Date: 10/02/2004
Source: Ministry of Provincial and Local Government
Title: S Mufamadi: Parliamentary Media Briefing, February 2004
STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, SYDNEY MUFAMADI, MP, AT THE GCIS PARLIAMENTARY MEDIA BRIEFINGS, CAPE TOWN, 10 February 2004
Ten years in a life of a human being might sound like a lifetime, but in a life of a nation such as ours, it is only a fraction. It is against this background that the Social Sector II Cluster, consisting of the departments of provincial and local government, land affairs and agriculture, housing and water affairs and forestry gives this briefing today.
Another issue that we will later touch on is that of drought by giving you an update on government's mitigation programme as per Cabinet decision last month.
President Thabo Mbeki spoke at length last Friday about the State of the South African Nation, the challenges it faces such as unemployment, poverty, violence, housing, access to clean water, sanitation and electricity, inequality and the burden of diseases that still face our people.
He went on to say: "Despite this reality, the answer we give and will continue to give to the question whether we have made progress with regard to the fundamental tasks (before us) is a resounding - yes."
Integrated Sustainable Rural Development and Urban Renewal Programmes
The central focus of this cluster is poverty alleviation through a range of government programmes such as the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP), Urban Renewal Programme (URP), free basic water and electricity, land redistribution and housing, all of which seek to address income, human capital and asset poverty.
In the past Decade of Freedom, this cluster has made visible strides in delivering, to the people of South Africa, on its mandate. We will highlight the achievements made, the problems encountered, how we are dealing with them and challenges that lie ahead as we march to our Second Decade of Liberation.
On the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development and Urban Renewal Programmes - meant to improve the quality of life of our people - the cluster is happy to report that we have made significant strides in realizing the projects' objectives.
The implementation of projects related to these programmes has been done around a model of anchor projects. These are a handful of projects per municipality that seek to test various approaches to planning, design, budgeting and implementation. They also have potential to anchor development in a particular area and to have a positive multiplier effect on the economy in a given locality.
The urban nodal municipalities currently have 98 anchor projects in total and these are valued at about R1,9 billion, compared to R1,3 billion in July 2003. Of this number 35,8% are at implementation stage. Infrastructure is still the lead sector with 32% of the projects, followed by social development at 27% and economic development projects at 15,3%.
The total number of anchor projects in the ISRDP nodes has also increased from 155 in June 2003 to the current 177. Just more than 80% of the anchor projects have been implemented across the nodes and 53% have been completed and 27% are at implementation phase. It is important to note that as in the Urban Renewal Programme, the nature of the projects in our rural nodes follows the same pattern. Infrastructure development constitutes 60%, followed by economic development 32% and social development 4,5%.
Emphasis on infrastructure has to do with our intention to create conditions for sustainable local economic development. In the process of constructing infrastructure, jobs will be created, some permanent others temporary. The permanent jobs will arise out of the continuing need for infrastructure maintenance.
Partnerships between the three spheres of government, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Umsobomvu Youth Fund, the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Independent Development Trust and other parastatals, among others, in implementing these programmes is welcomed and encouraged. The private sector has also shown interest and their involvement will also bring a critical mass in ensuring that ISRDP and URP meet their desired objectives.
Integrated planning between the three spheres of government and the critical role played by municipalities' Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) in this process cannot be overemphasized. Further improvements in this alignment process are needed, but there has been progress as national departments are now able to account for their support to both urban and rural development. During an alignment workshop on 10 November, national departments were able to report that collectively, they have invested R5,9 billion in rural nodes and R4,2 billion in urban nodes in the current financial year.
Access to Free Basic services
On water, government in total provided through its various programmes a basic water supply to an additional 13,4 million people (or 3,3 million households) by December 2003. 76% of the South African population also now have access free basic water. The contribution by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry is a basic water supply facility to over 9 million rural people by the end of 2003 that is more than 2 million households.
Regarding sanitation, the progress has been slower with 6,4 million people or 1,6 million households were provided with adequate or improved sanitation by December 2003. This translates to at total of 63% of South African households who now have access to sanitation.
The challenge before us is to make sure that funds made available through various government grants are used to eradicate the backlogs that we have for water, sanitation and other forms of infrastructure.
Similarly, there will be a focus on promotion of improved sanitation for the 18 million South Africans who do not yet enjoy such amenities. South Africa expects to eradicate the current backlog of between 5 and 6 million people without access to water by 2008. In terms of sanitation, the programme is expected to eradicate the backlog, which currently stands at 18 million by 2010.
The economic cluster will deal with the electricity aspect of free basic services on Friday. However, 244 of municipalities directly serviced by Eskom, 81% have already signed the funding agreement so as to allow government to roll out the programme to the targeted beneficiaries. Government is continuing to roll out free basic electricity programme, which is starting to take off.
Housing and land reform
Assets to the value of R50 billion have been transferred to poor households since 1994, through government's housing and land reform programme.
Between 1994 and 2003, a total of 1,9 million housing subsidies worth R24 billion were approved. Of these subsidies, 49% went to women and government has housed 6 million citizens. A total of 481 373-title deeds were also transferred in the last ten years of our democracy.
Land redistribution and land restitution also recorded great successes. A total of 1,8 million hectares of land was transferred to 137 478 households since 1994. About 80% of these took place between 1997 and 2002. By 2002, 68 000 claims were lodged with the restitution commission and 72% of these were urban and another 28% rural. Between 1994 and 2003, 36 489 of these claims were settled and they benefited 85 000 households. By December 2002, a total of R1,2 billion was paid out as compensation to urban claimants and 571 232 hectares of land restitution were restored at a cost of R442 million.
It is clear that the commitment we made in 1994 to give universal access to all of our people who were denied services before has not been completed. However, we have made tangible progress in this regards and the next decade will provide us with an opportunity to fulfil this task at hand. Housing and land reform have made some impact on asset poverty and women's rights. The Communal Land Bill will further advance the impact. One of the challenges is micro-credit for productive purposes and general access to finance remain a major impediment.
However, the high level of municipal debt and illegal connections pose a number of challenges for local government. Money that has been recovered by municipalities through their credit control measures is being reinvested back to beef up the structures and systems to make them cope and deal, effectively, with the problem of debt. Through other government programmes, which are meant to provide some income for the poor, like the expanded public works programme, will also help us deal with this problem.
The country is still in the middle of a drought cycle. Cabinet in January approved R250 million for a drought mitigation programme targeting the vulnerable sectors of our society, in addition to the R250 million already allocated last October. Another R500 million was committed, subject to review, in the next financial year for medium to long-term measures to deal with the situation.
Part of the October R250 million was used to subsidize fodder for livestock and to drill new boreholes. Limpopo received R33,3 million, Western Cape R10 million, Northern Cape R68,7 million, Eastern Cape R12,7 million and R10 million went to the Free State.
Last month, Cabinet also allocated R250 million and the agriculture department received R30 million for the provision of fodder for livestock to both established and emerging farmers, and R20 million for providing water for livestock. The funds for the provision of fodder for livestock will be divided equally between Mpumalanga, North West and KwaZulu-Natal. The cost of fodder and transport are subsidized by 75% and payment is limited to 30 large stock units or 180 small stock units per farmer. The funds will not be distributed to farmers but will be used to pay the suppliers of fodder and transport directly.
The directorate for Water Use and Irrigation Development is busy drilling boreholes in affected communal areas with 100% costs covered, whereas, in the established commercial farming sector, boreholes will be drilled at 75% cost cover.
Cabinet allocated R100 million for provision of water for human consumption and these funds would be shared among affected areas. The R20 million allocated for the provision of water for livestock is an addition to this R100 million. Eastern Cape would receive R5,3 million, Free State R3,5 million, KwaZulu-Natal R17,9 million, Limpopo R25,5 million, Mpumalanga R62,6 million, Northern Cape R3,5 million, and North West R6,6 million.
Social development has been allocated R60 million for food security targeting the poorest of the poor affected by drought up to the end of the current financial year. The proposed intervention, which would be in a form of cash, vouchers or cheques, is that severely affected households be provided with R900 for food payable over three months. The need is greater, but government does not have unlimited resources, hence those targeted are smaller in number as compared to those who need assistance.
A total of R15 million has been budgeted for 43 000 households in KwaZulu-Natal, R20 million for 57 000 households in Limpopo, R10 million for 8 400 households in Mpumalanga, R4 million for 10 000 households in the Eastern Cape, R3 million for 10 000 households in the Northern Cape, R5 million for 28 000 households in Free State and R3 million for 10 000 households in North West.
Health
The health risks associated with drought will be managed in accordance with a national strategy drawn up early this year. It was on the basis of this document that R35 million was allocated to the public health sector. The seven affected provinces have been asked to develop operational plans in line with the overall strategy and the pool of money will be apportioned according to operational needs.
The health implications of drought go well beyond the fairly obvious impact of hunger and poor nutrition. In fact, the hunger relief aspect will be handled through the Department of Social Development, and Health will be focusing on effective control of a range of communicable diseases, securing health facilities against the effects of drought, among others.
Government has allocated resources, but they might not be enough as some farmers have pointed out in the Free State. Let us see what happens when the whole drought situation is reviewed in the next financial year. But there is also another side to the coin, in Limpopo; reports are that there have been limited requests for assistance. These are issues we are faced with as government as we try to deal with drought.
Conclusion
It is clear from the above figures that this cluster has indeed contributed to improving the lives of our people in the last 10 years of our democracy and freedom. There are notable advances in the provision of services such as water and sanitation, housing and electricity.
As President Mbeki said in his State of the National Address: "The advances we must record demand that we ensure that public sector discharges its responsibilities to our people as a critical player in the in the process of growth, reconstruction and development our country. In particular this will require that we further strengthen our system of local government and ensure that the system of traditional government plays a role ascribed to it in our Constitution and legislation."
Local government capacity building is an area receiving continuous attention from government as this as this sphere of government strives to deliver services and to manage programmes such as the expanded public programmes, which will improve access to social security measures, with better vehicles to improve service delivery while reducing the number of people dependent on grants. This sphere is only three years old and its challenges should be viewed against this background. The establishment phase has been completed and the focus now is on stabilization and consolidation. To achieve the objectives and goals set out in the Local Government White Paper in their totality, it would take this sphere of government some time as South Africa is testing new ground on this governance system.
Issued by: Ministry of Provincial and Local Government
10 February 2004
Source: Ministry of Provincial and Local Government
Title: S Mufamadi: Parliamentary Media Briefing, February 2004
STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, SYDNEY MUFAMADI, MP, AT THE GCIS PARLIAMENTARY MEDIA BRIEFINGS, CAPE TOWN, 10 February 2004
Ten years in a life of a human being might sound like a lifetime, but in a life of a nation such as ours, it is only a fraction. It is against this background that the Social Sector II Cluster, consisting of the departments of provincial and local government, land affairs and agriculture, housing and water affairs and forestry gives this briefing today.
Another issue that we will later touch on is that of drought by giving you an update on government's mitigation programme as per Cabinet decision last month.
President Thabo Mbeki spoke at length last Friday about the State of the South African Nation, the challenges it faces such as unemployment, poverty, violence, housing, access to clean water, sanitation and electricity, inequality and the burden of diseases that still face our people.
He went on to say: "Despite this reality, the answer we give and will continue to give to the question whether we have made progress with regard to the fundamental tasks (before us) is a resounding - yes."
Integrated Sustainable Rural Development and Urban Renewal Programmes
The central focus of this cluster is poverty alleviation through a range of government programmes such as the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP), Urban Renewal Programme (URP), free basic water and electricity, land redistribution and housing, all of which seek to address income, human capital and asset poverty.
In the past Decade of Freedom, this cluster has made visible strides in delivering, to the people of South Africa, on its mandate. We will highlight the achievements made, the problems encountered, how we are dealing with them and challenges that lie ahead as we march to our Second Decade of Liberation.
On the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development and Urban Renewal Programmes - meant to improve the quality of life of our people - the cluster is happy to report that we have made significant strides in realizing the projects' objectives.
The implementation of projects related to these programmes has been done around a model of anchor projects. These are a handful of projects per municipality that seek to test various approaches to planning, design, budgeting and implementation. They also have potential to anchor development in a particular area and to have a positive multiplier effect on the economy in a given locality.
The urban nodal municipalities currently have 98 anchor projects in total and these are valued at about R1,9 billion, compared to R1,3 billion in July 2003. Of this number 35,8% are at implementation stage. Infrastructure is still the lead sector with 32% of the projects, followed by social development at 27% and economic development projects at 15,3%.
The total number of anchor projects in the ISRDP nodes has also increased from 155 in June 2003 to the current 177. Just more than 80% of the anchor projects have been implemented across the nodes and 53% have been completed and 27% are at implementation phase. It is important to note that as in the Urban Renewal Programme, the nature of the projects in our rural nodes follows the same pattern. Infrastructure development constitutes 60%, followed by economic development 32% and social development 4,5%.
Emphasis on infrastructure has to do with our intention to create conditions for sustainable local economic development. In the process of constructing infrastructure, jobs will be created, some permanent others temporary. The permanent jobs will arise out of the continuing need for infrastructure maintenance.
Partnerships between the three spheres of government, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Umsobomvu Youth Fund, the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Independent Development Trust and other parastatals, among others, in implementing these programmes is welcomed and encouraged. The private sector has also shown interest and their involvement will also bring a critical mass in ensuring that ISRDP and URP meet their desired objectives.
Integrated planning between the three spheres of government and the critical role played by municipalities' Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) in this process cannot be overemphasized. Further improvements in this alignment process are needed, but there has been progress as national departments are now able to account for their support to both urban and rural development. During an alignment workshop on 10 November, national departments were able to report that collectively, they have invested R5,9 billion in rural nodes and R4,2 billion in urban nodes in the current financial year.
Access to Free Basic services
On water, government in total provided through its various programmes a basic water supply to an additional 13,4 million people (or 3,3 million households) by December 2003. 76% of the South African population also now have access free basic water. The contribution by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry is a basic water supply facility to over 9 million rural people by the end of 2003 that is more than 2 million households.
Regarding sanitation, the progress has been slower with 6,4 million people or 1,6 million households were provided with adequate or improved sanitation by December 2003. This translates to at total of 63% of South African households who now have access to sanitation.
The challenge before us is to make sure that funds made available through various government grants are used to eradicate the backlogs that we have for water, sanitation and other forms of infrastructure.
Similarly, there will be a focus on promotion of improved sanitation for the 18 million South Africans who do not yet enjoy such amenities. South Africa expects to eradicate the current backlog of between 5 and 6 million people without access to water by 2008. In terms of sanitation, the programme is expected to eradicate the backlog, which currently stands at 18 million by 2010.
The economic cluster will deal with the electricity aspect of free basic services on Friday. However, 244 of municipalities directly serviced by Eskom, 81% have already signed the funding agreement so as to allow government to roll out the programme to the targeted beneficiaries. Government is continuing to roll out free basic electricity programme, which is starting to take off.
Housing and land reform
Assets to the value of R50 billion have been transferred to poor households since 1994, through government's housing and land reform programme.
Between 1994 and 2003, a total of 1,9 million housing subsidies worth R24 billion were approved. Of these subsidies, 49% went to women and government has housed 6 million citizens. A total of 481 373-title deeds were also transferred in the last ten years of our democracy.
Land redistribution and land restitution also recorded great successes. A total of 1,8 million hectares of land was transferred to 137 478 households since 1994. About 80% of these took place between 1997 and 2002. By 2002, 68 000 claims were lodged with the restitution commission and 72% of these were urban and another 28% rural. Between 1994 and 2003, 36 489 of these claims were settled and they benefited 85 000 households. By December 2002, a total of R1,2 billion was paid out as compensation to urban claimants and 571 232 hectares of land restitution were restored at a cost of R442 million.
It is clear that the commitment we made in 1994 to give universal access to all of our people who were denied services before has not been completed. However, we have made tangible progress in this regards and the next decade will provide us with an opportunity to fulfil this task at hand. Housing and land reform have made some impact on asset poverty and women's rights. The Communal Land Bill will further advance the impact. One of the challenges is micro-credit for productive purposes and general access to finance remain a major impediment.
However, the high level of municipal debt and illegal connections pose a number of challenges for local government. Money that has been recovered by municipalities through their credit control measures is being reinvested back to beef up the structures and systems to make them cope and deal, effectively, with the problem of debt. Through other government programmes, which are meant to provide some income for the poor, like the expanded public works programme, will also help us deal with this problem.
The country is still in the middle of a drought cycle. Cabinet in January approved R250 million for a drought mitigation programme targeting the vulnerable sectors of our society, in addition to the R250 million already allocated last October. Another R500 million was committed, subject to review, in the next financial year for medium to long-term measures to deal with the situation.
Part of the October R250 million was used to subsidize fodder for livestock and to drill new boreholes. Limpopo received R33,3 million, Western Cape R10 million, Northern Cape R68,7 million, Eastern Cape R12,7 million and R10 million went to the Free State.
Last month, Cabinet also allocated R250 million and the agriculture department received R30 million for the provision of fodder for livestock to both established and emerging farmers, and R20 million for providing water for livestock. The funds for the provision of fodder for livestock will be divided equally between Mpumalanga, North West and KwaZulu-Natal. The cost of fodder and transport are subsidized by 75% and payment is limited to 30 large stock units or 180 small stock units per farmer. The funds will not be distributed to farmers but will be used to pay the suppliers of fodder and transport directly.
The directorate for Water Use and Irrigation Development is busy drilling boreholes in affected communal areas with 100% costs covered, whereas, in the established commercial farming sector, boreholes will be drilled at 75% cost cover.
Cabinet allocated R100 million for provision of water for human consumption and these funds would be shared among affected areas. The R20 million allocated for the provision of water for livestock is an addition to this R100 million. Eastern Cape would receive R5,3 million, Free State R3,5 million, KwaZulu-Natal R17,9 million, Limpopo R25,5 million, Mpumalanga R62,6 million, Northern Cape R3,5 million, and North West R6,6 million.
Social development has been allocated R60 million for food security targeting the poorest of the poor affected by drought up to the end of the current financial year. The proposed intervention, which would be in a form of cash, vouchers or cheques, is that severely affected households be provided with R900 for food payable over three months. The need is greater, but government does not have unlimited resources, hence those targeted are smaller in number as compared to those who need assistance.
A total of R15 million has been budgeted for 43 000 households in KwaZulu-Natal, R20 million for 57 000 households in Limpopo, R10 million for 8 400 households in Mpumalanga, R4 million for 10 000 households in the Eastern Cape, R3 million for 10 000 households in the Northern Cape, R5 million for 28 000 households in Free State and R3 million for 10 000 households in North West.
Health
The health risks associated with drought will be managed in accordance with a national strategy drawn up early this year. It was on the basis of this document that R35 million was allocated to the public health sector. The seven affected provinces have been asked to develop operational plans in line with the overall strategy and the pool of money will be apportioned according to operational needs.
The health implications of drought go well beyond the fairly obvious impact of hunger and poor nutrition. In fact, the hunger relief aspect will be handled through the Department of Social Development, and Health will be focusing on effective control of a range of communicable diseases, securing health facilities against the effects of drought, among others.
Government has allocated resources, but they might not be enough as some farmers have pointed out in the Free State. Let us see what happens when the whole drought situation is reviewed in the next financial year. But there is also another side to the coin, in Limpopo; reports are that there have been limited requests for assistance. These are issues we are faced with as government as we try to deal with drought.
Conclusion
It is clear from the above figures that this cluster has indeed contributed to improving the lives of our people in the last 10 years of our democracy and freedom. There are notable advances in the provision of services such as water and sanitation, housing and electricity.
As President Mbeki said in his State of the National Address: "The advances we must record demand that we ensure that public sector discharges its responsibilities to our people as a critical player in the in the process of growth, reconstruction and development our country. In particular this will require that we further strengthen our system of local government and ensure that the system of traditional government plays a role ascribed to it in our Constitution and legislation."
Local government capacity building is an area receiving continuous attention from government as this as this sphere of government strives to deliver services and to manage programmes such as the expanded public programmes, which will improve access to social security measures, with better vehicles to improve service delivery while reducing the number of people dependent on grants. This sphere is only three years old and its challenges should be viewed against this background. The establishment phase has been completed and the focus now is on stabilization and consolidation. To achieve the objectives and goals set out in the Local Government White Paper in their totality, it would take this sphere of government some time as South Africa is testing new ground on this governance system.
Issued by: Ministry of Provincial and Local Government
10 February 2004
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