Mr Nathi Mthethwa, who is the Member of the National Assembly (NA) and the Minister of Arts, welcomed and supported the R78bn allocation to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) for the 2017/18 financial year at Parliament yesterday.
Participating in the Budget Vote of CoGTA, Mr Mthethwa said the R78bn budget allocation for the 2017/18 financial year is welcomed as it is geared towards the implementation of “Back to Basics interventions in areas of service delivery, municipal infrastructure development, job creation and local economic development”.
He told the NA MPs that the government has a clear record of the delivery of services to the people. According to him, that record includes the provision of about 3.7 million subsidised housing opportunities and giving a home to about 12.5 million South Africans. “What this says is that local government has been successful in changing the lives of our citizens for the better,” he said.
He said in ensuring that local government is in the hands of the people, one of the key elements of the 10-Point Plan of CoGTA is the fostering of more positive community experiences and based on that, “we are developing ward-based service delivery dashboards and implementing Ward Improvement Plans that ensure basic services such as the cutting of grass and timeous fixing of street lights and water leaks,” said Mr Mthethwa.
On the escalating debt of the municipalities to Eskom which leads to the continued disconnections and interruptions, Mr Mthethwa urged CoGTA, National Treasury and the South African Local Government Association (Salga) to intervene in ensuring that municipalities pay for services rendered and also address the issue of payment of bulk electricity accounts.
Mr Zolile Xalisa of the Economic Freedom Fighters rejected the Budget Vote, citing among other reasons, that the R78bn budget allocated to CoGTA for the 2017/18 financial year is insufficient to carry out the necessary development needed. He also mentioned the fact that the centralised top-down local government which was inherited from apartheid by the new dispensation, leaves citizens with little real influence on priorities of their local government.
The Inkatha Freedom Party’s (IFP’s) Chief Russel Cebekhulu who participated in the Budget Vote debate, supported the Budget Vote of CoGTA, but stressed the concerns of the IFP on the problems of local government. According to Chief Cebekhulu, there is no monitoring at local government citing the recent construction of low-cost houses of inferior quality. He said the beneficiaries of those houses are expected to be grateful for receiving the houses.
Chief Cebekhulu referred to the contractors who built the poor quality houses as “fly-by-night operators” who make huge profits and leave structures that fall apart with cracked walls and leaking roofs.
The United Democratic Movement’s Mr Mncedisi Filtane supported the Budget Vote of CoGTA, although he highlighted some of the governance problems he said continue to characterise municipalities. He said those problems include the lack of routine and preventative maintenance and lack of asset register management.
The National Freedom Party, which was represented by Prof Nhlanhlakayise Khubisa who is also an NA MP, also supported the Budget Vote of CoGTA.
By Mava Lukani
19 May 2017
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