A call for a functioning local government sphere dominated President Cyril Ramaphosa's Opening of Parliament Address yesterday, where he told the joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces that functional local government was ideal for investment and inclusive growth.
He said municipalities must become both the providers of social services and the facilitators of inclusive economic growth. Furthermore, they must work to attract investment. This approach can encourage businesses to expand and create more jobs in municipal areas. "Investors are attracted to areas with reliable and modern infrastructure," he said.
Mr Ramaphosa delivered his Opening of Parliament Address a month after the establishment of the Government of National Unity, which he leads, after no one party got the constitutionally required majority from the electorate to form a government.
President Ramaphosa said the government had the constitutional responsibility to assist municipalities and that the regulatory processes will be sped up. "We will ensure that the institutional structure and funding model for local government is fit for purpose, and that municipalities are financially and operationally sustainable," he said.
Mr Ramaphosa committed to ensuring that systems are in place to increase professionalism. "We will put in place systems to ensure that qualified people are appointed to senior positions at municipalities," he promised.
Meanwhile, an immediate task is to bring about governance stability at metropolitan municipalities as political infighting has negatively impacted on service delivery, the President observed.
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He cited eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality where a Presidential Working Group is in place to turn the administration of the municipality around. "We will extend the same approach to other metropolitan cities that face serious challenges so that our cities can be engines of growth and dynamic centres of opportunity," Mr Ramaphosa promised.
In his 2023 Human Rights Day speech, which he delivered in De Aar in the Northern Cape, President Ramaphosa acknowledged lapses in service delivery at the South African municipalities, which he said is a human rights issue.
In that address he cited the 2022 findings by Auditor-General Ms Tsakane Maluleke, which showed rampant corruption and mismanagement in many municipalities, resulting in a lack of funds and increasingly poor service delivery. He pointed out that the deterioration in municipalities is exacerbated by unstable coalitions that have led to a constant change of leadership.
President Ramaphosa told Members of Parliament that to achieve rapid, inclusive growth, the GNU needs to fix struggling municipalities. He said economic growth happens at a local level, where people live and work.
Sibongile Maputi
