African Local Government Association (SALGA) summit, Kimberley
2 April 2007
The provincial chairperson of SALGA
Provincial leadership and members of SALGA
Mayors and councillors
Municipal managers
Distinguished guests
Comrades and friends
It is indeed an honour for us to grace this auspicious gathering. We are
honoured because we think we can use this platform to further develop and
consolidate our common approach in respect of the mandate given to us by the
majority of our people who voted for us and by so doing gave us the mandate to
on their behalf, seek to better the lives of all our people and create vibrant
communities and thriving local economies in all our localities in this country
and the Northern Cape province in particular.
Let me also from the onset say that, as the provincial government we are
particularly pleased that over the years South African Local Government
Association (SALGA) has evolved in this province in particular to be an
important and critical organisation and partner in the process of service
delivery to our people and has played a key part in ensuring that we realise
the goals of a better life for.
SALGA set as its vision 'to be an association of municipalities that is at
the cutting edge of quality and sustainable services.' Of course we agree ands
share in that vision.
Together we have traversed challenging terrains and built a solid platform
to continue the work for the reconstruction and development of our province.
This has been a task fraught with many challenges, but not insurmountable and
has seen a critical component march alongside the people in the quest to better
their lives.
It is in this vein that we think, the message we would want to bring to this
gathering today, is about taking this task and responsibility to even greater
heights.
We share the view that the transformation of local government into a sphere
of government that is truly developmental and that can play a critical role in
the war against poverty and unemployment, the addressing of service backlogs
and sustainable service delivery, stimulation of local economies, the deepening
of democracy and the mobilisation of our people in development, is even much
more pertinent today and requires our collective wisdom and efforts to
realise.
Therefore, we would need to answer the question to what extent have we taken
the challenge of developmental local government and local economic development
seriously in our daily routine work in our respective areas of deployment at
this level of government?
Indeed the political challenges facing local government in the current
context and for the next five to ten years would revolve to a large extent
around the effective implementation of the policies as set.
To remind ourselves, the objectives of developmental local government
are:
* the provision of household infrastructure and services
* the creation of lovable, integrated living environments
* community empowerment
* local economic development.
Therefore, within this context, there is a duty on each and everyone of us �
elected and others working in the local government sphere, to develop and
implement programmes of local economic development, that are based on proper
political analysis and a thorough understanding of the developmental challenges
facing the given locality.
We are aware that there are processes underway in this regard throughout the
length and breadth of the province, but it would be useful to ask the question,
to what extent have local people, genuinely and through their democratically
elected municipalities participated and established the vision for local
economic development in each of our localities?
For these should include strategies for promoting growth, reducing
inequality, increasing participation and tackling poverty and unemployment.
To what extent has the basic quality of life of our people in our localities
increased and can we measure this?
We believe our work should ensure that all residents and businesses have
good services and clean and healthy environments.
A major opportunity fro growth and development lies, we believe, in meeting
basic needs. Therefore, to what extent have we ensured that our public works,
housing programmes, social and community services contributed to the
opportunity to bring our people into the labour force?
Indeed, a divided city or municipality, and worse still an unstable council
cannot be successful or competitive. It must be in everybody's interest to
narrow the gaps which divide us geographically and economically and address
those problems that still beset our councils.
What we must be creating and nurturing is a supportive civic culture which
will encourage an adventurous business climate, develop firm networks, sharing
of ideas and being true to the mandate of our people.
We are aware of the huge economic potentials within impoverished communities
and should be devising appropriate strategies to nurture these and raise them
to levels where they would bring about a better quality of life for all. With
the right support and encouragement, including concerted education and
training, the poorest people in our communities can achieve a great deal
through their own collective efforts of cooperatives, stokvels and other such
avenues.
Certainly, we are aware of the huge challenges that confront our
municipalities in the current conjuncture. We are also aware of the both
subjective and objective constraints such the fiscal inadequacies of some, but
hold the firm view that these are not insurmountable and require the collective
wisdom and intra-municipality sharing of ideas, instead of rushing to other
parts of the globe to draw inspiration to address these.
In conclusion, we want to bring to the attention of this gathering the most
important reason why we are here; and why we are part of this great advance to
create a country and province of prosperity.
In supporting our democracy the most obvious thing we should be doing as
custodians of that constitution of our country, is to ensure that we realise
the goals of the better life for all!
Most of the shenanigans that have been happening in some places have no
place in this effort and must be unlearnt for they do not advance the programme
for which we are here.
Our task and programme of social transformation are therefore aimed at
overcoming the legacy of the social system that was based on oppression and
exclusion of the majority in the mainstream. We should strive to ensure that we
make a meaningful contribution to build a society based on values and ethos of
solidarity, caring and service into a truly united, non-sexist, non-racial and
democratic society.
In conclusion, we expect SALGA Northern Cape to be able to rise to the
challenge and ensure that the vision and mission of this august organisation is
realised in the province.
We stand to benefit from functional and effective local municipalities and
councils and dysfunctional structure beset by systemic problems and therefore
having a negative bearing on the ability of these structure to deliver and
contribute towards a better life for all our people.
Local government is an important level of government and the coalface of
service delivery, not be attended to in a manner that addresses these
challenges. We are confident these matters will be addressed and that we will
emerge from this gathering much better placed to movement forward and ensure
that the Northern Cape province will continue to become a place to work and
live with peace.
Thank you
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Northern Cape Provincial Government
2 April 2007
