Voorsitter
Ministers en Adjunk-Ministers,
Agbare Lede,

Molweni! Goeie môre! Dumelang! Sanibonani! Avuxeni! Thobela! Ndi Matsheloni! Good Morning!

Ek vereenslewig my van harte met Minister Mkhize se woorde van verwelkoming aan al ons geërde gaste.

UJames "Sofasonke" Mpanza wazalwa ngo-15 Meyi 1889. Sizokhuluma ngomhlaba nezindlu ka-muva.

South Africans are concerned about unemployment, especially youth unemployment, crime and corruption. President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared 2018: “The year of unity, renewal and jobs.”

Daar is hoop in die land. Die aktivistiese energie ontketen deur President Ramaphosa se roepkreet: “Thuma Mina!” is vatbaar. Die visie en nalatenskap van ons eeufeesvierlinge Nelson Mandela en Albertina Sisulu inspireer ons.  Daar lê egter ’n lang en uitdagende pad voor.

Citizen Surveys - March 2018 - say that sixty-four percent of citizens approve of President Ramaphosa’s approach and sixty-seven percent expect their living conditions to improve in the future.

This national optimism and energy must be channeled into social compacts between government, labour, business, and civil society.

Last week during a visit to COGTA, President Ramaphosa emphasised that local government is everyone’s business, that CoGTA is “an engine of government” and “the glue between the people and government.”

Community Work Programme (CWP)

The Community Work Programme (CWP) is a partnership to address unemployment, especially amongst young people and women, in the spirit of Thuma Mina!

Minister Mkhize het gepraat oor CWP se potensiaal om ‘n landbou rewolusie to ontketen.

We are proud to report that in 2017/18, ninety-five percent of the R3,6 billion budgeted for CWP went to create 260, 000 work opportunities, exceeding our target of 237, 265. CWP is now active in 238 sites covering all local and district municipalities.

By the end of February 2018 - R1,8 billion had gone directly into the pockets of participants.

Constable William Ferris, who joined CWP in Magareng, Northern Cape, in 2012 says:

“The Community Work Programme played a big role in the search to form myself into this confident, respectful and obedient person that I am today. As time passed, I applied at the South African Police Services, and got accepted in 2013. Now, I get a warm feeling in my heart when I come home to see the youngsters still busy working in the programme.”

CWP has reduced violence against women and children in Orange Farm, Cape Town, Thembisa and Ivory Park. Danke schön, GIZ-Germany and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) for the partnership.

Sixteen young CWP participants with matric, who were cleaning classrooms at schools, now have Grade R Teaching Diplomas. Re a leboga North West University.

CWP participants are being trained to establishing cooperatives. Mille grazzia City of Reggio Emilia in Italy and the Department of Small Business Development.

Skills development is important. In February alone, 343 participants, from Chris Hani and Amathole in the Eastern Cape received accredited training as artisans.

CWP has experienced major administrative challenges. Since former Minister Pravin Gordhan delegated it to me in 2014 we have made it clear that corruption will not be tolerated. The turnaround has been slow but sure and the number of audit queries continues to decrease.

Municipal Demarcation Board (MDB)

The Municipal Demarcation Board makes a vital contribution to building developmental local government and to dealing with the spatial legacy of apartheid.

The Chairperson, Ms Jane Thupana, and all members of the Board whose term ends in February 2019 deserve a round of applause.

Municipal capacity assessments for all district and local municipalities. will be done by October 2018. This will boost our Back-to-Basics and IUDF programmes and guide future demarcations.

Amendments to the Municipal Demarcation Act (1998) providing for greater community participation in demarcation processes and for appeals against board decisions are awaiting certification by the State Law Advisors.

Let us also applaud the CEO, Mr Muthotho Sigidi, and the MDB staff for achieving their fifth unqualified audit in a row.

South African Cities Network (SACN)

The South African Cities Network under the leadership of Cllr Parks Tau continues to be a intellectual dynamo supporting Back to Basics and the Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF).

The Cities Network has been at the forefront of the urban land question. It’s Urban Land Paper Series as well as the recent Urban Land Dialogues has positioned it to play a leading role in the debate on urban land.

A round of applause for the staff and CEO Mr Sithole Mbanga for more than 15 consecutive unqualified audits.

Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF)

On Africa Day, 25 May, let us celebrate Africa’s great cities - past and present: Timbuktu, Cairo, Alexandria, Great Zimbabwe, Mapungubwe.

The capital of Wakanda in the film Black Panther inspires us to imagine African cities of the future.

We need cities and towns that are liveable, safe, and resource efficient; urban spaces are socially integrated, economically inclusive and globally competitive, where residents, eapecially young people, actively participate in urban life.

We need cities and towns that undo the legacy of colonial and apartheid planning; which strengthen the connection between urban and rural areas; cities which create jobs, especially for young people; and which take the role of culture seriously.

To Afri-Forum we say: Apartheid was a crime against humanity and our cities were one of its victims.

The President has urged us to be bold and lead the charge around integrated urban development to decisively dismantle the legacy of apartheid spatial planning.

We need to deal boldly with the burning issue of access to well located urban land, including the option of expropriation without compensation, with the law and the Constitution.

We need to deal boldly with the burning issue of access to well located urban land, including the option of expropriation without compensation, with the law and the Constitution.

This is the vision of the Integrated Urban Development Framework (IUDF), inspired by our National Development Plan.

The IUDF is our urban policy vibranium. Let us say: Wakanda Forever! African Cities Forever! IUDF Forever!

Implementation of the IUDF continues to gain momentum. Thank you to my colleagues in the IUDF Political Steering Committee, dedicated officials and our local and international development partners, especially Germany, Switzerland, and the World Bank.

Through the Intermediate City Municipality Support Programme the IUDF is being piloted in uMhlathuze and Polokwane. Another seven of the targeted 39 intermediate cities will join them over the next two years.

SALGA is implementing the IUDF by spearheading the Small Town Regeneration Project with pilot projects in the greater Karoo region.

National Treasury’s City Support Programme implements the IUDF in our eight metros.

We are working with the Department of Human Settlements to localise the New Urban Agenda through the IUDF.

The IUDF is being “hard wired” into a number of policy instruments such the Metropolitan Built Environment Performance Plans, the Integrated Urban Development Grant, and the MIG 2 Grant.

Regrettably, there is also resistance to spatial justice and transformation.

Democratic Alliance

Natasha Marriam says in Business Day (9 May 2018) that: “… (de Lille) claims that her woes began in 2014 when she presented a document on transforming the spatial landscape of the City of Cape Town. She says her agenda would have done away with apartheid spatial planning in the city and would have begun to develop it as a truly inclusive place to live.”

Marriam argues that, “The facts show there is a real pushback against a truly transformative agenda in the DA, and the woke South African electorate can see right through it.”

While the citizens of Cape Town hunger for leadership, the DA / de Lille saga has gone from: “Amathe nolimi” to “Yinkuku nempaka”.

In Tshivenda: “Ndi khali yo bika phele, mmbwa dza huvha matswia.” (It is a pot in which a hyena was cooked, and makes the dogs bark at the hearthstones.)

This is happening when, Marriam says, “The ANC has President Cyril Ramaphosa who simply has to swagger along the beachfront promenade in Cape Town to send traditional DA voters into a swoon.”

Now, without inviting anyone to swoon: We reiterate our commitment to work in partnership with all South Africans to realise the radical and transformative vision of our Constitution to “improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person.”

In conclusion, we express our solidarity with the people of Palestine and support the withdrawal of the South African ambassador to Israel.

Thank you to Minister Mkhize, Deputy Minister Bapela, Directors General, and the whole CoGTA family, members of the Portfolio and Select Committees, as well as my personal local government, my wife Kim Robinson.