The economic crisis has the potential to affect the revenue and tax base of municipalities, which may hamper delivery, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Wednesday.
”As local government we need to devise means to lessen the adverse effects of the current economic crisis on the viability of our programmes.
”Certainly, this crisis has the potential to affect revenue and tax base of municipalities,” Motlanthe said at the South African Local Government Association (Salga) national members’ assembly in East London.
”Improved services have to be delivered and the current indigent policy expanded against the background of job cutbacks. The present economic crisis will not make matters easy on our efforts.”
He said it was important to ”roll up our sleeves” and make sure that state resources were used prudently to achieve the government’s goals as highlighted by President Jacob Zuma in his inaugural State of the Nation address last week.
Motlanthe said the government struggled with resources. It was therefore ”crucial” for municipalities to involve local communities in their integrated development programmes (IDPs).
”Government has limited resources at its disposal, so it is crucial for communities to be aware of this fact through their participation in programmes such as IDPs, the better to lessen misunderstandings about what is feasible in the present conditions,” he said.
He asked councillors to ”pull their weight” and ensure that ”as the face of government, they live up to the undertaking of a caring government”.
Zuma this week reiterated his commitment to act against lazy and incompetent public servants.
Motlanthe said Zuma had announced that an instrument to measure the performance of public representatives would soon come into force.
”In light of the coming local government elections in 2011, we call upon councillors to get their act together so that they comply with this requirement,” he said.
The former president said the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs was in the process of profiling the socioeconomic status of all 283 municipalities in the country.
‘[The profiles] will provide a clear picture in terms of capacity, backlogs and important areas that need attention.”
The Development Bank of Southern Africa, the South African Institute of Civil Engineering and the Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut had also been roped in to help government strengthen the delivery capacity of municipalities, he said.
He added that a ”well motivated public service team” was the key to implementing the expanded public works programme successfully. The key objectives of this programme were to create jobs and to ”ward off the blows of the current economic recession”. – Sapa