The Honourable Executive Mayor of Gert Sibande District Councillor Andries Gamede
The Honourable Executive Mayor of Govan Mbeki Local
Municipality, Councillor Sipho Nkosi
Honourable Executive Mayors present
Honourable Councillors
Honourable traditional leaders present
Heads of departments, municipal managers and senior officials from the three spheres of government
Organised business and our development partners
Organised labour and civic organisations
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
What an honour it is for me to be here with you again at this very important district summit a few days after the provincial summit. This summit comes at an opportune time as the country celebrates the 20th anniversary of Madiba’s release from prison.
Programme Director, allow me to invite one more time the indulgence of your esteemed delegates to this summit as I take this opportunity to Salute Madiba and his legacy. The country and people of the world are honouring the 20th Anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s historic 1990 Walk to Freedom. 11 February 1990, heralded a new age for democracy, turning the tide of an ongoing struggle for the transformation of South Africa into a united democratic, non-racial and non-sexist Society coupled with a complete transfer of power to the people.
Cyril Ramaphosa, an ANC activist who headed the Reception Committee 20 years ago had this to say “When Comrade Nelson Mandela was released, as he walked out of the prison gates, we knew that his freedom meant that our freedom had also arrived. As he became free, we also knew that we are now free.”
We admire you, Madiba for becoming an inspiration for Africans and the global village in its entirety. You have taught that if one believes in compassion for humanity we can all make a difference. You taught us not to go where the path may lead, but to go instead where there is no path in order to leave a revolutionary trail.
Sixteen years ago, the ruling party went into the first democratic elections led by Nelson Mandela which engraved a revolutionary trail. Since then, we have had a few more national and local government elections. By the position taken by our masses in all these elections, elections which were free and fair, the people of South Africa made categorical statements that:
* They are opposed to all forms of social and economic constructs of the apartheid regime and opted to stand for a united democratic, non-racial, non-sexist South Africa.
* They are opposed to any neglect of the rural areas and stand for the bridging of the gap between the haves and the have not’s.
* They stand for an accelerated offensive against poverty, unemployment, homelessness, for the elimination of the suffering of the most vulnerable in our society, including children, the youth, women, the disabled and the elderly.
* They want to see all our people living in conditions of safety and security, regardless of race, colour, gender, occupation, social status and residential location.
* They seek the realisation of the objective of health for all, including a sustained victory over diseases of poverty and malnutrition, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases, malaria, cholera and HIV and AIDS.
* They support the transformation of local government we have brought about and endorse the democratic process as the means by which the will of the people shall be expressed and very true indeed, the people shall govern.
* By their straight forward, categorical and unequivocal statements, through ballot the masses of our people have said no to all those who are opposed to a national democratic society.
One of the frontiers of struggle was the fight against the discriminatory local government system defined by so called Bantu councils, black administration boards, tricameral system wherein puppets from our own ranks were appointed by the apartheid regime as councillors to govern us on behalf of the apartheid state.
Our memories are still fresh how we vehemently rejected any undemocratic processes meant to oppress us forever by making the local space ungovernable. We did what we did in the context of time and space of our revolutionary discourse. But since Madiba was released 20 years ago truth is told that a lot has changed. I would argue that using political tactics from 1985 in 2010 is somehow problematic and risking being counter revolutionary.
The tactics used in most of the service delivery protest actions have compromised and continues to undermine the government of the people, by the people and for the people. Government has therefore taken a conscious decision to focus on local government and recognise the important role that it plays in our system of governance. I am sure that you all remember that during his State of the Province Address on 19 February 2010, The Honourable Premier DD Mabuza said, “Part of what should define the character of a developmental state that we envision as a nation, is the creation of a local government system that is responsive, efficient, effective and accountable.”
He further said, “In the long term, the province will develop a comprehensive turnaround strategy for local government, which will place local government into a sustainable developmental path. In this regard, we will convene a Local Government Summit before the end of February to craft practical programmes that will assist municipalities to be more people centred and service delivery-driven.”
The Provincial Local Government Summit was convened on 25 to 26 February 2010 thereby fulfilling the Premier’s commitment. Today, a few days after the Provincial Local Government Summit the district has convened its own District Local Government Summit. I am encouraged that the province is responding well to the Premiers call when he said, “We are calling for less s’chamtho but more action, action and action”.
The Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Minister Shiceka made the following comments at the Minimec held on 4 March 2010, and I quote “The implementation of the Local Government Turnaround Strategy provides a long-term and sustainable citizen-centred intervention, which is aimed at turning the tide on service delivery protests by dealing with the backlogs and complaints from citizens, which government agrees are valid in the main.
Parallel to the implementation of the local government turnaround strategy, the department is at the same time boosting the capacity for rapid response to communities that have embarked or are about to embark on protest action, using the existing staff we have.”
We are in addition gathering business intelligence through a risk assessment process on all the pressure points in the provinces, so that sector departments and municipalities can start processing issues that have been raised, in a way that seeks to find solutions with the affected communities.
The recent Provincial Local Government Indaba also enabled us to take stock of the path that we have travelled and as the first year of the current administration draws to a close we are quite pleased with progress made on a number of fronts however we are alive to the reality which says:
* A universal access to basic services by all households is not yet achieved
* Financial management and systems in many municipalities are still a challenge
* Municipal councils are unstable characterised by lack of participatory democracy
* There is a low institutional capacity and poor leadership capability.
In our commitment to turn the situation around we have set ourselves unambiguous programmes to invest more resources on the following:
* Improving the quantity and quality of municipal basic services
* Increasing capabilities of municipal contributions to job creation and sustainable livelihoods through Local Economic Development (LED)
* Strengthening the administrative institutional and financial muscle of municipalities.
* Strengthening implementation of anti-fraud, anti-corruption and anti-nepotism strategies and restoring the institutional integrity of municipalities
* Strengthening the institution of traditional leadership to partner with government to accelerate development of communities in rural areas.
Programme Director and summit delegates let us agree that all these commitments equal to zero and remains meaningless if they don’t translate into action. It be noted that e were amongst the first to hold a provincial local government summit and we have also been amongst the first to start rolling out of the Local Government Turn Around Strategy (LGTAS). The roll out of the LGTAS will be done in four phases, starting from 20 January 2010 to March 2011.
The first phase is the pilot project in which three identified municipalities will develop municipal Turn around Strategies (MTAS). Drawing from lessons of the pilot project, we have embarked on the second phase which will then include all municipalities in developing their MTAS and incorporating them in the Integrated Development Plans (IDPs).
The third phase will include the budgeting and approval of these IDPs, whilst the fourth phase will be the implementation phase. As from 2 March 2010 the task team started with the second phase. They have already started visiting all the three districts. This week from 8 to 12 March 2010 they are in Nkangala District, next week from 15 to 19 March 2010 they will be in Ehlanzeni District and from 23 to 31 March 2010 they will be visiting Gert Sibande District. I am sure that some of the deliberations that will take place at this summit will go a long way in informing the Municipal Turn Around strategies. I urge you to make use of the time that they will be spending in your district.
Remember that successful organisations engage the hearts and minds of their people in a conscious and deliberate alliance for success, these people are looking upon you as a symbol of hope. You dare not fail them.
The introduction to the book No easy walk to freedom captures the character description of Nelson Mandela by Oliver Tambo and I quote: Mandela’s inspiration lives on in the heart of every African patriot. He is the symbol of self sacrificing leadership. He is an outstanding individual, but he knows that he derives his strength from the masses of our people, who make up the freedom struggle in our country.”
When the communities take to the streets complaining about shortages of basic services such as water and electricity and indeed these are the challenges that they are faced with, we cannot ignore these and look for excuses. We must look at what our people are really saying and the message is clear “we are not happy with what you are doing; we need you to do much better because we have put you there because we trust you.” This therefore means that we must look at the underlying issues and come up with new approaches to deal with issues. It cannot be business as usual. We must ask ourselves if indeed we are doing what is right and if not so it requires some radical action and we must change course.
These unrests have also reminded us that we must stay close to our people. We must never allow a situation where we forget the communities that we serve and allow for a social distance to exist between us as elected leaders and the communities that we serve.
As we embark on the turnaround strategy for local government we must recommit ourselves to serving our people. We must at all times seek to achieve the following:
* Let us strive to be responsive to the needs of the people
* We must strive to make sure that as local government leaders and our staff members we embrace a culture of public service and accountability.
* We must be performance orientated and focused on the objectives which the ruling party has set
* We must have credible IDPs and ensure that our priorities and responsibilities are aligned to these
* We must strengthen communication with our communities and make sure that at all times they are well informed of our plans, programmes, achievements and challenges.
Programme Director, as l said during the Provincial Local Government Summit, we are standing at a very crucial point of our current term of local government, having hit the home stretch. However, we are fortunate in that as we hit the home stretch we have an opportunity to pause and take a break, in the form of this summit, which will give us an opportunity to restore some energy which we will need for the final push as we charge towards the finishing line. We are all aware that we will be going to the polls to elect new leaders for our local government by next year. Let us use this summit to turn things around and lay the foundation on which the next term of local government office bearers can build on.
Programme Director and summit delegates, I started off with inspirational thoughts from Madiba and the historic walk to freedom; it is therefore fitting to end on the same tone. I quote, “I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”
Yes we have our freedom, so let us take responsibility for our actions, we dare not linger, and we dare not fail our people, so let us join together and climb the many hills facing us one at a time until ultimately we reach our goals!!
From this summit our communities will be waiting for visible and positive results. Let us get to work and “Let there be less s’chamtho but more action, action and action”. Working together, we can do more to make local government everybody’s business” Please enjoy the rest of the summit.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
11 March 2010
Source: Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Mpumalanga Provincial Government (http://cgta.mpg.gov.za)
