Policy and Budget Speech:
Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
13 May 2010
By Hon. NM Mokoena MPL
MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
Honourable Speaker and Madam Deputy Speaker of the
Mpumalanga Legislature,
Members of the Executive Council,
Honourable Members of Parliament and Members of the Mpumalanga Legislature,
Our Honourable Mayors, Councilors and Leaders of SALGA,
Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the Provincial House of Traditional
Leaders, Ikosi SE Mahlangu and Kgoshigadi AS Mohlala, and our revered
traditional leaders, Amakhosi/Magoshi,
The Director General of the Province, Mr. J Rabodila,
The HOD of COGTA, Mr. MD Mahlobo and his management team,
Heads of Departments,
The Executive Heads of our parastatals and Board Chairpersons,
Members of the Provincial Executive Committee of the African National Congress
and the Alliance partners,
Leaders of Business, Labour and Civil Society,
Last but not least my loving wife, Makhosazana Mokoena, family and friends,
Ladies and gentlemen
Introduction
Honourable Speaker, I rise to submit to this August house that Local
Government remains the most significant trajectory in the provision of a better
life to the broader citizens of our province.
History books tell us that we are the cradle of humankind, that the
evolution of humankind started in Africa, the renowned civilisation and science
started on our continent. I do agree that all that I envy is in Africa
- ‘Konke engiku funayo kuse-Afrika’. All eyes are on this great continent
and this beautiful land.
With 28 days before we host the world soccer premium event on our
African shores, all eyes are on this great continent and beautiful land.
Mpumalanga Province will equally be placed on the radar.
Mpumalanga, with its special people and its unparalleled landscape of
fauna and flora, is a province with such potential - all we need is to look
beyond the current constraints and optimise the existing opportunities at our
disposal. This will enable us to develop a comprehensive socio-economic
development package that will socially and economically re-energise our
municipalities through agricultural reform, infrastructure development and
sustainable human development.
2010 is also a year in which the country seeks to radically change the
focus on our system of local governance. It is also a year in which government
has taken a decision to make sure that we do things differently and that we
accelerate the provision and delivery of services to the many South Africans,
who after 16 years of democracy, still do not have access to decent sanitation,
clean water, electricity, streets and houses.
In the words of Amilcar Cabral, a poet, revolutionary and son of the African soil, who argues in his book, Materialist, Theory and Practice of Culture and Ethnicity, that, “Always bear in mind that people are not fighting for ideas, for the things in anyone’s head, they are fighting ... to live better and in peace, to see their lives go forward, to guarantee the future of their children”.
When President Jacob Zuma delivered his State of the Nation Address on
11 February 2010, he declared 2010 as the year of action. He further said that
“The defining feature of this administration will be that it knows where the
people live, understands their needs and responds faster. Government must work
faster, harder and smarter”. His words were further echoed by Premier DD Mabuza
when he delivered his State of the Province Address on 19 February 2010, when he
said: “We are calling for less s’chamtho but more action, action and action”.
The marching orders given by both President Zuma and Premier Mabuza
clearly state what is expected of us both as public representatives’ and
government officials to implement our election manifesto mandate.
Achievements of the past year
During the State of the Province Address on the 19
February 2010, our Premier, Hon. DD Mabuza said: “In the long
term, the Province will develop a comprehensive turnaround strategy for local
government that will place local government into a sustainable developmental
path.” In the same Address he further said:
“In this regard, we will convene a Local Government Summit before the end
of this month to craft practical programmes that will assist municipalities to
be more people centered and service delivery-driven”.
I am pleased to indicate that, as a department, we have
responded accordingly to his marching orders of “less s’chamtho but more and
action, action and action” when we successfully convened an all inclusive
Provincial Local Government Indaba on 25-26 February 2010 in Secunda in the Gert
Sibande District.
The Indaba was graced by the leadership of Local
Government, Provincial Administration, Traditional leaders, State Owned
Enterprises, Sector Departments, Organized Labour, Civil Society and
Non-Governmental Organizations. A number of resolutions were
taken by this august gathering and I will allude later on how these decisions
will be taken forward.
The Province delivered on the promise made to develop a
comprehensive local government turn-around strategy to respond to the challenges
faced by this important sphere of our government system. The
Provincial Local Government Indaba adopted a provincial local government
turn-around strategy that has formed the basis for the development of individual
Municipal Turn-Around Strategies (MTAS).
I wish to commend all our municipalities and the
role-payers who have demonstrated high levels of commitment and goodwill through
their active participation in this process. I am pleased to
announce that, to date, all 21 our municipalities have finalized their MTAS, and
19 of them have been endorsed by their respective Councils and accordingly have
been respectively signed-off by the Executive Mayors and the Municipal Managers.
What remains to be concluded in the planning phase of this
important initiative is the integration of the MTAS into the respective
Integrated Development Plans.
Honourable Speaker, allow me to share with this august
house how we intend to provide practical and sustainable support to our
municipalities to enable them to discharge their responsibilities in a more
responsive, effective, efficient transparent and accountable manner; or in the
words of President Zuma, ‘to work faster, harder and smarter’.
Last year the department committed to providing support to
municipalities to speed up access to basic services.
Honourable Members, our hands-on experience during the election campaigns,
Executive Council Outreach Programme and other stakeholder engagements with our
communities has shown that access to reliable and affordable electricity, clean
water, efficient sanitation and proper waste management remain a challenge in
many communities.
We are pleased with the outcomes of the Water Summit, held
in September 2009, wherein we managed as a Province, to diagnose the challenges
of water supply and demand in the Province and to craft a Provincial Water Plan
that will be used as a guide as we tackle the challenges of water demand and
supply in the Province.
Our subsequent discussions with Eskom have resulted in an
agreement that they will share the water they transport to power stations with
communities that have no water.
As a department we are pleased to announce that we
deferred the construction of two Thusong Centres, indicated in my policy and
budget statement last year, to redress service delivery pressures with respect
to water and electricity provision.
The department managed to equip and drill fifty seven (57)
boreholes throughout the province as part of our contribution to alleviate the
problem of water provision in areas that are highly stressed.
We furthermore spent R10m on the construction of Phase 1 of the Bethal
Electrification Project in partnership with the Gert Sibande District and Govan
Mbeki Local Municipalities. This initiative in addition
contributed in a small way towards uplifting emerging contractors and created
456 short term jobs during the upgrading of the substation that will increase
the electricity capacity in Bethal, addressing the challenges of power outages,
especially in winter months.
The capacity of some municipalities remains a challenge,
and is a direct cause of low spending by various municipalities with respect to
their municipal infrastructure grants. The province
currently stands at 60% MIG grant spend and municipalities have a remaining 40%
to spend in less than two months. The slow spending trends,
besides technical capacity constraints, include, inter alia, slow procurement
processes, poor planning and bureaucratic business appraisal processes. The
department supported municipalities in engaging National COGTA and National
Treasury to prevent the unspent funds being surrendered.
We are pleased that our intervention yielded positive
results and that we are closely monitoring the situation through assessing
project plans, visiting the worst performing municipalities, and crafting
acceleration plans. We have agreed with the Department of
Water Affairs to fast-track the appraisal of technical reports.
Honourable Speaker, we further committed in last year’s
Policy and Budget Statement to deal with the question of poverty and
unemployment through stimulating local economic development.
Working together with our partners DEDET and GTZ we concluded maturity
assessments on the status of LED in each of our municipalities as well as on the
capability of the provincial COGTA and DEDET LED Units to provide support to
municipalities in this area of our work.
Through our LED initiatives we managed to provide hands on
support to municipalities in developing their LED strategies and we have trained
thirty six (36) LED Officials in partnership with WITS, who graduated earlier
this year.
Lastly I promised that we shall spare no effort in
restoring the dignity that should be accorded to the institution of Traditional
Leadership. I am pleased to indicate that the renovation of
the traditional councils’ offices has commenced in eight of the ten offices
through our partnership with the MRTT. I must hasten to
indicate we experienced some regrettable delays in commencing with this task due
to the verification and procurement processes.
Through this process we have created 109 short term jobs
for local young men and women, who had an opportunity to be exposed to life
skills training.
Honourable Speaker, allow me to express appreciation for
the marked improvement in the participation of Traditional Leaders in municipal
Councils in terms of section 82 of the Local Government Municipal Structures
Act. I am pleased to confirm that I have signed off and
published the names of traditional leaders who will serve on municipal Councils.
Disaster Management
Our disaster management capacity was put to test over the
past year when we were called upon to assist with a number of incidents, which
included a fire outbreak as well as a foot and mouth disease outbreak in
Mbombela, and adverse weather patterns that affected 12 municipalities.
The 120 skid units procured by the department and supplied
to each of the districts, together with our education campaigns and commitment
and participation by stakeholders, yielded results in preventing the severe
fires experienced in the Province two years ago.
The department assisted communities affected and/or
displaced by heavy storms with 356 blankets, 68 tents and 285 tarpaulins.
A soup truck was also dispatched to affected communities.
Approximately 600 houses and 65 schools were affected due to storm
damage, with the regrettable loss of life when a child passed away during the
Langeloop storms. Infrastructure damage to roads and bridges
is close to R55m. At this stage, I want to thank Mr Whitey
Basson of Shoprite Checkers who did not hesitate to provide a soup truck when I
approached him last year.
STATE OF OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE PROVINCE
Service Delivery Protests
Hardly two months into office, when we were still setting
our plans and structures in place, the province was marred by service delivery
protests that were characterized by violence, intimidation, destruction of
properties and in some instances loss of lives.
Largely, these protests pointed to challenges in areas of
financial management, institutional capacity and leadership in some of our
municipalities. Such manifestations of poor performance, poor communication and
perceived ‘social distance’ between the servants of the people and people
themselves should become focal points of attention as we continue to turn our
local government system around into a better performing machinery.
As a democratic state we will at all times respect the
right of people to voice their concerns through protests; however the violent
protests, wanton destruction of property and intimidation will not be tolerated.
The damage to properties is estimated at R38 280 588,
which includes damage to councilors’ properties that were destroyed.
I have placed this matter on the agenda of MINMEC to deal with the policy
vacuum in dealing with matters of how to compensate public representatives for
the damage to property during service delivery protests. We have advised
municipalities in the interim to enlist with SASRIA to cover such instances.
The number of man days lost during these service delivery
protests amounts to 84 working days, spread as follows per district:
Ehlanzeni District 22 (26.19%), Gert Sibande 52 (61.9%) and Nkangala 10
(11.9%). It is interesting to note that whilst the service
delivery protests in Mpumalanga received the most media coverage, Gauteng in
fact experiencing the highest levels of service delivery protests, followed by
the North West.
The former President of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere, urged us
not to run away from the challenges we face, not to seek refuge in faraway
locations, hoping the multiple challenges we face will fade away.
He said, “we must not run away, yes, we won’t run away, we shall turn the
system of local government around, we shall make sure that local government
works, we shall emerge victorious against unemployment and poverty”.
Those opportunists who are riding on the back of our
communities’ genuine service delivery issues should however be warned – you will
be exposed! As government we are remain committed to meeting
the basic service delivery needs of our people – we will not run away.
Municipal Interventions in terms of Section 106 and
Section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution
The Province had to intervene to support municipalities
that were confronted by service delivery protests as a short term immediate
measure. In some municipalities, we had no choice but to put them
under administration. In others, the ruling party effected
leadership changes to bring stability to these institutions.
There are currently five municipalities that are under
curatorship in terms of section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution, namely Pixley Ka
Seme, Mkhondo, Thaba Chweu, Lekwa and Thembisile Hani Local Municipalities.
I am pleased to report that significant progress have been made in these
areas with respect to restoring public confidence, and fostering social cohesion
and stability through the implementation of the section 106 investigation report
recommendations and the actual recovery plans.
We have been steadfast in our resolve to root out
corruption and deal firmly with manifestations of maladministration and
financial misappropriation. Accordingly, a number of people
have been subjected to due legal processes. A number of
managers are currently suspended, some have been dismissed, and companies that
have conducted themselves in an improper way have been blacklisted.
We are currently moving with speed in cost recovery,
criminal proceedings and asset forfeiture by working closely with the relevant
law enforcement agencies against those who have been cited in these reports and
have a case to answer. Of the R3,2 million that was
reportedly siphoned out of Thaba Chweu, we have now recovered R2,3 million and
SAPS and the banks are assisting us to recover the outstanding R900 000.
We are pleased to note that due to our intervention the
Lekwa and Thaba Chweu local municipalities have been able to significantly
reduce their debts to their creditors like Eskom and Water Affairs.
Lekwa local municipality has managed to settle the R32m owed to Eskom and
I wish to thank those consumers who have paid their accounts and the sterling
work done by the Administration team and other partners.
I also wish to express our gratitude for the support
provided by Mondi, SASOL, DBSA, Xstrata, mining houses and government
departments for their support in turning the situation around.
The enthusiasm and goodwill by individuals, body corporate and all
sectors to make local government everybody’s business is amazing and humbling.
I am pleased to announce that the intervention in Pixley
ka Seme has yielded the desired results. Late last year we
scaled down our intervention, the new political leadership of the municipality
is now in place and we are currently finalizing the process of the appointment
of the Municipal Manager. We hope to withdraw the
intervention within the next few weeks, but shall oversee the transition and
ensure a smooth hand-over.
In the intervening period, the Executive Council have
visited all the municipalities under administration and conducted outreach
programmes. We are generally satisfied with the advances
recorded to date. During Cabinet’s interaction with communities, we received
positive feedback about the success of these interventions in the affected
municipalities. Communities also used the opportunity to flag
on challenges that require attention going forward. We shall
continue to interact in a dynamic fashion with our communities to ensure that
government is on top of addressing these challenges experienced by our people.
Local Government Assessments
The ‘State of Local Government Report’ points out that
there are some good practices that are taking place at the local government
level, but that these good practices tend to be overshadowed by a range of
problems and challenges that have placed the local government system in
distress. The report reveals that:
- There are serious governance challenges in many
municipalities;
- Administrations of many municipalities are not
functioning properly;
- Finances of many municipalities are not in good
shape;
- Many municipalities unable to deliver some of the
basic services;
- There is failure by sector departments to provide
appropriate supervision, monitoring and support.
A plan for building a
developmental state through a responsive, accountable, effective and efficient
local government system
Our work as a department is premised on the mandate given
by the ANC through its election manifesto. This plan is
aligned to government’s medium term strategic framework priorities and outcomes.
In order to achieve the government objective of building
an effective, efficient and responsive local government system, COGTA will
implement the resolutions of the Provincial Local Government Indaba, guided by
the Local Government Turn-Around Strategy and the Local Government 10-Point
Plan:
- Improve the quantity and quality of municipal basic
services to the people in the areas of access to water, sanitation,
electricity, waste management, roads and disaster management;
- Enhance municipal contribution to job creation and
sustainable livelihoods through local economic development (LED);
- Ensure the development and adoption of reliable and
credible IDPs;
- Deepen democracy through a refined ward committee
model;
- Build and strengthen the administrative, institutional and
financial capabilities of municipalities;
- Create a single window of coordination for support, monitoring and
intervention in municipalities;
- Uproot fraud, corruption, nepotism and all forms of
maladministration affecting local government;
- Develop a coherent and cohesive system of governance and a more
equitable intergovernmental fiscal system;
- Develop and strengthen a politically and administratively stable
system of municipalities;
- Restore the institutional integrity of municipalities.
In addition, the Province has committed itself to
strengthening the role of the institution of Traditional Leadership to be at the
centre of development in their areas of jurisdiction
In this Policy and Budget Statement we have prioritised
resources on five areas of our work.
Improve the Quantity and Quality of Municipal Basic
Services
The Department will spend approximately R47m in supporting
municipalities through the provision of reliable bulk water infrastructure.
In the next few weeks we shall conclude the construction of the Delmas
Water Treatment Plant and the installation of five (5) boreholes to ensure
adequate water supply to the plant. We shall in addition
assist those municipalities that have high water stressed areas by equipping and
upgrading and drilling an additional twenty six (26) boreholes.
The commissioning of the Delmas Bulk Water Pipeline that
will be constructed by Rand Water, shall commence as per the agreement signed by
COGTA, the Department of Water Affairs and the Victor Khanye Local Municipality.
The Department is contributing an amount of R25 million to the
achievement of this bulk infrastructure.
As part of our contribution to
Access to Electricity, we are in the final stages of wrapping up the
construction of the Bethal Electrification Project phase 1. The
department will contribute an additional R10m in this financial year as per the
agreement signed by COGTA, the Gert Sibande District and the Govan Mbeki Local
municipalities on the implementation of the phase II.
The department will commence the consultation process on
the Provincial Disaster Management Framework this year to strengthen provincial
disaster management capacity. Dedicated support will be given
to municipalities in developing their municipal disaster management plans.
The provincial Disaster Management Centre will finally be completed in
the next two months. We have made a provision to equip the
Provincial Disaster Management Center with the requisite state of the art ICT
infrastructure and to procure firefighting vehicles.
As part of our efforts to bring government services closer
to our people with regards to service access points, we have decided to continue
with the construction of 4 Thusong Centres at an estimated cost of R9m.
I have accordingly directed the Head of Department to look at innovative
ways of rolling out this access service infrastructure in our rural
municipalities, for example by considering a shared services model especially in
areas under the jurisdiction of traditional authorities, where the situation is
dire.
Build and strengthen the administrative, institutional
and financial capabilities of municipalities
The department will spend most of its budget on this area
of our work to strengthen support to municipalities.
Strengthening the department’s capacity to respond to the
new mandate through a reorganization exercise is currently underway, and we are
expecting to roll-out the new structure of the department in the next financial
year.
We will establish the Provincial
Rapid Response Unit in order to strengthen COGTA’s
ability to support municipalities.
This unit will streamline and coordinate all municipal support initiatives and
ensure that timeous intervention where there is a need, takes place. This
Unit will mobilize capacity to support municipalities and then demobilize after
the intervention is concluded.
We have a collective duty to strengthen the capacity and
capability of municipalities by ensuring that all the vacant top 4 municipal
management posts are filled by suitably qualified persons by 2011.
We have agreed at the Local Government Indaba that COGTA,
in partnership with SALGA and the Provincial Treasury will conduct
capability and competency assessments for Municipal Managers,
Chief Financial Officers, Planners and Technical Directors be concluded for all
municipalities in this financial year.
Furthermore, the department will be issuing 25 external
bursaries in various fields to create a pool of young people that can be trained
for the sector, as well as enter into agreements with three universities in
areas of public management, technical and engineering services, legislation and
compliance to strengthen our capacity to provide efficient and effective support
services to municipalities.
In addition, we are exploring a partnership with ICT Works
for the uptake of a number of learnerships in the areas of ICT and risk
management through National Treasury support.
We shall furthermore deepen our support to municipalities
to develop credible Integrated Development Plans through district engagements.
I have requested the DG and HOD to ensure that all the district IDP
forums conclude their work before the commencement of the Soccer World Cup.
Municipalities are currently consulting communities on their plans and
budgets.
As part of our commitment to good governance, the
department, in collaboration with the provincial Treasury, will this year build
on our work to lead, support and monitor the implementation of the Operation
Clean Audit 2014 Plan for the province. The department will
provide targeted support to ten identified municipalities with respect to their
financial turn-around. This support will look at areas of
asset management, financial systems, revenue enhancement and debt management.
This year I will also drive the process of reviewing all oversight
governance structures such as the Internal Audit Unit, strengthening audit
committees and accelerating the process of establishing the Municipal Public
Accounts Committees.
Enhance municipal contribution to job creation and
sustainable livelihoods through local economic development (LED)
The department will deepen its work on local economic
development, as LED has a positive net effect in our quest for creating decent
work, fighting crime and stimulating local economies for sustainable
livelihoods. With DEDET we shall ensure that we support
municipalities to produce realistic LED plans. Accordingly,
I have been knocking at the doors of various business institutions to request
them to be practically involved in the development of local economies.
Through these engagements Xstrata has committed a total of
R3.2m to youth development, enterprise development and education priorities in
Thaba Chweu. By December 2010 Xstrata would have spent R6.3m
as part of LED initiatives. Discussions are also taking place
with the mining houses and other private sectors companies in the province and I
am optimistic that these talks will yield positive results.
These partnerships have expanded to areas of
telecommunications. I have engaged with Sentech and Vodacom
in helping those municipalities that have challenges with access to
communication services. This relationship will enhance access
to government services, including through our Thusong Service Centres. For
the first time a community such as Ekulindeni in the Albert Luthuli Local
Municipality will receive a signal and will be able to watch Bafana Bafana and
other games live in the comfort of their homes.
Vodacom has furthermore committed to the roll-out of
services to some of the most remote corners of the province following engagement
by Premier DD Mabuza and myself. The
Donkerhoek Mobile BTS and new base stations in Commondale, Ajax,
Klein Vaal rivier, Broederstroom Farm and Skoongesigtht have been completed, and
a number of other initiatives are in the pipeline.
Ensure the development and adoption of reliable and
credible IDPs
Participatory governance, where citizens take an active
part in the planning, implementation and monitoring of development in their
communities, is an important tenet for sustainable development.
It is therefore important that municipal plans, popularly
known as IDPs, should be centred on the will of the people.
People should be involved in a genuine process of
consultation in crafting the IDPs. I expect that all
Councils, after passing their service delivery budget implementation plans, will
return to their communities and provide feedback to all the wards on the
outcomes of the IDP and budgetary processes. Councilors are
furthermore expected to provide quarterly feedback to all wards on municipal
performance against the IDPs.
As I alluded before, the time for adopting non-credible
IDPs is over! Exco has finalised all the provincial plans and
the departments need to engage and integrate their plans aimed at supporting
municipalities. All sector plans
will be included in the IDPs.
Service delivery fora are currently being established to
ensure proper harmonization of our efforts and delivery at a faster pace as part
of the newly adopted outcome-based approach to service delivery.
We will be entering into implementation protocols signed between line
function departments and municipalities.
Strengthen and Support the Institution of Traditional
Leadership within government activities
Premier DD Mabuza, during the Opening of the Provincial
House of Traditional Leaders, made a number of pronouncements.
In carrying this work forward, we shall close the policy gap with respect
to tools of trade for Traditional Leaders in this financial year.
The department will spend approximately R20m in the purchasing of 59
vehicles for the 59 Traditional Councils. Accordingly, I have
instructed the department to proceed with the necessary paperwork through Exco
to ensure that the vehicles are handed over later this year.
Our newly established Traditional Councils will be provided with the necessary
training and support, including the deployment of additional support staff, to
empower these institutions in carrying out their developmental mandate.
Honourable Speaker, allow me to express appreciation and
gratitude for the leadership provided by the Executive of the House of
Traditional Leadership, under the stewardship of Ikosi Mahlangu, in fostering
cooperation between municipalities and traditional leaders in our shared vision
of fostering sustainable, integrated development in our rural communities.
Building a developmental state including improvement of
public services and strengthening democratic institutions
For government to deliver on our mandate, we need a
well-oiled machinery that is accountable, transparent and people-centred.
We need to spare no effort in changing the organizational culture at
local government level and in the provincial administration to demand
professionalism, excellence, and accountability for results.
As government we need to take bold decisions to enforce
the culture of performance management by rewarding those who are excelling in
their duties and equally, ensure that there will be consequences for poor
performance.
As a province we shall spare no effort in instilling a new
culture and new value systems amongst those working for the provincial
administration, local government and state owned enterprises.
To turn the situation around, we need to strengthen our
engagements with citizens through izimbizo, ward committee meetings, IDP forums
and hearings.
Accordingly, I will be championing the revival of the
Batho Pele/ Bantu Phambili/People First/ Mense Eerste programme through a
campaign aimed at capacitating those individuals at the forefront of service
delivery in the department and in our municipalities.
These measures are aimed at developing a cadreship that are to be of service to
the people, whilst imbued with a caring attitude in dealing with citizens.
We must build a bureaucratic capacity that will live up to the challenge.
I will also be championing the roll-out good citizen
campaigns to foster patriotism, caring communities and ensuring that local
government becomes everybody’s business.
Fighting Corruption
The battle for control over resources has impacted
negatively on municipalities. The strengthening of
procurement systems and controls at municipalities will be fast-tracked by the
lead provincial departments, including implementation of anti-corruption
strategies. Premier DD Mabuza, in his State of the Province Address in February
2010, indicated our resolve and commitment in dealing decisively with corrupt
individuals across spectrum.
Our resolve in dealing with mal-administration and
corruption has no boundaries. As a department we walk our
talk, and we had to investigate allegations with respect to Water for All and
related projects in my department. The officials that are
implicated in the report were duly charged by the Department and due legal
processes are currently underway.
Conclusion
Honourable Speaker, we need to respond to our clarion call
“Working together to make local government everybody business”.
As practitioners of Local Government, we must spearhead the process to
turn around our local government system. Whilst we are still sorting out the
long term strategic issues, there is a need to come up with immediate and
practical actions that we can do now to alleviate the plight of our people.
As indicated earlier, we have just concluded the individual Municipal
Turn-Around Strategies. We have observed with appreciation that all
municipalities have been successful in completing their MTAS, thanks to the
active participation of councillors and senior management of municipalities
during long hours of debating, reprioritising and engaging on key issues that
should make an impact in our communities.
I must immediately indicate that these Municipal Turn-Around Strategies
are not just documents of compliance that, once developed, will then just be
filed away to gather dust. The department will ensure that these strategies are
incorporated into the IDP’s, and that the targets and deliverables are worked
into the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plans (SDBIP’s) as well as
the performance contracts of Municipal Managers and Section 57 Managers.
The department will continuously monitor progress.
We need to move faster in implementing our programmes in
the same spirit that the Hon. DD Mabuza, the Premier of the Province, has called
upon us into action: “Less s’chamtho, action action and
action”.
In conclusion, allow me to express my appreciation to Hon
Premier DD Mabuza for his visible and sound leadership, the Chairperson of the
Portfolio Committee, Hon SPD Skhosana, the Head of Department, Mr MD Mahlobo,
the staff in the Office of the MEC and the department at large, the African
National Congress, and last but not least, my wife and family for their
unwavering support.
Mr. Speaker, allow me to table the budget for the Department of
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and I accordingly request the
House to approve the amount of R 404,093 million for the financial year 2010/11.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
