The new local government system introduced four years ago will have benefited more than three million households by the end of the 2004/05 financial year, said Provincial and Local Government minister, Sydney Mufamadi in Parliament on Wednesday.
Addressing the National Assembly he said the system was built to tackle the huge number of under developed municipalities left impoverished by the apartheid government.
”The reality which we had to work with was one of historical neglect,” he said.
Mufamadi said that while the task before them had been ”steep”, the aim of the system was to create economically independent municipalities. To do that many municipalities had to develop infrastructures which were previously non-existent.
”We sought to create municipal entities that would lend themselves to the realisation of economies of scale, as opposed to what existed hitherto, namely, many small municipalities with no revenue base.”
Through the Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Programme (CMIP) and the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) more than R10,3-billion had been spent on basic municipal infrastructure since 2000.
”By the end of 2004/05 financial year over 2 500 projects had been supported benefiting over 3-million households,” he said.
Quoting 2003 data from Statistics South Africa, Mufamadi said 7,8-million households were receiving municipal water, with 75,7% accessing free basic water.
He said 4,1-million households had access to electricity (as of June 2003) and 57,3% were receiving free basic electricity.
However national and provincial governments remain concerned about under-performing municipalities.
Mufamadi said the recent municipal riots around the country showed that more needed to be done, but he largely blamed the unrest on poor communication between council and residents.
Through a two-year consolidation project launched in October last year, his department hoped to help struggling municipalities with technical advice and support.
”Through it, we seek to harness the additional resources from other spheres of government as well as from the private domain, to the task of improving municipal performance,” he said.
Freedom Front Plus MP, Pieter Groenwald asked how Mufamadi could allow the Free State’s municipal manager to receive a R912 000 a year salary when the provinces’ people were revolting.
”This is the same as President Mbeki’s salary and more than yours as a minister,” he stated.
Democratic Alliance MP Willem Doman said the unrest in the Free State was the direct result of unacceptable service delivery.
Doman acknowledged backlogs were inherited from the past but claimed the government had aggravated the situation by employing corrupt officials and adopting ”racist transformation policies” that drove away experienced staff.
”The ANC have demonstrated overwhelmingly that they prize ideology above delivery,” he said. – Sapa