the vision and mandate of improving co- operative governance, both across the three spheres of government and in partnership with the institutions of traditional leadership. The department is also attempting to ensure that provinces and municipalities carry out their service delivery and development functions effectively.
The committee is pleased with the overall spending in 2013 of the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, which has put more focus on facilitating infrastructure delivery programmes and job creation; providing operational support to municipalities; strengthening technical and institutional capacity in local government; responding to disasters; and providing targeted and specialised support to traditional communities.
A step in the right direction is building capacity in municipalities outside metros. It means that the municipalities will be able to be effective and efficient and deliver services to the communities faster. There will also be the facilitation of the improvement of access to basic services and sustainable infrastructure development; the facilitation of the implementation of the Community Work Programme and sustainable economic development at local level; the strengthening of the effectiveness of co- operative governance through the development and roll-out of policies and legislation; the strengthening, co-ordination and support of effective integrated disaster management and fire services; and the enhancement of the administrative and financial capabilities of all municipalities.
Despite the shortcomings in delivering services to our people and creating conditions for a better life for all, we are sure that the ANC government has made progress in the first 20 years of democracy in eradicating the legacy of more than 360 years of colonialism and apartheid.
However, we cannot deny the fact that the legacy of apartheid still persists in poverty, unemployment and inequality. This is the reason why the ANC is very committed to addressing these ongoing challenges.
It is also ready to accelerate service delivery and development, as demanded by the second phase of our democratic transition, which calls for bold and decisive steps in order to place the economy on a qualitatively different path that eliminates poverty and unemployment, creates sustainable livelihoods, and substantially reduces inequality.
With these expectations in mind, the ANC has embarked on a radical shift, meaning doing away with the old ways of doing things and introducing new ways, which is encapsulated in the phrase: Doing things differently and faster.
The committee noted that the department has evaluated all municipalities: inspected their financial management in regard to how they work within the legislative processes and their ability to roll out projects and to address capacity constraints; and looked at how they respond to service delivery protests. This was alluded to by the President in his state of the nation address. We acknowledge successes in many municipalities, as well as concerns about those with challenges. Therefore, the committee knows where the municipalities stand, and which ones need support and interventions, as emphasised by the President of South Africa in his state of the nation address.
The portfolio committee believes that the department's priorities and commitments for the 2014-15 financial year will add value to the concrete action plans the President of South Africa has alluded to in his state of the nation address, because they also capture the spirit of doing things faster and differently, in line with the ANC manifesto and the National Development Plan. Part of this radical shift in local government will be providing assistance to the following municipalities, as proclaimed by the President of our country in his 2014 state of the nation address: Amathole District Municipality, Umzinyathi District Municipality and Alfred Nzo District Municipality. This is apart from other focus areas of our work.
The ANC believes that the department's priorities and commitments for this year will assist us all as South Africans to ensure that we make local government work.
Hon Minister, the committee will be fully behind you if you take a decision to crack the whip wherever colleagues who are deployed in local government do not apply the legislation as it stands. It will certainly not be right if we don't comply with the minimum demands that are provided for by the legislation in regard to appointing capable staff with the requisite skills to run our local government. We think that we should address this because it is a bigger challenge - more than a challenge of leadership.
If we don't do that, we think that we will be unable to turn local government around. We will support you, hon Minister - you must not fear the committee. What will be evident is that over the next five years we will turn local government around - with our support and with the support of the members of this House. I think I can commit them to supporting you in ensuring that South Africans enjoy a better life in the next five years and in building on the foundations that we have laid in the past 14 years. Our support in this regard is guaranteed.
So the committee acknowledges these concerns, and hopes that the department will address them successfully as they are all within the scope of its mandate and vision. The committee will in due course call upon the department to spell out the medium- and long-term plans for addressing the challenges of local government and traditional affairs.
We acknowledge, hon Minister, that you have not been in office for 20 years, though you have been in the government for 20 years. We want to allow you some space to plan the work that you want to do in terms of the programme and the action plan. Once you are through with that, hon Minister, we would like you to appear before the committee so that all of us can have a thorough discussion of the way forward and the implementation of some of your plans. If you do that, hon Minister, we will support you and make our own positive contribution in turning our local municipalities around.
The ANC accepts the Budget Vote for this department in the 2014-15 financial year to the value of R63,3 billion, which represents an increase of 3,69% from R57 billion during the 2013-14 financial year. However, we believe that this budget on its own will never be enough. That is the point that we want to make, hon Minister. Of course, you have been the Finance Minister and you will know better than me that no budget of any country can ever be sufficient, because there are a lot of competing interests in society. Therefore, we will support the department if you use the resources that are allocated to you sparingly to ensure that wherever you spend these resources, they will make a greater impact on the quality of life of our people. That is our view as a committee.
In conclusion, the ANC is committed to working with all South Africans to address the challenges and move South Africa further forward towards the achievement of the vision of the Freedom Charter. The challenges will be addressed through a concerted effort by government in all spheres, working together with South Africans, and integrating their actions as far as possible in the provision of services, alleviation of poverty, and development of the people and the country. We are committed to ensuring that local government understands the fundamentals of serving communities. We call upon national and provincial government to work shoulder to shoulder with the municipalities in this major effort.
Finally, I would like to acknowledge the positive contributions made by the members of the portfolio committee and the support staff, as well as the sterling work of the department. Thank you very much. [Applause.]