Remarks by the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Mr Sihle Zikalala during the Launch of the Siyahlola Programme held in uMsunduzi Local Municipality in Pietermaritzburg on 30 October 2020
Programme Director;
MEC for Finance and Champion of uMgungundlovu District, Mr R. Pillay;
Your Worship the District Mayor of uMgungundlovu, Cllr T. Maphumulo;
Your Worship the Mayor of uMsunduzi, Cllr M. Thebolla;
All Councillors present;
HOD of Human Settlements, Mr M Zungu;
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Today is a momentous occasion for service delivery in KwaZulu Natal as we mark the official launch of the Premier’s Siyahlola Monitoring Programme.
The Premier’s Siyahlola Monitoring Programme is aimed at improving the performance of government and making sure that people’s experience of government goods and services is a pleasant, positive and one that leaves a lasting impression of government.
The Premier’s Siyahlola Monitoring Programme allows us as the government of KwaZulu Natal to witness first-hand the impact of government policies in changing the lives of this province for the better. Through this monitoring programme we are embarking on an active, vigorous and ongoing campaign to police the policies of government.
In practice, we are here to police the implementation of the programmatic realisation of the policies of government as they cascade from the Mandate of the Ruling Party, the Medium Term Strategic Framework of government, the National Development Plan 2030 and the KZN Provincial Development Plan 2030.
Guided by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa of 1996 we are in the process of ensuring in an observable form how each act of government contributes to real change in people’s lives in their homes, at government facilities and where they live and work. Each touch point between government and the citizens must reflect our commitment to delivering on the promise of a government that is by the people, for the people and always with the people in transforming KwaZulu Natal for the better.
In this regard, we are here to recommit to listening to and hearing the voices of our communities. This programme is breathing life to the democratically-elected government’s commitment to transparent and accountable service delivery and redress. As government we share the belief that only a strong partnerships between government and communities can change lives for the better.
We are using the Siyahlola Monitoring Programme visits to reflect on the achievements and highlight what still needs to be done to improve the lives of all South Africans. This is in line with our commitment during the State of the Province Address in 2019 when we committed to addressing the “grimy restraints that hinder us from achieving a prosperous KwaZulu-Natal”.
These grimy restraints include the challenges of shoddy workmanship in the delivery of our infrastructure projects, the unprofessional manner in which the public is treated in some of our government offices, the poor performance in our law enforcement, the challenge of drugs and poor service delivery. Grimy restraints include the Fraud and Corruption, Laziness, Inefficiency and ineffectiveness that leads to wastage, fruitless and wasteful expenditure of government funds.
We have come to the conclusion that the journey towards a prosperous KwaZulu-Natal, requires to confront squarely some of the unpalatable realities like the project that we have come to visit and inspect today.
Celebrated author Ben Okri, once reminded us that “if the things we face are greater and more important than the things we refuse to face, then at least we have begun the re-evaluation of our world. At least we have begun to learn to see and live again. But if we refuse to face any of our awkward and deepest truths, then sooner or later, we are going to have to become deaf and blind. And then, eventually, we are going to have to silence our dreams, and the dreams of others. In other words, we die. We die in life”.
Through the Operation Siyahlola we are beginning a process to own up to our “awkward and deepest truths”. We don’t want to be counted among those who “silenced the dreams of a better life for our people”.
There is consensus that most of the policies that government has passed and supported with budgets are sound. The challenge remains around inadequate and non-implementation, coupled with the lack of value for money.
Operation Siyahlola is our practical commitment to building a performance-oriented government. This year, following the national elections of 2019, we finalised the signing of Service Delivery and Performance Agreements with the Members of the Executive Council. These Performance Agreements are intended to improve the performance of the state. These agreements are informed by the priorities of government and arises from the Manifesto of the Ruling Party that the people of South Africa have voted for.
Our focus is on outcomes and tangible transformation. We are now elevating monitoring, accountability and consequence management in order to bridge the gap between outcomes and implementation. We will undertake Siyahlola on all eight government Priorities in the province. Where we see good work we shall extend the due accolades, but equally where we see injustice done to our people we shall seek justice.
The Housing Project
Today we have come here to visit and investigate the R25million Woodlands Housing project.
We want to state unreservedly that we are very depressed, despondent and outraged by what we have seen. This project is a typical case of the dreams of our people being silenced and the promises of government being taken for granted.
When this project was launched there was a moment of celebration and achievement for our people. They, among the most vulnerable and desperate, were meant to benefit from this project. Yet what we find here is the shattering of people’s dreams. Celebrations of the past have now turned into visions of doom and despair.
This project, for all its failures, does not represent the ideal of how we should be working. This is not a reflection of what government should mean to the people it represents. Here millions of rands have gone down the drain and the dignity of our people has not been restored. As part of Operation Siyahlola we are here to demand accountability and redress for the beneficiaries.
I am advised that this project commenced in 2017 and that due diligence was not done. The question we have is where are those that were supposed to conduct due diligence, proper feasibility work and environmental scoping. Why are the houses that were built only less than two years ago, in such a dilapidated state?
- Siyahlola will constantly remind all of us about the noble cause of our existence which is to serve our people with humility in the true spirit of Batho Pele, the People First”.
- This campaign is a strategic revitalisation of Batho Pele an initiative for realizing human, economic and social rights of all citizens- A better life for all.
An important new element of emphasis in this programme, is Redress. Redress is the principle which states that if the promised standard of services is not delivered, citizens must be offered an apology, a full explanation as well as a speedy effective remedy.
The Redress principle further emphasise that, when such complaints are made, citizens should receive a sympathetic positive response. Now that we have seen the injustice that has taken place here, we are going to apply the Redress principle.
We want on behalf of the government of KwaZulu Natal to apologise for all the inconvenience that was caused by the incorrect implementation of the human settlements project.
We also wish to state categorically that this failure will be corrected as a matter of priority.
Finally, we will apply consequence management to all those that are responsible for this inadequacy and failure to implement.
Ladies, and Gentlemen in the way we roll out this programme we must be clear that Siyahlola is about the following commitments:
- Building an ethical and developmental state;
- Enhancing the capacity of the state to perform;
- Combating corruption through the reduction of resources lost;
- Ensuring that vulnerable groups especially women, children and the disabled get access to government basic services;
- Prioritization of the disadvantaged urban and rural nodes by increasing the number of support services to these areas;
We are not about to condone any part of government that does not help us deliver services to the people of this province. It is not enough to have developed good policies to redress the poverty and misery among the people of KwaZulu Natal.
These must be implemented and be implemented
with speed, honesty, efficiency and effectiveness all the time. This is a challenge to all our public officials that we are not going to allow any project such as this one to undermine the good work that many officials do. We cannot allow a rot in this project to define who we are because we can do better than this. We can do better.
Together we can build a better KwaZulu Natal!
