Master of ceremony, mayors, municipal managers, councillors, officials, media and all protocol observed.
Why must we turn around? Because of service delivery, because we have failed to get basic services to the houses; however, here in the Western Cape things look different. According to statistics that we recently received from the Department of Cooperation and Traditional Matters, which was made available in the local government turnaround strategy, the Western Cape is at the forefront with regard to access to electricity (94 percent), piped water (98,9 percent), complete and intermediary sanitation (93,4 percent) and refuse removal (91,1 percent). These figures indicate that the Western Cape as a unit performs far better than the other eight provinces.
I see the problem regarding the turnaround strategy as follows; we are turning around before we even know what a good municipality looks like, or before we even know in which direction we want to move. According to me no probing or far reaching intervention is necessary; we do not have to change the schemes or systems. However, what we do need is to identify problems in local government much faster and earlier and to get our internal audits to be independent.
Master of ceremony; if municipality A does get a disclaimer, we should place municipality A automatically under administration. This would mean that the municipal manager and the mayor would devote much more time on municipal management. It doesn't matter what we do or say; local government is an independent sphere of government and it should stay independent, and we must also respect it as such. The provinces must only monitor and support local government.
Another important issue is the local government elections of 2011, we don't yet know the date, but we should be ready for it. It is important for our leaders of the community that political parties and institutions take hands with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). We must ensure that the election is free and just. It's now a difficult time ahead; we must be sensitive and responsible and try to evade issues of conflict and incitement.
Master of ceremony, the strike actions of the past few weeks and what gave rise to it, is a frustration for all our workers, because their grievances have been ignored for so many years. Tasks and the unfunded mandates must be completed. At several opportunities we have warned against this and we must admit we have dragged our feet in regard to this.
The success in local government lies in labour, in other words, the quality of our people. In order to make the turn-around strategy work in local government, we need a stable political environment in the local government, we need skilful officials. This will lead to good local government which will benefit every inhabitant in South Africa.
It's a society in which every individual is equal before the law, where opportunities are created for everyone, despite their race, language or culture. It's a society where our officials and politicians are very well trained and perform their work very well. I want to use this opportunity to honour those many people in local government who do good work and who do not stray from the correct path.
Master of ceremony, in closing I would like to ask this question: What are we going to leave to our children? Will they have municipal infrastructure that gives them clean water, or will it make them sick? Will we pass on the values of honesty, hard work and transparency or will we set an example of selfish and corrupt behaviour? Will we leave behind efficient, responsive municipalities, or municipalities that waste resources and do not listen to people?
We must think about these things, because we are building the foundation for our children. This foundation can allow them to fulfil their potential or prepare them for failure. It can ensure that they all have equal opportunities to succeed, or it can undermine their dreams. I know that local government is closest to the people. We must get it right so that we can be proud of what we leave to our children.
Thank you.
