Honourable Speaker 

We in the Official Opposition essentially share the MEC's concern about the rate of improvements in service delivery not matching the continually increasing funding of KwaZulu Natal's municipalities. Some of the reasons for this, however, are inimical to our province.  

Let me use the undignified bucket system as an example. Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West and the Western Cape have been able to fully eradicate the bucket system to the point that it no longer exists. This demonstrates that with the right management - and not just sufficient resources - there is no reason for the bucket system's continued existence. 

Another municipal challenge that is particularly rife in KwaZulu Natal are the very uneven levels of infrastructure maintenance. Older infrastructure is often not being refurbished and renewed when necessary, and there is inadequate planned preventative maintenance on newly built infrastructure.  

The most pressing examples of this are water and wastewater treatment works, sewer reticulation, on-site sanitation, some provincial and municipal roads, and some provincial health and education facilities. We in the IFP have long contended that maintenance of existing infrastructure should not be seen as being of secondary importance to the apparently more attractive prospect of developing new infrastructure. 

Much of the blame for the lack of service delivery should be laid at the door of overpaid and underperforming municipal managers. This is an old tale. But the truth remains that replacing them with experienced officials would be the fairest and cheapest way to build the capacity that many of our municipalities lack so desperately.  

Many municipal officials in all capacities, retrenched due to affirmative action because they were surplus to the newly redefined requirements, would undoubtedly welcome the opportunity to return to their positions and contribute to our province's development if the persisting employment equity regulations received a meaningful rethink.

Honourable Speaker, one last concern we in the Official Opposition wish to address has to do with politics. The lack of service delivery in many of the province's municipalities has tangible political roots. Some of the badly performing municipalities are not necessarily the ones located in the structurally under-developed rural areas. An ANC council split along factional loyalties has become a classic tale that has spilt over from the provincial government into municipalities as a result of selective non-intervention by the MEC for Local Government.

At Msunduzi - to give you a widely publicised example - ANC factionalism has created an intricate network where cronyism and nepotism converge, create and feed off a massive web of corrupt relationships. In practice, corruption determines everything from staff appointments to tendering processes. It continues to eat away at our people's chances for a better future like cancer.

Honourable Speaker, addressing these concerns will require a team effort on the part of the MECs for Finance and Economic Development and for Local Government as well as a firm commitment from the ruling party to live up to its election promises.

I thank you.

Contact: Blessed Gwala, 078 690 5777