S Kwelita: Eastern Cape Housing Provincial Budget Vote 2006/07

23 March 2006

Check against Delivery

Madame Speaker of the Eastern Cape (EC) Provincial Legislature,
Distinguished Premier of the Province of the EC, Mrs Nosimo Balindlela,
Honourable MECs,
Honourable members of the provincial legislature,
Leaders of our political parties,
Honourable Kings of our province,
Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the House of Traditional Leaders,
Deputy Speaker,
Leaders in our system of local government,
Our honoured Traditional Leaders,
Director-General and other leaders of the public service,
Distinguished guests, friends and comrades,
Eastern Cape citizens,

Madam Speaker,

I would like to take this opportunity to present to the Eastern Cape
Provincial Legislature the budget speech for the financial year 2006/07 of the
Department of Housing, Local Government and Traditional Affairs.

Madam Speaker, may you allow me first to say that the people of the province
and country at large have spoken again during the recent local government
elections by showing their trust to the African National Congress (ANC) to lead
and ensure a better life for all. As the MEC responsible for local government,
let me also echo a word of appreciation to all stakeholders and participants
who have made the local government elections in the Province of the Eastern
Cape free and fair. A special word of thanks to the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) for its sterling work in managing the elections, and
announcing the results according to schedule.

Madam Speaker, the lessons we have learnt during the first term of local
government have helped us to come up with a comprehensive programme that will
enable us to achieve a fully viable and consolidated local government system
during this second term. These lessons are characterised by a decisive shift
towards strengthening accountability and public participation mechanisms. The
comprehensive programme we are referring to above will consist of three
overarching strategic priorities developed to steer forward the local
government agenda for the next five-year term: These are:

a) mainstreaming hands-on support to local government to improve municipal
governance, performance and accountability

b) addressing the structure and governance arrangements of the State to
better strengthen, support and monitor local government

c) refining and strengthening enforcement measures of the policy,
legislative and fiscal environment for local government.

Housing development is still one of the key delivery pillars of the
department. There has been a high demand for housing prior to local government
elections as was evidenced by a plethora of demonstrations on the ground. It is
conclusive that housing will need a special purpose vehicle to eliminate
informal settlements by 2014 through facilitation of the creation of
sustainable human settlements. The enhancement of the structure by adding
elements of “Breaking New Ground” (BNG) will assist in fulfilling our
mandate.

The Department has embarked on a vigorous turnaround strategy that seeks to
unravel and promote proper strategic direction to the Traditional Affairs
component. These include an assistance sourced from the Department of
Provincial and Local Government (dplg) to facilitate the implementation of both
the National Framework on Traditional Leadership and Governance Act 41 of 2003
and the provincial legislation on Traditional Leadership and Governance Act of
2005 (EC).

In this coming financial year the department will continue to strengthen its
institutional capacity focusing on the existing human capital. The continued
improvement on human resource management and development, supply chain
management and financial management will assist the line functionaries in
effectively and efficiently discharging their constitutional mandates and
responsibilities.

Madam Speaker, my Department is committed to rooting out corruption in all
its forms within the Department and in municipalities hence the signing of an
agreement with the Special Investigative Unit (SIU). The Department and SIU
partnership is starting to yield results in terms of recoveries and bringing
the culprits before courts of law.

The issues I have mentioned above will be dealt with in detail later in this
document, programme by programme, starting with Corporate Governance, Housing
Development, Developmental Local Government divided into two programmes namely
three and four, and concluding with traditional Affairs.

Madam Speaker, allow me now to proceed to the next important part of my
speech, which will be touching in summary on key highlights of the department
in regard to the 2005-2006 financial year.

Departmental Highlights for 2005/06

During the financial year we are about to close, the department has managed
to achieve the following major programmes and projects. Concerning our
sanitation programme, we have intensified our efforts and continue to ensure
that the humiliating bucket system of sanitation is removed.

Honourable Madam Speaker, President Thabo Mbeki has vowed that the bucket
toilet system - currently used by 230 000 households in the country wherein 58
474 households are in the Eastern Cape - will be eradicated by 2007; that all
communities will get clean water and decent sanitation by 2010; and electricity
by 2012. He has also promised to replace all shacks with houses by 2014.

The table below shows progress as at the end of February in regard to the
eradication of the bucket toilet system as per District Municipality (DM).

Targeted Municipality: Alfred Nzo DM
No. of units: 2 095
Replacement cost: R18 855 000.00
2005/2006 BEP, Dept allocations: R765 500.00
Expenditure to date: R650 198.29
Eradicated units as per expenditure: 347

Targeted Municipality: Amathole DM
No. of units: 16 462
Replacement cost: R148 158 000.00
2005/2006 BEP, Dept allocations: R10 069 000.00
Expenditure to date: R2 951 491.51
Eradicated units as per Expenditure: 1 179

Targeted Municipality: Cacadu DM
No. of units: 11 841
Replacement cost: R106 569 000.00
2005/2006 BEP, Dept allocations: R7 171 000.00
Expenditure to date: R5 034 190.71
Eradicated units as per Expenditure: 1 080

Targeted Municipality: Chris Hani DM
No. of units: 4 066
Replacement cost: R36 594 000.00
2005/2006 BEP, Dept allocations: R4 724 000.00
Expenditure to date: R1 382 122.12
Eradicated units as per Expenditure: 1 416

Targeted Municipality: OR Tambo
No. of units: 1 774
Replacement cost: R15 966 000.00
2005/2006 BEP, Dept allocations: R621 000.00
Expenditure to date: R2 385 531.88
Eradicated units as per Expenditure: 222

Targeted Municipality: Ukhahlamba DM
No. of units: 7 343
Replacement cost: R66 087 000.00
2005/2006 BEP, Dept allocations: R771 500.00
Expenditure to date: R8 357 666.14
Eradicated units as per Expenditure: 1 386

Total Eastern Cape:
No. of units: 43 581
Replacement cost: R392 229 000.00
2005/2006 BEP, Dept allocations: R24 122 000.00
Expenditure to date: R20 761 200.65
Eradicated units as per Expenditure: 5 630

Madam Speaker, let me hasten to acknowledge that this process of providing
proper sanitation for our people has not been a smooth one. It has been a
process that is faced by municipalities with challenges such as lack of
capacity and ability to spend. But I would like to assure this House that more
work continues in developing the capacity of municipalities and the department
to strengthen the local governments’ ability to deliver sustainable
services.

During the year under review, discussions were held with all municipalities
to promote co-operative governance and this contributed to resolution on
unblocking of projects and increase of expenditure to 100 percent.

The program of upgrading of informal settlements at Soweto-on-Sea in Nelson
Mandela Metropolitan Municipality, Duncan Village under Buffalo City and the
rural pilot project at Elliotdale under Amathole District Municipality and
Mbhashe Local Municipality as identified and piloted by provincial and national
departments, has finalised the planning stage and concluding of co-operative
agreements.

In improving poor quality of housing products, the department has employed,
on contractual basis, 21 project managers, 22 clerks of works, three local
government consultants and 10 interns. The department provides institutional
capacity building to municipalities. Two municipalities have been identified
for accreditation at stage one level at a cost of a R5 million grant from the
national Department of Housing. The remaining 43 municipalities are in the
meantime assisted by the department’s building inspectors, project managers and
clerks of works

In a process of utilising the allocated share of R581 million in terms of
housing budget for the 2005/2006 financial year, the department embarked on a
campaign of unblocking stalled projects. The following table serves to give
summary details of the blocked projects at District Municipality level:

The number of stalled projects is as follows:

Municipality: Nelson Mandela Bay
No. of projects: 25
Amount: R20,9 million

Municipality: Buffalo City Local Municipality (LM)
No. of projects: 16
Amount: R19,8 million

Municipality: Cacadu DM
No. of projects: 19
Amount: R16,0 million

Municipality: Amathole DM
No. of projects: 35
Amount: R47,6 million

Municipality: Chris Hani DM
No. of projects: 21
Amount: R29,6 million

Municipality: Ukhahlamba DM
No. of projects: 3
Amount: R2,8 million

Municipality: OR Tambo DM
No. of projects: 18
Amount: R31,9 million

Municipality: Alfred Nzo DM
No. of projects: 13
Amount: R9,9 million

Grand Total:
No. of projects: 150
Amount: R178,5 million

Out of the 150 projects, 87 have been finalised and 67 are under
construction. About 22 projects are still going through procurement
processes.

Madam Speaker, as we are all aware, we can now proudly report that the South
African local government elections were held successfully and were pronounced
as free, fair and credible by the IEC. We would like to thank you honourable
members of parliament, political leaders of different formations, NGOs,
relevant departments, constitutional organs of state and the citizens of this
country of ours for the many and varied contributions that you made towards a
successful 1st March 2006 local government elections.

We have registered a higher voter turnout than the international average of
41 percent in local government elections. We have seen a slight improvement in
the national average of voter participation from 48,0 in the year 2000 to 48,3
percent this year.

I am now seeking to realise a country where the buds of freedom and
democracy are nurtured into a large tree and a country granted trust by its
nation full of pride and confidence.

This term of local government from 2006 to 2011 can indeed be characterised
as one of great opportunity and hope for all South Africans, particularly the
poor. These successful poll results follow the State of the Province Address
delivered by Honourable Premier Nosimo Balindlela on 10 February 2006 when she
made a clarion call that, and I quote:

“Every single one of us has a role to play in making our province a most
compelling place in which to live, work and invest in”.

In her speech, the Premier urged the public to further confirm the vital
importance of our system of local government with regard to the achievement of
the central goal of securing a better life for the people, by going to the
voting stations in our masses on 1 March 2006 to elect our local government
representatives. Indeed Premier, so did our people.

The process of re-establishing our 45 municipalities has begun.

The Department has assisted 19 Project Consolidate municipalities in various
functional areas as specified by the dplg report. Project Consolidate imbizos,
focussing on municipalities under OR Tambo District Municipality, were attended
by President Thabo Mbeki. This was followed by a visit by national ministers
during the Imbizo Focus Week held in various District Municipalities and the
Metro in the province.

The Department is proud to announce that all municipal Integrated
Development Plans (IDPs) were assessed. Our newly deployed cadre of community
development workers (CDWs) becomes key in facilitating linkages between
community structures and government. I am proud to report that the Eastern Cape
– true to our tradition of deep participatory democracy – is the leading
implementer of the CDW project nationally. 168 CDWs have graduated and an
additional 120 have completed their training. New intake of about 100 CDWs
began its training in February 2006. All CDWs are currently involved in the
African Peer Review Mechanism process at grassroots level. In the province, we
have 10 CDWs that are leading the process amongst their peers at community
level. The CDW initiative is integrated and linked to key government flagship
programmes such as the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), Integrated
Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP) and Urban Renewal Development
Programme (URDP). Madam Chair, during this current year an amount of R12,2
million has been secured to drive the CDW programme.

The Provincial Local Economic Development (LED) Programme was officially
launched on the 23rd of February at the Qaukeni Great Place. This programme is
funded by the European Union (EU) to the tune of R250 million, and will assist
our municipalities to be more effective in supporting enterprise growth in
their localities. The overarching aim of the programme is to help address
extreme poverty through enterprise development. Emphasis is placed on a
partnership approach that ensures that small enterprises become sustainable
through strong market linkages and technical support.

The Department has enacted both the Provincial House of Traditional Leaders
Amendment Act, 2005 and the Provincial Legislation on Traditional Leadership
and Governance Act 2005 (EC). The organogram for the House of Traditional
Leaders (HoTL) has been finalised and approved and the post of a senior manager
for the Provincial HoTL has been advertised and will be filled in due
course.

A new organogram of the branch of Traditional Affairs has been finalised and
will be operationalised once the department approves it. The organogram is in
line with the national framework legislation on Traditional Leadership and
Governance Act, 2003 and provincial legislation on Traditional Leadership and
Governance Act 2005 (EC) whose emphasis is on the transformation of the
institution of traditional leadership.

The Department has managed to fill the Chief Financial Officer and head of
Supply Chain management posts which were critical for the management and
implementation of financial management reforms, fiscal discipline and supply
chain management policies and legislation.

The Department is continuing with the learnership and internship programmes
in order to alleviate the skills shortage whilst at the same time addressing
the issue of poverty alleviation. During the current financial year, 51
learners and 47 interns were employed. 101 Traditional Council Secretaries who
are in possession of standard ten educational qualifications have been
appointed as full-time public servants. Eight vehicles were purchased for six
Provincial Kings, the Provincial HoTL Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson.

The department has succeeded in redeploying and transferring 70 excess
personnel to other government institutions leaving out a balance of 262 excess
staff. The department has no total control over this process as it depends
solely on the willingness and co-operation of other government departments.

Budget Summary for financial year 2006/2007

Programme 1: Corporate Governance: R80 329 000
Programme 2: Housing: R824 207 000
Programme 3: Municipal Governance: R161 624 000
Programme 4: Municipal Development and Planning: R80 414 000
Programme 5: Traditional Affairs: R104 032 000

Programme 1: Corporate Governance:
Budget: R80 329 000

Madam Speaker, this programme is responsible for the giving corporate
support to the line functionaries, which includes ensuring proper financial
management, effective proper financial management, effective supply chain
management that takes into account the implementation of a number of policies
and legislations, and championing transformational programmes of the
department.

To strengthen the skills development and capacity building programme, in the
main, the department will focus on financial management improvement initiatives
which include fiscal focusing linked to the Annual Performance Plan (APP) and
Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). It will also focus on effective
economic analysis linkages between budget and operational plans to maximise own
revenue collection strategy.

In order to ensure that we enhance our monitoring and reporting, skills
development, human resources management and information technology,
communication support, we have set aside a budget of R15,37 million.

Madam Speaker my department will during the coming financial year strengthen
the induction programme especially on support functionaries to understand the
functioning processes and policy implications of line functions so that they
better understand the processes, functioning and policies when performing their
supporting role.

Effective utilisation of available scarce skills has been a challenge which
led to the conducting of a skills audit by the department during 2005/06 and
the department will during the coming financial year develop an implementation
programme for the correct placement of staff as well as addressing the skills
gap through recruitment processes and staff retention.

Whilst the department will be enhancing its human resources development
programme, external assistance to build capacity within the department and in
municipalities will be utilised in partnership with the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) and European Union (EU). This will enable the
department to better support municipalities to deliver on basic services.

We are reaching the finalisation of the recruitment process to address the
skills shortage especially at management level as well as technical and
professional cadres. This will assist the department in having proper skills in
order to discharge its responsibilities effectively and efficiently. Presently
the department is functioning at a 50 percent capacity rate, a situation which
is not acceptable for us in order to achieve our constitutional mandate to
assist and provide necessary support to municipalities in areas such as housing
development, developmental local government and traditional leadership.

The department is continuing with learnership and internship programmes in
order to alleviate the skills shortage whilst at the same time addressing the
issue of poverty alleviation in the underdeveloped and rural areas. An amount
of R2 million is set aside to deal with this process for the 2006/07 financial
year.

The communication of the department and its stakeholders needs to be
strengthened in order to assist the municipalities to strengthen community
participation, which is very critical in this second decade of our democracy.
We also need to improve the marketing and branding of the department in line
with provincial policy. We will work harder in this financial year to improve
the marketing and branding of the department in line with provincial
policy.

Existing partnerships with institutions of higher learning in the province
will be strengthened for this purpose of addressing capacity of public
servants, traditional leaders and councillors.

Programme 2: Housing Development
Budget: R 824 207 000

The province of the Eastern Cape is characterised by a high demand for
housing, as a consequence of homelessness and informal settlements located on
the periphery of industrialised urban areas, and joblessness. Current housing
policies across all provinces have not been able to address realities on the
ground hence now a policy shift in housing delivery in the form of “Breaking
New Ground” in housing has been muted.

The key is to move beyond provision of a basic shelter to the establishment
of sustainable human settlements with social and economic amenities i.e.
clinics, schools, malls etc. The main challenge is to ensure that all sector
departments fully commit and engage themselves in this programme. Political
will and commitment is therefore a starting point to ensure the process
cascades down to various technical levels. The department will however in the
coming financial year seek to address the situation with much emphasis on and
inclusive of the following strategic priorities:

* eradication of informal settlements
* finalisation of all blocked projects/unblocking of blocked projects
* emergency housing
* rectification programme
* close monitoring and inspection of housing products to ensure quality.

Eradication of informal settlements

The new policy shift (BNG) puts emphasis on the eradication of all informal
settlements in the country by 2014. Approximately the province faces a
challenge of 205 informal settlements. There are 17 operational areas which
constitute the new policy and are embedded on four Strategic Thrust
Pillars:

* financial interventions
* incremental housing
* social and rental housing
* rural housing programme

Two urban pilot projects i.e. Soweto-on-Sea at Nelson Mandela Metro and
Duncan
Village at Buffalo City Municipality and a rural pilot project i.e. Elliotdale
at Mbhashe Municipality have been identified. The planning stages have been
completed and during the next financial year the programmes will be
intensified. During the next financial year, Ngangelizwe at King Sabata
Dalindyebo and Siyanda at Mnquma Municipalities will also be considered into
the fray of becoming additional pilots for the province.

Finalisation of all blocked projects/unblocking of blocked projects

Seeing the effects of rising stalled projects around the province, the
department decided not to entertain any new projects and therefore concentrate
and directs its efforts on the unblocking of blocked projects until end of
March 2008. The upcoming year will see the finalisation of this process. The
utilisation of the regularly updated projects management plans will be
intensified. However, an amount of R260,4 million has been set aside for new
projects for the 2007 – 2008 financial year.

Emergency housing

Much effort will also be directed to emergency housing and the challenge is
to obtain reliable information and to secure relative enough funding. Despite
the abovementioned challenges a certain amount of assessment has been done and
the current backlog indicates that we will need about R170 million. Much work
will be done to ensure that we are not always responsive to occurrences but
also plan for emergencies in advance. For this programme, the department has
set aside R32,1 million for the 2006-2007 financial year. In terms of the
prioritisation exercise conducted with municipalities, this amount will be
distributed as follows:

* Cacadu DM (Klipplaat) – R4 million
* Nelson Mandela Bay - R5 million
* Alfred Nzo DM - R10 million
* OR Tambo DM - R8 million
* others will share - R5 million

Rectification programme

This programme has been introduced by national government and is two
pronged; i.e. to obtain information on houses in need of rectification:

* from 1930 to 1994
* from 1994 to 2002.

The department will seek assistance from outside government (outsource) to
conduct this research and again the challenge is to secure enough funding for
this process. R40 million will be utilised to kick-start the implementation of
the rectification programme.

Close monitoring and inspection of housing products to ensure quality

At the moment the department has about 450 projects with varying numbers of
housing units around the province and one project manager out of the eighteen
appointed has to service 25 projects, a situation not conducive for the
department to succeed in its quest to ensure quality houses and less shoddy
workmanship. Again, the challenge here is funding, to be able to attract the
skill required of a project manager from outside government service. However,
the department has made efforts by approaching Treasury to release some funding
to employ more project managers and clerks of work on contract basis for the
next three years.

During the first six months of the 2005/06 financial year, unreliable
expenditure projections posed a challenge, which has subsequently been
addressed through a vigorous exercise of aligning projections between the
department and the municipalities. To deal with this matter and to ensure
smooth housing delivery, we have enhanced monitoring and supervision by
ensuring that the following measures are implemented:

* quarterly reports on completed houses
* quarterly reports on completed and occupied houses
* expenditure versus values created
* projections to match with expenditure – if not reasons for deviation

During the second quarter, the province will be holding housing awards in
order to reward different categories of participants in housing delivery. The
said process will culminate in the national awards in the third quarter.

Programme 3: Developmental Local Government
Budget: R242 038 000

Programme 3: Municipal governance: R161 624 000
Programme 4: Municipal development and planning: R80 414 000

The recent local government elections have ushered in the second term of
democratically elected municipal councils which should focus on the following
strategic priorities:

Mainstreaming hands-on support to Local Government to improve municipal
governance, performance and accountability:

* In collaboration with National government departments, we must prioritise
support for municipalities through the actions identified. We will report to
the July 2006 Cabinet Lekgotla through the relevant clusters on, inter
alia:

a. Reflecting concrete support actions to municipalities in their strategic
and business plans
b. Provincial government specifically must prioritise support for
municipalities through the actions identified by, inter alia,
c. The Office of the Premier & Premiers Co-ordinating Forum must assume
overall accountability for co-ordinating and monitoring the hands-on support to
municipalities.
* The South African Local Government Association (SALGA), in partnership with
dplg, must intensify its support to the political leadership of municipalities
by:
a. engaging in a structured programme of capacity building and training
b. stabilising the political and administrative components of municipalities;
and unblocking political problems that negatively affect the service delivery
and support actions directed at municipalities
c. building the technical capacity and capability of municipalities through the
mobilisation and deployment of appropriate skills and expertise.
* The department will deploy the necessary resources and senior staff to
participate in the 2006 Integrated Development Programme Engagement Plan.
* Finalising a local government competency framework by July 2006 (which will
include improving the regulatory environment by issuing regulations on the
appointment, performance and evaluation of Municipal Managers together with
other Senior Managers.
* Supporting municipalities to fill vacant municipal and senior manager
posts.

Addressing the structure and governance arrangements of the State to better
strengthen, support and monitor local government:

* The intergovernmental system must be strengthened to benefit local
government by principally implementing the Intergovernmental Relations (IGR)
Framework legislation.
* Critically review the structure and role of provincial government to support
and monitor municipalities and their capability to play an effective and
efficient role in supporting, implementing and overseeing national development
priorities in general.
* The capacity of provincial departments responsible for local government
should be improved. With regard to Project Consolidate, their responsibilities
should include the following:
a. providing a framework and clear direction for the intervention in a
particular municipality
b. identifying and mobilising the resources (human, financial and otherwise)
that currently reside within the government system
c. addressing impediments and bottlenecks, particularly those that are a result
of national and /or provincial government actions (or lack thereof)
d. ensuring that the intervention goals are delivered on time and with the
desired impact
e. negotiating with various stakeholders to ensure progress and success with
the intervention
f. mediating conflicts that would otherwise inhibit the progress and success of
the intervention.

Refining and strengthening enforcement measures of the policy, legislative
and fiscal environment for local government:

* Prioritising the refinement of the local government policy, regulatory and
fiscal regime in the following areas:
a. planning for growth and development
b. two-tier system of local government
c. distribution of powers and functions across the state and asymmetrical
assignment to local government
d. ward committees and community participation
* The planning capacity at all three levels of government must be significantly
improved, including designating districts as a planning hub.
* Regulations and/or legislative amendments must be introduced to transform
district and metropolitan IDPS into expressions of government-wide
commitments.

In conjunction with the abovementioned priorities, government will ensure
that the following service delivery targets are achieved:

* all communities have access to clean water and decent sanitation by
2010
* all houses have access to electricity by 2012
* there is universal provision of Free Basic Services
* prioritising the eradication of the bucket system in 2006/2007
* development of a national Municipal Infrastructure Investment Strategy that
will be a roadmap to achieving universal access.

In the first term, the department faced many challenges, some of which
continue to exist to date. These include, inter alia, the non-finalisation of
the stabilisation phase of municipalities, inadequate capacity to deliver
services, service backlogs, lack of public participation in local government
affairs, poor inter-governmental relations, the non-implementation of the
provisions of the legislation by some municipalities and bucket-toilet
eradication.

Regarding bucket toilet eradication it becomes important for the House to
note that during the 2005/06 financial year the backlog stood at 58 474 units.
This figure has been reduced through departmental and dplg funding by 6 713
units during the previous financial year. Hence the current backlog stands at
52 762.

The government, being mindful of its commitment to totally eradicate this
sanitation system by December 2007, has increased Municipal Infrastructure
Grant (MIG) Funding to specifically ensure that municipalities prioritise this
programme and meet this target.

The recent elections have created new challenges in that, the newly elected
Councils will require support from all three spheres of government and civil
society. Without forgetting I appeal to this House to join hands to ensure that
the process of incorporating Matatiele into our province is finalised as soon
as possible.

Madam Speaker, I must further express my sincere gratitude to this House and
the
Executive Council for the support rendered to my department towards the success
of the local government elections. It is for this reason that a Local
Government Summit will be held very soon to pull together all local government
practitioners and other role-players to consider and review our efforts during
the last five-year period.

In order for me to pursue and address the challenges faced by my department,
the strategic goal for this programme is to create capacitated, viable, stable,
developmental and sustainable municipalities. Hence the following strategic
objectives:

* promotion, development and implementation of proper institutional and
administrative systems
* promotion of good governance
* promotion of integrated planning, land and infrastructure development as well
as integrated, sustainable local economic development.

The thrust of these focal areas is, and always will be, community directed,
accountable and transparent.

Promotion, development and implementation of proper institutional and
administrative systems – R16 216 000:

Capacity building as my constitutional responsibility is a continuous
process carried forward from previous years and it will remain an integral part
of my department for as long as municipalities continue to exist.

My department will further intensify its efforts to ensure the provision of
free basic services by municipalities and in particular those municipalities
that are characterised by high levels of indigence.

Amount: R700 000
Purpose: Development of by-laws
Objective: Ensure application of constitutionally aligned bylaws

Amount: R715 000
Purpose: Completion of Section 78 Assessment Process
Objective: To appropriately allocate powers and functions

Amount: R1 760 000
Purpose: Development of performance contracts and organograms
Objective: Performance contracts for Section 57 employees signed to enable
proper performance assessment

Amount: R13 041 000
Purpose: Improve financial management
Objective: To target municipal revenue management; ICT; Books of Account; Asset
Registers; Annual Financial Statements

Promotion of Good Governance – R35 768 000:

In pursuit of this objective, the focus of my department will be on ensuring
effective community participation in all local government matters, the
development of a municipal performance management system, effective reporting,
anti-corruption and effective disaster management and emergency services.

Amount: R1 440 000
Purpose: Councillor training
Objective: Well trained and competent councillors

Amount: R1 385 000
Purpose: Establishment of ward committees
Objective: To promote public participation

Amount: R 5 000 000
Purpose: Specialist services
Objective: To be able to assist municipalities in areas of need

Amount: R7 742 000
Purpose: Eliminate mismanagement
Objective: Well managed and administered finances and other resources

Amount: R20 201 000
Purpose: Strengthen municipalities to be able to deal with disasters and
emergency services
Objective: To provide quick response to disaster and emergency services

Promotion of Integrated Development Planning, Land and Infrastructure
Development as well as integrated, sustainable local economic development
– R63 630 000:

The objective of this government is to improve the quality of life of all
citizens in the country. This can only occur by means of a process of
integrated development planning that is linked to the National and Provincial
Growth and Development Strategies.

As a department, we will focus intensively on land and infrastructure
development to improve the level of service delivery, which should in turn lead
to the eradication of poverty. As stated by both the President and the Premier
in their State of the Nation and Province addresses respectively, poverty is an
enemy that will be tackled, inter alia, by means of the Municipal
Infrastructure Grant (MIG), bucket eradication programme, local economic
development (LED) and Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme
(ISRDP) and Urban Renewal Programme (URP).

My department needs to ensure that land and space are properly planned and
managed. This will happen through the provision of technical support, for
example, Town Planning, Valuation and Survey services.

Amount: R20 453 000
Purpose: Bucket eradication
Objective: Promotion of healthy environment and job creation

Amount: R4 000 000
Purpose: Spatial Development Framework (IDPs)
Objective: Proper land-use management

Amount: R10 800 000
Purpose: Land Survey and Property Valuation Rolls
Objective: Promotion of orderly settlements and revenue generation in
municipalities

Amount: R10 000 000
Purpose: Assist in development of IDP and Performance Management System
(PMS)
Objective: Sustainable development

Amount: R18 377 000
Purpose: Promoting LED, URP, ISRDP and Free Basic Services
Objective: Sustainable development

Madam speaker, the programmes alluded to will be accommodated within the
total budget of R115 537 000. This constitutes 55 percent of the total budget
of this Programme.

In addition, partnership agreements have been entered into with the European
Union, the United Nations Development Programme, Swedish Government and other
State organs. The latter aimed at developing Disaster Management Information
Systems in three municipalities. The partnership with EU aims at promoting LED
through supporting municipalities in creating conducive environments for
sustainable development. With regard to UNDP a Pilot-Programme on capacity
building will be launched at one Project Consolidate local municipality within
the area of jurisdiction of the OR Tambo District Municipality. This will be
replicated in other municipalities at a later stage.

My department intends developing an Urban Management Strategy to be piloted
at two municipalities that are more rural in nature. These are the King Sabatha
Dalindyebo (KSD) and Umzimvubu municipalities. With KSD this entails extension
of the Urban Renewal Programme from Ngangelizwe as a node to the Greater
Mthatha area. The House must also be mindful that the intention of the
department is to extend the Project Consolidate philosophy to other
municipalities.

Programme 4: Traditional Affairs
Budget Allocated: R104 032 000

Madam Speaker, the transformation of our traditional leadership and its
institutions is one of the priority programmes of government. The national
legislation of 2003 and the provincial legislation of 2005 provide certain
roles and responsibilities to traditional leaders and their institutions.

Madam Speaker, this province is the first one to have the Chairperson and
Deputy
Chairperson of the Provincial HoTL operating on a full-time basis. This will
enable the department to speed up the implementation of its transformation
agenda on traditional institutions.

The main focus for the department during the coming financial year for the
traditional leadership and its institutions will be:

* The full implementation of the two pieces of legislation (national and
provincial)
* enhancing the capacity of the traditional affairs component as the
administration of the HoTL
* effective functioning and proper monitoring of traditional councils
* provision of adequate support to traditional institutions and the
strengthening of administrative capacity of the Provincial HoTL and the
department
* promotion of gender equality within the institutions in compliance with the
legislation
* development of additional legislation as mandated by the White Paper on
Traditional Leadership and Governance and other policies
* capacitating traditional leadership institutions
* improvement of the conditions of service of traditional leaders
* promote participation of traditional leaders in IDP development and
facilitate partnerships between traditional leadership institutions and
government departments

In providing institutional and infrastructural support to traditional
leadership and institutions, the department is continuing with the process of
constructing the new Provincial House of Traditional Leaders as well as
traditional council offices. This is part of the process of restoring the
dignity, image and integrity of the institution of traditional leadership. For
the construction of the new Provincial House of Traditional Leaders, technical
and professional processes are at an advanced stage. The handover to
constructors for both the Chamber and offices will take place in July and
September 2006 and the practical completion will be in June and November 2007,
respectively.

We have set aside funds amounting R15 million to the construction of the new
Provincial House of Traditional Leaders and R10 million for Traditional Council
offices. The construction of the five traditional council offices in various
district areas in the province is in progress. However, the programme is faced
with challenges regarding issues of questionable quality and size. So far out
of five structures only three have been completed in this current financial
year.

A forum for Queens and wives of traditional leaders called “iMbumba
yaMakhosikazi aKomkhulu” has been established for the promotion of development
and is allocated an amount of R3 million for this purpose.

In conclusion Madam Speaker,

The department, its stakeholders and local partners must work together to
find the best ways of engaging, involving and empowering citizens in their
communities to maximise the utilisation of resources for betterment of service
delivery. This is not optional if we are to build stronger communities and
tackle social injustices that have festered for far too long.

Today as we face a number of issues in the three spheres of government,
amongst others the issues of providing housing and other related services,
stamping out of corruption, capacity building and other related issues of
governance. If we do not ceaselessly and resolvedly push forward with the
transformation of our society, the foundations of freedom that were created
when we took over this country will be shaken and the door will be closed to
the possibility of development in the future.

The engine for developing sustainable communities is in each and everyone of
the people of the Eastern Cape and the success or failure of our development
rests with the firm resolve and energy of our people. Believing in the Eastern
Cape’s future, let us face adversity with courage and hope.

In this, from my heart I ask for the cooperation and support of departments,
Members of the Provincial Legislature, Members of Executive Council and the
people of Eastern Cape.

Ndiyabulela!

Issued by: Department of Local Government, Housing and Traditional Affairs,
Eastern Cape Provincial Government
23 March 2006
Source: Eastern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.ecprov.gov.za/)