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Date : 12/08/2004
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Title: T Makwetla: SALGA General Council Gala Dinner


ADDRESS BY MPUMALANGA PREMIER THABANG MAKWETLA, AT THE SALGA MPUMALANGA PROVINCIAL GENERAL COUNCIL GALA DINNER, Witbank, 12 August 2004

Allow me to acknowledge all MECs who are present here,
SALGA National chairperson Smangaliso Mkhatshwa in absentia
Provincial Executive of SALGA
Officials of Government at all levels
Honourable District and local Mayors
Distinguished guests
Comrades and colleagues,

A FEW weeks ago we gathered at the seat of the Mpumalanga Provincial Government in Nelspruit to take stock of the path we had travelled in the last 10 years and also to set goals for the next decade of freedom and democracy.

It was in that gathering that we assured our people that we would remain focused on transforming the social, economic and political base of South African society and create a system of government whose foundation and structure would guarantee a better life for all.

We promised that in the next five years more people would have access to clean water and other basic amenities. We would extend basic sanitation to more households and would eradicate the bucket system in all our townships by 2005.

We undertook to spend more money to give all our people access to shelter, better healthcare and improved education and would create work closer to where they live.

We were able to make these bold promises because learning from experience over the past 10 years, we realised that together with all sectors of the South African community we have taken the first steps in transforming the country into a democratic, non-racial and non-sexist society.

Over the past ten years, working together, we have built South Africa into a land of peace and harmony, a land of expanding opportunities. We have built a stable and growing economy.

Indeed we have gone a long way in erasing the legacy of municipalities that were racially segregated; suffered an acute lack of service infrastructure; marginalised the poor, had a divided tax base and were to a large extend non-functional.

Whilst we acknowledge that over the past ten years we have gone a long way in improving the lives of our people, fresh challenges have emerged that need to be confronted in order to consolidate the developmental orientation of the State. These challenges include:

* Strengthening participatory people-centred governance
* Improving service delivery through integrated governance
* Consolidating an accountable and transparent state
* Developing human resources
* Strengthening performance through monitoring and evaluation.

As we gather here this evening we must remember that an intolerably high number of people live in households which are not electrified, which are still without clean drinkable water, which are without sanitation and which cannot access services for refuse removal. Millions of people are unemployed and a large number has been reduced into recipients of social grants. That is why we must always have as our lodestar the acceleration of our efforts to create work and further strengthen the fight against poverty.

When the democratically elected government came into power 10 years ago, there was an immediate realisation that the government machinery and the overall design of service delivery systems were not geared towards ensuring that the previously marginalised sections of our society would receive services in a manner that would change their lives for the better.

As a result, there was a need for a systematic macro-reorganisation and transformation of the State machinery to become responsive to the service delivery needs of all South Africans as opposed to the pre-1994 system that supported the delivery of services to the privileged few.

One of the major initiatives in the South African transformation landscape over the past 10 years was the constitutional recognition of local government as a distinct sphere of government aimed at bringing government closer to the people and serving as a visible platform for accelerating improved accessibility of government services.

Local government was to become the point of first contact between the citizen and Government making municipalities' frontline service delivery institutions. Coupled with this was the recognition of interdependencies between the three spheres of government in a quest for improved and coordinate delivery of government services.

It was critical that in the transformation process South Africa builds effective intergovernmental systems that would eliminate governance fragmentation, enable coordinated government delivery efforts and encourage integrated development planning in order to achieve maximum impact.

The 1998 Municipal Structures Act, the Municipal Systems Act and other legislative pieces were key instruments in the transformation of government machinery to ensure that appropriate local government institutions are created to advance the ideals of a Developmental State.

Through these efforts, it was also the intention of government to ensure that people-centred, accountable and transparent systems of governance and service delivery in the local government sphere were created and sustained. The recent introduction of the Municipal Finance Management Act to improve the management of public finance is a continuation of the broad transformation agenda of government aimed at ensuring that new governance systems are implemented to enhance institutional capacities and effectiveness in the delivery of services.

Today more than 60% of the population in our Province have access to water, sanitation and electricity whereas more than 616 000 households are enjoying free basic electricity and water services.

Our programmes have been accepted and there is a consensus on what needs to be done. But we must acknowledge that some municipalities are not making much progress in implementing our programmes.

This may be partly as a result of the bureaucracy in our municipalities where some senior and middle managers do not share the same appreciation of improving the lives of our people. They operate in the same old way, allocating resources to those areas that have always benefited from practises of the past order.

CHALLENGES IN MUNICIPALITIES

A recent survey indicates that 28 percent of municipalities in the country currently require basic institutional and administrative infrastructure to be established and strengthened before they are ready to undertake, manage and drive proper Integrated Development Planning (IDP). These municipalities are currently extremely dependent on consultants and do not own the process because they lack structural capacity. These municipalities do not have the capability to engage in intergovernmental discussion and activity that would enhance their planning and delivery.

35 percent of municipalities have the basic structural capacity in place but require support to do a good IDP. These municipalities utilise and manage consultants as resources but typically have IDPs that do not inform implementation. The development strategies outlined in the IDPs are weak and do not address the key issues and problems adequately.

28 percent of municipalities are able to complete a good basic IDP but require support with implementation. These municipalities have IDPs that support a practical programme of implementation.

They cannot deliver more than thirty-percent of their planned programmes because of a lack of capacity to manage the implementation whether internally or using external contractors.

10 percent of municipalities currently are able to formulate and implement a good basic IDP. These municipalities drive and mange the process and characterise a high level of ownership of the process. Their IDP's are mainstreamed into the working of the municipality and decisions are based on the IDP. They use consultants for parts of the planning and implementation but control the consultants and processes internally.

These are challenges we have to face head-on if we are to succeed in forging that 'People Contract' we spoke about at the Legislature. Over the past 10 years we learned valuable lessons, and these need to inform the nature of institutional engagement and organisational development interventions as we enter the next decade of democracy.

Low tax revenue base for rural municipalities.

Most rural municipalities, particularly those where service delivery backlogs are very high, do not have a tax base that can take care of their challenges. Alternative funding and revenue generating mechanisms for these municipalities need to be reviewed to sustain service delivery.

There is a need to promote local economic development activities in the identified rural nodes to kick-start economic activity and thereby enhance the revenue generating capacities of these municipalities. At the same time, it is critical to ensure that the implementation of indigent policies is effective to ensure that service delivery reaches the poorest of the poor.

This morning Provincial and Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi officially launched the R15, 6 billion Municipal Infrastructure Grant which is aimed at accelerating local economic development and speeding up the delivery of municipal infrastructure and services guidelines of the expanded public works programme.

This grant will help struggling municipalities in ensuring that they improve their water and sanitation programmes, improve their roads and provide basic amenities like electricity to the people.

Institutional incapacity

Poor leadership and corruption pose a major threat to service delivery in some of the key and strategic municipalities in the province. This is not only limited to local government, but provincial government as well.

We must ensure that we create capacity to support institutional capacity building and develop effective early warning systems that indicate future possibilities of institutional and service delivery collapse before it happens. Effective monitoring and evaluation systems need to be put in place. The role of SALGA in partnership with the Provincial Government is very crucial in ensuring that the capacity of municipalities in delivering services is enhanced.

We also need to answer the question whether local government is really closer to the people. Local government must have meaning in the lives of the people. Are we accessible? Do we report-back to our communities? How do we conduct ourselves? These are the questions that require our frank response. As leaders we must reduce the social distance between the people and us.

And we must conduct ourselves in a manner that instils confidence in our people. This would include fighting corruption, nepotism and the abuse of power and the resources of the people. We must be warned that there seem to be a diminishing of confidence in local government. Local government is at the coalface and requires public participation. Perceptions of corruption at local government remain very strong. Leadership at this level is therefore challenged to display high levels of integrity.

Integrated development planning and implementation remains one of the key challenges to supporting effective service delivery. Central to the mandate of the local government sphere has been the need to accelerate service delivery and development for the benefit of our people. South Africa's IDP system is hailed as a good-practice model in the world. It represents a local pathway to sustainable development.

The integration of provincial planning and implementation processes with local government IDP processes require urgent attention. Some progress has been made, but a lot of work is required in this regard. It is inconceivable that national and provincial departments would implement programmes within a municipality without defining those programmes within the Integrated Development Plan of that municipality. At the same time, Local Government Planning should take into account national and provincial priorities and programmes and see how these get expression in IDP programming and overall delivery design of municipalities.

The focus on implementation of the IDPs should be intensified over the next decade. The engagement between sector departments and municipalities must be deepened so that resources of the state are combined and organised for maximum sustainable development impact in municipalities. We must improve the prioritisation, sharing and focus of government's planning across the three spheres.

An improved intergovernmental system that supports integrated service delivery is going to be one of the challenges as we enter the next decade of our democracy. Government is working towards creating a single view of government in the citizens' eyes. It is not important for the citizens to know whether a particular service comes from the national department, provincial department or a municipality.

All they are interested in is that Government provides the service. Local government has a responsibility to ensure that national programmes aimed at integrated service delivery are implemented at local level through, in some cases, the support from the Provincial Administration. Local government has a challenge to ensure that the Gateway Project Launched recently in provinces is effectively used to support improved access to government services.

The implementation of the Multi-Purpose Community Centre programme and the Community Development workers programme are critical programmes for the transformation of service delivery at the local level. The implementation of these programmes needs to be accelerated.

Skills Development is very central to the transformation of the delivery machinery of local government as well as the whole province. It is important to ensure that leaders and employees in the public service, including local government, are provided with appropriate skills to perform their responsibilities the way they are expected. The effective functioning of Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETA's) is key to unlocking and leveraging skills development funding in the province.

Local government should be geared to implement learnership programmes in the areas of local economic development, financial management, community work, project management etc. to ensure that the province builds a pool of skills to support integrated service delivery. SETA's must play a critical role in ensuring that learnership programmes support the objectives of the Expanded Public Works Programme. These learnerships should be designed to prepare unemployed individuals to get into the mainstream of the labour market and thereby contributing to the reduction of unemployment and poverty.

Funding from SETA's should be properly coordinated and key, high impact skills development interventions should be targeted at key priorities of provincial development and service delivery.

A Strong Partnership with Organised Labour in supporting effective service delivery requires the commitment of both SALGA and Organised Labour.

The recent Service Delivery Summit with Organised Labour in the Province was the first step towards creating a common vision between Organised Labour and Government in ensuring that service delivery takes place in the province. Government needs Labour in ensuring that an effective partnership is established to create a culture of dialogue and joint-problem solving.

In conclusion, comrades, allow me to remind all of us that August is Women's month. Last Monday we celebrated the achievements we have made in ensuring that women assume their rightful role in our society. But while there have been great advances made towards gender equality and gender equity over the past ten years, it is necessary to be sensitive to the harsh realities that still face the majority of women in South Africa.

As we all know women bear the brunt of poverty in our province. The lives of women are still characterised by low levels of literacy and inequitable access to education, adequate food, health care, housing, and water and fuel sources. Moreover, many women are still subjected to various forms of violence on a daily basis, directed at them solely by virtue of their sex and gender.

As we tuck into our meal this evening let us remember that women experience high levels of unemployment or underemployment, and in the case of domestic workers and farm workers, their working conditions are generally sub-human and their wages still unacceptably low. Women have minimal access to legal protection, formal justice and social security.

And all of these struggles are amplified in the lives of those women who live in the rural areas and in informal settlements.

We must act against women abuse and gender inequality. We must act against poverty and want. And the time to act is NOW.

Thank you very much.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
12August 2004

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