Madame Speaker,

SA since 1994 has been characterised by enormous change, and nowhere has this been more evident than in respect of local government.

We recognise that from a constitutional perspective local government is one of three spheres of government each enjoying equal Chapter 3 status (though with different powers and functions). In contradistinction to the provincial sphere however, whose establishment was relatively simple, as was that of the national government, the reality in respect of local government is that the transformation process has been far more challenging, and this has a direct bearing on how one measures the achievements and progress of local government.

Progress is not measured merely by the roll out of water or electricity or whatever. There are other broader considerations that need to be looked at.

1. First, we should recognise that there are such enormous differences between the 283 municipalities that it hardly seems appropriate to discuss them in the same breath. 6 of the total account for over half the country's GDP. They have budgets larger than most provinces. They each employ tens of thousands of workers. At the other extreme are such small municipalities that they are hardly a blip on the radar screen. They are totally reliant on national funding. They have miniscule budgets. So talking about progress in any uniform sense is difficult. Clearly, however, more needs to be done to make the weak municipalities more viable over time.

2. Though it has taken some time, the institutionalisation of the municipal sphere has now basically been bedded down. The reason this is an achievement rather than the converse - given the substantial timeframes - is that municipalities have undergone constant change since 1994, and this change has been extremely disruptive both politically and especially administratively. We are now in the final phase of a three-phase transformation process commonly termed the pre-interim phase, the interim phase and the final phase, and the final phase in which we are presently located is itself subdivided into yet more subcategories. Given this ongoing institutional turmoil, LG really hasn't done too badly. One hopes that the future will be less disruptive.

3. One needs to recognise that although service delivery has been patchy - sometimes good and sometimes bad as community protests last year and this year demonstrated - the general trend is one of improving performance. The single largest delivery constraint has probably been human capacity and this, thankfully, appears to be improving. Project Consolidate is certainly playing its part, but in addition to this, there is a growing cohort of experienced administrators and political leaders who have developed an institutional memory and are increasingly able to concentrate on good governance rather than establishment matters. Having said that, there is still clearly enormous scope for improvement and the elimination of corruption and improvement in financial management remain key concerns. We should not expect miracles, but we should demand and expect a steady improvement all round and substantially greater compliance with good governance norms.

4. Finally, it is unfortunate that local government was left to its own devices for too long, meaning that the level of support required from both the national government and provincial governments in particular over much of the first decade of democracy, was inadequate given the needs of local government. This impacted negatively on the achievements of many municipalities. Fortunately, this appears to be changing with positive outcomes being recorded countrywide. I think it true to say that whatever delivery has taken place to date, this should accelerate in future. In this regard the manner in which the dept has repositioned itself and its present strategic focus is more appropriate now than it has been in the past when the chief preoccupation was policy-centred rather than delivery-centred. We trust the provinces will follow suit.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mr Peter Smith MP: 084 703 6009
Noleen Hendricks: 082 886 9848