Traditional Affairs, MEC Sam Kwelita during the two-day Public Participation
Conference held at Coega Village, Port Elizabeth
21 February 2007
In 2003, President Thabo Mbeki introduced the concept of a new category of
public servant � special, multi-skilled individuals to be called Community
Development Workers (CDWs). Community Development Workers' focus must be on
resolving problems within their communities, whether assisting people to apply
for ID documents or new mothers in applying for birth certificates for their
babies. CDWs won't be able to solve all the problems they encounter, but they
should be able to navigate the mechanisms of how to solve these problems by
acting as a knowledgeable and resourceful link between communities and
government departments.
It is for this reason that CDWs must be multi-skilled; they must be able to
go out to communities armed with information, capable not only of identifying
service delivery problems, but also identifying the most appropriate course of
action to bring about a solution to that problem. CDWs must know fully the area
in which he or she operates, and the programmes and projects active in that
area, across government spheres. Crucially, he or she should also know the
programmes of the ward committee, to be able to discern which problems to raise
with the relevant ward councillor. In the same State of the Nation Address in
which President Mbeki conceptualised the creation of CDWs, he made it clear
that it is wrong for government to expect communities to go to government to
access services.
Government must take its services to the people. With regard to the role of
CDWs, it is the responsibility of these new breed of community workers to go
out there and find these people who have been left behind by virtue of not
being able to access government services. It is not the responsibility of these
people to find government, it is the responsibility of government, as
represented by CDWs � to find out where services are not being accessed, and to
ensure that the relevant department is engaged in bringing those services to
those communities. Let's look at one example, Government now has an indigent
policy. It is the responsibility of CDWs to go to each and every house in their
communities, making sure that they are armed with the necessary forms and
documentation, so that those in need can be registered in terms of this
policy.
To echo the President: it is wrong for government to expect people to come
to government to find out about the indigent policy. We, through our CDWs, have
to bring this policy to the people, and to ensure that it reaches those who
need it. I mentioned earlier the examples of birth certificates and ID
documents. This is but one example involving one department. CDWs must ensure
that they bring services across all levels of government, and from every
department of government, to the people.
This includes identifying communities which do not have adequate access to
education, or healthcare, or any other government service available through any
arm of government. It is our job through our armies of CDWs to bring to people
the free basic services to which they are entitled to. Their job is to provide
information, identify gaps and ensuring that the distance between government
and the people is shortened. In short, CDWs are the bridges between communities
and government services. What, then, about ward committees?. CDWs must sit with
the ward councillor in their area. They must tell the councillor: we have met
with church leaders, these are their interest and concerns; we have met with
farmers, these are their interests and concern, and so on, with all sectors of
society within their areas.
They must do so within the context of ward committee meetings, chaired by
the relevant ward councillor, where the issues of the various sections of
society can be highlighted, and where solutions to the problems they face can
be deliberated. It is very important that these meetings become target
meetings, that they produce real community participation. One of the primary
functions of ward committees is to ensure cohesion in the ward. You cannot have
a ward committee meeting if people don't understand the issues at hand, if they
have not been part of these issues.
Communities already know their needs. We do not have to communicate their
needs to them, but we do have to provide them with a platform to express these
needs. People can understand the limitations of government, provided government
reaches out to communities through these forums and say clearly, these are our
programmes, these are our initiatives, and these are our limitations in this
specific area. We need to engage them on the issues that affect them, in a
language that they understand. A crucial first step is for CDWs to clarify for
themselves what their roles are. Many of the problems that have already been
raised with regard to the CDW programme will be addressed once we have
clarified and the CDWs have clarified for themselves exactly what their role
is, especially with regard to, or in relation to, ward committees. We need to
acknowledge that, with very limited resources, CDWs have done very good work.
However, we are still underreporting even the work that we are doing. Let us
find simple ways to ensure that we report the work that is being done in this
regard.
We have already advertised for six assistant managers and one senior
administrative position which, hopefully, will be appointed before the start of
the next financial year. These people will give effect and support the work
being done by CDWs. Another crucial area for us going forward is to aspect of
training. There is a need for us to look, from time to time, at the experience
of our CDWs, and to find ways of preparing them to do their work better. Hence,
the issue of training is a crucial one for us. Initially, the training of CDWs
was informed by theory and by our theoretical understanding of the work they
were going to be doing. Now we have the benefit of having had CDWs in place,
working in their communities. Future training must move outside of the
theoretical scope, and must be informed by the practicalities these CDWs are
faced with in their communities on a daily basis.
Issued by: Department of Housing, Local Government and Traditional Affairs,
Eastern Cape Provincial Government
21 February 2007
