Speech by MR. PETER SMITH - MP

Madam Speaker

The IFP would like to congratulate all councillors on their election or re-election. We say to them: colleagues, you have an enormous responsibility to bear and we trust you will perform your duties diligently.
Your actions are central to improving the living conditions and democratic participation and trust of the citizens you serve and this is a noble cause.
We expect a lot of you.

Madam Speaker, the municipal system is entering an era of consolidation after an initial term characterised by highly uneven leadership and uneven performance ranging from excellent through to very poor. We all accept that the immediate post-2000 period was highly challenging, and there is no harm in reminding ourselves of some problematic issues which have by no means disappeared. These include: serious capacity constraints; inadequate delivery; poor implementation of financial management systems; corruption; inadequate level of national and provincial support; issues of excessive remuneration and non-implementation of performance contracts; chaos associated with government's lack of consultation on the re-determination of provincial boundaries; and last but by no means least, the government's dishonest dealings with traditional leaders on their role in the new South Africa. And so on.

But equally, we should not lose sight of the fact that there were also many successes, and we toast those and trust there will be many more as the years go by. In general Madam Speaker, in reviewing the performance of the department over the past 5 years as it relates to local government specifically, we would say it has performed adequately rather than exceptionally in so far as most matters are concerned, and extremely poorly in respect of traditional leadership. However, in the last year or two the department has become more focussed and appears as if its performance is definitely improving. I want to refer to a number of issues pertinent to this second term.

REMUNERATION
We believe the free-for-all governing the manner in which municipal managers and senior staff have been remunerated over the past 5 years was very distasteful in many instances. The notion that managers should be remunerated as per their responsibilities is all very well, but the execution of this principle, resulting in too many grossly inflated packages, has been very problematic. The situation is worsened by the fact that in too many instances this bloated remuneration has been boosted by "performance" payments bearing little or no correspondence to performance.
It doesn't help either that too many councils have failed to finalise proper performance contracts. All this needs to be tightened up at the earliest opportunity. We are pleased however, with government's position on the remuneration of councillors and believe this was necessary.

FINANCES
We have a number of concerns here. We are pleased that the local government sphere has continued to receive an increasing share of national revenue and also that the recently reviewed equitable share formula is being implemented. However, the non-implementation of the development component of the formula is disappointing and we also believe the current estimated cost of basic services utilised in the formula is too low and should be raised. We are also concerned about uncertainty generated by government's vacillation on the restructuring of the electricity industry and though this is not the direct responsibility of this department, the whole process is simply taking too long. We are also worried that municipal debt has now risen to R32b - an astronomical figure. All in all, we believe there is a need to strengthen the municipal regulatory and fiscal environment and we recognise the department's acknowledgement of this need.

SERVICE DELIVERY
We are more than prepared to recognise that much has been achieved by government in respect of basic services and free basic services in particular. However, it is equally true that in many instances much more should have been achieved, and as the civil unrest last year demonstrated, there are many communities dissatisfied with the constraints, but we should recognise that it equally represents a failure of political leadership. We expect much more of councils in this second term. Government's targets are ambitious and will require dedication and hard work across the board.
IFP-run councils are of course, more than prepared to play their part in accelerating delivery.

SUPPORT FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Though the national and provincial governments are obliged by the Constitution to support local government, the past 5 years have demonstrated that this has more often been observed as much in the breach as the execution, especially in so far as the provinces are concerned. And although we believe Project Consolidate was an excellent idea and remains so, it came into being rather late and also as a short-term palliative rather than as part of an integrated long term support system. But we nonetheless support it strongly, and urge government not to underestimate the need for longer term course, be restricted to the line-function departments only and we urge a more transversal approach. We therefore strongly support the department's stated intention to now mainstream support to improve municipal governance and performance.

HUMAN CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS
It is generally accepted that there are serious capacity constraints in the municipal sphere, and that this impacts negatively on performance. In general, in reviewing the past 5 years, government has taken too long to respond appropriately to the need, and it has not helped matters either that the responsible sector authority has to date failed to fulfil its mandate.
However, we are pleased that government has of late placed far more stress on addressing the matter more decisively and that there are a variety of initiatives aimed at ensuring that municipalities are adequately skilled. I refer to Project Consolidate as an imaginative example, as well as the establishment of the Local Government Learnership Academy. We trust the department's strategic focus on municipal support will serve to significantly capacitate the sector. It is a key challenge.

Madam Speaker, time permitting, there are numerous other matters to which we would like to make reference. Suffice it to say that the results of a survey of few years back showed our citizenry placing little faith or trust in their councils compared to their provincial governments of the national government. We hope this is changing. We need to identify the difficulties of the past 5 years, to remedy them, and to focus on continual incremental improvements so that should such a survey be held in 2010, totally different responses will be recorded. To secure this outcome, we expect more of the department and hope it rises to the challenge. The IFP supports the vote.


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