The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in conjunction with Public Service and Administration held the first historic MinMec in Pretoria on Friday to discuss the state of local government and actions that can be put in use to curtail corruption by officials in the provinces and municipalities.
The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Sicelo Shiceka, jointly with his Public Service and Administration counterpart, Richard Baloyi, declared war against corruption and promised to introduce a governance system that would help to act against officials who abuse power irrespective of their political affiliation.
“We want to establish a value system of governance in this country which all political parties must live up to, so that nobody uses a party ticket to do wrong things,” Shiceka said.
The Minister of Public Service and Administration Richard Baloyi, reiterated one of the constitutional values, which states that services must be accessible to people and also pointed out that there is a need to ensure that there are resources at municipalities. Baloyi stated that community development workers must smooth the progress of providing services by bringing people close to the government.
He further stated that the two departments have to deal with service delivery, cooperative governance and issues of corruption which he declared zero tolerance to it and the lack of service delivery. “We say zero tolerance to corruption, and people must give maximum commitment to service delivery and fighting corruption,” Baloyi said.
The two ministers vowed to sharpen community development workers to be in a position to address and deal with service delivery issues. This meeting follows a report that both provincial and local governments are hindering the delivery of basic services, causing a string of service delivery protests.
Among issues discussed with during the meeting include, local government elections and the roles of community development workers to name a few. The two ministers stressed and determined that community development workers will have to bridge the social distance between the people and government.
Issued by: Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
31 August 2009
Source: Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (http://www.dplg.gov.za/)
