Today Premier Helen Zille and the Western Cape Cabinet visited George Municipality for a cabinet outreach session to engage with local stakeholders and report back on the Western Cape Governments progress to date on service delivery in line with the provinces mandate.
During the session, Western Cape Minister of Local Government, Environmental Affair and Development Planning Anton Bredell revealed that R955,4 million has been earmarked for projects in George by all provincial government departments from 2013 to 2015.
Minister Bredell reported that the Western Cape has spent effectively 100% of its Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) funding since 200 and the R 455,3 million of MIG funding spent in the 2012/13 financial year has yielded 205 projects in such delivery areas as sanitation, roads and stormwater infrastructure, community halls, public transport, libraries and solid waste removal services.
The Western Capes leading performance was also highlighted in the census 2011 report which showed that households in the province had the best access to basic services. Minister Bredell noted that these high standards were achieved while the Western Capes population had grown simultaneously by almost 30% between censuses.
Premier Zille emphasised the importance of understanding the role of government in assessing its performance. Broadly, this role had three aspects, she explained, to defend people’s rights and freedom, to extend opportunities for people to improve their lives, and to provide for those who could not reasonably be expected to do so for themselves.
In particular, a government had to ensure that it gets job creation and education right, she added saying, “The governments job is to create the context for investment, entrepreneurs and innovation by having no corruption and delivering services efficiently. If the lights go out for hours at a time, people with capital and skills won’t want to live and invest there. Good governance is critical.”
Premier Zille outlined the Western Cape Strategic Plan and its strategic objectives, noting that it is not enough merely to devise a plan. “The hardest thing is implementing your plan and we’ve restructured the government to align with the needs of our mandate. But everything we do is done in partnership, with different roleplayers having different responsibilities. That is why we say ‘better together’,” she said.
Media enquiries:
Zakhele Mbhele , spokesperson
Tel: 021 483 4584
Cell: 083 600 2349
E-mail: Zak.Mbhele@westerncape.gov.za
