Date: 19/03/2008
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: SA: Molewa: South African Local Government Association National Conference

Welcome address by Premier of the North West, Edna Molewa, on the South African Local Government Association National Conference

Theme: Deepening developmental local government in building a caring society

Minister of Provincial and Local Government
Chairperson of South African Local Government Association (Salga)
Mayors and Counsellors
Dikgosi tsa rona
Ladies and gentlemen

It is indeed a great pleasure for me to welcome you to the platinum province of the North West. We are very much honoured that you have chosen our province as the platform where you will be discussing pertinent issues that are related to the development of our country through its local government sphere.

My task is very simple today, in that I am here to convey a very warm welcome and that we hope your stay in the province will be most enjoyable. We are confident that the discussions that will take place will ensure that you take our country a few steps further in sharpening and improving the local government sphere, as the nerve centre closest to our people, where we progressively improve the quality of life of the poor.

Indeed, poverty is one of the biggest challenges during this era of our developmental state. We therefore cannot talk about creating a caring society without linking the important tasks of poverty eradication, particularly in what we do through South African Local Government Association (Salga) and through the local government sphere.

The theme for this conference is hence in line with the ideals and precepts of our developmental state and I believe that discussions that take the human aspect of our people into consideration, will go a long way in rebuilding levels of trust between government and those we serve, as is evident through your theme of discussion.

In facilitating a response to the multi-faceted challenges of our country, our government has since 1994, initiated a noteworthy battery of policies which have been designed to promote reconciliation, decentralisation, local empowerment, participation and development at the local government level. Broadly referred to as 'developmental local government', this multi-faceted strategy, I believe, marked a significant shift from the previous dispensation of 'top-down' development and represents a serious attempt to deal with the apartheid legacy.

Local government in South Africa has therefore undergone major process of transformation that has resulted in a new system of local government. The most significant achievement in the area of governance since 1994 has been the dismantling of the apartheid state and the establishment of a non-racial, democratic, unitary state.

This fundamental transformation saw a shift from over 1 200 racially based local authorities, four provincial administrations and ten Bantustans into 284 democratically elected municipalities, nine provinces and a strong national government.

This process demanded a democratic and developmental local government that puts responsibility and accountability on officials, councillors and frontline workers, and good relations with the citizens of a municipality. Capacity building therefore is one of the important tools available to local government in bridging the gaps in what will be expected of us and what we can now deliver.

This process resulted into the establishment of a progressive policy, an institutional framework and a regulatory environment conducive to developmental local government.

Local government capacity building was racially determined. It did not support democratic development and it was unresponsive to the needs of the local municipalities. As provided in our Constitution, local government has become responsible for a growing number of services that were previously managed by central government.

This has left municipalities with many needs for new skills to meet new performance demands. Yet many municipalities do not have the managerial, administrative, financial and institutional capacity to meet the rising expectations of local communities.

Thus a way had to be found to transform this delivery arm of government into a truly service delivery model to meet the development needs of the communities and ensure stability, predictability and efficiency.

The legal financial framework necessary to consolidate the system of local government for accelerated service delivery must be viewed from the lenses of the following pieces of legislation:

* the Municipal Systems Act, 2000
* the Municipal Finance Management Act, 2003
* the Municipal Property Rates Act, 2004.

The Municipal Systems Act has built a momentum for municipal reform and created incentives for improved performance that would eventually increase confidence in the possibilities of positive change.

The Municipal Finance Management (MFMA) and Municipal Systems Act (MSA) therefore, strengthen institutional capabilities by fostering transparent decision-making and citizen participation in the political and municipal processes.

These also call for a need to have strong local partners that are critical to the sustained improvement of municipal management. This will be good to strengthen initiatives like Local Economic Development (LED).

The capacity of local government in financing and administering Local Economic Development initiatives is a critically important consideration when attempting to eradicate poverty and create employment.

We must also admit to ourselves that the transformation of local government is indeed a mammoth task that will not be achieved without the commitment and cooperation of all stakeholders involved.

We must therefore particularly illuminate the critical role that Salga plays in this transformation process, in terms of defining this trajectory for accelerated change in the local sphere of governance.

We in the North West have also made considerable strides in terms of capacitating ailing municipalities in the province, to meet service delivery needs.

The general assessment is that the majority of municipalities in the province have made significant progress in establishing and entrenching core municipal systems, processes and strengthening their overall institutional capability. This is reflected in a number of key areas spanning the following:

Municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) were legislated in 2000 in the Municipal Systems Act. The 2007/08 financial year is the first year that there is a 100 percent adoption rate of IDPs in municipalities. Most of these rated as medium to good products. Hands on support is being rendered to those still ailing to ensure that there is overall compliance to the IDP credibility framework.

In January 2006, the project consolidate approach was incorporated. A key indicator to measure the impact of this approach is the extent and nature of hands on support that was mobilised and provided to the targeted municipalities.

By the end of 2007, a total of 13 experts in the engineering, finance and planning were deployed to project consolidate municipalities. This was done through the valuable partnerships in the Siyenza Manje initiative of the Development Bank of South Africa (DBSA) and South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) which have undoubtedly played an invaluable role in this regard.

As provincial government, we know that we need to increase our pace and act more actively in order to ensure the institutionalisation and sustainability of the hands-on approach to supporting local government.

It should be acknowledged that the sustainable institutionalisation of the hands on approach is dependent on how we act within the context of a developmental state.

We have therefore commissioned the Independent Development Trust (IDT) to strengthen and implement in partnership the support packages to local government, particularly ailing municipalities. Sustainable improvements at the local sphere also depend on the support, strategic direction and contribution of other stakeholders.

Against this backdrop of transitions of this nature that must be effected across the provinces, Salga has a very critical mandate, which amongst others includes:

* representing, promoting and protecting the interests of local government; and
* transforming local government to enable it to fulfil its developmental role.

These are two very significant objectives that place a fundamental responsibility on this institution, to continue deepening and strengthening the ability of municipalities to fulfil their developmental role.

The inaccessibility of services at local level essentially means exacerbated poverty. It means stagnation and deprivation in the lives of ordinary people, who have lived through generations of poverty in an endless cycle of underdevelopment.

Against this historical context, Salga has to continually gauge its performance against the real pace of improvement in terms of service delivery by municipalities.

This means that we must ensure that on platforms such as this, Salga as an institution should also be critical of its own performance in meeting its objectives in terms of the needs of our people at local level.

Indeed this institution has made many strides in transforming local government, but we have to collectively ensure that every structure, institution and instrument of governance, continually sharpens its skills and expertise to meet government's objectives.

Indeed our municipalities have a long way to go in terms of transforming themselves into world class municipalities. But this is a journey that can be made much easier when the leadership is capacitated to drive the developmental processes at local government, in a manner that will ensure that we progressively move to better organized and run municipalities for the purpose of improving the quality of life of the poor.

As one of its elements of success, Salga has also provided the platform from which dialogue for transition of local government could take place. William Isaacs, in the Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together says that:

"Dialogue seems to be one of the ways in which it is possible to welcome the diversity of voices that people bring to the table -- and move to a new level of collective insight."

I concur. In this era of development where we continually strive for paced transition in terms of delivery, the edifice of progressively improving the local government sphere can only be sustained through processes that lend themselves to voices of diversity in dialogue, as is made possible through Salga and its platforms for strategic engagement as demonstrated here today.

This convergence therefore marks another step we are taking towards improving our collective insight about how to continually advance delivery standards at our local sphere of governance.

I therefore firmly believe that with the wide spectrum of voices that are represented here, which are characterised by a wealth of knowledge and expertise, the task before this conference of deliberating and strategising for mechanisms of improvement will indeed be successful.

Thank you.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
19 March 2008