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Polity
Published: 07 Nov 2008
SA: Motlanthe: Address to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) (07/11/2008)
Date: 07/11/2008
Source: The Presidency
Title: SA: Motlanthe: Address to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) (07/11/2008)


Chairperson of the NCOP,
Deputy Chairperson of the NCOP,
Honourable Premiers and MECs
Honourable Members of the NCOP,
Leaders, Amakhosi
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am honoured to share with you some modest thoughts on the occasion of my maiden speech to this august house, the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

Allow me to use this important occasion to thank my predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, for the good work he has done to further advance our country towards the achievement of a non-racial, non-sexist, prosperous and democratic South Africa.

I would like to congratulate you members of the NCOP on "Taking Parliament to the People." It is a major contribution to participatory democracy when ordinary people see one of the Houses of Parliament in their own areas, monitoring and evaluating the impact of government and identifying the needs of our people.

This is crucially important because we meet at a time of a global financial crisis which is likely to affect our economy and therefore impact negatively on our people. And we have to rely on structures like the NCOP to raise pertinent questions which would enable us to prepare an adequate response to these impending negative effects.

Honourable members,

The NCOP is a unique institution bringing together the national, provincial and local spheres of government into one chamber.

Essentially the NCOP exists as a platform for the diversity of our people as expressed in the interests it represents in the Provinces and Municipalities of our country.

The NCOP is, therefore, a crucial instrument in fashioning not only national consensus, but also social cohesion at moments which are difficult and challenging in our national life, and in the world. The NCOP reminds us of what holds us together when the instinct of our nation may be to polarise.

Our values are underpinned by the quest for unity instead of division, reconciliation rather than bitterness, and continuous pursuit of social and economic justice rather than accepting poverty and inequality as inevitable. More importantly, human solidarity is paramount in our country, in Africa and the World.

Today we must communicate hope in the face of a global financial crisis, in the aftermath of attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa, and we must assert that our democracy can withstand any contestation of ideas if they are based on principles, policy and the well being of all our people.

Today we must commit to building unity and Social Cohesion.

Today, too, it is appropriate that we mark the ascendancy of Senator Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States of America. Congratulations are in order not simply because he is the first President with his roots in the continent of Africa, but because he has raised the expectations that the world could be better and that the USA could play a more constructive role by respecting our multi-lateral institutions, by solving problems through objective dialogue, and by investing in the developing world.

While not believing that a single individual can easily overturn an entire system, we must remain committed to the possibility of world peace, of economic justice and of a world in which the powerful recognise their own vulnerability if the less powerful and the powerless are unable to manage their growing levels of desperation.

Barack Obama has indeed created a platform where we could all co-operate towards these goals.

Given these possibilities, the NCOP must position itself so that it plays the role for which it has been created. It therefore requires all of us to ask critical questions of the functioning of the NCOP, foremost of which is: "After 11 years of existence, is the National Council of Provinces functioning optimally?"

The more substantial review relates to the NCOP''s role in building unity and social cohesion in a fragile society and its role in holding Provinces and Local Government accountable for their duty in overcoming poverty and inequality in our country.

But the precursor to these substantial questions involves the institutional questions:

- Has the NCOP sufficiently defined for itself an identity and role unique to itself and distinct from the National Assembly?
- Is the NCOP robust enough in its interactions with Provincial Executive Councils and Mayoral Committees?
- Does 54 permanent delegates and 36 special delegates, give the NCOP sufficient capacity to do its work properly?
- Is Local government sufficiently represented and is the voice of SALGA powerful enough both to be held accountable and to represent the needs of that sphere of government?
- Are the roles and functions of the Provinces and Local Government - in relation to the National Government - sufficiently clarified and defined so as to ensure the optimum role of the NCOP?
- Finally, how does the NCOP ensure that after it leaves the Chris Hani District and the Emalahleni Municipality, the lives of citizens will be improved? Listening is one thing, Monitoring implementation is another. The NCOP needs to have the capacity to ensure that the problems identified and the issues raised by the local people are responded to and satisfactorily resolved.

Chairperson and Honourable Members,

These critical questions are not just for the NCOP to answer.

Cabinet has mandated the Department of Provincial and Local Government (the DPLG) to review the policy framework on provincial and local spheres of government.

Two principles have informed the Department of Provincial and Local Government''s approach to its mandate.

The first is that the starting point should be an evidence-based assessment of how the system of provincial and local government is currently functioning.

Secondly the public must be invited to contribute to this examination at the very start of the process.
What we can say with confidence is that provincial and local spheres of government have contributed immensely to national reconstruction and development over the last 14 years.

Today millions of people have access to basic services, primary health care, compulsory education, social security, municipal infrastructure and many other benefits - thanks in large measure to the contribution of these spheres of government.

However, there are weaknesses that hamper the effectiveness of governance.

Some of these weaknesses are institutional, while others are the product of economic and other factors that affect state capacity and performance.

A significant cause relates to the skills, leadership, commitment and accountability of the human capital that is ultimately the backbone of any system of governance.

Combined, these pressures and weaknesses have inhibited both spheres in discharging their core mandates effectively.

To overcome these and ensure that all spheres work co-operatively and optimally towards shared goals, it will be important that:

The roles and functions of spheres of government should be clarified to improve efficiency and accountability; and

A clear intergovernmental framework for intervention, monitoring and support be developed.

In addition we must address the following provincial challenges:

Provincial administrations rely on transfers from central government and may be more accountable to national government than to the electorate;

The more rural provinces face serious challenges to attract and retain members of the civil service especially professionals in areas of management, finance and information technology; and

Given that the core constitutional mandate of provinces is that of service delivery in social services, health and education, how do we both improve the effectiveness of delivery in these areas, but also critically deal with the role provinces should play in economic development.

In respect of local government the following aspects are pertinent:

Access to basic services has improved but sustainability is a concern. Long-term solutions are needed to address the skills shortage and the growing grant dependence by municipalities that are not financially viable;

Assessments of the functionality of the two-tier local government system suggest that institutional reform may be necessary; and

The unevenness in performance across all categories of municipalities may require new approaches in the allocation of powers and functions.

In other words, a package of responses is needed to improve the effectiveness of the system. Any course of action arising from these findings will ultimately have to be in the best interests of the country!

Any changes proposed must improve local democracy and accountability, while finding the appropriate balance between national policy direction and provincial and local discretion.

This work is continuing; and we are confident that, when the final recommendations are made, society will debate the issues comprehensively, so that, in the medium-term, we can improve on what we have with the aim to serve the people better.

Honourable members,

South Africa has entered a time that will test our fortitude as a nation, and our ability to protect the gains we have made.

We have had over four years of fairly rapid economic growth when we were able to add hundreds of thousands of new jobs annually; when the incomes of ordinary South Africans grew four percent a year on average; and when government was able to increase its expenditure, especially on social services, by nearly ten percent a year.

Our living standards have been steadily improving as we steadily but surely chipped away at the scourge of unemployment, and as we keep our focus firmly on reaching the Millennium Development Goals.

In the midst of this growing optimism a sudden black cloud descended on the world economy, posing a threat to the gains we have been making.

An international financial crisis has erupted, pushing many parts of the world economy into a slower mode, with especially some highly industrialised countries expecting very low growth or even the shrinking of their economies.

Accordingly, in South Africa we have had to lower our expectations too, not because our own financial sector is threatened-it is not.
Our financial institutions have been scrutinised; they have been tested; and they have passed those tests with flying colours.

Thus in South Africa ours has been a slowdown off a secure base with sound fundamentals. Unlike in some other countries where the cutbacks have been catastrophic.

We are not going to enter a recession, and indeed we expect our economic performance to be better than that of many of our peers.

One important reason for this is that we have a very big infrastructure investment programme: we are building or rebuilding roads, bridges, airports, pipelines, railway systems, houses, hospitals, prisons, schools and community facilities.

In addition, we are also driving infrastructure programmes to host the best FIFA Football World Cup ever.

I wish to assure you that we will continue with this investment programme as well as our social investment, even in this difficult time because we have been careful with our finances.

Nevertheless, growth will be slower than we had previously hoped for. This is in part because the international financial crisis has reduced the demand for some of our exports.

Going back to your Provinces and Municipalities, you have a responsibility to prepare our people to unite to withstand the impact of these challenges.

Both government and all of our households should make sure not to make financial commitments that might be difficult to sustain.


Similarly, we must not be complacent about the electricity challenges that we continue to face. Not only must we continue to rollout electricity to the poor who have no access, we must also continue to manage the demand of all who already have access to electricity.

The very small margin between electricity demand and electricity supply has necessitated some rationing of power.

In this regard this summer will be a very difficult period when most of the Eskom maintenance will be undertaken. To manage this period effectively we urge all consumers - businesses and private homes - to be very careful about their use of electricity.

In essence, this is a time to take a bold step forward; not to stand still, or sit back as there is clearly a huge amount of work to do.

We remain committed to the six tasks identified in our Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (AsgiSA). These are:

· to improve our infrastructure,
· to invest in the skills of our people,
· to support industrial development through better competition, trade and industrial sector policies,
· to strengthen the capacity of the state, especially in support of economic development,
· to reduce the volatility of the rand, and
· to ensure that economic growth is more effectively shared.

In all of these areas we have made progress, but it is equally true that there is still much to do, and especially in the current economic environment our ultimate prosperity lies in investing in our future.

Though we grew strongly in recent years and more people than ever before were employed in new jobs, we have not been able to reduce some of our severe inequalities. This means that the imperative of growth must more strongly be balanced by the imperative to share the growth.

Inequality and the persistence of poverty remain the most daunting challenges facing us as a nation, and if we can tackle these head on we will share with our people the proceeds of growth.

This is why last week the Deputy President launched a public discussion on a proposed comprehensive anti-poverty strategy.

Through the public discussion of this draft strategy, we hope to arrive at a set of prioritised interventions to address poverty and inequality more effectively.

We need to strengthen our efforts to provide high quality basic services to all.

Similarly, we need to ensure that the developmental outcomes of our interventions enable our people to achieve a decent quality of life.

An anti-poverty strategy must also address inequality by addressing the factors that perpetuate this phenomenon. A critical factor is skills development.

Without adequate human capital individuals are unable to take advantage of the economic opportunities available.

We cannot continue to have good schools for a minority of our people and poorly performing schools for the majority.

We need to address the inequalities in educational outcomes that result in inequalities in the labour market and economy.

Furthermore, in tackling poverty, we also need to ensure the accumulation of assets for the poor which will enable them to create various economic opportunities.

Better roads, better fences, access to irrigation, access to electrical power-these are the kind of assets that can help poor households improve their own livelihoods.

Providing safety nets in the form of social assistance and the provision of basic services continues to be critical in our efforts to combat poverty.

In the longer run, though, our goal is to reduce dependence on social assistance by assisting able bodied individuals to become self-reliant.

We will know that we are reaching our objectives when the number of people requiring social assistance falls because more people have decent work or run their own businesses.

Honourable Members,

As we go forward, we want to build and reinforce partnerships at all levels between departments, agencies, business, society and non-governmental organisations. This must be based on an open and collaborative dialogue on our shared objectives and our respective contributions to shared growth and the reduction of poverty and inequality.
We need to set goals together, to focus on them and agree on concrete steps about how to achieve these goals in preparing for the next period of government, so that we are focussed on our challenges and certain about our priorities.

To this end The Presidency recently published Towards a Fifteen Year Review, which takes stock of progress and weaknesses since the attainment of democracy in achieving the objective of improving the quality of life of all our people.

We encourage social partners and citizens at large not only to give their own views on these critical matters, but also to assess the impact of their own activities on the social dynamics within our nation and further afield.

As a nation we face a choice: we could continue on the same path of gradual and stop-start improvements, or we could instead identify bold steps that will raise our level of growth and development; we could be perpetually suspicious about each other or collaborate in building social cohesion and unite our people against everything that creates insecurity in our society.

Along with the three spheres of our system of government, this House is charged with a profound responsibility to contribute decisively to the efforts to change the lives of South Africans for the better.

I am confident that the NCOP is more than ready to realise its mandate as defined in the Constitution.

Honourable members,

I call on you to return to your provinces, your localities, and your constituencies with one aim in mind: over the next two days, we want you to ensure that every South African of voting age or who will be of voting age next year, must register for the election.

I myself am going to the voting station near my residence to check on my voting station and to ensure that I am registered. This is the basis in our work to consolidate our democracy.

Chairperson and Members of the National Council of Provinces, it has been a privilege to address you.