PREMIER'S COORDINATING FORUM (PCF) TACKLES MILLENIUM GOALS
The Premier's Coordinating Forum is firmly placed to drive the national and global agenda for human development as measured against the objectives of the millennium goals that include halving poverty and underdevelopment by half in 2015.The institutional link between our regional outfit (PCF) and the UN might not be umbilical and organic, however, their aims are compatible. viz. A BETTER LIFE AND A BETTER WORLD FOR ALL.
The adage “THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY” resolutely finds expression in the agenda that preoccupied the PCF since its inaugural sitting under the current provincial leadership. Whereas it is a structure that is constituted of local leadership, in reality, it grapples with global concerns.
Similar to the Presidents Coordinating Council (PCC) model wherein the State President, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, periodically interacts with all the nine premiers to share positive practices on service delivery, the PCF is also a government initiated institutional response to a growing need for integrated planning and seamless service delivery by all three spheres of government.
The PCF is an intergovernmental forum that is regularly convened and chaired by our Premier, Mr. Thabang Makwetla, with an overarching focus on strengthening the performance of our municipalities to the eventual benefit of local communities. Our Premier, through the PCF, meets with all municipal Mayors in the province to develop appropriate local interventions to challenges as prioritized in our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy.
The forum's deliberations are leaned substantially towards resolving (within its means) both the subjective and objective considerations that may either hamper or at the least delay provision of services, from institutional capacity to program implementation.
Far from being a political network opportunity, it represents a concerted and collaborative offence (between the Province and Municipalities) against inflexible beurocracy, poor planning, slow service delivery and underdevelopment.
In the last two meetings of the PCF, which were held in Emalahleni and Secunda respectively, the following important matters were discussed, i.e. developing a provincial plan to deal with water shortages and sanitation, eradication of bucket systems, provision of free basic electricity, project consolidate and the Municipal Infrastructure Grants (MIG).
Without doubt, the above matters form part of our government's overall programmatic response to the devastations and vestiges of apartheid rule. But more importantly, they take us a leap closer to the millennium goal of reducing underdevelopment.
To illustrate the point clearer, the provincial blueprint on expanding access to water for all the inhabitants of the province, (that the Premier has overemphasized in all the PCF meetings) represents a deliberate intervention to deal with the standards of hygiene, reducing possibilities for diseases and the promotion of a healthy lifestyle in our communities. In other words, mere provision of water contributes to individual or community development and further restores human dignity.
A sum total of the impact of the benefits of the water blueprint is an improved life and a relief on the public health system or its resources.
From a national perspective, the government has performed remarkably well in expanding access to water to more than ten million fellow patriots over a ten year period. When disaggregated, it implies an average of one million people every successive year since 1994.
Nonetheless, the State President has consistently maintained that 350 years of racial exclusion will be difficult to erase over a decade. This reality, with regard to water provision, still obtains in our province. It is an urgent matter that our Premier, through the PCF, fully comprehended and is determined to mobilize government resources and its institutions to achieve this objective.
The Witbank and Secunda discussions therefore marked an important statement towards vision 2014 and millennium goals agreed to by world leaders under the United Nations. In our case, the PCF is a fitting institution to contribute towards the achievements of these human development objectives.
The deepening of democracy has given us the possibility of developing an integrated delivery framework and, the PCF is but one of many similar interventions aimed at building a South Africa that truly belongs to all and help us attain some of the millennium goals.