S Mufamadi: Private Public Partnership Conference

26 February 2007

Programme Director, Mr Xolani Gwala
Mr Gavin Clark, the General Manager of ABSA Corporate and Business Bank
Professor John Bennington of the Institute of Governance and Public Management
Warwick Business School
Executives and other senior representatives of our private sector
companies
Mayors and councillors here present
Directors-General and other senior officials from our three spheres of
government
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

This two-day conference, a product of collaboration between the DPLG and
Cape Media, focuses our attention on what it is that our public and private
sectors can do together in order to redress current backlogs in service
delivery and infrastructure provision. Indeed, this dialogue is a showing forth
of the profoundly inspirational role which is played by those public and
private entities, who in the course of their work were able to formulate
service delivery or partnership models which enabled them to deliver on their
political of financial bottom lines.

We meet at a time when the country is still pondering on the implications of
the national budget which was delivered by my colleague, the Minister of
Finance, five days ago. For a country whose economy, until at least 12 years
ago languished in negative territory for an extensive period of time, it is
gratifying to note that South Africa's economy grew by 5% last year and that it
is expected to expand strongly over the next three years. In the result our own
sense of human possibilities has been profoundly transformed. We are convinced,
now more than ever before, that a better country is possible.

Programme Director, I scarcely need to remind this audience of the immensity
of the many sided challenges we face. Our collective achievements have resulted
in government now having more money to spend on services such as education,
health, policing, water and sanitation, energy, housing, keeping our
neighbourhoods clean as well as infrastructure provision. President Mbeki
exhorted us to make sure that we grow even faster, make sure that we build on
the achievement of the over one million jobs which our economy created since
2004 and that we further reduce the level of poverty which afflict so may of
our people. Institutional constraints and administrative bottlenecks have
consistently featured in our deliberations because they constitute obstacles to
be surmounted as we strive to build a prosperous South Africa.

In an effort to promote the efficient allocation of public resources and
services we made an intervention which has come to be known as Project
Consolidate. The thrust of the intervention is directed towards augmenting and
building resident municipal capacity for service delivery and to creating
conditions for sustainable, local economic development. The introduction of
this project was a foundational moment for a step change in the way government
conducts business. The focus on improving intergovernmental co-ordination and
integration has enabled our system of government to more efficiently set
targets and to be more effective in the implementation of relevant
projects.

With the help of stakeholders and partners such as the South African
Institute of Consulting Engineers (SAICE), the Institute of Municipal Finance
Officers (IMFO) and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants
(SAICA) we have been able to assist many municipalities by augmenting their
technical, financial, planning and project management skills. Other matters of
central relevance to the task of improving the capacity of municipalities were
addressed and continue to be addressed with the help of National Treasury, the
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, the Development Bank of Southern
Africa (DBSA) and the Independent Development Trust (IDT).

Ladies and gentlemen, Africa our continent is reportedly in real danger of
failing to achieve the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of
reducing levels of poverty by half by 2015. As a country we have set ourselves
a target which is even more ambitious than the global one, 'we have said that
by the end of 2007, no household will be using the bucket sanitation system; by
2008 all communities will have access to clean potable water; by 2010 all
communities will have access to decent sanitation and by 2012 all our people
will have access to electricity.'

When reporting back to the nation of the occasion of the State of the Nation
Address, President Mbeki said that with regard to basic water supply, we have
actually surpassed our own targets, "We have improved levels of the percentage
of the population with access to clean, drinkable water from 59% in 1994 to 83%
in 2006. Over the same period we have increased the access of the number of
indigents and poor households to free basic water from 55% to 85%.
Extrapolating from current trends, our country is well on the way to meet the
UN MDGs.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is common cause that the 2007 budget contributes
towards faster growth and shared benefits for everyone. It gives us the
possibility to enhance the capacity of communities to take advantage of the
opportunities presented by the current growth in our economy. It also enables
us to take a long view which will give us long term returns on our investments.
In this regard, I am happy to inform this audience that as at November 2006,
98% of our municipalities had already adopted Integrated Development Plans
(IDPs). It is through the IDP engagement process that we assist municipalities
to develop the capacity to envision better alternatives for themselves. These
processes are being followed through by encouraging municipal stakeholders,
public and private to work together in order to anchor within each local and
district economy, socio-economic planning capacities.

Increased budget allocations beget increased efficient spending obligations.
They also entail increased opportunities for the advancement of everyone's
interests. Many of the private sector participants in this conference will do
well to pay attention to what the Afrikaanse Handels Intituut has to say. They
must watch the Business Trust, Standard Bank, First National Bank (FNB), the
Private Service Utilities International (PSUI), INCA Capacity Building Fund and
the Old Mutual Group. These ones have now become veterans of the collaborative
private-public endeavour to make South Africa a better place to live and do
business in. We have worked together in municipalities which have produced
results which must inspire emulation by the rest. We have produced benchmarks
which together with others, we now have the responsibility to improve on. This
conference is called up to produce the necessary tools.

I thank you!

Minister for Provincial and Local Government
St George's Hotel, 26 February 2007.

Issued by: Department of Provincial and Local Government
26 February 2007
Source: Department of Provincial and Local Government (http://www.dplg.gov.za)