Plan Engagement Process in Upington
8 May 2006
Programme Director
MECs
MPLs
Mayors and councillors
The leadership of SALGA
Traditional leaders
Leaders of religious denominations
Rep of community based organisations and NGOs
Distinguished guests
Media representatives
Ladies and gentlemen
It is indeed a pleasure to join all of you this morning at this important
gathering just a day after the people of this country celebrated the tenth
anniversary of the adoption of our Constitution.
As our President correctly states, our people have demonstrated their
loyalty to the fundamental law of our country. The rare opportunity provided by
the celebration of a decade of our Constitution confronts us with the challenge
to speak of some of the challenges that face us in the aftermath of the victory
of the national democratic revolution.
Allow me Programme Director to acknowledge the presence of eminent friends
and partners of our provincial government, those whose partnership is
indispensable to our functional efficacy. I also wish to take this opportunity
and thank all of you who continue to support us as government in our
initiatives to continue fulfilling the commitments we made to our people.
Integrated Development Planning (IDPs) represent a window through which
government as a whole can strategically engage with the implementation of
nation-wide priorities such as free basic services and employment
creation.
This current round of IDP engagement process is significant in that it sets the
tone for implementation across the length and breath of our province as we have
to speed up the delivery of services to our people.
I believe you will all agree with me that within the context of intensifying
the fight against poverty and underdevelopment, one of the most pressing
challenges facing our country is the need to strengthen our municipalities. It
is important therefore that robust IDPs guide and inform the new local
government councillors. This will enable greater stability and continuity for
local communities and provide predictability and certainty for medium to long
term public and private sector investments within our municipalities. A key
component of making this happen lies in the arena of putting in place the
appropriate set of intergovernmental structures and measures by which the
municipality can ensure that past mistakes will not be repeated and that there
is progress.
The White Paper on Local Government contextualised integrated development
planning as a tool for the developmental local government with the intention of
enabling municipalities to help to align scarce resources behind agreed policy
objectives and programmes.
Ladies and gentlemen, we must carry out all these tasks within the context
and bearing in mind the determination we pledged to our people, that we enter a
new phase of our national democratic revolution which has created a new set of
opportunities and challenges for the cause of social transformation.
One of the most pressing challenges facing our country is the need to
strengthen local government. Our people have given our elected councillors a
clear mandate to accelerate the process towards achieving the goal of better
life for all.
Strategically, we should use this engagement to accelerate and advance
towards achieving this goal of a better life for all. The realisation of this
objective is in line with the cause of social transformation to which we
committed ourselves to.
This commitment therefore means that one of our central tasks must be the
achievement of economic growth and development; we require this to create the
wealth we need to provide the resources that will enable us to address our
fundamental objectives. We have to ensure that we undertake the initiatives set
out by our IDPs which are themselves part of the process of the remaking of our
societies.
Ladies and gentlemen
The strength and might of our local government institutions remains one of the
critical instruments of government which are central in service delivery. I
therefore appeal to our councillors and municipal officials to use the
opportunity to equip themselves with the necessary skills necessary to build
developmental municipalities that are efficient, effective and responsive to
the needs of our people.
A Municipal Leadership Development (MLD) qualification has been developed
for councillors and senior local government officials to address this urgent
need. In fact all sectors of our society need to put their shoulders to the
wheel to improve their social welfare and ensure a sustainable future for us
all. It is therefore very important to contribute through sharing knowledge,
contributing to the debate of promoting best practice and most of all embracing
our challenges whole-heartedly.
Ladies and gentlemen, the continuing challenge we face on poverty calls on
all of us to ensure that our municipalities develop the necessary capacity to
translate government resources into instruments with which to confront problems
of poverty and underdevelopment.
Our Mayors and Councillors must never loose sight of our people and their
dreams. The importance of caring and responsive governance that is embraced by
the spirit of Batho Pele is absolutely essential. The need to compliment our
skills with the necessary values and attitudes cannot be over-emphasised. We
call on our business representatives, farmers and other developmental sectors
to join us as developmental activists and champions of people-centered
development strategies.
Through such engagements we should assess whether our IDPs are in line with
our plans of achieving accelerated and shared economic growth and do they
address the challenge of underdevelopment. However, ladies and gentlemen, no
matter how impressive our policies and plans are, they will not translate to
substantial meaning for our people unless they are driven by a team of
dedicated and devoted men and women who will ensure that they are indeed
implemented. We are equally mindful of the temptations that hinder these
processes and therefore wish to add on the warning made by our President Thabo
Mbeki at the Freedom Day celebrations recently, that we should prevent the
abuse of state institutions for personal material gain or personal agendas.
Our elected representatives should themselves respect the rule of law. We
should be at the forefront of fighting corruption. It is also imperative that
we assert the principle that we should root out factionalism as well as ethnic
and racial chauvinism.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe we are all servants of our people and the
public will hold us accountable. Programme Director, we must ensure that each
municipality and each district municipality has all necessary managerial,
professional and technical staff to enable them to implement the required
developmental programmes. We also have to ensure that our systems of
co-operative government also function optimally and thus create the conditions
for the provincial and national government to work closely with our
municipalities to improve their capacity to implement their programmes.
We must ensure that each municipality has a meaningful Integrated
Development Plan which must include programmes for the maintenance of existing
bulk infrastructure including roads, water and sewerage facilities. Ladies and
gentlemen, I believe it is appropriate that we also use this engagement process
to assess our own shortcomings. During our interactions with communities we
observed the wrath and anger of our people who have been subjected to inhumane,
unhealthy and inexcusable sanitation facilities by unscrupulous and dishonest
contractors.
We cannot give our people a raw deal. We also listened to our people
expressing their dissatisfaction about the poor state of un-maintained roads,
making it virtually impossible for emergency vehicles to reach their homes in
times of medical emergencies. Our IDPs should be clear on the extension of such
infrastructure to all areas which are still not properly serviced. We should
ensure that our plans for the improvement and extension of service delivery in
all areas including water, sewerage, electricity, refuse removal, roads and
free basic services are speeded up.
Realistic Local Economic Development Plans must include the improvement and
provision of the required economic infrastructure and the encouragement of
micro, small and medium business as well as the use of labour intensive
economic activity to reduce the unemployment levels. Being the sphere of
government closest to the people our system of local government must play a
monitoring role even with regard to those areas of activity that may not fall
within their competencies, such as health and education.
I mention this issue as we must continue to respond to these challenges with
the necessary vigour, understanding that is that it is one of the central goals
of the national democratic revolution. Our success in this regard will serve to
play proper homage to all our fallen heroes and heroines and all our people who
placed their confidence in us and further confirm our commitment to achieve the
goals for which they perished.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to use this opportunity to further appeal to
all our councillors to meet their obligations through report back and
interactions with their communities at ward level. This would give them an
opportunity to regularly inform residents about the work of the municipal
government and listen to the views of the communities without undue delays.
Mindful of the profound responsibility we collectively bear, I therefore
cannot finish this address without acknowledging the dedication and hard work
of many of you who are making a meaningful contribution in the growth of our
economy. I therefore would like to express my profound appreciation to all of
you. I also wish to use this opportunity to once more express my appreciation
to you for your immeasurable contribution and the critical task of engaging our
communities to become active in the selection of their local government and in
setting priorities and programmes where they live. Indeed the future of our
local government and that of our province and its people is bright.
The ultimate goal is to ensure that through society's growth and development
expectations, the Northern Cape is built into a prosperous province where its
citizens celebrate as a united nation its economic benefits.
Together let us do what we have to do for the sake of our people who have
placed their trust in us.
I wish you well in your deliberations throughout the week hoping your
contribution will take us further towards a developmental path.
I thank you
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Northern Cape Provincial Government
8 May 2006
Source: Northern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.northern-cape.gov.za)
