Date: 14/04/2005
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Vilakazi: North West Developmental Local Government & Housing Prov Budget Vote
Budget speech delivered by MEC for Developmental Local Government and Housing, Frans Phenye Vilakazi, Provincial Legislature
Madam Speaker
Honourable Premier
My colleagues in the Executive Council
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Executive Mayors and Mayors
Dikgosi tsa gaetsho
Distinguished guests
Friends and comrades
Ladies and Gentlemen
INTRODUCTION
The voyager’s path is marked by the stars and not the sand dunes. In this voyage, there are three friends: courage, sense and insight. Join us as we report on our service delivery voyage and the new plans to increase our momentum. Be our stars and mark our path. But like the stars in the vast circuit of their appointed path, you know no haste and no delay. It is upon this realism that you rested your brightest hope … hope whose little light started 50 years ago when our forbearers crafted us the Freedom Charter – the Manifesto of the People, our appointed path!
As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of this appointed path that stood the test of time, we have not failed your hope, we have made progress together! At the heart of this progress, is an unshakable commitment to serve our motherland… a motherland our forbearers – our stars, left in our hands for the future of our children. This future embodies an alternative society which over the first decade of democracy, we covered large ground in our voyage to achieve. Accordingly, the past eleven years of democracy provides us a clear and definite path forward.
It is in this context that I present a broad scan of issues relevant to the delivery record for the previous financial year (2004/5) and the delivery plan for the year ahead, (2005/6) within the ten year plan (2004/14).
DEVELOPMENTAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The past eleven years of our democracy have brought us a number of things to celebrate. But it is the past five years of democratic local government transformation that have indeed taken our democracy even further. The North-West provincial government should be proud of what we have achieved through the consolidation of our local authorities into four district municipalities and 21 local authorities over the period. This process has created local government structures that are now grappling with municipal service delivery and development agenda. We are humbled by their effort.
Madam Speaker, our primary aim as a democratically-elected government is to effectively involve our people in democratic processes of decision-making. Our democracy will not be fully-matured until our people have an effective role and participate in our government structures. We must deepen a government that is driven by the needs and aspirations of its people. We have always envisaged a situation in which people govern themselves, hence the undertaking in the Freedom Charter that the People Shall Govern!
The Department has conducted a survey on the involvement of communities in municipal matters such as the Integrated Development Plan processes, service delivery, planning, governance and conflict management in their areas. Of particular importance is that the survey was also aimed at establishing the extent to which communities are satisfied with municipal service delivery and the extent to which municipalities catered for rural and urban sectors of their respective jurisdiction. May we take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to the University of North West that partnered us well in this important survey.
While the report highlights different views of communities, we are particularly impressed with the findings. Among the most significant findings was the fact that although the communities differed in their level of participation in IDP processes, the study found out that the communities knew about the IDPs, Ward Committees and Budget Forums in their respective municipalities. This alone is impressive in that the level of understanding of local government processes and structures by the communities has been showing gradual improvement and I have no doubt that through our sustained efforts, we will reach the desired level of participation.
What is important at this stage is that we have managed to establish Ward Committees in all our municipalities in the province. We are currently capacitating them to undertake their responsibilities in an efficient manner through training in various fields such as local government policy framework and legislation, leadership, community participation and other administrative skills. So far, 2136 out of 3380 Ward Committee members have been trained. We hope to complete the basic training programmes of the remainder of our Ward Committee members by the end of this year.
Madam Speaker, it is my belief that this will go a long way in improving community participation at local government level and help speed up service delivery to our communities. Through these efforts we hope to create viable and well functional municipalities in our province that are able to satisfy the needs of their communities.
Many of our municipalities are beginning to function well and take seriously the task of rendering services. The Department is also working hard to capacitate municipalities to reach higher grounds. One such capacitation is disaster management. The recent Stilfontein DRD mine disaster within the Klerksdorp Municipality provided a fresh test of our capability which is sobering.
Although we still have a long way to go, we can safely declare that the province is in safe hands. We will march on to continue to build needed capacity. Allow me to once more send my condolences to those who lost their loved ones in this tragedy and my sympathy to those who lost their property.
Let me hasten to say, Madam Speaker, that we would actually prefer a situation in which we can prevent disasters rather than deal with their aftermaths. However, all of us here know and accept that some disasters are unpredictable whilst others are induced by human conduct. In that situation, it is the manner in which we deal with their outcome that is important, hence we are working hard to capacitate our municipalities in the area of disaster management both preventive and response control measures.
During the past year, we have managed to help a number of municipalities with disaster management vehicles and equipment to the value of R32million. These municipalities include Mafikeng, Rustenburg, Ramotshere Moiloa (Zeerust), Lekwa-Teemane, Taung, Tswaing, Ditsobotla and Kgetleng River. This year, we have set aside a further R20 million to help other municipalities as well.
This and other capacity building efforts are yielding good performance in our municipalities. As a result, we are beginning to see the implementation of national and provincial programmes taking off the ground in our municipalities. Among the areas that have benefited through increased capacitation of municipalities is the integrated development planning. More and more of our municipalities are beginning to take IDPs and local economic development seriously in their planning.
Now that all municipalities have finalised their IDPs, the department will accelerate its effort to ensure that these are well implemented and adhered to.
On 10 - 11 May this year, we will convene the provincial IDP hearings which are aimed at broadening sectoral and interspheral coordination. These hearings will also give us an opportunity to take stock of progress made since the inception of the new regime of local government planning. Of particular importance is that these hearings will involve high-level activity championed by the Department of Provincial and Local Government. The outcome of this process will be a district-based analysis report for our four district municipalities.
In general, I must say that the challenge remains to align IDPs with the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy and the National Spatial Development Perspective. I have no doubt that these hearings and other internal processes will help us achieve this. These policy parameters underpin and determine amongst others the municipal infrastructure development agenda.
We are doing our best to improve the municipal infrastructure in all our local authorities. Despite the huge backlog that we have inherited, we are committed to ensuring that we overcome the challenge of inadequate infrastructure and we are satisfied that we have come up with the right programmes to achieve this.
However, we continue to experience incapacity in some municipalities to spend funds that are allocated for the rollout of infrastructure. The new Municipal Infrastructure Grant’s institutional re-arrangement has also brought about its own unexpected setbacks. But I must assure you that we cannot sit back and lament on these challenges at this stage. We accept that the purpose of realignment of MIG was to consolidate and mainstream all infrastructure funding programmes, which supersedes the reported setbacks. We have introduced project management units within the municipalities to try and overcome the challenge of under expenditure.
During the past year, our municipalities have spent R171 million of their MIG funds on 266 projects involving water reticulation, sanitation, roads, storm water, solid waste, community lighting and community facilities. One hundred and ninety eight (198) of these projects are in rural areas. All these projects have benefited 1,38 million people resident in these municipalities and created 427 000 job opportunities calculated in person/days (man-hour). A majority of these people also acquired the necessary skills that will help them generate income in the future.
A further R422 252 000 has been allocated for MIG in this financial year and we hope to improve even more infrastructure and create more job opportunities through this programme. Each municipality has been allocated between R2,8 million and R71,6 million from this fund, depending on their needs. A further R16,1 million has been set aside for improvement of rural roads and water supply and R30 million for sanitation, particularly for phasing out the bucket toilets.
The creation of more infrastructure will also help us provide free basic services to our communities. So far, all our municipalities provide this service, but it has not managed to reach all the beneficiaries due to insufficient infrastructure. According to the statistics released by DWAF, sixty-three percent (63%) of people deserving free basic water in the province currently get this service. We will ensure that a significant number of the remaining 37% is catered for by end of this financial year.
With regards to free basic electricity, I am happy to announce that almost all our municipalities have signed funding agreements with Eskom. Municipalities will also finalise the compilation of their indigent household lists in order to assist in sustaining the provision of free basic services in their areas of jurisdiction.
More partnerships with other government departments, parastatals and private institutions are under way through Project Consolidate. This programme is spearheaded by the Department of Provincial and Local Government and is intended to build capacity at municipal level. Minister Sydney Mufamadi has already deployed three service delivery experts in this province as part of Project Consolidate. They are Mr Pascal Moloi, the City of Johannesburg Municipal Manager, Mr Tshepo Naithan, the Managing Director of Impisi Human Resources and Mr Thomas Mgaza, the Executive Director of the Institute of Local Government Management. Further deployments of experts are envisaged.
Seventeen (17) municipalities in this province have been prioritised for urgent intervention in areas of accelerating access to sanitation, water, electricity, housing, refuse removal, free basic services provision and job creation. We have already completed the provincial plan of action for implementation of this project and the Department is assisting municipalities in developing their individual business plans.
Madam Speaker, the Department through its support programmes identified the need for practical training and mentorship programmes to municipalities. A process of consultation with all private sector stakeholders and municipalities in the North West Province culminated in the development of a Local Government Strategic Partnership.
The objective of the Local Government Strategic Partnership is to pull resources together to address the challenges faced by managers and staff in the finance departments of municipalities. We have realised that the different stakeholders, with their limited funding, do not adequately address the enormous challenges faced by municipalities in terms of financial management due to a lack of coordination. Existing capacity building programmes have limited focus on practical implementation and this contributes to the limited skills base on municipal financial management. This training and mentorship programme will be rolled out through MULTA and some business schools.
Over the past years, we have had to intervene in some municipalities where service delivery and strong governance had been hampered by various challenges. Our intervention strategy has, to a large extent, been rewarded as we have seen gradual improvement in those municipalities.
In Mafikeng, we have recently revoked the intervention after the municipality recorded significant improvements in its administration and debt management. In Mamusa and Lekwa-Teemane we have dissolved the councils and inaugurated new ones. The two municipalities have finally been stabilised and are functioning in a satisfactory manner.
We will therefore continue to monitor all our municipalities in order to avoid whatever problems that we have experienced in the past. I am happy that the monitoring of municipal performance is currently up and running after the establishment of a dedicated Chief Directorate for Monitoring and Intervention in the past year. This will be coupled with the development of an early warning system to be finalised within the next few months.
HOUSING
Madam Speaker, the Freedom Charter – our path, crafted in 1955 at the Congress of the People proclaimed that: “There shall be houses, security and comfort!” which envisaged a society in which the people have the right to live where they choose, to be decently housed and to bring up their families in comfort and security. This historic manifesto has to be met without fail. This undertaking formed the basis of housing delivery in the country and the demand has changed significantly over the last five years.
The North-West Province is still faced with a few challenges on housing delivery. Over the past financial year (2004/2005) a total of 32 138 subsidies were approved and 11194 houses were built using the Peoples Housing Process and Project-Linked programme. An amount of R372 million was spent, recording 72.4% of the total amount of R513,737 million. We created 1320 permanent jobs and 2014 temporary jobs during this period. This delivery took place within the municipal IDPs but runs short of achieving an annual target of 22 000 houses addressing real need plus accumulated backlog.
This state of affairs is unacceptable and on closer scrutiny of the housing delivery system, the following challenges are faced: our department’s inability to adequately manage our projects in a more hands-on approach, lack of capacity within municipalities to handle housing projects and raw deal from project management companies and contractors.
What are we doing about this state of affairs? The internal capacity of the department has been beefed up to a satisfactory level with a new Chief Director having been appointed. We are now, as part of reviewing our payment and developer systems, conducting visits to all municipalities to intervene. This will result in some municipalities losing their developer status, and last but not least, a new project management underpinned by a hands-on approach for housing delivery has begun.
The Minister of Housing, Dr Lindiwe Sisulu has introduced a new approach in housing delivery, which is an attempt to breaking new grounds. This new initiative will see government shifting towards a reinvigorated contract with the people and partner organisations for the achievement of sustainable human settlements. At the heart of this initiative is the move beyond the provision of basic shelter towards achieving the broader vision of sustainable human settlements.
Honourable Members will recall the marching orders from the Minister, that we must eradicate all squatter settlements within ten years. This mandate is in line with our 2014 targets to ensure that South Africa look much better in the outskirts of the cities where squatting has mushroomed. Informal Settlements must urgently be integrated into the broader urban fabric to overcome spatial, social and economic exclusion of the people living in those areas.
In the North-West Province, we have seen our fastest growing town, Rustenburg, also experiencing one of the fastest growing informal settlements. Many other towns in the province, like in the entire country, have seen informal settlements in their areas growing at unacceptable rates. Amongst contributing factors, we have also identified that the mining sector’s practice of paying staying-out allowance to the mineworkers, unintentionally encourages squatting. This practice needs urgent review and we will engage mining houses in this regard.
To combat the escalation of informal settlements in the province and to eventually eradicate these, we have already allocated 5000 housing units to pilot the eradication of informal settlements in Jouberton, in the Southern District.
The plan is ahead and the municipality has appointed a project manager in line with the targets that we set for ourselves. The department has also identified other areas for potential eradication and the process to develop plans with identified municipalities will commence in this financial year.
The new Human Settlement Plan adopts a phased in situ upgrading approach to informal settlements, in line with international best practices. The plan supports the eradication of informal settlements through in situ upgrading in desired locations, coupled with the relocation of households where development is not possible or desirable.
In line with the eradication of informal settlements is the need to rejuvenate our inner cities and giving our people more housing options. In his 2001 opening address to parliament, the President announced the government’s commitment towards the regeneration of inner cities in the country, the development of well located land and the intention to broaden the current housing assistance programmes to accommodate higher density development and to address the increasing demand for rental housing in urban areas.
This programme has a specific objective of achieving urban regeneration and must be based on Integrated Development Planning. Madam Speaker, I reported about progress registered in our quest to deliver in this programme during the 2004/2005 Budget Speech. This included the establishment of the Rebangwe Social Housing Institution to serve the community of Klerksdorp and the initiative of Rustenburg Municipality and Anglo Platinum to find shelter for Anglo-Plant employees. We will continue in our efforts this year to ensure that the goals set for this housing programme are achieved.
In the mean time, we are continuing to bolster our Rental Housing Tribunal to meet the challenges of social and rental housing. Madam speaker as promised in the last Budget Speech, the department has ensured that this institution is alive and functional. New members of the tribunal have been appointed and have started work with effect from the 1st March 2005. This appointment was done to ensure that there is no vacuum after the term of office of the previous members has lapsed. This body will continue its work under our supervision to protect both tenants and landlords against unfair practices and to balance the rights and obligations of both parties. Most importantly, it must harmonise the relationship between the tenants and landlords.
This year, we will also accelerate delivery of houses through the Peoples Housing Process to allow our people to build their own houses with our assistance. This approach has become an empowerment housing programme for people living in rural areas. It has ensured that communities become active participants in the development of their own living environments.
The programme has however come under severe constraints in some municipalities where delivery has become slow. However the pace at which people get involved in this programme has increased with need for more projects in some municipalities.
The issue of women empowerment in housing delivery remains central to the departmental agenda. Apart from giving them opportunities to develop and construct houses, women play an important role towards the realisation of our goals on the above-mentioned housing programmes.
The department wants to reiterate its commitment to ensure that women are not only contracted, but are active participants in the delivery of housing throughout the province. We will be holding a housing summit next month and the question of women in housing is central to our agenda for the summit. It is out of that summit that we want to come up with a clear strategy for women empowerment and meeting and even exceeding the national quota for women participation in housing construction.
Madam Speaker, I have alluded to the question of capacity at municipality level, and our door to door visits to all municipalities has confirmed that much still needs to be done to address the capacity issue at that level. The department has also come across some shocking findings on how housing construction procurement opportunities are handled and awarded in some municipalities.
We have also learned that some opportunities are also awarded to ‘fly-by-night’ service providers who only collect money and disappear without delivering the service for which the tender was awarded. In Naledi, for example, the municipality paid a service provider to deliver material for a housing project, but no material was delivered. A case of fraud has been opened against the said service provider and the law will take its course.
In Mafikeng Municipality a contractor was appointed for an emergency housing project in Lomanyaneng after heavy rains destroyed about 100 houses that some of our people are still staying in. The said contractor was paid to build 40 houses in 2003, and today, only 30 houses were built and the project has been abandoned. For those whose houses were destroyed, an open ended waiting period has become part of their daily living hoping to see their houses rebuilt someday. Both Kagisano and Mamusa Municipalities are still chasing a project manager whose whereabouts is not known and has been paid for housing 8projects not undertaken.
Madam Speaker these are just some of the many findings that we came across through our door to door visits to unblock housing projects and fast track delivery. The picture that is before us clearly puts a strenuous challenge to the department and government to take necessary steps to put the housing delivery vehicle back on track. Madam Speaker we are going to put this vehicle back on track, and we will deliver on our targets.
The financial year ahead is going to be a different one both in terms of dealing with the above-mentioned challenges and accelerating housing delivery. The department has already started to ensure that all old projects are completed and that new projects are awarded to municipalities that have proved to deliver houses within required time frames. The department will also ensure through its monitoring and interventions strategies, that legacy problems are resolved and that a new housing delivery approach in “Breaking New Grounds” is implemented.
Madam Speaker our housing target for 2005/2006 is set at 22029 housing units. This includes two pilot projects - an Integrated Human Settlement Development in Rustenburg an Informal Settlement Upgrading project in Klerksdorp comprising 5000 units each. Klerksdorp will get a further 1300 units though project link programme. Others have already been awarded to municipalities in line with their housing backlogs and delivery targets.
The housing allocation for the new subsidies is as follows:
* Mafikeng - 2500 units
* Merafong & Maquassi Hills will each get 1500
* Madibeng - 1129 units
* Potchefstroom, Moretele, Ditsobotla and Ratlou will each get 1000 units, while Lekwa Teemane will get 100 units
The North West Housing Corporation is on the way to recovery. Various interventions, including the stabilisation of the leadership, the boosting of staff moral and the turn-around strategy have begun and we are starting to realise emerging fruits. The Housing and Infrastructure Delivery Company (HIDCO) process is also well underway, albeit delayed with about four months. But it will be completed early next year.
As part of HIDCO establishment, the Housing Corporation has been allocated R20 million to turn it around and will be allocated 1000 houses for middle income earners in the Mafikeng area. This will ensure that HIDCO begins in a sound footing and take responsibility for rental stock and social housing development.
CONCLUSION
If one may ask the question, “Crisply, what is the department going to do different, to yield a better performance?”
* Over the past three months, we have built needed leadership internally in housing delivery. We will intensify this effort in Municipalities over the next three months
* Over the next three months, we will review non-performing Municipalities in housing delivery resulting in some loosing their developer status and the Province assuming its full responsibility. We will capacitate those Municipalities identified after the review process as worthy of being Developers and will be accredited as such
* We will intensify Project Consolidate in the first three months to build needed Municipal capacity to render and respond efficiently to service delivery – free basic services, municipal infrastructure development, sanitation etc
* We will train remaining Ward Committee Members in the next six months and finalise a new training plan to be rolled-out after the Local Government Election
* We will introduce with effect from tonight at midnight an Interactive Communication System geared towards enhancing internal and external information sharing
* We will spend our budget and remove all obstacles on our way to achieve housing our people, deepening municipal transformation and delivering needed municipal services. This will be evaluated every quarter and necessary interventions done timeously to yield planned spending
* We will recognise effort from our agents both internal and external for excellent performance but will not hesitate to remove those in our system who pull us down. We will be ruthless for duty calls.
* We will by end of May 2005 allocate R1.5 million to the Rustenburg Local Municipality as a joint effort with my Colleague in Safety and Liaison to establish the First Women Motorcycle Policing Unit in the North West Province and the Second in South Africa. This budget goes towards procuring 20 fully equipped policing motorcycles. The mean and no nonsense ladies are undergoing intensive policing training to be completed by the end of this year.
Madame Speaker our funds for this financial year have been allocated as follows: For the effective administration of the Department, we have allocated R35,284 million. For the provision of housing, we have set aside R524,767 million. This allocation will cater for housing planning and research, housing performance, urban renewal and human settlements and the housing asset management. Honourable members a detailed breakdown is attached.
For the developmental local government, an amount of R50,606 million has been set aside. Having summarised what we will undertake in our voyage, and armed with our appointed path, failure is no option! Let me return to pay tribute to the Honourable Premier B.E.E Molewa for her leadership and stewardship, my colleagues in EXCO who sharpen our wits, the Chairperson and members of the Portfolio Committee for your oversight and guidance, the Mayors and their Municipalities, the HOD and all staff of the Department last but not least, my wife Shirley and the ‘Big 5’ - my supporting children!
I also want to pay tribute to those men and women who have served the department for years ranging from ten to thirty. Their service is highly appreciated. Special recognition goes to the Director in my office, Mrs C.S Anthony-Choklingo who has been working with me for ten consecutive years.
We have cast our appointed path, we have amassed needed courage; sense and insight, join us in our voyage to deliver.
Ndiyabonga!
Ndiyabulela!
I thank you!
Ke a leboga!
PROGRAMME I: ADMINISTRATION
Amount (R? 00)
Sub-Programme I:
Office of the MEC: R 2, 685
Sub-Programme II:
Corporate Services: R 32, 599
R 35, 284
PROGRAMME II: HOUSING
Sub- Programme I
Housing Planning and Research: R 17, 223
Sub-Programme II
Housing Performance: R 470, 006
Sub-Programme III
Urban Renewal and Human Settlement: R 30, 000
Sub-Programme IV
Housing Asset Management: R 7, 538
Total: R524, 767
PROGRAMME III: DEVELOPMENTAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Sub Programme I
Local Governance
SUB Sub-Programmes
Municipal Administration: R 11, 489
Municipal Finance: R 16, 720
Disaster Management: R 6, 289
Municipal Infrastructure: R 16, 108
Total: R 50, 606
PROGRAMME IV: INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (IDP)
Sub-Programme I
Spatial Planning:-
Sub-Programme II
Development Admin/Land Use MGT: -
Sub-Programme III
Integrated Development and Planning: R 1, 580
Sub-Programme IV
Local Economic Dev and Planning: R 1, 323
Total: R 2, 903
Grand Total: R 613, 560
Issued by: Department of Developmental Local Government & Housing, North West Provincial Government
14 April 2005
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Vilakazi: North West Developmental Local Government & Housing Prov Budget Vote
Budget speech delivered by MEC for Developmental Local Government and Housing, Frans Phenye Vilakazi, Provincial Legislature
Madam Speaker
Honourable Premier
My colleagues in the Executive Council
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Executive Mayors and Mayors
Dikgosi tsa gaetsho
Distinguished guests
Friends and comrades
Ladies and Gentlemen
INTRODUCTION
The voyager’s path is marked by the stars and not the sand dunes. In this voyage, there are three friends: courage, sense and insight. Join us as we report on our service delivery voyage and the new plans to increase our momentum. Be our stars and mark our path. But like the stars in the vast circuit of their appointed path, you know no haste and no delay. It is upon this realism that you rested your brightest hope … hope whose little light started 50 years ago when our forbearers crafted us the Freedom Charter – the Manifesto of the People, our appointed path!
As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of this appointed path that stood the test of time, we have not failed your hope, we have made progress together! At the heart of this progress, is an unshakable commitment to serve our motherland… a motherland our forbearers – our stars, left in our hands for the future of our children. This future embodies an alternative society which over the first decade of democracy, we covered large ground in our voyage to achieve. Accordingly, the past eleven years of democracy provides us a clear and definite path forward.
It is in this context that I present a broad scan of issues relevant to the delivery record for the previous financial year (2004/5) and the delivery plan for the year ahead, (2005/6) within the ten year plan (2004/14).
DEVELOPMENTAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The past eleven years of our democracy have brought us a number of things to celebrate. But it is the past five years of democratic local government transformation that have indeed taken our democracy even further. The North-West provincial government should be proud of what we have achieved through the consolidation of our local authorities into four district municipalities and 21 local authorities over the period. This process has created local government structures that are now grappling with municipal service delivery and development agenda. We are humbled by their effort.
Madam Speaker, our primary aim as a democratically-elected government is to effectively involve our people in democratic processes of decision-making. Our democracy will not be fully-matured until our people have an effective role and participate in our government structures. We must deepen a government that is driven by the needs and aspirations of its people. We have always envisaged a situation in which people govern themselves, hence the undertaking in the Freedom Charter that the People Shall Govern!
The Department has conducted a survey on the involvement of communities in municipal matters such as the Integrated Development Plan processes, service delivery, planning, governance and conflict management in their areas. Of particular importance is that the survey was also aimed at establishing the extent to which communities are satisfied with municipal service delivery and the extent to which municipalities catered for rural and urban sectors of their respective jurisdiction. May we take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to the University of North West that partnered us well in this important survey.
While the report highlights different views of communities, we are particularly impressed with the findings. Among the most significant findings was the fact that although the communities differed in their level of participation in IDP processes, the study found out that the communities knew about the IDPs, Ward Committees and Budget Forums in their respective municipalities. This alone is impressive in that the level of understanding of local government processes and structures by the communities has been showing gradual improvement and I have no doubt that through our sustained efforts, we will reach the desired level of participation.
What is important at this stage is that we have managed to establish Ward Committees in all our municipalities in the province. We are currently capacitating them to undertake their responsibilities in an efficient manner through training in various fields such as local government policy framework and legislation, leadership, community participation and other administrative skills. So far, 2136 out of 3380 Ward Committee members have been trained. We hope to complete the basic training programmes of the remainder of our Ward Committee members by the end of this year.
Madam Speaker, it is my belief that this will go a long way in improving community participation at local government level and help speed up service delivery to our communities. Through these efforts we hope to create viable and well functional municipalities in our province that are able to satisfy the needs of their communities.
Many of our municipalities are beginning to function well and take seriously the task of rendering services. The Department is also working hard to capacitate municipalities to reach higher grounds. One such capacitation is disaster management. The recent Stilfontein DRD mine disaster within the Klerksdorp Municipality provided a fresh test of our capability which is sobering.
Although we still have a long way to go, we can safely declare that the province is in safe hands. We will march on to continue to build needed capacity. Allow me to once more send my condolences to those who lost their loved ones in this tragedy and my sympathy to those who lost their property.
Let me hasten to say, Madam Speaker, that we would actually prefer a situation in which we can prevent disasters rather than deal with their aftermaths. However, all of us here know and accept that some disasters are unpredictable whilst others are induced by human conduct. In that situation, it is the manner in which we deal with their outcome that is important, hence we are working hard to capacitate our municipalities in the area of disaster management both preventive and response control measures.
During the past year, we have managed to help a number of municipalities with disaster management vehicles and equipment to the value of R32million. These municipalities include Mafikeng, Rustenburg, Ramotshere Moiloa (Zeerust), Lekwa-Teemane, Taung, Tswaing, Ditsobotla and Kgetleng River. This year, we have set aside a further R20 million to help other municipalities as well.
This and other capacity building efforts are yielding good performance in our municipalities. As a result, we are beginning to see the implementation of national and provincial programmes taking off the ground in our municipalities. Among the areas that have benefited through increased capacitation of municipalities is the integrated development planning. More and more of our municipalities are beginning to take IDPs and local economic development seriously in their planning.
Now that all municipalities have finalised their IDPs, the department will accelerate its effort to ensure that these are well implemented and adhered to.
On 10 - 11 May this year, we will convene the provincial IDP hearings which are aimed at broadening sectoral and interspheral coordination. These hearings will also give us an opportunity to take stock of progress made since the inception of the new regime of local government planning. Of particular importance is that these hearings will involve high-level activity championed by the Department of Provincial and Local Government. The outcome of this process will be a district-based analysis report for our four district municipalities.
In general, I must say that the challenge remains to align IDPs with the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy and the National Spatial Development Perspective. I have no doubt that these hearings and other internal processes will help us achieve this. These policy parameters underpin and determine amongst others the municipal infrastructure development agenda.
We are doing our best to improve the municipal infrastructure in all our local authorities. Despite the huge backlog that we have inherited, we are committed to ensuring that we overcome the challenge of inadequate infrastructure and we are satisfied that we have come up with the right programmes to achieve this.
However, we continue to experience incapacity in some municipalities to spend funds that are allocated for the rollout of infrastructure. The new Municipal Infrastructure Grant’s institutional re-arrangement has also brought about its own unexpected setbacks. But I must assure you that we cannot sit back and lament on these challenges at this stage. We accept that the purpose of realignment of MIG was to consolidate and mainstream all infrastructure funding programmes, which supersedes the reported setbacks. We have introduced project management units within the municipalities to try and overcome the challenge of under expenditure.
During the past year, our municipalities have spent R171 million of their MIG funds on 266 projects involving water reticulation, sanitation, roads, storm water, solid waste, community lighting and community facilities. One hundred and ninety eight (198) of these projects are in rural areas. All these projects have benefited 1,38 million people resident in these municipalities and created 427 000 job opportunities calculated in person/days (man-hour). A majority of these people also acquired the necessary skills that will help them generate income in the future.
A further R422 252 000 has been allocated for MIG in this financial year and we hope to improve even more infrastructure and create more job opportunities through this programme. Each municipality has been allocated between R2,8 million and R71,6 million from this fund, depending on their needs. A further R16,1 million has been set aside for improvement of rural roads and water supply and R30 million for sanitation, particularly for phasing out the bucket toilets.
The creation of more infrastructure will also help us provide free basic services to our communities. So far, all our municipalities provide this service, but it has not managed to reach all the beneficiaries due to insufficient infrastructure. According to the statistics released by DWAF, sixty-three percent (63%) of people deserving free basic water in the province currently get this service. We will ensure that a significant number of the remaining 37% is catered for by end of this financial year.
With regards to free basic electricity, I am happy to announce that almost all our municipalities have signed funding agreements with Eskom. Municipalities will also finalise the compilation of their indigent household lists in order to assist in sustaining the provision of free basic services in their areas of jurisdiction.
More partnerships with other government departments, parastatals and private institutions are under way through Project Consolidate. This programme is spearheaded by the Department of Provincial and Local Government and is intended to build capacity at municipal level. Minister Sydney Mufamadi has already deployed three service delivery experts in this province as part of Project Consolidate. They are Mr Pascal Moloi, the City of Johannesburg Municipal Manager, Mr Tshepo Naithan, the Managing Director of Impisi Human Resources and Mr Thomas Mgaza, the Executive Director of the Institute of Local Government Management. Further deployments of experts are envisaged.
Seventeen (17) municipalities in this province have been prioritised for urgent intervention in areas of accelerating access to sanitation, water, electricity, housing, refuse removal, free basic services provision and job creation. We have already completed the provincial plan of action for implementation of this project and the Department is assisting municipalities in developing their individual business plans.
Madam Speaker, the Department through its support programmes identified the need for practical training and mentorship programmes to municipalities. A process of consultation with all private sector stakeholders and municipalities in the North West Province culminated in the development of a Local Government Strategic Partnership.
The objective of the Local Government Strategic Partnership is to pull resources together to address the challenges faced by managers and staff in the finance departments of municipalities. We have realised that the different stakeholders, with their limited funding, do not adequately address the enormous challenges faced by municipalities in terms of financial management due to a lack of coordination. Existing capacity building programmes have limited focus on practical implementation and this contributes to the limited skills base on municipal financial management. This training and mentorship programme will be rolled out through MULTA and some business schools.
Over the past years, we have had to intervene in some municipalities where service delivery and strong governance had been hampered by various challenges. Our intervention strategy has, to a large extent, been rewarded as we have seen gradual improvement in those municipalities.
In Mafikeng, we have recently revoked the intervention after the municipality recorded significant improvements in its administration and debt management. In Mamusa and Lekwa-Teemane we have dissolved the councils and inaugurated new ones. The two municipalities have finally been stabilised and are functioning in a satisfactory manner.
We will therefore continue to monitor all our municipalities in order to avoid whatever problems that we have experienced in the past. I am happy that the monitoring of municipal performance is currently up and running after the establishment of a dedicated Chief Directorate for Monitoring and Intervention in the past year. This will be coupled with the development of an early warning system to be finalised within the next few months.
HOUSING
Madam Speaker, the Freedom Charter – our path, crafted in 1955 at the Congress of the People proclaimed that: “There shall be houses, security and comfort!” which envisaged a society in which the people have the right to live where they choose, to be decently housed and to bring up their families in comfort and security. This historic manifesto has to be met without fail. This undertaking formed the basis of housing delivery in the country and the demand has changed significantly over the last five years.
The North-West Province is still faced with a few challenges on housing delivery. Over the past financial year (2004/2005) a total of 32 138 subsidies were approved and 11194 houses were built using the Peoples Housing Process and Project-Linked programme. An amount of R372 million was spent, recording 72.4% of the total amount of R513,737 million. We created 1320 permanent jobs and 2014 temporary jobs during this period. This delivery took place within the municipal IDPs but runs short of achieving an annual target of 22 000 houses addressing real need plus accumulated backlog.
This state of affairs is unacceptable and on closer scrutiny of the housing delivery system, the following challenges are faced: our department’s inability to adequately manage our projects in a more hands-on approach, lack of capacity within municipalities to handle housing projects and raw deal from project management companies and contractors.
What are we doing about this state of affairs? The internal capacity of the department has been beefed up to a satisfactory level with a new Chief Director having been appointed. We are now, as part of reviewing our payment and developer systems, conducting visits to all municipalities to intervene. This will result in some municipalities losing their developer status, and last but not least, a new project management underpinned by a hands-on approach for housing delivery has begun.
The Minister of Housing, Dr Lindiwe Sisulu has introduced a new approach in housing delivery, which is an attempt to breaking new grounds. This new initiative will see government shifting towards a reinvigorated contract with the people and partner organisations for the achievement of sustainable human settlements. At the heart of this initiative is the move beyond the provision of basic shelter towards achieving the broader vision of sustainable human settlements.
Honourable Members will recall the marching orders from the Minister, that we must eradicate all squatter settlements within ten years. This mandate is in line with our 2014 targets to ensure that South Africa look much better in the outskirts of the cities where squatting has mushroomed. Informal Settlements must urgently be integrated into the broader urban fabric to overcome spatial, social and economic exclusion of the people living in those areas.
In the North-West Province, we have seen our fastest growing town, Rustenburg, also experiencing one of the fastest growing informal settlements. Many other towns in the province, like in the entire country, have seen informal settlements in their areas growing at unacceptable rates. Amongst contributing factors, we have also identified that the mining sector’s practice of paying staying-out allowance to the mineworkers, unintentionally encourages squatting. This practice needs urgent review and we will engage mining houses in this regard.
To combat the escalation of informal settlements in the province and to eventually eradicate these, we have already allocated 5000 housing units to pilot the eradication of informal settlements in Jouberton, in the Southern District.
The plan is ahead and the municipality has appointed a project manager in line with the targets that we set for ourselves. The department has also identified other areas for potential eradication and the process to develop plans with identified municipalities will commence in this financial year.
The new Human Settlement Plan adopts a phased in situ upgrading approach to informal settlements, in line with international best practices. The plan supports the eradication of informal settlements through in situ upgrading in desired locations, coupled with the relocation of households where development is not possible or desirable.
In line with the eradication of informal settlements is the need to rejuvenate our inner cities and giving our people more housing options. In his 2001 opening address to parliament, the President announced the government’s commitment towards the regeneration of inner cities in the country, the development of well located land and the intention to broaden the current housing assistance programmes to accommodate higher density development and to address the increasing demand for rental housing in urban areas.
This programme has a specific objective of achieving urban regeneration and must be based on Integrated Development Planning. Madam Speaker, I reported about progress registered in our quest to deliver in this programme during the 2004/2005 Budget Speech. This included the establishment of the Rebangwe Social Housing Institution to serve the community of Klerksdorp and the initiative of Rustenburg Municipality and Anglo Platinum to find shelter for Anglo-Plant employees. We will continue in our efforts this year to ensure that the goals set for this housing programme are achieved.
In the mean time, we are continuing to bolster our Rental Housing Tribunal to meet the challenges of social and rental housing. Madam speaker as promised in the last Budget Speech, the department has ensured that this institution is alive and functional. New members of the tribunal have been appointed and have started work with effect from the 1st March 2005. This appointment was done to ensure that there is no vacuum after the term of office of the previous members has lapsed. This body will continue its work under our supervision to protect both tenants and landlords against unfair practices and to balance the rights and obligations of both parties. Most importantly, it must harmonise the relationship between the tenants and landlords.
This year, we will also accelerate delivery of houses through the Peoples Housing Process to allow our people to build their own houses with our assistance. This approach has become an empowerment housing programme for people living in rural areas. It has ensured that communities become active participants in the development of their own living environments.
The programme has however come under severe constraints in some municipalities where delivery has become slow. However the pace at which people get involved in this programme has increased with need for more projects in some municipalities.
The issue of women empowerment in housing delivery remains central to the departmental agenda. Apart from giving them opportunities to develop and construct houses, women play an important role towards the realisation of our goals on the above-mentioned housing programmes.
The department wants to reiterate its commitment to ensure that women are not only contracted, but are active participants in the delivery of housing throughout the province. We will be holding a housing summit next month and the question of women in housing is central to our agenda for the summit. It is out of that summit that we want to come up with a clear strategy for women empowerment and meeting and even exceeding the national quota for women participation in housing construction.
Madam Speaker, I have alluded to the question of capacity at municipality level, and our door to door visits to all municipalities has confirmed that much still needs to be done to address the capacity issue at that level. The department has also come across some shocking findings on how housing construction procurement opportunities are handled and awarded in some municipalities.
We have also learned that some opportunities are also awarded to ‘fly-by-night’ service providers who only collect money and disappear without delivering the service for which the tender was awarded. In Naledi, for example, the municipality paid a service provider to deliver material for a housing project, but no material was delivered. A case of fraud has been opened against the said service provider and the law will take its course.
In Mafikeng Municipality a contractor was appointed for an emergency housing project in Lomanyaneng after heavy rains destroyed about 100 houses that some of our people are still staying in. The said contractor was paid to build 40 houses in 2003, and today, only 30 houses were built and the project has been abandoned. For those whose houses were destroyed, an open ended waiting period has become part of their daily living hoping to see their houses rebuilt someday. Both Kagisano and Mamusa Municipalities are still chasing a project manager whose whereabouts is not known and has been paid for housing 8projects not undertaken.
Madam Speaker these are just some of the many findings that we came across through our door to door visits to unblock housing projects and fast track delivery. The picture that is before us clearly puts a strenuous challenge to the department and government to take necessary steps to put the housing delivery vehicle back on track. Madam Speaker we are going to put this vehicle back on track, and we will deliver on our targets.
The financial year ahead is going to be a different one both in terms of dealing with the above-mentioned challenges and accelerating housing delivery. The department has already started to ensure that all old projects are completed and that new projects are awarded to municipalities that have proved to deliver houses within required time frames. The department will also ensure through its monitoring and interventions strategies, that legacy problems are resolved and that a new housing delivery approach in “Breaking New Grounds” is implemented.
Madam Speaker our housing target for 2005/2006 is set at 22029 housing units. This includes two pilot projects - an Integrated Human Settlement Development in Rustenburg an Informal Settlement Upgrading project in Klerksdorp comprising 5000 units each. Klerksdorp will get a further 1300 units though project link programme. Others have already been awarded to municipalities in line with their housing backlogs and delivery targets.
The housing allocation for the new subsidies is as follows:
* Mafikeng - 2500 units
* Merafong & Maquassi Hills will each get 1500
* Madibeng - 1129 units
* Potchefstroom, Moretele, Ditsobotla and Ratlou will each get 1000 units, while Lekwa Teemane will get 100 units
The North West Housing Corporation is on the way to recovery. Various interventions, including the stabilisation of the leadership, the boosting of staff moral and the turn-around strategy have begun and we are starting to realise emerging fruits. The Housing and Infrastructure Delivery Company (HIDCO) process is also well underway, albeit delayed with about four months. But it will be completed early next year.
As part of HIDCO establishment, the Housing Corporation has been allocated R20 million to turn it around and will be allocated 1000 houses for middle income earners in the Mafikeng area. This will ensure that HIDCO begins in a sound footing and take responsibility for rental stock and social housing development.
CONCLUSION
If one may ask the question, “Crisply, what is the department going to do different, to yield a better performance?”
* Over the past three months, we have built needed leadership internally in housing delivery. We will intensify this effort in Municipalities over the next three months
* Over the next three months, we will review non-performing Municipalities in housing delivery resulting in some loosing their developer status and the Province assuming its full responsibility. We will capacitate those Municipalities identified after the review process as worthy of being Developers and will be accredited as such
* We will intensify Project Consolidate in the first three months to build needed Municipal capacity to render and respond efficiently to service delivery – free basic services, municipal infrastructure development, sanitation etc
* We will train remaining Ward Committee Members in the next six months and finalise a new training plan to be rolled-out after the Local Government Election
* We will introduce with effect from tonight at midnight an Interactive Communication System geared towards enhancing internal and external information sharing
* We will spend our budget and remove all obstacles on our way to achieve housing our people, deepening municipal transformation and delivering needed municipal services. This will be evaluated every quarter and necessary interventions done timeously to yield planned spending
* We will recognise effort from our agents both internal and external for excellent performance but will not hesitate to remove those in our system who pull us down. We will be ruthless for duty calls.
* We will by end of May 2005 allocate R1.5 million to the Rustenburg Local Municipality as a joint effort with my Colleague in Safety and Liaison to establish the First Women Motorcycle Policing Unit in the North West Province and the Second in South Africa. This budget goes towards procuring 20 fully equipped policing motorcycles. The mean and no nonsense ladies are undergoing intensive policing training to be completed by the end of this year.
Madame Speaker our funds for this financial year have been allocated as follows: For the effective administration of the Department, we have allocated R35,284 million. For the provision of housing, we have set aside R524,767 million. This allocation will cater for housing planning and research, housing performance, urban renewal and human settlements and the housing asset management. Honourable members a detailed breakdown is attached.
For the developmental local government, an amount of R50,606 million has been set aside. Having summarised what we will undertake in our voyage, and armed with our appointed path, failure is no option! Let me return to pay tribute to the Honourable Premier B.E.E Molewa for her leadership and stewardship, my colleagues in EXCO who sharpen our wits, the Chairperson and members of the Portfolio Committee for your oversight and guidance, the Mayors and their Municipalities, the HOD and all staff of the Department last but not least, my wife Shirley and the ‘Big 5’ - my supporting children!
I also want to pay tribute to those men and women who have served the department for years ranging from ten to thirty. Their service is highly appreciated. Special recognition goes to the Director in my office, Mrs C.S Anthony-Choklingo who has been working with me for ten consecutive years.
We have cast our appointed path, we have amassed needed courage; sense and insight, join us in our voyage to deliver.
Ndiyabonga!
Ndiyabulela!
I thank you!
Ke a leboga!
PROGRAMME I: ADMINISTRATION
Amount (R? 00)
Sub-Programme I:
Office of the MEC: R 2, 685
Sub-Programme II:
Corporate Services: R 32, 599
R 35, 284
PROGRAMME II: HOUSING
Sub- Programme I
Housing Planning and Research: R 17, 223
Sub-Programme II
Housing Performance: R 470, 006
Sub-Programme III
Urban Renewal and Human Settlement: R 30, 000
Sub-Programme IV
Housing Asset Management: R 7, 538
Total: R524, 767
PROGRAMME III: DEVELOPMENTAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Sub Programme I
Local Governance
SUB Sub-Programmes
Municipal Administration: R 11, 489
Municipal Finance: R 16, 720
Disaster Management: R 6, 289
Municipal Infrastructure: R 16, 108
Total: R 50, 606
PROGRAMME IV: INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT PLANNING (IDP)
Sub-Programme I
Spatial Planning:-
Sub-Programme II
Development Admin/Land Use MGT: -
Sub-Programme III
Integrated Development and Planning: R 1, 580
Sub-Programme IV
Local Economic Dev and Planning: R 1, 323
Total: R 2, 903
Grand Total: R 613, 560
Issued by: Department of Developmental Local Government & Housing, North West Provincial Government
14 April 2005
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