Honourable Premier Cassel Mathale
MECs
Executive Mayors and Mayors
Councillors
Traditional Leaders
Senior Government officials
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Premier Mathale, we are indeed greatly honoured to address your Intergovernmental Forum, which is made up of all spheres of the Limpopo Provincial Government. As we understand it, this august body constitutes a concrete expression of the constitutional imperatives of cooperative governance.
It also symbolises the understanding that if we are to ensure an accelerated delivery of services as mandated and expected by our communities, we need to work even closer as the three spheres of government in partnership with all sectors of society, including the communities we serve.
Ladies and gentlemen in appreciating this honour that has been extended to Department Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), it is important that we remind ourselves that Cooperative Governance refers to a set of internal and external mechanisms and controls which enable stakeholders to define and ensure the attainment of cooperative objectives, securing their continuity and co-operative principles. The name "Cooperative Governance", gives effect to the provisions of Chapters three, six, seven and 12 of the Constitution, with Chapters three and 12 as fundamental priorities for execution. Cooperative Governance further refers to:
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A cohesive, coherent and integrated government delivery machinery that is seamless and responsive to service delivery needs of South African citizens in a more holistic manner.
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A streamlined service delivery by all spheres of government which while autonomous, will nonetheless work together, co-operate in mutual trust and act in good faith.
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A government that does its business in such a manner that a better life for all is in fact achieved through a better co-ordination of basic services.
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Development of efficient and coherent systems, processes, structures to ensure that the machinery of government is enabled in discharging its service delivery and developmental agenda.
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To close the gap between the government and the governed.
In an effort to meet the challenge of Co-operative Governance, the three spheres of government have since democracy developed intergovernmental forums at national and provincial level dealing with issues of alignment, integration and coherence. These structures include the President’s Coordinating Council, the MinMEC, the budget forum and others. However, it is important to note that after 15 years of democracy in 2009, the African National Congress (ANC) led government saw it fitting to now have a department whose mandate is to coordinate the work of government. Thus CoGTA came to be born under the leadership of President Zuma.
Premier, the role that structures like this forum have played in our steady progress as a nation cannot be undermined. Indeed since 1994, the ANC-led government has made commendable strides in ensuring that all South Africans regardless of race, colour or creed have access to basic services, access to equal opportunities and respect for basic human rights which are protected by our constitution. Remaining challenges not with-standing, it is important to appreciate that working together cooperatively, we certainly can do even more than the following achievements where by 2010:
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94% of households had access to running water (62% in 1994)
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80% of households had access to decent sanitation (50% in 1994)
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75% of households had access to electricity (51% in 1994)
Government has definitely put in place key interventions to ensure that national, provincial and the local spheres work together in ensuring a better life for all South Africans.
Councillor Induction Programme
The local sphere of governance is at the coal-face of delivery, therefore its performance at the community level is the citizens’ measurement of whether government is living up to the manifesto promises. On that note Premier let us take this opportunity to welcome the newly elected Councillors, who are coming in with a huge responsibility placed on their shoulders. The expectations, after 17 years of democracy, are at possibly the highest that they had ever been.
We are alive to the fact that Councillors will not be able to deliver on those promises and manage those expectations on their own. Councillors need the support of all of us and it is through these kinds of forums that we can ensure that there is coherence, coordination and integration in how government works. CoGTA is working with the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) in making sure that the Councillor Induction Programme currently underway is rolled out in such a way that our Councillors are enabled to hit the ground running.
Local Government Turn Around Strategy (LGTAS)
One of the key areas the Councillors are being inducted on is in understanding the LGTAS. The LGTAS Premier was adopted by Cabinet as a government programme in December 2009, with the intention that it would to achieve the following:
i. Ensure that municipalities meet the basic service needs of communities;
ii. Build clean, effective, efficient, responsive, accountable local government;
iii. Improve performance and professionalism in municipalities;
iv. Improve national and provincial policy, oversight and support;
v. Strengthen partnerships between local government, communities and civil society.
In recognition of the fact that municipalities are unique and different in many respects, Municipalities have also developed Municipal Turn Around Strategies (MTAS). Through the MTAS, the municipalities will work through their unique circumstances and challenges towards achieving the objectives of the LGTAS.
The LGTAS has been used as the basis for the Delivery Agreement on Outcome nine which the Minister has signed with the President the MECs and Executive Mayors. Achieving the objectives of the LGTAS still remains the measurement on which your performance will be judged come 2014. Outcome nine talks about achieving a responsive, accountable, efficient and effective local governance system by 2014.
Operation Clean Audit 2014
One of the key pillars of the LGTAS is Operation Clean Audit 2014. The main purpose of Operation Clean Audit 2014 is to address challenges faced by municipalities and provinces with the management of audits, especially audit findings and queries from the Auditor-General. The goal of the campaign is to seek to achieve Clean Audits in Municipalities and Provincial Government departments by 2014.
It is an achievable objective. One of the seven Municipalities that achieved clean audits in the 2009 to 2010 Audit Outcomes is Fetakgomo Local Municipality in this Province. It is a small rural Municipality that few would expect not to have the capacity to manage its finances in a manner that results in them achieving a clean audit. This is a huge achievement, and I am sure Premier you were suitably impressed and happy about that achievement.
Clean Cities and Towns (including villages)
Another pillar on which the LGTAS stands is the Clean Cities and Towns campaign, which has already been launched in the Eastern Cape. We expect to have rolled out the programme in all the Provinces by the end of this financial period.
The campaign will focus on coordinating efforts from all relevant stakeholders across the country towards greening initiatives, public education campaigns to promote beautification and cleaning of cities and towns. This campaign is designed to ensure that we create an enabling environment to attract investors in municipalities, a healthy environment for the communities as well as job creation.
Community Work Programme
Another key pillar of the LGTAS that we seek your cooperation and support in is the Community Work Programme (CWP). The purpose of the CWP is to provide an employment safety net for those with no access to opportunities that can lift them out of poverty. In addition to contributing to the key challenges of unemployment and poverty reduction, the CWP contributes to wider government priorities in the following ways:
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It strengthens community participation in local development planning and community development, because decisions on work are made in ward committees
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It is able to fast-track capacity to the local level in areas where other institutions are weak – in ways that complement and strengthen local capacity over time.
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The CWP provides an institutional mechanism that facilitates integrated development at the local level;
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It strengthens the ‘economic agency’ of those who are economically excluded, creating an alternative to ‘dependency’.
Honourable Premier, there would be no better way to honour our iconic leader, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, whose 93rd birthday the whole world celebrated on Monday 18 July than by discharging of our duties faster for our fast becoming impatient communities. Success in delivering faster and smarter to our communities also lies in our commitment to the principles of co-operative governance and intergovernmental relations. This forum is but one cog in enabling government to deliver a better life to all our people.
Premier Mathale we wish you fruitful deliberations in this sitting of the Limpopo Province Premier’s Inter-Governmental Forum.
Siyabonga!
Source: Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
