Date: 02/05/2007

Source: Department of Provincial and Local Government

Title: Mufamadi: National Council of Provinces Summit on intergovernmental relations and co-operative governance

Speech delivered by S Mufamadi, Minister of Provincial and Local Government, at the National Council of Provinces Summit (NCOP) Summit on intergovernmental relations and co-operative governance

Chairperson
Honourable Chairperson of NCOP
Honourable members of both Houses of Parliament
Premiers of the North West, Edna Molewa and Mpumalanga Thabo Makwetla
MECs and councillors here present
The Chairperson of South African Local Government Association (SALGA), Mayor Amos Masondo
Esteemed guests
Ladies and gentlemen

There could have been no better way of marking the ten years of the existence of the NCOP than to organise a summit on intergovernmental relations. This summit offers practitioners and other South Africans of opinion the welcome opportunity to evaluate the contribution of the NCOP in helping to meet the national strategic challenge of banishing poverty and overcoming underdevelopment.

At the heart of the various pieces of legislation which the NCOP passed in the 10 years of its existence has been the provision of the institutional framework for pursuing the goal of sustainable development in our country. Of note in this regard is the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act which enjoins us to establish the instrumentalities for inter-sphere as well as intra-sphere co-ordination. Another piece of legislation which is germane to the subject matter of our discussion this morning is the Municipal Systems Act which directs that municipal integrated development plans must be used as a planning baseline for socio-economic development in our country.

As far as these two critically important tasks are concerned, appreciable progress has been made. In all our nine provinces the intergovernmental fora which are visualised in the framework legislation have been established. Within the context of Project Consolidate, we are deepening the thrust of forging a collective identity of interest between spheres of government by encouraging national government departments to formulate and adopt sectoral master plans which outline goals that are to be pursued in local spheres. This has served to institutionalise the norm of co-operative governance and to create synergistic links between the National Spatial Development Plan (NSDP), the Provincial Growth and Development Strategies (PDGS) and the Municipal Integrated Development Plans (MIDPs).

Chairperson, we are convinced that our national economic forecast of six percent real growth is not realisable unless our three spheres of government work more closely together. Indeed, growing cooperation between government spheres has already helped to improve the quality of the IDPs of our municipalities. It has also helped us to identify interventions and support measures which are needed to capacitate both local and provincial governments with mission critical skills.

In addition, we believe, the necessary fiscal interventions have been made to enable government to meet its obligations to the people. However, good laws and fiscal allocations alone do not automatically grow the economy and banish poverty. The ability to enforce adherence to the letter and spirit of the law as well as ensuring efficient use of resources, are critical to help us surmount the enormous obstacles that stand between us and the attainment of our strategic goals.

As the executive and the legislative branches or our government commence the final lap of the current term, we take pride in the fact that our democracy continues to make commendable strides towards fulfilling its central moral purpose: creating a better life for all our people. In the last 13 years, we have increased the number of people who:
* have shelter over their heads,
* have access to such basic services as water, electricity and sanitation.

These achievements serve to infuse us with hope and passion about future possibilities. It bears emphasising, however, that these achievements cannot be sustained and that further improvements cannot be realised unless we create conditions for our economy to grow even more robustly.

Following the introduction of the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa (AsgiSA) and the holding of Local Economic Development Summits in the 46 districts and five metropolitan municipalities, more focussed attention will be paid to the task of growing the economy. In this regard the spatial focus of our developmental strategies will continue to be directed towards spaces which were previously neglected. Similar attention will be paid to small businesses, which as we all know, have not been able to access enough capital to grow into mature enterprises. It is when these enterprises benefit from our procurement processes that we shall then be giving them new opportunities to keep growing and to help create new jobs for our people.

Chairperson, ladies and gentlemen, in light of what I have just said it is clear to me that to fulfil its mission the NCOP faces two basic tasks:
* holding the executive and administrative branches of government to account for the functional efficiency of the integrated system of government,
* holding us, the executive and the administration, to account for the actual output of our developmental effort and the impact of this on the lives of our people.

It is my fervent hope that this summit will generate recommendations which will place the NCOP in a better position to execute these responsibilities.

I thank you!

Issued by:
Department of Provincial and Local Government
2 May 2007