Government and Housing MEC MJ Mafereka, Free State Legislature
15 March 2007
Honourable Speaker
Madame Premier
Honourable Members of the Legislature
The Chairperson and the Provincial Executive Committee of South African Local
Government Association (Salga)
Honourable mayors and speakers
Marena le Dikgosi
Distinguished guests
Honourable Speaker, as I present the Budget Vote for 2007/08, I draw
inspiration from the Bangladeshi National, Muhammad Yunus who, when he received
the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 said: "The one message that we are trying to
promote all the time, (is) that poverty in the world is an artificial creation.
It does not belong to human civilisation, and we can change that, we can make
people come out of poverty and have the real state of affairs. So the only
thing we have to do is to redesign our institutions and policies and there will
be no people who will be suffering from poverty. So I would hope that this
award will make this message heard many times and in kind of forceful way, so
that people start believing that we can create a poverty-free world. That is
what I would like to do."
Yes, we believe that indeed poverty is an artificial creation and must be
eradicated. To this end, we will, in partnership with municipalities, organised
local government and our social partners, accelerate the implementation of
Breaking New Ground Policy and the five-year Local Government Strategic
Agenda.
These policies evolve a common vision to facilitate the provision of
shelter, creation of housing assets, and enhancement of institutional
capacities of municipalities to provide services to our communities and
contribute towards poverty alleviation.
In our quest to make significant contribution towards the evolution of
integrated sustainable human settlements, and development of effective local
government that is pivotal for service delivery and the entrenchment of local
democracy in our province, we undertook to do the following last year.
In relation to the milestones that we set for ourselves, we are delighted to
give an account of the highlights of our achievements.
Within the context of Project Consolidate and the implementation of the
five-year Local Government Agenda, we have solidified our partnerships with the
Independent Development Trust (IDT), the Development Bank of Southern Africa
(DBSA) through Siyenza Manje Programme and the Department of Water Affairs and
Forestry (DWAF). Through these partnerships, we have facilitated the provision
of expertise in various fields to our municipalities.
Five engineers and three financial experts have been deployed to six
municipalities (Tokologo, Matjhabeng, Setsoto, Phumelela, Nala, Masilonyana and
Xhariep District) to fast track the provision of municipal infrastructure
services and improve financial management. We have deployed sanitation
technical experts per district, and in some instances per municipality, to deal
with our programme of bucket eradication and provision of bulk sanitation
infrastructure.
Due to the apartheid legacy, Free State is known to have the highest number
of buckets. Of the recorded figure of 160 000 buckets, to date we have managed
to eradicate 80 000 buckets. We are confident that the remaining 80 000 buckets
will be eradicated by the end of December 2007. Three financial technicians
have been deployed at Phumelela to increase the financial capacity of the
municipality. We intervened in the political and administrative affairs of
Naledi Local Municipality and seconded a departmental official to the position
of Municipal Manager and provided Chief Financial Officer function for a period
of 12 months.
We provided technical assistance to 14 municipalities in the development of
Performance Management System (PMS) framework. Honourable Speaker, provision of
free basic services remains a key aspect of service delivery to our people. The
challenge we currently face is that these services are provided in a
differentiated manner, and we will have to establish a mechanism that will
ensure uniformity. Despite this challenge, I am pleased to announce that all
our local municipalities are providing free basic water and electricity to our
households.
In our endeavour to deal with the rising services debt to our
municipalities, we hosted a Local Government Debt Recovery Summit in February
this year. The summit succeeded in highlighting the core reasons behind the
phenomenon of rising service arrears debt and proposed solutions to the
problem, drawing on the collective experiences of both the public and private
sectors.
In dealing with infrastructure backlog, the province received R563 million
from the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG). To date R394 million has been
spent in providing service delivery infrastructure. In striving towards
co-ordinated and integrated service delivery, we hosted Integrated Development
Plan (IDP) Engagement Sessions on 15 to 19 May 2006. These were meant to foster
the alignment of municipal IDPs to the Free State Growth and Development
Strategy (FSGDS) and enhance the credibility of IDPs.
Working with the Office of the Premier in reviewing the Free State Growth
and Development Strategy, we have compiled the Free State Spatial Development
Framework, supported district municipalities in compiling district spatial
development frameworks and supported local municipalities to finalise their
town planning schemes.
In order to fast-track planning and development in the Free State, we have
re-constituted the Townships Board as from 1 January 2007. The board continues
to advise us on all land development matters. We take this opportunity to
congratulate Mr Bafana Mthembu for his appointment as the Chairperson of this
board. The Inter-Governmental Relations Framework Act of 2005 establishes a
regulatory framework for framing relationship across spheres and fostering of
partnerships. Informed by this Act, we have repositioned the MEC-Local
Government structure (MECLOGA) to enhance and strengthen co-operation between
the department, municipalities and organised local government. We will this
year, intensify efforts to introduce the cluster system as a way of working at
municipal level.
In ensuring that communities have information on services that government
provide, we have absorbed 255 Community Development Workers (CDWs) into the
department and deployed them to all local municipalities. Working with Offices
of the Speakers, we will capacitate municipalities to co-ordinate the work of
CDWs. During the course of this year we will recruit and train the remaining 45
CDWs.
Honourable Speaker, in ascertaining public participation and deepening of
local democracy, ward committees have been established in all municipalities in
the province with varying functional strength. We are therefore appealing to
municipalities to allocate sufficient resources for proper functioning of these
ward committees. The role of traditional leaders is critical in integrated
governance. To this effect, the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the
provincial House of Traditional Leaders were accorded the full time status in
office, and the Premier has assented to the recognition of 31 new traditional
leaders.
To promote regional and local economic development, we have worked with four
district municipalities to hold Growth and Development Summits. The summits
have achieved the identification of local economic opportunities and projects,
and forged strategic partnerships. In this financial year, we will hold a
Provincial Growth and Development Summit to consolidate the outcomes of the
mentioned District Growth and Development Summits. We will foster and establish
partnerships with the private sector in order to take the economic initiatives
forward. In recognising municipal performance excellence in relation to key
performance areas, we hosted a provincial Vuna Awards event. We once more take
the opportunity to congratulate the provincial winner, Tswelopele Local
Municipality.
Honourable Speaker, we committed to accelerating the Comprehensive Housing
Programme by building 12 000 houses in the last financial year. We are
delighted to report to this House today that 11 049 houses were completed to
provide shelter and progressively eradicate informal settlements in pursuit of
the principles of the Breaking New Ground Policy. However, the main constraints
remain the non-availability of township registers and management of credible
beneficiary lists.
Honourable Speaker, we committed to accredit municipalities in line with the
Housing Accreditation Policy. Mangaung Municipality was identified for level
one accreditation. As a result, R2,5 million has been allocated to Mangaung
Municipality for the appointment of personnel with appropriate expertise in the
housing component as well as to procure the required equipment. This process
will be completed by July 2007.
Honourable Speaker, some of the houses built before 2002 had serious
shortcomings resulting in shoddy work and incomplete projects. We made an
undertaking to complete these incomplete projects and to rectify houses with
defects. We are pleased to announce that all incomplete projects and houses
with defects have been completed in the Xhariep District. Quantity surveyors
have been appointed to draw bill of quantities for Motheo and Lejweleputswa
Districts. An amount of R13,4 million was allocated to the Lejweleputswa
project.
In our endeavour to improve the lives of people with disabilities, we have
completed a Special Needs Housing Project called Mphatlalatsane in
Viljoenskroon. This project is one of our success stories and was recently
awarded the prestigious Govan Mbeki Award as the best special needs
project.
Honourable Speaker, in partnership with the Land Claims Commission, we have
concluded a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on January 2007. This project is
the first of its kind in the province where the department will grant 1 407
subsidies, amounting to R62,8 million, to top up R30 million received from the
Land Claims Commission. We have committed to the eradication of informal
settlements by 2014 in the province.
In line with this commitment, we have allocated 1 600 subsidies to the
upgrading of the Grassland Informal Settlement Project in Mangaung. Honourable
Speaker, our programme on the 16 Days of Activism Campaign of No Violence
against Women and Children has become our commitment and an annual programme.
Thirty two houses were built and handed over to the beneficiaries. At this
stage let me pause, to convey our condolences to the family of Mamiki Matang,
the disabled child in Maokeng, who passed away in February this year and was
the beneficiary of this project.
Honourable Speaker, in our endeavour to empower women and youth, 1 500
subsidies were allocated to ten emerging women contractors and youth led
companies. In partnership with the Department of Education and Further
Education Training (FET) Colleges these contractors will be undergoing training
in all aspects of construction as part of the empowerment programme.
Honourable Speaker, notwithstanding the afore-mentioned significant
achievements, my department encountered a number of challenges on some fronts
that will be dealt with during the course of the year. These are:
* mobilising strategic partners and leveraging resources for co-ordinating
the implementation of five-year Local Government Strategic Agenda
* enhancing departmental capacity to provide hands-on support, monitor
municipalities and deliver integrated human settlement
* compliance with policy, regulatory and fiscal frameworks governing local
government
* unavailability of serviced sites and suitable land
* lack of dedicated housing units and adequate staffing in some
municipalities
* enrolment of housing projects with the National Home Builders Registration
Council (NHBRC) to improve the quality of low cost houses
* lack of integration with sector departments responsible for social and
economic amenities.
Our plan for 2007/08, renewing our pledge: a national partnership towards a
better life for all
Honourable Speaker, our approach to the 2007/08 financial year is informed
by the national theme, which places emphasis on the critical role of a
collective effort towards achieving the alleviation of poverty in our midst. In
working towards developmental local governance and integrated informal
settlements in the Free State, we commit to realise our mandate with the R878
028 000 allocated to my department through the following activities:
We will double our efforts to ensure that a hands-on approach is a common
thread that underpins the involvement of other sector departments in providing
the requisite support and resources to municipalities. We will intensify our
support and allocation of resources to the 12 Project Consolidate
municipalities. We will support municipalities to ensure continuous alignment
and co-ordination of the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) with the Free
State Growth and Development Strategy (FSGDS).
Furthermore, we will support municipalities to establish core basic
municipal systems to function effectively. We will place emphasis on supporting
the development and review of performance contracts of Section 57 managers.
We will provide leadership development programmes to selected municipalities
in partnership with the Salga and the Local Government Sector Education and
Training Authority (LGSeta). We will source and deploy hands-on support to
municipalities in order to fast track the provision of service delivery
focussing on bucket eradication. We will continue to support and monitor the
implementation of provincial and municipal infrastructure programmes.
Honourable Speaker, the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme
(ISRDP) remains our key programme and its implementation will be strengthened
in the node. In contribution towards the local economic development efforts of
our municipalities, we will support the implementation of the resolutions
reached at the recent District Growth and Development Summits. Furthermore, we
will deploy development economists and planners in selected municipalities. In
preparation for the 2010 Soccer World Cup, we will support initiatives in
municipalities, which position them, to benefit economically from opportunities
presented by this event.
We will work with the provincial Treasury to provide support on financial
management to municipalities and ensure that various concerns raised by the
Auditor General are attended to. We will also provide guidance on the
implementation of Municipal Property Rates Act (MPRA) in all municipalities. We
will support municipalities with the implementation of the Local Government
Anti-corruption Strategy to ensure good and effective governance.
We will intensify the provincial campaign to improve community participation
and ensure that organs of the people's power remain engaged. We will work with
Salga to promote all our IGR structures and ensure that district IGR forums
remain effective. Through the Local Government Communication System we will
assist municipalities with the development of effective communication
strategies to ensure stakeholder awareness and information on government
programmes.
Honourable Speaker, the unprecedented and growing, R3,3 billion services
arrears debt to our municipalities sharply raised the department's concern
about the revenue status of municipalities. Subsequently, the department
responded by holding the Debt Recovery Summit early this year. We will use the
outcomes of this summit to develop and implement a hands-on support programme
on revenue enhancement targeting municipalities with the largest percentage of
service arrears debt.
Further engagement and partnership will be pursued with critical
stakeholders such as the South African Revenue Services (SARS) and the private
sector, especially the banking sector. We will facilitate best practice sharing
amongst municipalities to ensure that effective revenue enhancement models are
tested and refined to suit unique circumstances prevalent in communities
serviced by our municipalities. We will partner district municipalities to
explore the establishment of a district shared services model that will cover
the broad spectrum of critical issues such as effective municipal financial
management and effective implementation and monitoring of infrastructure
programmes.
In partnership with the Department of Provincial and Local Government and
affected municipalities, we will implement the National Programme of Support to
the Institution of Traditional Leadership. This programme seeks to identify the
key areas where traditional leadership structures require assistance and
support in the short, medium and long term. It is a common understanding that
disasters do not know or respect boundaries and therefore a collaborative
Provincial Disaster Management Framework will be implemented to mitigate and
prevent disasters, and build the capacity of municipalities to handle
disasters.
Honourable Speaker, the financial viability of Xhariep District Municipality
remains a critical challenge. We are in a process of introducing a joint
administration between Xhariep and Motheo district municipalities. We will
accordingly amend Section 12 establishment notices to effect this
arrangement.
In this financial year, we will spend R653 million to build 14 278 low cost
housing under various housing programmes including special projects to empower
women, youth and vulnerable groups.
Once again 1 000 subsidies will be allocated to women contractors, 500
subsidies to youth contractors and 32 subsidies to vulnerable groups. We will
develop 13 534 sites in various municipalities with the intention of allocating
subsidies for housing development on those sites in a systematic manner. We
will strengthen our monitoring capacity by appointing consulting engineers to
fulfil the role of monitoring, evaluating and ensuring quality control in all
our housing projects.
Informed by the Grassland Pilot Project on the upgrading of informal
settlements, we undertake to replicate this project in the following towns of
six local municipalities:
* Bloemfontein
* Bethlehem
* Welkom
* Kroonstad
* Sasolburg
* Harrismith
We would want to urge municipalities to continuously identify suitable land
that promotes densification and spatial integration. We will partner the Land
Claims Commission to build 1 407 houses for land restitution beneficiaries. We
will deploy recently recruited Cuban professionals to improve the quality of
houses built through the People's Housing Process (PHP).
Honourable Speaker, the restructuring process in the department has been
completed. We have significantly increased our staff capacity by making
strategic appointments in key components and created district offices to better
co-ordinate our support to municipalities and provide services to
communities.
Economic growth and social development of countries are invariably
associated with large and sustained investment in education and training. The
skills development programme of the department will be aligned to the
Provincial Human Resource Development and Management Strategy as well as the
Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa).
The town and regional planning internship will be implemented in the
department to increase the skills in this area and enhance development planning
initiatives in the province. We will strengthen our supply chain management
unit to enable the department to attain the 70% small, medium and micro
enterprises (SMMEs) procurement targets as pronounced by the Honourable Premier
in this House during her recent State of the Province Address.
Honourable Speaker as we conclude, we would like to marshal all of us in
this House and our social partners behind the President's message in his 2007
State of the Nation Address where he states:
"We should dare to act in concert to pursue the 'happiness that can come to
men and women if they live in a land that is free.' We are not yet there yet.
But no one, except us, shall ensure that this dream is realised. And so, let us
roll our sleeves and get down to work, fully understanding that the task to
build the South Africa for which we yearn is a common responsibility we all
share." Let me take this opportunity to thank you the Honourable Speaker, the
Premier, my colleagues in the Executive Council, the Chairperson of the
Portfolio Committee on Local Government and Housing and Members of the
Legislature for their guidance and support.
Honourable Speaker, I also wish to extend my gratitude to the Chairperson of
Salga, his executive, mayors, speakers, councillors and municipal managers for
their commitment in building co-operative government. My appreciation goes to
my Head of the Department and staff for their support and commitment in
implementing our priorities. Families are our source of inspiration and support
without which our existence would have lesser meaning. For this reason, I would
like to thank my wife Tshidi and the rest of my family for their unwavering
support. I therefore present my department's budget vote as reflected in
Annexure A.
Annexure A
Budget allocation 2007/08
The total amount appropriated for the 2007/08 financial year for the
Department Local Government and Housing amounts to R878 028 000 which includes
the Housing Grant to the amount of R653 293 000. The total amount appropriated
can be summarised as follows:
* Administration
Programme amount: 79 660 000
Percentage of budget: 9%
* Housing administration
Programme amount: 707 829 000
Percentage of budget: 81%
* Local government administration
Programme amount: 90 539 000
Percentage of budget: 10%
* Economic classification
Programme amount: 114 301 000
Percentage of budget: 13%
* Compensation of employees
Goods and services
Programme amount: 79 008
Percentage of budget: 9%
*Transfers and subsidies
Programme amount: 676 122 000
Percentage of budget: 77%
* Capital assets
Programme amount: 8 597 000
Percentage of budget: 1%
The main elements in regard to the appropriation in regard to transfers
and
subsidies are:
* Transfers and subsidies: Provinces and municipalities
Municipal infrastructure: 8 858 000
Planning and surveying: 7 068 000
Integrated development and planning: 3 261 000
Amount: 19 187 000
Percentage of budget: 2.8%
* Transfers and subsidies: Universities and Technikons
Amount: 1 100 000
Percentage of budget: 0,2%
* Transfers and subsidies: Non-profit institutions
Amount: 3 175 000
Percentage of budget: 0,5%
* Transfers and subsidies: Households
Amount: 652 660 000
Percentage of budget: 96,5%
Issued by: Department of Local Government and Housing, Free State Provincial
Government
15 March 2007
