Date: 22/04/2010
Source: Democratic Alliance
Title: DA: Wenger: Speech by DA Member of Parliament on the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Budget vote, National Assembly

Chair, Honourable Minister,

As the song goes, "Another year older, and deeper in debt"
This is probably the only way that the Department of Co-operative Governance can describe the state of the municipalities today.

The largest portion of the departmental expenditure is on equitable share and Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG). In spite of the annual increase of 14.3% to R36.7 billion in the 09/10 financial year, the effect of such expenditure are yet to be really felt.

Many MIG projects have failed due to the lack of monitoring and evaluation. Contractors were paid even though the job had not been completed. Whilst it looks good on the financials that municipalities have spent 100% of their MIG funding, (representing R9.4bn) it is more important to know how it was spent and the quality of the output.

There are an alarming number of municipalities that are under administration currently, where the Minister has had to step in, as officials could not even perform basic functions. Where are the District Municipalities - which receive substantial funding - in this equation? The District Municipalities are supposed to provide capacity, assistance and oversight to municipalities. When they ought to be working their hardest, they instead have done little to assist the locals and the Minister has had to get involved. Some District Municipalities spend more than 70% of their total budget on salaries, which leads me to believe that they are nothing more than employment schemes. This money could be better used for much needed infrastructure development.

On a recent oversight visit to Mpumalanga, we found that the provincial roads littered with potholes, endangering our lives. Many a time it was safer and smoother to drive on the shoulder than on the road itself. In a beautiful province where we try to attract tourists especially with the upcoming World Cup, it is a crying shame. Has anyone accounted for this?

Lets look at Mkhondo Municipality, where the Administrator informed us that there is complete institutional failure, very little capacity and where there are two camps, that of the Mayor and another of the Speaker. Here, contractors were appointed and paid, but all one can find is half finished roads and dug up trenches where people battle to get out of their homes. There are no storm water drains and the potholes on the gravel roads have been filled with refuse to level it out. Is this what MIG is meant for Minister?

The Project Manager appointed to oversee this project has since left to avoid disciplinary action when the going got tough, and has since been employed at another municipality. And, guess in what position? Project Manager. Can we as a country afford this kind of blatant mismanagement? Can we honestly say that cadre deployment works? I think not.

The trend continues in most municipalities where service delivery is at crisis level. As soon as the problems surface, the responsible officials resign in order to avoid disciplinary action and are then taken up by another unsuspecting municipality where they continue with their trend of destruction and corruption.

Operation clean Audit 2014 was launched in July 2009 in order to assist Municipalities to achieve clean audits. But Minister, it is not only Municipalities that need to do so, but also National and Provincial Departments, starting with the Department of Co-operative Governance. The Minister's own department has to reverse its qualified audit and become an example of how things should be done before the "big stick" is waved at others. The Minister's own staff must become accountable and face the music for their shortcomings, especially considering that the department had a clean audit beforehand. Let us see accountability in action.

Service delivery protests have rocked the country in the last year. Protests were also violent and destructive. Once again, South Africans, rate payers and residents have been failed. The sad part is that they could have been avoided in many instances, after all, most of them revolved around the lack of housing and the lack of infrastructure. Lack of Housing, a provincial competency is sadly used against councillors. It is councillor's houses that are burnt down and vandalised and I am yet to see a provincial or national department come to their rescue.

Infrastructure costs are huge, and this is where most of the mismanagement of funds and corruption is taking place. Corruption needs to be eradicated and we must stop at nothing to achieve this. The department must establish a register of "black-listed" operators and contractors.

The Cultural, Religious and Linguistic fields (CLR) commission Minister I am sure you will agree does not belong in this cluster, but rather with the Arts and Culture Portfolio. We have made such requests in the past but to no avail.

South African Local Government Association (SALGA)'s mandate is to be the voice of local government. SALGA is also meant to support, represent and advise member municipalities. The latest wage negotiations that have crippled service delivery in our towns cannot be left unchallenged. Where are the rights of ratepayers, who have paid for services that they are not receiving? How realistic are union demands for 2 year backpay? Have the municipal budgets been considered? Most municipalities have already exceeded 30% of their budgets on salaries and wages, and the latest demands will result in job losses and non-filling of vacant posts due to financial constraints. Why do the unions not reprimand their members and control them instead of allowing them to trash the streets? What about the vandalism and damage to property? We hear year after year that action will be taken against unruly strikers, but the picture does not change. Last year the DA submitted a Private Member's Bill which proposed making unions accountable for damage caused by its members during strike action. This proposal was however ignored.

By the end of March 2009, 94% of the mandatory grant incomeR129.8 million was disbursed by the Local Government SETA (LGSETA). This is commendable. However, more than 50% of this grant funding was not used for training purposes by municipalities as required. There has been no accountability with regard to grant spending. Surely the LGSITA has the responsibility to monitor and report such dubious practices. Whilst the LGSETA enjoys an unqualified report, the funds intended for training have been misspent by the municipalities.

The outstanding debt owed to municipalities by Provincial and National departments amounts to R2.4 billion as of October 2009. This is crippling the cash-flow and day to day running of municipalities and directly impacts on service delivery. Ministers must be made personally accountable for such mal-practices and instructed to settle such debts immediately. If these departments were individuals, they would have already been black listed and would not qualify for any further finances.

Let us learn from the best practices, after all, we have two on our doorstep, the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape.