The ANC has decided to “up its stake” and not only up-skill its deployees in local government structures, as it begins to roll out a number of infrastructure projects across the country, but also introduce a collaborative method to ensure services are delivered swiftly and through minimal red tape.
Municipalities have lost close to R1 billion due to underspending on grants meant for development. These are grants allocated to municipalities but were left unused and then had to be returned.
Cogta minister and ANC NEC member Thembi Nkadibeng said that problems in municipalities emanated mainly from the inability to spend the funds that were allocated, leading to difficulties in service delivery.
Speaking on the sidelines of the ANC NEC meeting at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg, Johannesburg, Nkadibeng said they were looking at making the municipalities’ Integrated Development Plan (IDP) “mandatory and law” to ensure that municipal projects went ahead uninterrupted even through changes of leadership.
“The ANC has decided to up its stake in ensuring the training and capacity development of public representatives .... also ensuring that we improve on the infrastructure capacity,” she said.
Nkadibeng said they recently took 92 experts to a number of municipalities and metro’s across South Africa to assess and begin roll-out of infrastructure projects.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile will be leading this roll-out of projects.
“So in some in some instances you come across sewage that is running through the streets, potholes both in municipal and provincial roads, towns etc. What the NEC is saying is that this is a collaboration method to ensure that through Deputy President Paul Mashatile, projects can be rolled out in collaboration,” Nkadibeng said.
She said this will alleviate the excessive processes and red tape between different sectors to deliver services.
She said the NEC also discussed looking into the legislature, policies and coalition agreements to enforce this collaborative approach to service delivery.
“Coalitions are new to South Africa. No one knows how to drive this car, we are learning everyday. So there needs to constant work but services to the people should be at the forefront,” Nkadibeng added.