Honourable Speaker and Madam Deputy Speaker of the Mpumalanga Legislature,
Honourable Premier: D.D. Mabuza,
Honourable Members of the Executive Council,
Honourable Members of Parliament and Members of the Mpumalanga Legislature,
His Majesties King Makhosokhell and King Mabhoko III
Honourable Executive Mayors, Speakers and Councillors
Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of the Provincial House of
Traditional Leaders, Ikosi SE Mahlangu and Kgoshigadi AS Mohlala,
and our revered Traditional Leaders, Amakhosi / Magoshi,
Officials from three spheres of Government
Distinguished guests, friends, compatriots and citizens of the province
All the listeners listening on Ligwalagwala and Ikwekwezi FM,
Introduction
As we present this budget vote, it is a painful and trying moment when the country has just laid to rest four of the leaders who made a major contribution in our struggle for liberation, in the development of the society and towards the establishment of the whole mark of good governance in their country.
The passing away of former Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Minister Sicelo Shiceka, Minister Roy Padayachie, Minister of Public Administration, Mom Florence Nyanda, Member of Parliament and Cde Thembi Ndlovu, a woman, a mother of two today who might not be prominent to some of
us who passed the very same week as the other comrades, the first Treasurer of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League in Mpumalanga, who had become a leader without a title amongst those whose lives she continued touch in her later life as an educator, an a trade union activist.
She grew under the watchful eyes of a number of elderly people, who were keen to provide the necessary leadership and protection required at those difficult times, including Mom Florence Nyanda, whom I personally called “Local government.” a name that emanated from her dynamic connection she had with people of all ages in the community of Kanyamazane. An adorable companion of the youth, bo make be ma society and a trusted friend and caregiver of the aged.
I would like to dedicate this policy and budget of 2012 to Mom Florence “Local Government” Nyanda and as I pay special tribute to Cde Thembi Ndlovu with whom I have travelled a difficult journey to a brighter destination of liberation, yet this journey was rooted through ruggedterrains, rocky inclines and sometime slippery descents with coordination trap doors.
It was journey derived from deep seated political will to do things differently with a view to better the lives of our people. This is a young woman who never enjoyed her tender age but committed her entire life in bring the freedom that we all enjoy including our former oppressors. She lived to epitomise the essence of selfless commitment without expectation of immediate personal reward. A young woman who exchanged a government corridors, despite popular view to do so for being an education activist who chose instead to assist in the establishment and shaping of the first education department in Mpumalanga after democracy.
After such a contribution and with all the colourful qualifications she had in the field of education chose to go back to the classroom and join other educators, who spend sleepless nights planning how to shape the future and guide the dreams of our children in schools. She opted to remain the truth and life for the younger generation until her last moment. Like a flower that blooms and dies in the desert unknown, this is how we can epitomise her.
As we celebrate the lives of these befallen heroes and heroines and the centenary of the oldest liberation movement in Africa we are guided by the principle, on which the ANC and the rest of the democratic movement have consistently stood for, as stated unequivocally in the preamble of the Freedom Charter: " South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people”. This is the guide that must continue to guide us as we move into the next centenary of the African National Congress.
This year also marks the mid-term of the current administration. The mid-term allows us to reflect on the journey that we have travelled over the past two and half years as well as to identify areas that we need to improve on in the remaining period. The presentation of this budget vote provide us an opportunity to make an assessment of what we have done the previous year and outline our programme heading for the future. Local government is a key part of the reconstruction and development effort of our country. The aims of democratising our society and bringing about a growing inclusive economy can only be realised through a responsive, accountable and efficient local government system.
Status of local government
Tomorrow it will be one year exactly that we have ushered in our current local government administration. This has been a year that has been characterised with planning, prioritising and putting in place systems to ensure that we deliver quality services at local government.
The immediate tasks we were seized with in this period were to ensure that our municipalities are properly constituted and that they are able to function effectively. We convened two local government summits. The overarching objective of these summits was first to orientate the councillors on their roles and responsibilities and to create an understanding of the local government challenges and achievements.
After the successful local government elections, we wasted no time and convened a Provincial Local Government Indaba to ensure that the new administration have a sense of the state of local in the province. Our assessment indicate that despite the advances in service delivery since 1994, the 2011 municipal elections highlighted that the pace of improvement in services and the quality of services provided do not in many cases match the expectations of a significant number of citizens in a number of our municipalities.
As part of assessment we categorised our municipalities into: Category1 - those that were formal big town, Category 2 - those with high population, formerly homelands with no adequate infrastructure (these municipalities are mainly located in areas of high poverty concentration (socio-economic vulnerability) with significant services backlogs (institutional vulnerability); Category 3A - formerly small towns with a potential and lastly Category 3B - small towns but with systematic challenges that require on-going support.
A strong correlation therefore exists between socio-economic vulnerability and institutional vulnerability with institutional vulnerability most pronounced in rural municipalities and those localities that have only one or two small towns.
Our report indicate that many of the problems at municipalities include poor governance and accountability, weak financial management, high vacancies in critical senior management positions, high infrastructure backlog and in some instances an inability to deliver even a core of basic municipal services efficiently and effectively. Despite our attempts to address these problems, they have yielded mixed results with some areas of excellences and in others only limited success.
Some of the issues identified relate to inter and intra party conflicts, competing needs and interests which impacted negatively to service delivery. Despite our adoption of the Local Government turnaround strategy, it has become abundantly clear that our people are getting intolerant of the situation and easily take to streets and become extremely violent at times.
Honourable speaker, The Municipal IQ Hotspots Monitor, a tool by Municipal IQ for tracking service delivery protests in South Africa, recorded a surge in protest actions in the first quarter of 2012. In relative terms, thus far the first quarter of 2012 accounts for 6% of the total number of protests recorded since 2004.
The Western Cape is in the lead as it accounted for 29% of registered service delivery protests in the country. In second place are the two provinces: Gauteng1 (15%) and the Free State (15%). However, data for the period January 2004 to March 2012 highlights Gauteng (28%) as the province with the highest incidents of service delivery protests. At 17% the Western Cape is the second province after Gauteng that is protest prone.
On the third spot is the North West accounting for 12% of protest between January 2004 and March 2012. Mpumalanga is ranked the fourth at 10% and has received much media coverage creating a perception of a province at war with itself. Whilst acknowledging the challenges that are raised by citizens are real, the report indicates that the protests are prevalent in areas where poverty is rife and the household income is below R800 per day.
These service delivery protests that we have experienced in the province, remain a matter of great concern for us as a province. What is of great concern are the incidences of unwarranted violence, malicious destruction of property, disrespect of the rule of law and the violation of the rights of the law abiding citizens that accompany such protests.
Whilst we respect the rights of individuals to protest, I must indicate that government will not allow acts of lawlessness, destruction of property and disregard for the rule of law.
The destruction of property will not solve any problems; instead it’s to the detriment of the community. Our resources as government are limited and they need to be spread throughout all communities. If communities destroy the services that have been provided by government, this is delaying the development of that community as Government cannot go back and provide the same services as there are other areas that need to be serviced with the limited resources.
This is a government chosen by the people and is at all times willing to engage with communities to solve problems. No problem is too big to defeat dialogue. We also appeal to our public representative to exercise patience and to keep together with the people that have elected them to lead in the resolution of these problems. We must learn to apply what Robin Sharma called an essential attitude for every leader destined for success- grow humble, for humility is a fundamental leadership discipline.
We also call on all officials of government and municipalities to treat concerns of our communities with the attention and diligence they deserve. At no point, no matter what circumstances we must take the people we vowed to serve when we were employed for granted. We must understand that as the work is the source of bread in our families, the services we were hired to render are the life line of our communities.
In some number of cases it has proven that conflicts emanate from the uneven and unprofessional manner, we as officials serve our people, until these matters are escalated to your political principals, whom the people believe, correctly so that they have elected. We should condemn also the growing tendency of people who want to undermine democracy and make use of the genuine concern of the people to peddle hatred against serving councillors who have elected in a popular vote in communities.
This is mostly done with an effort to cut short the five year period that they have to serve, with a hope that they themselves shall be preferred. We would like to warn that no one person could change the existing situations that our municipalities are finding themselves in. A change in a councillor will not change the revenue of a municipality, because there is a new person in town, but it has been proven that it is collective effort and wisdom of communities working with their councillors that have brought meaningful change in municipalities.
Focus of the department
The major thrust of our work is based on Government new outcome base approach wherein a performance contract is to be signed between the MEC and the Executive Mayors. As such there is a need for a coherent policy framework that responds to the varied social, economic, technical and administrative context of municipalities so that planning, financing and support is tailored to the unique context within and conducive to the requirements of different municipalities.
Our department is responsible for outcome 9: A responsive, accountable, effective and efficient local Government system. In our daily work we are guided by the outputs that relate to this outcome.
To achieve the above vision it is critical to achieve focus and sustain action on a set of high impact areas to drive major change and reforms over the medium-term.
In this regard the following seven critical issues require attention:
1. Adopt a policy framework that recognises the varied contexts and capacities and provides for appropriate differentiation to municipal planning, financing and support.
2. Ensure improved access to essential services
3. Initiate ward-based programmes to sustain livelihoods in targeted poor communities
4. Contribute to the achievement of sustainable human settlements and quality neighbourhoods
5. Strengthen participatory governance
6. Strengthen the administrative and financial capability of municipalities
In addition we need to address coordination problems and strengthen cross-departmental initiatives
Output 1: A differentiated approach to municipal financing, planning and support is implemented
The Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) of municipalities were meant to be the anchor for facilitating local development and service delivery. Whilst all the 21 municipalities in the province managed to approve their IDPs as per the compliance requirements of statues, however many of our municipalities have not lived up to this promise due to the failure to link with resources. Without viable planning frameworks municipal service delivery will continue to be ineffective, ad-hoc and unresponsive to the pressing needs of communities.
During this fourth local government administration, our focus as Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is to get back to the basics and assist and support all municipalities to focus their IDPs on the delivery of a few but high priority services. Working with Provincial Treasury apart from improving the credibility of IDPs, in addition the same municipalities are being assisted and supported to ensure their budgets have clear links to the IDP and reflects the priorities in the IDP. Our support to all municipalities is premised on the understanding that the one size fits all approach to local government has not worked.
Output 2: Improved access to basic services
While access to basic services in the province has progressively risen, the backlogs remain high. Ehlanzeni District account for the highest concentration of backlogs in the province. We have very ambitious targets regarding access to essential services.
Currently 93.2% households have access to water services - but we still have certain communities experiencing the need to have water rationed and service disruptions due to infrastructure failure. Today 54.2% (493 118) households have access to sanitation. This is what prompted the Premier and the Executive Council to prioritise access to water.
To succeed we have to have a very clear idea of how we intend to achieve the targets. It is widely agreed that the biggest constraint is availability of infrastructure and the application of appropriate delivery technologies in remote rural areas.
Through our interaction with our municipalities, they have expressed that our problem of coordination and alignment of interventions of departments and agencies impacting on local government remains a massive challenge. To respond to this complexity, COGTA this year is engaging with all the key departments impacting on services with an aim to bring them together to coordinate and integrate their interventions.
Honourable Speaker, we are equally worried by the inadequate performance of our municipalities in the spending of the MIG. By the end of March 2012 the provincial MIG spending was at 53% of the R1, 177 billion to all our 19 local Municipalities. We have plans in place on how to support the affected municipalities to avert the withholding of funds and strengthening infrastructure implementation.
The municipalities are still faced with the challenge of the shortage of technical skills on developing their sanitation master plans. Lack of qualified technicians for their operations and maintenance programme is also a challenge hence most of the infrastructure is poorly maintained. We are currently working closely with Universities, South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency to support our municipalities in delivering on their mandate.
The high demand for electricity in the country and the province is still a matter of great concern to us. The demand for electricity is too high and we are not adhering to the energy saving techniques that are continuously being taught by the Department of Minerals and Energy and Eskom.
One of the major concerns for us is that some municipalities in the province are still struggling to settle their electricity bills from Eskom. The high increase of cable theft and other electrical equipment such as Transformers is still a challenge that affects both Eskom and Local Municipalities. During my visit to Bushbuckridge and Nkomazi Local Municipalities, I learnt that 72 transformers have been stolen this year in Bushbuckridge alone- thus disrupting water provision, We are aware that there is an organised crime syndicate involved in the theft of transformers and cables.
We are engaging law enforcement agents to deal with this element of criminality. We urge communities to stand up in defence of these equipment’s. Let us vigilantly guard our equipment because the theft of these transformers and cables affects the entire community. The department has also conducted an in-depth analysis of the state of access to basic services in all municipalities. Our sincere gratitude goes to the Executive Council for the R85m water intervention in selected municipalities including the provision of technical support through the rapid response unit.
I am pleased to indicate that all the projects on the special intervention have been completed. The department has finalised and handed over the Delmas Water Treatment Works in Victor Khanye and the Bloemendal pipeline will be completed in this financial year.
As part of improving access to government services the department in partnership with business and other departments continue to roll-out the Thusong Service Centres across the province.
We wish to thank Xstrata and BHP Billiton respectively for their contribution of R22.5 million in the establishment of Thusong Centres at Klarinet, Ogies and Lothair.
Output 3: Implementation of Community Work Programme
As part of our response to tackle poverty and provide livelihood support for poor households, government adopted the Community Work Programme (CWP). This programme is a key initiative to mobilise communities in order to provide regular and predictable work opportunities at the local level. This is a ward-based programme, which involves:
- identifying ‘useful work’ ranging from 1- 2 days a week or one week a month initially targeted at the poorest wards; and
- Creating access to a minimum level of regular work for those who need it, targeting areas of high unemployment and poverty, where sustainable alternatives are likely to remain limited for the foreseeable future.
The department has created 6478 work opportunities in the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) municipalities and this year additional 3000 job opportunities. As part of providing support to our municipalities the department provided 640 work opportunities as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme as part of waste management. Through this programme we have also provided waste management vehicles and graders to selected municipalities as part of the Executive Council intervention.
Output 4: Actions supportive of the human settlements outcomes
The Human Settlement patterns are correctly captured by Ian Martel in his book-“The Life of Pi” which I usually quote “People Move, because of the wear and tear of anxiety. Because of the gnawing feeling that no matter how hard they work their efforts will yield to nothing, that what they build up in one year will be torn down in one day by others.
Because of the impression that the future is blocked up, that they might do all right but not their children. Because of the feeling that nothing will change, that happiness and prosperity are possible only somewhere else.”
To prosper, even a zoo needs parliamentary government , democratic elections, freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of association, rule of law and everything else enshrined in the constitution…Long term, bad politics is bad for business”.
The spatial form of our towns and cities are characterised by sprawl and the apartheid legacy of marginalising the poor to areas far from opportunities is very much in evidence. In this regard National and provincial departments of local government will play an active role in supporting Outcome 8 which is coordinated under the auspices of the Department of Sustainable Human Settlements.
This year the department will support this outcome by facilitating the resolution on matters of spatial planning, land use management and allocation of stands. We will ensure that a memorandum of understanding is entered into between municipalities and the traditional councils. We will further support municipalities with planning of servicing the earmarked locations for integrated human settlements.
Output 5: Local democracy through a refined Ward Committee model is deepened
Poor governance and accountability are also a major concern. These are partially manifested in the high levels of distrust in local government and escalation in community protests. Various polls (Human Science Research Council, Markinor) show that the level of trust in local government has declined sharply since 2004.
There are 402 wards demarcated wall-to-wall within the eighteen (18) local municipalities in the province. The wards form the basic units for participatory and democratic local government. However, there are serious challenges with regard to the effectiveness of the Ward Committee System in enhancing the involvement of communities in meaningful local decision-making. It is therefore critical to strengthen our people-centred approach to governance and development and deepen democracy.
The department has supported the re-establishment of ward committees in all our municipalities and training is earmarked during this financial year. The resourcing of the ward committees remains on the agenda as part of the legislative review driven by the Minister.
The department has moved with speed to fill all the vacant Community Development Workers (CDWs) positions including in the newly established wards. Training of the new recruits has commenced in partnership with the Local Government Sectoral Education and Training Agency. We are looking at mechanism of optimising the utilisation of CDWs including improving the relations with the local municipalities.
Output 6: Administrative and financial capability
Poor administrative and financial management and the lack of effective controls and accountability systems impacts negatively on service delivery to communities, The ineffective management of many municipalities has been attributed to a combination of factors - from the improper political and administrative interface to weak institutional arrangements and poor supervision and accountability mechanisms.
The implementation of sound administrative and financial management practices as set out in the local government framework legislation remains a challenge in many municipalities. Going forward it will be critical to focus our attention on improving the financial and administrative capabilities of municipalities.
Our interventions in improving the financial performance of our municipalities are beginning to yield results. Once again our municipalities have done us proud in the 2010/11 financial audits. Four of our municipalities have received clean audits these being Ehlanzeni District, Gert Sibande District, Steve Tshwete, and Victor Khanye out of the 11 in the country. This is an improvement from last year, when we had three. We convey our congratulations to these municipalities for their performance.
We also convey our congratulations to those provincial departments who have also obtained clean audits.
Equally we are worried about those municipalities that have regressed and obtained disclaimer. Despite these setbacks, we are on course towards meeting our target for Operation Clean Audit 2014. We shall provide all the necessary support to all the struggling municipalities working with Provincial Treasury and the office of the Auditor General.
Financial audits do not show the full picture regarding the financial position of municipalities. Cash flow figures show that over 25% of municipalities had less than one month’s cash coverage for operational expenses, outstanding debt to municipalities has risen sharply and National Treasury data show that about 42 % of municipalities have debtor levels higher than 74 %of their own revenue.
There is also significant under-expenditure with regard to capital budgets (51 % of municipalities), over-expenditure on operating budgets and under-budgeting for repairs and maintenance. This provides clear evidence that financial management is poor and controls are currently inadequate or absent in a large proportion of municipalities.
Whilst some municipalities have made huge strides in improving their collection rate some are still battling. As of the end of February 2012, the average payment rate for municipalities was at 57%, with Steve Tshwete, Mbombela, Emalahleni and Govan Mbeki having an average collection rate of 91%, led byled by Steve Tshwete at 103%.
These four municipalities are in Category 1 confirming that they are indeed able to stand on their own. While Category 2 municipalities –Nkomazi, Chief Albert Luthuli, Dr JS Moroka, Bushbuckridge and Thembisile Hani have an average collection of 30%.
We congratulate Nkomazi Local that has put in realistic target of areas of collection which made them to stand at 76%. We are encouraged by the commitment made by the communities in Dr JS Moroka to pay for services and we urge other communities to emulate this shining example. In Category 3A we have UMjindi, Emakhazeni, Victor Khanye, Msukaligwa and Thaba Chweu who have an average collection rate of 68%.
With the necessary support these municipalities can improve to become financial viable and therefore less dependent on grants. In Category 3B we have Dr Pixley Ka Isaka Seme, Mkhondo, Dipaliseng and Lekwa who have an average collection rate of 69%. These municipalities need intervention and support in order to improve their financial viability.
I have instructed municipalities to urgently attend to matters of incorrect consumer data base and inaccurate billing systems. Together with Provincial Treasury we are developing a revenue enhancement strategy to enable municipalities to be self-sufficient. In terms of improving governance and accountability on public resources all municipalities have established Section 79 Committees including Municipal Public Accounts Committees (MPACs).
We are pleased to indicate that the department is working with the Association of Public Accounts Committee (APAC), SALGA, Provincial Legislature, Provincial Treasury and the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) is providing training to the newly appointed members of the Municipal Public Account Committees. This is done to ensure that the oversight role of municipal councils in local and district municipalities is strengthened.
Honourable Speaker, the department remains committed to clamping down on corruption wherever it rears its ugly head. We are working with municipalities in crafting anti-corruption strategies. Where matters of corruption are brought to our attention, we will investigate with the assistance of the Integrity Management Unit in the Office of the Premier.
The law will take its course to those found guilty. The department is working hard in assisting Municipalities in crafting policies, tightening controls and vetting of officials. The aim is to strengthen supply chain management processes in municipalities.
Honourable Speaker, one of our priorities is to assist municipalities to fill in their vacant senior management positions. Municipal capacity to deliver is also severely constrained by high vacancy rates and a lack of suitably qualified individuals in senior positions. Many municipalities have concluded the process of filling the critical positions of Municipal Managers and other senior managers as part of stabilising the administration.
However, we need to indicate to the house that we could not meet the target we set ourselves to fill all the vacancies by December 2011. This is caused by vigorous process of ensuring that these posts are filled by people with appropriate skills. We are working around the clock to conclude this work by the end of June this year where vacancies still exists.
Strengthen and support the institution of traditional leadership
Honourable Speaker, this year marks the end of term of office for the Provincial and Local Houses of Traditional Leaders. Let me take this opportunity to thank the leaders of the Provincial and Local houses under the guidance of the Provincial Chairperson Ikosi S Mahlangu and his Deputy Kgosigadi AS Mohlala for the sterling work they have done during their term of office. You have made significant strides in improving the working conditions for our Amakhosi and the communities that lives in areas under the jurisdiction of Traditional Leaders.
We are targeting that by June 2012 we will have concluded the elections of the local and provincial houses. I trust that you will continue to build on the solid foundation that has been laid by your predecessors. The relationship between traditional leaders and councillors has improved tremendously; this is evident by the participation of traditional councils in ward committees and municipal councils.
It is encouraging to inform this House that the Gert Sibande District Municipality has established a committee on Rural Development and Traditional Affairs where traditional leaders are participating to discuss issues relating to the development of their communities. We urge other districts to establish such committees.
The Provincial Committee on Traditional Leadership Dispute and Claims has commenced with dealing with disputes and claims. We have received 124 disputes and claims for the entire Province. The Committee has already finalised and made recommendations on 21disputes and claims. The Committee will investigate and finalise 15 dispute claims during the new financial year.
As part of professionalising the management and administration of traditional offices we have just concluded the capacitation of all staff attached to these offices on financial management and book keeping. I am happy to announce that we have increased the grant per Traditional Council by R20 000.
For the 2012/13 financial year Traditional Leaders are to be trained on Paralegal, ICT and on policies and acts impacting on their functions. The Department of Justice has committed itself to work with the department in providing Paralegal training to our Traditional Leaders.
Disaster management
The province experienced heavy rains as from 16 January to 19 January 2012. The heavy rain falls in the Lowveld areas affected all Ehlanzeni Municipalities (Mbombela, Nkomazi, UMjindi, Thaba Chweu and Bushbuckridge local municipalities).
The Heavy rains resulted in the sudden increased river flows and dam levels, flooding of low lying areas impacting negatively on major infrastructure like roads, bridges, housing, water, schools and agriculture. During this period the province recorded seven (7) fatalities related to the floods.
The results of the Provincial JOC assessment report indicate that 1452 HH were affected but 330 HH were mostly affected by the impact of the flooding and heavy rains. As part of humanitarian relief 600HH at BLM, Thaba Chweu 27HH, Mbombela 57 and Nkomazi 144HH received with respect to food and blankets.
The total damages is estimated at R520 million. An amount of R47 282 million was allocated by National Treasury to address immediate relief in the form of food, blankets, tents and water in the affected municipalities. Let me take this opportunity to thank all political principals and disaster management officials, the South African Police Service, Emergency Services, and the South African National Defence Force, who responded swiftly to the call of duty when the province was under siege. You have shown your commitment to the call of duty and you have saved many lives.
Honourable Speaker let me take opportunity to express our special thanks to the following organisations who donated humanitarian relief during the disasters;
- Gift of the Givers Foundation
- Al-Imdaad
- Red Cross
- Grace Bible Church
- Revelation Church
- And many more private donors
Your humble contributions have really assisted the province in dealing with the disasters and they have gone a long way in improving the lives of the affected families. I am pleased to report that the province has now completed its own disaster management centre fully equipped. Our province remains vulnerable and prone to natural disasters like flooding, storm damages, and lightening and veld fires. As part of our response to disasters we have our structures fully functional at all levels and supported by capable emergency services. We are looking at ways of crafting adaptation measures that can prevent recurrence in those areas that have repeated incidents.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Honourable Speaker, allow me thank the Honourable Premier, DD Mabuza for his continued wisdom and guidance, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee, Hon SPD Skhosana and the committee members for their guidance, the Head of Department, Mr David Mahlobo and his management team for their dedication and commitment, the African National Congress and my family for their support.
I now table the budget for the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and I accordingly request that house to approve the amount of R337,424 million for the 2012/13 financial, which is allocated as follows into the following programme:
Programme 1: Administration - R89,529 m
Programme 2: Local Governance - R122,758 m
Programme 3: Development and Planning - R36 607 m
Programme 4: Traditional Institutional Management - R67,317
Programme 5: House of Traditional Leaders - R16,355 m
The tasks of tackling the varied problems facing municipalities are cross cutting and complex. This will require creative and innovative organisational forms intended to bring key departments together to facilitate cross departmental collaborative partnerships to impact more decisively and positively on municipal performance.
As I conclude, may we leave you with the words of wisdom from Theodore Roosevelt as cited by Robin Sharma said: “It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in worthy cause, who at best knows in the end of triumphs of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat”.
I thank you.
