S Moloto: Community development workers graduation

7 December 2006

MEC for Education, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi,
Mayor of Thulamela Local Municipality,
Executive Mayor of Vhembe and other mayors here present,
Acting University of Venda Vice Chancellor and Principal, Dr JV Leatt,
Executive deans and professors,
Members of Provincial Legislature here present,
Councillors and traditional leaders,
Representatives of the local government Services Sector Education and Training
Authority (SETA) and the Education, Training and Development Practices (ETDP)
SETA,
Our grandaunts,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen:

Today is yet another proud day in the life of Limpopo as we officially mark
the passing out of 318 CDWs who are now ready to assume their community
responsibilities in every part of our province. This graduation ceremony is the
biggest and the second to take place, ever since the passing out of 82 learner
CDWs in May this year. It is gratifying that after 12 months of intensive
education and training we now have the kind of public servants who are
community based and multi skilled to serve our people in all the various areas
of social delivery like health, social development, housing, agriculture,
water, energy, economic development and education.

We are proud that the University of Venda (UNIVEN) has delivered on its
mandate, as it promised in its mission statement and vision. Like UNIVEN is
showing the way, we believe it is incumbent upon all South African universities
to teach the kind of values that strengthen community participation and
democratic citizenship in their pursuit for academic excellence and relevance
in the globalising world.

The collaboration we have with UNIVEN on community development workers
programme and in other areas, therefore, show the extent to which the
university has embraced academic transformation and curriculum change in all of
its disciplines. The teaching of community development as one of the academic
disciplines in particular, stands out remarkably well as one of the most
striking indicator of the universities ability and determination to move with
the times and changes currently taking place within both government and in the
private sector.

It further underlines the fact that in these changing times no institution
and no government can exist as an island, nor afford to be aloof from the
concerns and challenges of the day as this would simply mean isolation and
indifference to the prolonged suffering of our people.

The collaboration we have with this university is characteristic of the role
universities everywhere should play in supporting democracy and social
transformation. It is the role we have always thought universities must play in
post apartheid South Africa once the country becomes liberated.

The symbolism of today's graduation marks the continuation of the journey we
embarked upon 12 years ago with higher learning institutions in an endeavour to
harness their synergies for the common good of our society and our people. We
are proud to be the ones to witness the coming into fruition of such a historic
and enduring relationship.

Programme Director, you will recall that the need for CDWs programme came
after a realisation was made that many ordinary people in our province and the
country especially the poor and the vulnerable and those in under served areas
still face difficulties in accessing government services where they live. We
realised for instance that despite enormous progress that has been made in all
fronts, communication is often the missing link between government's intentions
on the one hand and people's service delivery needs on the other. In some cases
we have noted that government service delivery mechanisms themselves, however,
relevant often do not always reach the intended recipients effectively and
timeously owing to a variety of reasons such as skills shortage, poor human
resource capacity, communication challenges, poor systems integration and
effective inter-governmental relations.

This reality has been confirmed many a times by our people in the many
interactions we have had with them through Izimbizo and "Executive Council
(ExCo) meets the people". In these forums the deafening message has often been
that government services are not reaching the people who need them and that
people are not able to access services due to lack of information or because
these services are located in far away places. All of these weaknesses
combined, made us to come to the conclusion that the existing capacity in
government was not adequate to deal with the challenge at hand, hence the need
to introduce a new layer of public servants that would be locally recruited and
deployed to become the ears of both government and the community at local
levels.

As a result, this is why we adopted the CDW method of intervention as a key
programme of government and an essential tool in bridging the service delivery
gap between government and communities.

Programme Director, it is now exactly two years since the programme was
launched in September and a lot has happened since. In many municipalities
across the province we hear positive reports that many CDWs are doing their
best to assist our people to gain housing and to assist them with applications
for identity documents (IDs) and social grants. However, despite these
successes there are also glaring practical lessons that we have learned in the
last two years which must help us strengthen this programme to become even more
effective.

One such daunting challenge has been the question of role clarification
between CDWs and elected councillors which at times resulted in unnecessary
competition and turf battles between them. While we must acknowledge that
councillors and CDWs are collaborating well in many areas, there are instances
where this is simply not happening as it should. However, the point must still
be made that the real or perceived bickering and petty squabbling between
councillors and CDWs simply borders on non-observance to the code of ethics and
cannot be allowed to go on while our people wait for services.

We once again wish to reiterate the point we have often made that there is
no need to exaggerate differences between CDWs and councillors as each one of
them is expected to be familiar with their respective roles and functions. The
fact remains that CDWs are expected to liaise, co-ordinate, inform and assist
communities with access to services, on the one hand while councillors on the
other hand are expected to act as elected representatives of the people.

It is important that we emphasise that councillors and CDWs are not enemies
and therefore need to complement each other and not to compete against each
other in executing their diverse roles.

In this instance it is your role as CDWs together with elected councillors
to ensure that there is maximum collaboration between yourselves and all the
other role players in local government. Our people will be constantly looking
up to you to ensure that water taps do not run dry, that cracking houses are
fixed, that contractors who build unfinished houses and disappear without
paying workers are reported, that the poor, the elderly and the disabled are
assisted in obtaining services and social grants and that disputes between
government and communities are resolved amicably without resort to
conflict.

If we have to make an example in this regard, the case of Moutse boundary
dispute should serve as both instructive and illustrative as it proves the
point that a lot of discontent by communities in the country usually stems from
distortion of facts, lack of communication and sometimes poor interaction
between government officials themselves on the one hand and communities on the
other.
As you will recall, Moutse has been on the news for some time due to a level of
instability taking place in the area as a result of boundary changes. This has
been the case until recently when government initiated two Izimbizo in the area
which helped a lot in making people to understand where government stands on
various service delivery challenges. These interactions also helped a great
deal in allaying people's fears about the implications of the new demarcations
as we are now beginning to witness a sea change of heart on the part of
community members who are now willing to work and co-operate with their
government in dispensing services to the people. We draw parallels from the
successes of our government's intervention in Moutse simply to make the point
that, likewise, CDWs should and can equally use communication and information
sessions as vital tools in the execution of their work.

Programme Director, once again we wish to take this opportunity to thank all
our graduates for successfully completing this programme hoping that you are
now ready to discharge your duties and functions in the most effective manner.
Our government has invested a lot on your capabilities and skills because we
want to see service delivery backlogs reduced in all the affected areas of the
province. We have full confidence in your abilities to succeed and failure
cannot be an option.

We ask you to use this qualification which is in your name, wisely, for the
benefit of your people who need your services now than ever before.

We are confident that this calibre of the CDWs cadre we have produced today
is solid enough and has all the ingredients we need to build a future model of
a public servant in our country.

We urge you to help us in inculcating a results oriented culture in the
public service which will serve to inspire the rest of our government to live
up to the Batho Pele principles.

Government places a high premium on your work because we are determined to
bring real and lasting changes in the lives of those at the receiving end of
our services.

Once more, we thank the university council and management for ensuring that
the experience of our learners in this institution becomes the most fulfilling
and rewarding one. Congratulations also to the parents and academic staff for
your enduring patience and encouragement throughout the duration of the
course.

May the UNIVEN live and continue to grow in order to produce more
generations of community and organic intellectuals for the benefit of the
nation and future generations to come.

I thank you!

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Limpopo Provincial Government
7 December 2006