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2 April 2009

Programme Director,
The General Secretary of SAMWU, Mthandeki Nhlapo
The National Treasurer, Sam Maloka
The Provincial Secretary of SAMWU, Kgokedi Mphahlele
Members of the SAMWU Provincial Executive Committee,
Leadership of the Alliance,
Invited guests from the province and beyond,
Comrade delegates and members of SAMWU,
Ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you for inviting me to address the Tri-Annual Provincial Congress of the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU).

I believe that this is an important gathering of workers in a sector that plays a key role in the socio-economic transformation of our province, and indeed our country as a whole.

From this meeting we look forward to inspiring discussions that will further galvanise and mobilise municipal workers not only in advancing their interests as workers, but also in building effective partnerships for a more service-oriented local government sector in the province.

Partnership for Service Delivery Improvement

This Congress comes at a time of major developments in our country and globally, with potentially profound implications for all working people.

As a country we are all preparing for the forthcoming elections on 22 April, a mere three weeks from now.

The term for this current administration is now at its tail-end and in the recent State of the province Address, delivered on 20 February, we had an opportunity to reflect on what we considered to be our main achievements and the challenges that remain.

Mpumalanga province has, over the past five years, experienced improvements in governance and the quality of service. In spite of current backlogs, the province has made remarkable progress in the delivery of basic services. As the Provincial Government, we have continuously enhanced hands-on support to municipalities to strengthen their capacity to meet service delivery targets in line with the Five Year Local Government Strategic Agenda. These targets include the need to ensure that citizens have access to housing along with basic services such as water, decent sanitation and electricity.

To date, 583 505 households have access to electricity. Access to free basic electricity is benefiting 219 375 households. Despite these advancements, there remains a need to address backlogs in areas without access to electricity.

As part of improving access to decent sanitation, the province has eradicated bucket toilets in all formal areas and most informal settlements. To date, 18 617 bucket toilets were eradicated ahead of the stipulated national target of December 2007. As a province, we will continue to mobilise partnerships with labour and the private sector to address challenges posed by poor sanitation. We need to upgrade our sewerage and water treatment infrastructure to prevent the outbreak of fatal water-borne diseases such as cholera.

The implementation of the ‘Water for All’ flagship continues to gain momentum to address water service backlogs. This flagship was prioritised to ensure that communities have access to water services infrastructure and clean water by 2010.

Programme Director, we have made significant progress to improve access to clean and safe water. 72,7% of households have access to water at Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) level and above. The backlog of the number of households with inadequate access to water has been reduced to 257 912, constituting 27,3% of the households in the province. Of this amount, 3,5% households have no access to infrastructure at all.

Alongside initiatives to improve the delivery of basic services, we have worked hard to inculcate and entrench a culture of sound governance, transparency and accountability to the citizens of the province. These include improved planning and performance monitoring capacity, the promotion of prudent and responsible use of public resources, and a greater willingness to act against those failing to comply with the relevant guidelines and legislation. We have dealt decisively with those involved in fraud and corruption.

The role of local government in advancing a people-centred development and a better life

Programme Director, municipalities and the local government sector are a vital cog in the democratic machinery of our country and are at the centre of the democratic system we have built and nurtured since 1994.

The role of local government in advancing people-centred development in the country is best reflected in the words of our former president Nelson Mandela when he reportedly described local government, ‘as the arms and legs of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP)’.

We cannot conceptualise the role of local government outside our movement’s commitment to a developmental state that is at the forefront of the fight against poverty and underdevelopment. Even the Constitution provides for a local government that is responsible for the social and economic development of our communities.

Therefore, it seems appropriate that one acknowledges the progress made in local government transformation in our country and Mpumalanga province, in particular, and the contribution that SAMWU has played in this regard.

Since 2004, it has been our desire to further transform our municipalities into a vehicle capable of efficiently delivering the quality services our people need so desperately.

As we highlighted in the recent State of the province Address:
‘despite challenges in local government, our overall assessment confirms that over the last five years we have experienced significant improvements in the capacity of local government to effectively deliver services. There also are indications of improved corporate governance of municipalities in the province. One of the areas of improvement is the ability of our municipalities to submit financial statements to the Auditor-General (AG). Improvements in the audit performance by many of our municipalities are a cause for optimism.

The high level of expenditure in the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) suggests increased capacities by municipalities to accelerate the roll-out of infrastructure projects. On average, the municipalities have spent 90 percent of the municipal infrastructure grants (MIG) in this financial year.’

It is my view that these achievements would not be possible without the contribution of municipal workers and SAMWU members in particular.

As a provincial administration we have always recognised SAMWU as an important partner as we sought to make our municipalities more efficient and effective in providing quality services and making them to become more responsive to the poor and the vulnerable.

Furthermore, SAMWU’s contribution to identifying and stamping out corruption, mismanagement, and other instances of poor governance, should be lauded by all.

This partnership, we believe, is important to every provincial administration that seeks to build on the foundation of a developmental local government system that has been successfully laid by the ANC-led government since the onset of the democratic era.

Addressing Poverty Challenges

The pro-poor leanings of this administration are further illustrated in the manner in which we have extended the social security net, covering thousands more of our people across the length and breadth of the province. For example, as we reported during the State of the province Address, social grants beneficiaries have exponentially grown by 65 percent from 579 907 in 2004 to 958 229 as at the end of January 2009.

But addressing poverty is not only about hand outs or creating ‘dependency’! We have further emphasised the role of the provincial government in creating an environment conducive to the widening of economic opportunities and empowering individuals and communities to take their destiny into their own hands.

Our policies to promote the return of people to the land (Masibuyel’ Emasimini), broad-based BEE, co-operatives, small enterprise development, skills development, and the creation of direct job opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), further attest to this singular objective to enable our people to rise above the poverty line and enter the mainstream of the economy.

We have been an administration that was pro-poor and even arguably pro-working class.

The timing of this Congress allows us to implore that as you go the polls and vote for the new government, among the questions you should ask would be whether the new government will be similarly pro-poor and pro-working class as this ANC-led provincial administration has been.

Global Economic Meltdown

Thousands of miles from us and across the seas the G20 group of countries, of which South Africa is the only African representative, are meeting in London to discuss the global economic meltdown and to formulate possible action to arrest these developments and to revive the growth prospects of the global economy.

This global economic meltdown is a crisis that affects us all. We know that it originated in the developed world, the United States to be precise, but has spread across the globe.

In the words of the respected Director-General of the International Labour Office (ILO), Juan Somavia: “What started as a financial crisis has quickly become via the credit market a large-scale crisis of the real economy progressively affecting enterprises, workers, families and households in virtually all countries.”

The ILO, which as workers you should be familiar with because it is the only tripartite structure of the United Nations (comprising of workers, business and governments), estimates that global unemployment could increase by 38 million by the end of this year.

In our own country we have also reason to fear the impact of this global crisis on enterprises, households, and communities. We have reason to fear that our development objectives and targets could be compromised, including our desire to halve unemployment and poverty by 2014.

The reported contraction of output in the last quarter of 2008 was of great concern as are reports of impending job losses particularly in sectors such as the automobile sector and manufacturing.

According to the latest South African Reserve Bank Quarterly Bulletin “South Africa could not escape the negative consequences of the international financial turmoil, despite the fact that its domestic financial institutions had virtually no direct exposure to the troubled assets that were central to the deterioration of credit markets. Deteriorating consumer and business confidence, declining global demand, and a relatively tight domestic monetary policy were reflected in a contraction in real gross domestic product in the final quarter of 2008 – the first such contraction in ten years”.

In terms of the sectoral impact of the global economic crisis, the Reserve Bank further notes: “The manufacturing sector, in particular, recorded a dismal performance in the fourth quarter of 2008, predominantly in the subsectors that are more sensitive to the business cycle. For the 2008 calendar year, growth in real gross domestic product decelerated to 3,1 percent – a disappointing outcome following four successive years in which annual growth had remained around 5 percent.”

These are uncertain times for working people across the world.

In its recent publication, “The Financial and Economic Crisis: A Decent Work Response”, the ILO warns that the bleak labour market outlook affects certain groups disproportionately-notably women, migrant workers and youth. The impact of the crisis on labour markets is also expected to go beyond just job losses as we will see the incidence of informal employment and working poverty increasing.

Fortunately, we can draw comfort from the fact that this ANC-led government, together with its social partners, has developed appropriate measures to respond to the economic crisis.

In line with President Motlanthe’s announcement during the State of the Nation address, the Presidential Economic Joint Working Group has released a document titled ‘Framework for South Africa’s Response to the International Economic Crisis’.

Among the highlights of the country response to the financial crisis are the following:
* a R787 billion public infrastructure investment programme over the next three years
* the development of sector strategies to address vulnerable sectors through trade, industrial and social policy measures
* a National Jobs Initiative (led by the Presidency and funded to the tune of R10 billion over the next three years)
* development of incentives for ‘green jobs’
* local procurement
* commitment by business to discourage retrenchments
* public sector employment
* Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) phase two aimed at creating 4.5. million work opportunities from 2009/10 to 2013/14 or 2 million full time equivalent (FTE)
* an emergency food relief and a ‘Food for All” programme to address food security
* commitment to playing a role in the G20 (group of countries), that promotes a more equitable and balanced model of global economic co-operation.

The successful implementation of these proposed measures at both the national and provincial level will rest on our ability to ensure that these commitments by all the social partners are translated into concrete plans and measurable deliverables that will bring hope to our people.

Provincial action to address the impact of the crisis will be guided by the national framework that we have outlined above. As we speak, provincial government officials are hard at work to finalise measures and commitments that will be presented to a stakeholder forum in line with our announcements during the State of the province Address.

Comrades, the timing of this SAMWU Congress allows us to again advise, that as you go to the polls you should ask whether the new government is one that is capable of ensuring the existence of a strong partnership between government, workers and business to protect workers and the most vulnerable from the global economic crisis.

You should ask also whether the new government coming to power is one that can position the country to remain competitive and generate decent jobs whilst in the midst of the deepest global economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The historical role and importance of the trade union movement

Comrades, you are gathered here as workers representing a trade union that is an important affiliate of the ANC’s Alliance partner, COSATU, and a leading union in the public sector. One of the critical areas you will be expected to deliberate upon will be how to mobilise municipal workers in order to build a stronger SAMWU.

I wish to assure you that it is in the interest of any ANC-led provincial administration to have a stronger SAMWU so that it is able to engage in partnerships that enhance the quality of service delivery at local government level. Stronger worker organisations are essential for transformation not only in the public sector but in the country as a whole.

As an ANC-led provincial administration we draw inspiration from the Freedom Charter. Our people gathered at Kliptown in 1955 proclaimed that “There shall be work and security- all who work shall be free to form trade unions, to elect their officers and to make wage agreements with their employers.”

More than four decades later, the new democratically-elected government outlined the main thrust of its economic policies and vision for restructuring and transforming the economy in the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) policy document but remained true to the above principles, arguing that “Over the years, workers have won many struggles and made many gains in the workplace. The fundamental principle of the RDP is to safeguard these rights and extend them. Organised labour must be empowered to act as a strong force in the reconstruction and development of our country”.

As a province we need to ask whether we are doing enough to build an environment for a stronger SAMWU and a stronger union movement that can assist us to consolidate the gains that our country has made and to further advance the fight against poverty and underdevelopment.

If there are those amongst us, whether in the provincial government or municipalities, who fear or abhor a stronger SAMWU or a strong trade union movement it is because we have not done enough to convince them that strong worker organisations are critical to our efforts to build social partnerships and ‘social dialogue”, without which we cannot prosper as a country.

We realise that new developments globally and locally are pushing unions to rethink their strategies but as analysts have observed, throughout the twentieth century trade unions have functioned in an environment characterised by dynamic changes in the world of work.

Prior to this unfolding global economic crisis workers and unions were confronted by the realities of globalisation, technical change, casualisation and the changing nature of work, and allow me to also add the impact of HIV/AIDS.

These challenges you were able to confront in various ways, including building your organisational strength through mobilising casualised workers and in establishing solidarity with counterparts in other countries.Indeed, it is laudable that in our midst today we have delegates from our neighbouring countries, Swaziland and Mozambique, and that this Tri-Annual Congress is a reflection of international solidarity in action.

Our expectations of SAMWU

Programme Director, your gathering at this Tri-Annual Provincial Congress affords you , as workers, an opportunity to further reflect on the challenges facing the local government sector. As we have indicated, this sector is too important for us to leave unattended if we are serious about Vision 2014 or the attainment of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) targets in the province.

The key performance areas that municipalities are expected to perform against remain the core issues of basic service delivery and infrastructure development, local economic development (LED), financial viability, municipal transformation, and good governance.

We are confident that SAMWU shares our aspirations for a better performing local government in the province. Notwithstanding challenges of limited financial and human capacity of many municipalities, particularly in our rural areas, we must strive for the best. Your role in these efforts is surely critical.

Comrades, 22 years ago thousands of municipal workers formed SAMWU and were instrumental as part of the organised worker’s militant resistance against and contribution to the defeat of the apartheid regime.

During the past fifteen years SAMWU has also played its role in advancing socio-economic transformation and improving the lives of our people in communities where they live.

As a provincial administration we wish to acknowledge SAMWU’s role in the partnership we have built to improve the performance of local government in Mpumalanga.

Undoubtedly, many challenges remain. We have much to do to improve governance and to ensure the effective and efficient delivery of quality services for our people.

Sometimes our municipalities seem to attract the wrong headlines. Surely, that has to change.

The days of adversarial relations between workers and management must also end and a new spirit of partnership be put in place.

There will be times when as workers you are also called upon to balance your short-term interests with broader strategic goals of the province and the country as a whole.

Over the next five years the ANC has identified the five key priority areas to be the creation of decent work, education, health, rural development, and the fight against crime and corruption.

It is my firm belief that in your deliberations you will seek to further strengthen your partnership with the provincial administration to ensure that achievements are made in these areas and the local government sector fulfils its potential.

We wish you all the success in your deliberations during this Tri-Annual Congress.

An Injury to One is an Injury to All

Amandla

VIVA SAMWU! VIVA COSATU! VIVA ANC! VIVA SACP!

Issued by: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
2 April 2009