The Honourable Executive Mayor of Gert Sibande District, Cllr ...

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MEC MOKOENA AT THE GERT SIBANDE LOCAL GOVERNMENTSUMMIT, LILLIAN NGOYI HALL, SECUNDAMarch 11, 2010The Honourable Executive Mayor of Gert Sibande District,Cllr Andries GamedeThe Honourable Executive Mayor of Govan Mbeki LocalMunicipality, Cllr Sipho NkosiHonourable Executive Mayors PresentHonourable CouncillorsHon Traditional Leaders Present,Heads of Departments, Municipal Managers and Senior officialsfrom the three spheres of GovernmentOrganized business and our development partnersOrganized Labour and Civic organizationsDistinguished GuestsLadies and GentlemenWhat an honour it is for me to be here with you again at this veryimportant District Summit a few days after the Provincial Summit.This Summit comes at an opportune time as the countrycelebrates the 20 th Anniversary of Madiba’s release from Prison.Page 1 of 15

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MEC MOKOENA AT THE GERT SIBANDE LOCAL GOVERNMENTSUMMIT, LILLIAN NGOYI HALL, SECUNDAMarch 11, 2010One of the frontiers of struggle was the fight against thediscriminatory local government system defined by so calledBantu councils, black administration boards, tricameral systemwherein puppets from our own ranks were appointed by theapartheid regime as councillors to govern us on behalf of theapartheid state.Our memories are still fresh how we vehemently rejected anyundemocratic processes meant to oppress us forever by makingthe local space ungovernable.We did what we did in the context of time and space of ourrevolutionary discourse. But since Madiba was released 20 yearsago truth be told that a lot has changed. I would argue that usingpolitical tactics from 1985 in 2010 is somehow problematic andrisking being counter revolutionary.The tactics used in most of the service delivery protest actionshave compromised and continues to undermine the governmentof the people, by the people and for the people.Page 5 of 15

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MEC MOKOENA AT THE GERT SIBANDE LOCAL GOVERNMENTSUMMIT, LILLIAN NGOYI HALL, SECUNDAMarch 11, 2010Government has therefore taken a conscious decision to focus onlocal government and recognize the important role that it plays inour system of governance. I am sure that you all remember thatduring his State of The Province Address on the 19 th February2010, The Honourable Premier DD Mabuza said: “Part of whatshould define the character of a developmental state that weenvision as a nation, is the creation of a local government systemthat is responsive, efficient, effective and accountable.”He further said: “In the long term, the Province will develop acomprehensive turnaround strategy for local government, whichwill place local government into a sustainable developmentalpath. In this regard, we will convene a Local Government Summitbefore the end of February to craft practical programmes that willassist municipalities to be more people centred and servicedelivery-driven.”Page 6 of 15

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MEC MOKOENA AT THE GERT SIBANDE LOCAL GOVERNMENTSUMMIT, LILLIAN NGOYI HALL, SECUNDAMarch 11, 2010The Provincial Local Government Summit was convened on 25-26February 2010 thereby fulfilling the Premier’s commitment.Today, a few days after the Provincial Local Government Summitthe District has convened its own District Local GovernmentSummit. I am encouraged that the province is responding well tothe Premiers Call when he said: “We are calling for less s’chamthobut more Action, Action and Action”.The Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs,Minister Shiceka made the following comments at the Minimecheld on 4 March 2010, and I quote “The implementation of theLocal Government turnaround strategy provides a long-term andsustainable citizen-centred intervention, which is aimed at turningthe tide on service delivery protests by dealing with the backlogsand complaints from citizens, which government agrees are validin the main.Page 7 of 15

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MEC MOKOENA AT THE GERT SIBANDE LOCAL GOVERNMENTSUMMIT, LILLIAN NGOYI HALL, SECUNDAMarch 11, 2010Parallel to the implementation of the local governmentturnaround strategy, the department is at the same time boostingthe capacity for rapid response to communities that haveembarked or are about to embark on protest action, using theexisting staff we have.” End quote.We are in addition gathering business intelligence through a riskassessment process on all the pressure points in the Provinces, sothat Sector Departments and Municipalities can start processingissues that have been raised, in a way that seeks to find solutionswith the affected communities.The recent Provincial Local Government indaba also enabled us totake stock of the path that we have travelled and as the first yearof the current Administration draws to a close we are quitepleased with progress made on a number of fronts however weare alive to the reality which says:• A universal access to basic services by all households is notyet achievedPage 8 of 15

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MEC MOKOENA AT THE GERT SIBANDE LOCAL GOVERNMENTSUMMIT, LILLIAN NGOYI HALL, SECUNDAANDMarch 11, 2010• Financial management and systems in many Municipalitiesare still a challenge• Many Municipal Councils are unstable characterised by lackof Participatory democracy• There is low institutional capacity and poor leadershipcapabilitiesIn our commitment to turn the situation around we have setourselves unambiguous programmes to invest more resources onthe following:• Improving the quantity and quality of municipal basicservices• Increasing capabilities of municipal contributions to jobcreation and sustainable livelihoods through Local EconomicDevelopment (LED)• Strengthening the administrative institutional and financialmuscle of municipalities.• Strengthening implementation of anti-fraud, anti-corruptionand anti-nepotism strategies and restoring the institutionalintegrity of MunicipalitiesPage 9 of 15

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MEC MOKOENA AT THE GERT SIBANDE LOCAL GOVERNMENTSUMMIT, LILLIAN NGOYI HALL, SECUNDAMarch 11, 2010• Strengthening the Institution of Traditional Leadership topartner with Government to accelerate development ofcommunities in rural areas.Programme Director and Summit Delegates let us agree that allthese commitments equal to zero and remains meaningless ifthey don’t translate into action.It be noted that e were amongst the first to hold a provincial localgovernment summit, and we have also been amongst the first tostart 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 identifiedmunicipalities will develop Municipal Turn around Strategies(MTAS). Drawing from lessons of the pilot project, we haveembarked on the second phase which will then include allmunicipalities in developing their MTAS and incorporating them inthe Integrated Development Plans (IDP’s).Page 10 of 15

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MEC MOKOENA AT THE GERT SIBANDE LOCAL GOVERNMENTSUMMIT, LILLIAN NGOYI HALL, SECUNDAMarch 11, 2010The third phase will include the budgeting and approval of theseIDP’s, whilst the fourth phase will be the implementation phase.As from the 2 nd March 2010 the task team started with the secondphase. They have already started visiting all the three districts.This week from 08-12 March 2010 they are in Nkangala District,next week from 15-19 March 2010 they will be in EhlanzeniDistrict and from 23-31 March 2010 they will be visiting GertSibande District. I am sure that some of the deliberations that willtake place at this summit will go a long way in informing theMunicipal Turn Around strategies. I urge you to make use of thetime that they will be spending in your district.Remember that successful organisations engage the hearts andminds of their people in a conscious and deliberate alliance forsuccess, these people are looking upon you as a symbol of hope.You DARE NOT fail them.Page 11 of 15

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MEC MOKOENA AT THE GERT SIBANDE LOCAL GOVERNMENTSUMMIT, LILLIAN NGOYI HALL, SECUNDAMarch 11, 2010The introduction to the book No easy walk to Freedom capturesthe Character description of Nelson Mandela by Oliver Tambo andI quote: Mandela’s inspiration lives on in the heart of everyAfrican Patriot. He is the symbol of self sacrificing leadership...He is an outstanding individual, but he knows that he derives hisstrength from the masses of our people, who make up thefreedom struggle in our country.”End Quote.When the communities take to the streets complaining aboutshortages of basic services such as water and electricity andindeed these are the challenges that they are faced with, wecannot ignore these and look for excuses.We must look at what our people are really saying and themessage is clear “we are not happy with what you are doing; weneed you to do much better because we have put you therebecause we trust you.” This therefore means that we must lookat the underlying issues and come up with new approaches todeal with issues. It cannot be business as usual. We must askourselves if indeed we are doing what is right and if not so itrequires some radical action and we must change course.Page 12 of 15

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MEC MOKOENA AT THE GERT SIBANDE LOCAL GOVERNMENTSUMMIT, LILLIAN NGOYI HALL, SECUNDAMarch 11, 2010These unrests have also reminded us that we must stay close toour people. We must never allow a situation where we forget thecommunities that we serve and allow for a social distance to existbetween us as elected leaders and the communities that weserve.As we embark on the turnaround strategy for local governmentwe must recommit ourselves to serving our people. We must atall 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 governmentleaders and our staff members we embrace a culture ofpublic service and accountability.• We must be performance orientated and focused on theobjectives which the ruling party has set.• We must have credible IDP’s and ensure that our prioritiesand responsibilities are aligned to these.• We must strengthen communication with our communitiesand make sure that at all times they are well informed of ourplans, programmes, achievements and challenges.Page 13 of 15

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MEC MOKOENA AT THE GERT SIBANDE LOCAL GOVERNMENTSUMMIT, LILLIAN NGOYI HALL, SECUNDAMarch 11, 2010Program Director, as l said during the Provincial Local GovernmentSummit, we are standing at a very crucial point of our currentterm of local government, having hit the home stretch. Howeverwe are fortunate in that as we hit the home stretch we have anopportunity to pause and take a break, in the form of this summit,which will give us an opportunity to restore some energy whichwe will need for the final push as we charge towards the finishingline. We are all aware that we will be going to the polls to electnew leaders for our Local Government by next year. Let us usethis summit to turn things around and lay the foundation onwhich the next term of local government office bearers can buildon.Programme Director and Summit Delegates, I started off withInspirational thoughts from Madiba and the Historic walk tofreedom; it is therefore fitting to end on the same tone...Page 14 of 15

KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY MEC MOKOENA AT THE GERT SIBANDE LOCAL GOVERNMENTSUMMIT, LILLIAN NGOYI HALL, SECUNDAMarch 11, 2010I quote “I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried notto falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I havediscovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one onlyfinds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken amoment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista thatsurrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I canonly rest for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities,and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended” end quote.Yes we have our freedom, so let us take responsibility for ouractions, we dare not linger, and we dare not fail our people, so letus join together and climb the many hills facing us one at a timeuntil ultimately we reach our goals!!From this summit our communities will be waiting for visible andpositive results. Let us get to work and “Let there be lesss’chamtho but more Action, Action and Action”.Working together, we can do more to make Local Governmenteverybody’s business”Please enjoy the rest of the summit.I thank you.Page 15 of 15