ANC local government manifesto 2011

TOGETHER WE CAN BUILD BETTER COMMUNITIES

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

In the 2009 general elections, the ANC focused on the five national priorities - creating decent work and sustainable livelihoods; education; health; rural development and agrarian reform; and the fight against crime and corruption.

Progress has been made on these priorities. Through our direct contact with the people - in villages, townships and suburbs - we have received feedback on the progress. We often find a consistent message: "We appreciate the progress, but we want faster change".

It is also a message of communities that want to work with government to do more. And we have listened.

Going forward and taking the message of working together, we need to do things differently.

Our Manifesto addresses the main challenges we face in our communities and local government - and the ways of doing things.

Our Manifesto is affordable, realistic and achievable. It draws lessons from our experience in government. It builds on the achievements and changes we have brought since 1994.

Local government and communities face major challenges - reducing unemployment, more access to better quality basic services, overcoming the legacy of apartheid spatial development, strengthening community participation, and building effective, accountable and clean local government.

This Manifesto is our commitment to address these challenges, working with communities.

We are committed to ensuring that local government understands the fundamentals of serving communities. National and provincial government will work shoulder to shoulder with municipalities in this major effort.

We have already improved the process of nominating councilors as part of our commitment to find councillors who will be accountable to the communities they serve, councillors who are efficient and competent to fulfil the responsibilities of being representatives of the ANC in local government.

We have subjected our nominees to the scrutiny of communities.

We are committed to ensuring that every councillor will regularly report back to the community and explain plans, successes and challenges.

Together, we can build better communities!

JACOB GEDLEYIHLEKISA ZUMA

INTRODUCTION

The fourth Local Government elections since the dawn of our democracy in 1994 bring another opportunity for South Africans to build on the progress we have made in realising our vision of a better life for all.

Our vision is that of profound transformation of society. As the ANC we know that political transformation without economic emancipation is meaningless. That is why we have to commit to economic freedom in our lifetime and the ANC will always be at the forefront of that economic transformation.

To continue making progress towards such a future we need an economy that creates more jobs, decent work and sustainable livelihoods. We need better quality local public services with access for all. We need to create more united, non-racial, integrated and safer communities; and to strengthen local participation, with effective, accountable and clean local government.

The ANC is best placed to carry out this next phase of developing and transforming our cities, towns and villages because of our values and principles, our polices, what we have learnt from our experience in government, and our commitment to ensuring that each community is actively involved in creating Better Communities.

Working together we have achieved much - but there is more to be done.

We are proud of how things have changed since we achieved democracy in 1994.

Working together, all our people have united to overcome the divisions of the past and deal with the challenges facing our country.

Together we put an end to apartheid, achieved peace and stability, made the lives of millions of our people better, developed the economy, and built a firm foundation for even faster progress.

Our country is one of the most stable and growing democracies in the world. And we have made steady progress in building a non-racial and non-sexist democracy.

Together, we have worked hard to build democratic local government that gives communities a voice and the opportunity to be active participants in the development of areas where they live.

There is still much more that needs to be done.

Unemployment and income inequality remain high.

The challenge of transforming our towns, villages and cities has been especially great.

We have to meaningfully de-racialise communities and overcome apartheid-era spatial development so that all residents can feel at home together and equally enjoy the benefits of development.

While many have access to housing and basic services, there is still a long waiting list.

The platforms that have been created to promote democracy, community participation and empowerment in matters of local government have taken root more strongly in some areas than others.

Whilst many local authorities are doing excellent work we recognise that some are not performing well.

Together, building on the progress we have made and learning from the experience of the past 17 years, we will need to do things differently to address these challenges, and we have already begun to do just that.

Together we can build better communities.

ACROSS OUR COUNTRY THE FACE OF COMMUNITIES HAS CHANGED

ANC policies have reduced poverty for millions of people.

Over two and half million houses have been built for the poor giving shelter to over ten million people. Six million households have gained access to clean water since 1994 and electricity has been connected to nearly five million homes.

- In 1994, only 62% of households had access to clean drinking water - today 93% do.

- In 1994, only 50% of households had access to decent sanitation - today 77% do. -Municipalities have gone a long way towards eradicating the bucket toilet system in formal settlements.

- In 1994, only 36% of South Africans had access to electricity

- today 84% do.

- Today the majority of our people are provided free basic water and electricity.

By 2010, 14.5 million people were receiving social grants.

Of those, 9.5 million are children less than 14 years old (compared with 2.4 million in 1996).

- This year the Child-Support Grant will be extended to children aged less than 18 years, an additional 2-million children.

- People can now collect their grants much closer to where they live.

- These grants help empower the poor to engage in economic activity and community self-empowerment, so that they can support themselves in the future. We are also creating economic conditions for people to be employed and therefore not dependent on grants.

Our programmes have opened the doors of learning.

- More than 8 million children at primary and secondary schools benefit from school-feeding schemes.

- In nurturing a love for education and eliminating finance as a barrier to access to higher education and training, we have offered more opportunities for children of the poor.

- Student loans are being converted into bursaries for successful final-year students who qualify for financial aid.

- Students in further education and training colleges who qualify for financial aid are now exempted from paying fees.

Community Development Workers are bringing government services and support closer to the people.

Communities are safer today as we aggressively intensify our campaign against crime.

- Crime statistics show a decrease in most crimes, including armed robberies, housebreakings and contact crimes.

The murder rate, for example, declined by 8,6% in 2010.

Our infrastructure programme has boosted the economy and expanded access to services.

- Implementation of the programme has helped create jobs and protect communities from the worst effects of the global economic crisis.

- In addition to meeting basic needs like water, electricity and housing, the programme has built and revitalised many clinics, hospitals, and schools. It has brought more tarred roads, streetlights and sporting and recreational facilities in many communities.

These achievements and many more have been possible because South Africans have worked with government to ensure meaningful change in their lives.

Together, we have brought democracy into our communities

Step by step residents have gained the power to take part in the development of their own communities and to elect representatives who will promote their interests.

More women are represented in local government than ever before (about 42% of councillors are women), thanks to the ANC's gender equality policy. The ANC is set to achieve 50:50 gender-equality after the 2011 local elections. Since the achievement of democracy, the ANC-led government has built a local government system which gives power to communities to make their voice heard and to work with municipalities to make change happen.

Through ward committees and consultations over Integrated Development Plans, communities can hold their elected representatives accountable.

People have the power to make sure that their municipalities work with provincial and national governments to turn national programmes into local services and development.

TOGETHER WE CAN BUILD BETTER COMMUNITIES

Through the experience of government and working with communities we have continuously learnt which policies are working and where change is needed.

In our 2009 Manifesto, which received the nation's mandate in the election, the ANC committed itself to continue working together with all South Africans around five priorities.

Creating conditions for an inclusive economy that will reduce unemployment, poverty and inequality and produce decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods.

Access for more and more of our people, especially the youth, to adequate education and training to enable them to participate productively in the economy and society.

Better quality health care in a system that is accessible to more South Africans, including the introduction of national health insurance.

More and more rural communities benefiting from investments in basic services (water, electricity, sanitation and roads) and empowered to end hunger by productively using the available or redistributed land. Through rural development we seek to modernise the countryside and bring dignity to rural dwellers.

Safer communities as serious and priority crimes are reduced, corruption defeated, and our criminal justice system is radically changed.

Local government has a critical role in the implementation of the 2009 Election Manifesto priorities. It is the closest sphere of government to the people, and the first point of contact of government with communities.

In localising priorities of the 2009 Manifesto and in meeting key challenges facing our communities, we will:

Build local economies to create more employment decent work and sustainable livelihoods;

Improve local public services and broaden access to them;

Build more united, non-racial, integrated and safer communities;

Promote more active community participation in local government; and

Ensure more effective, accountable and clean local government that works together with national and provincial government.

Build local economies to create employment and sustainable livelihoods

The challenges - and new ways of doing things:

Over the years we achieved sustained economic growth, but unemployment and inequality remain high. We need to ensure that our economy creates more jobs, decent work and reduces income inequalities.

Government has unveiled and is implementing its New Growth Path programme whose primary objective is to create at least 5 million jobs in the next 10 years.

The New Growth Path will require government at all levels to lead economic development, working with communities, the private sector, and labour. Every government department, every sector and every business entity, regardless of size will focus on job creation.

Municipalities, guided by the New Growth Path, and working with communities, will need to place job creation and sustainable livelihoods at the centre of their local economic programmes.

In doing so municipalities will need to ensure that there is equal access to employment and skills development for women and youth.

Together let us build local economies that create more jobs, decent work and sustainable livelihoods!

The ANC Government, working with the people, will:

Establish a Jobs Fund of R9 billion over the next three years to finance new job-creation initiatives. In addition, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has allocated R10-billion for investment in job-creating economic activities. These initiatives will have a direct impact in building local economies and will involve, amongst others, co-funding with municipalities.

Accelerate our on-going massive infrastructure development programme, which will:

- Create 250,000 jobs per year through over R800- billion investment in infrastructure through large-scale projects in energy, dams, roads, public transport and communication infrastructure.

- Embark on a massive S'hamba Sonke (walking together) programme which will use labour intensive methods of road construction and maintenance, including a massive pothole patching programme that is already being rolled out.

Expand the public works and youth development programmes:

- Create 4,5 million work opportunities through the Expanded Public Works Programme. More than 1 million work opportunities have already been created since Phase 2 of the programme began. Part of the programme is the Community Work Project which provides access to a minimum level of regular work - 2 days a week = 100 days a year. It will be ward-based in poorest areas and community-driven. It will increase its participants from the current 85,000 to 237,000 by the 2014. These public works programmes will not displace permanent jobs.

- Massively increase the number of youth participating in job creation, skills development and national youth service programmes organized by the National Youth Development Agency. Through National Youth Service programme, the Agency will work with municipalities to promote youth pride for the country and their communities.

Support small enterprises, co-operatives and informal sector with non-financial and financial means:

- A single small enterprise fund will be created, by merging Khula, the South African Micro-Finance Apex Fund and the Industrial Development Corporation's small business funding.

- Municipalities will put aside a percentage of their procurement for local co-operatives.

- Support rural smallholder farmers with seeds, tractors, and storage facilities; setting up rural co-operatives; and access to water infrastructure. Water reservoirs, windmills and irrigation schemes will be rehabilitated and community participation in the management of these schemes will be encouraged. Crops, livestock and grazing will be protected with the installation of fences.

- Establish community and village markets as a way of ensuring food security while improving household and community income.

- Establish rural youth brigades for activities in literacy, environmental protection, HIV and AIDS education, as part of the Rural Youth Service Corps Programme. The programme will engage up to one million young people over the next few years, combined with measures to expose young people to work experience through internships in private and public sectors.

- Work closely with traditional leadership structures in the implementation of rural development programmes Create work opportunities and support domestic manufacture of components in the green economy through further installation of solar-heater geysers in new low cost houses.

See that municipalities play their part in a national climate change strategy, including promoting local energy saving campaigns.

Ensure that government funded vacant posts, including local government posts, are filled.

Expand home, community and institutional food gardens, which will be supported as a means of promoting food production, reducing food insecurity and enhancing sustainable livelihoods.

Ensure that local jobs summits take place and their resolutions implemented to build local economies.

Improving local public services and broadening access to them

The challenges - and new ways of doing things:

Over the years, our infrastructure development programmes of road construction, electricity distribution and water supply have expanded these services but without sufficient attention to maintenance and refurbishment of existing and new infrastructure.

Over the next three years, government has committed over R800-billion for social and economic infrastructure, including the programme to address the repair and maintenance of municipal infrastructure.

National and provincial government will support local government capacity to broaden a range of public services.

Together let us protect and improve our local public services.

The ANC government, together with the people, will:

Speed up the provision of municipal access roads, water infrastructure, sanitation and electricity, especially in the rural areas.

Expand Free Basic Services - presently covering water and electricity - to include refuse removal to all poor households.

Invest in maintenance and refurbishment of municipal infrastructure - bulk water and electricity distribution, waste-management and roads.

Establish primary health care teams in municipalities to work in programmes addressing social abuse, HIV and AIDS, and broaden the scope of reproductive rights through provision of contraception and sanitary towels to the indigent in municipalities.

Build child-friendly facilities in municipalities over the next five years. Working with national and provincial government, municipalities will:

- Build Early Childhood Development Centres, which promote an educational component in childcare;

- Create child and family friendly parks in local municipalities which will provide safe spaces for children and their families to engage in sporting activities and general recreation;

- Place social workers in school districts to provide social support services to learners and help prevent instances of child abuse.

- Establish support for safe houses and shelters in each community that will provide temporary but potentially life-saving support for abused people, particularly women and children; and

- Enforce by-laws that restrict the sale of alcohol close to schools and other places frequented by children and families such as places of worship and recreational facilities.

Increase access to information and the arts:

- Extend the distribution of community libraries, including upgrading of existing libraries with new materials, information and communication (ICT) infrastructure and internet access.

- Extend provision and upgrading of community arts centres to enable thousands of artists to practice and develop their skills in the field of music, drama, craft and filmmaking.

Building more united, non-racial, integrated and safer communities

The challenges - and new ways of doing things:

Only if we do things differently can we realise our vision of united and non-racial communities in which everyone feels at home.

We need to locate new housing developments closer to work and other economic opportunities than has generally been done in the past.

We need to move away from simply building houses for the poor and work towards building more united, non-racial and integrated communities across our cities and towns.

Work has been on-going to ensure that new settlements are more non-racial and involve the creation of mixed-income communities. Our programmes of public transport infrastructure (trains, buses, roads) and other infrastructure are helping to transform our cities and towns.

In the countryside, integration of our communities would require that we pursue land reform and build, amongst other things, agri-villages to support farm and rural dwellers and new industries.

Building on progress in fighting crime we need to strengthen local forums to foster more community participation in combating crime and ensure that law-enforcement services are available where they are needed most.

Together, let us build more united, non-racial integrated and safer communities!

The ANC Government, together with the people, will:

Create 400,000 housing units in the next five years, on well-located land with services and within a 30-45 minute journey to work that uses less than 8% of disposable income for transport.

Upgrade informal settlements in 45 municipalities in the next five years and ensure they have security of tenure and access to basic services.

Empower metros and large cities to play a direct role in the provision of housing, developing and managing the built environment and improving and expanding public transport networks.

Promote alignment of the planning processes in the different spheres of government.

Create 80,000 mixed income social and rental housing units in the next five years, so that low-income earners can live in proximity to where they work.

Drive a national clean communities campaign, working together with relevant departments at all levels and our communities.

Strengthen the fight against crime by:

- Increasing the visibility of SAPS personnel members at police station level, including focused patrolling in cities and highways.

- Mobilising communities against crime by promoting the formation of street committees and village committees as part of community efforts to combat crime, and through partnership with the private sector, community groups and municipalities.

- Extending the distribution of police officers

Promoting more active community participation in local government

The challenge - and new ways of doing things:

Without active community participation and empowerment, the challenge of ensuring effective accountable and clean local government will not be realised.

The ANC is committed to further strengthening the voice of communities and ensuring that all ANC councillors serve those they represent and are accountable to them.

Community participation in the structures of local government needs to be strengthened beyond what is happening in many areas. Consequently, government is working towards ward committees that are better resourced, more powerful and taken seriously by municipalities.

National and provincial government will provide support and resources for other platforms for local participation, such as community policing forums, community safety forums, street and village committees, school governing bodies, hospital boards and clinic committees.

Furthermore, municipalities would need to strengthen their work with self-organised formations (such as burial societies, stokvels, cultural groups, youth and women's clubs) and non-government organisations as part of the process of deepening local democracy.

Together, let us empower our communities!

The ANC government, together with the people, will:

Further strengthen the voice of communities and ensure that adequate support is provided for empowerment of communities on decision making processes affecting their lives;

Review and strengthen the legislative framework where necessary, for Ward Committees and community participation.

Ensure that 90% of all ward committees are fully functional and better resourced in the next five years; Work together with communities to support community initiated social activities such as burial societies, stokvels, religious groups and so on.

More effective, accountable and clean local government, working together with provincial and national government

The challenge - and new ways of doing things:

Since 2000 we have been developing a new non-racial, democratic and developmental local government system, which will ensure that municipalities assume their full role as enshrined in the country's constitution.

Many municipalities are functioning well, but many others, especially in the rural areas, are still struggling, lacking the capacity and resources they need to fulfil their functions.

This has led to some municipalities being unable to provide even a core of basic municipal services effectively and efficiently.

As a result the pace of local development has been uneven, and some communities have been left behind.

Project Consolidate - in which national government sent in support management teams to remedy managerial failures - made a difference and brought improvements, but not enough.

Now we are taking things further. The government launched the Local Government Turnaround Strategy in 2009. It is a major initiative to consolidate and strengthen municipalities through active support from national and provincial government and effective community participation.

The challenges facing municipalities also relate to accountability.

Many councillors have served their communities well - but many have not.

What happens locally depends on effective cooperation between municipalities, provincial government and local government. We need to ensure that national and provincial government do work more closely with local government to ensure that they fulfil their functions more effectively. Work is underway to review the powers and functions of all spheres of government to ensure a more effective cooperative governance system.

From top to bottom, under the leadership of President Jacob Zuma, government is monitoring implementation more closely to ensure that government does its job.

The President put a new Minister in charge of monitoring and made all national Ministers sign performance agreements. Where there has been under-performance the President has taken action to strengthen those areas. At the local level, some councillors and mayors who were not performing well have been replaced.

Government has also taken active steps to deal with corruption in local government. Where necessary the Special Investigating Unit has been called in. But a lot more needs to be done to intensify our campaign against corruption.

Working together, with national and provincial government, let us build effective, accountable and clean local government!

The ANC government, together with the people, will:

Ensure that all ANC councilors serve those they represent and are accountable to them. In this regard, the ANC will strengthen its own organisational system, which will allow greater community participation in choosing ANC local government candidates in future local government elections.

Ensure that each municipality publishes and regularly reports on its local performance plan with targets for improvement in local services, and be expected to achieve them. Where necessary, and informed by its monitoring mechanisms, national and provincial government will make interventions at local level to remedy weaknesses that are identified through the monitoring.

Ensure that national and provincial governments provide support to municipalities lacking capacity in management, and delivery of services.

Ensure that all national and provincial programmes, which are to be implemented locally, are clearly communicated and reported to communities.

Review tendering systems by making them transparent and deal systematically with corruption and shoddy contractual work. Contractors who have delivered poor services will be blacklisted and forbidden from doing business with any government structure.

CONCLUSION

These fourth local elections since the dawn of our democracy have great importance.

We have as a country gone a long way in changing the face of our communities across the land. Much has been achieved in improving people's lives.

We have kept the economy developing, reduced absolute poverty, expanded basic services to unprecedented levels and made our communities safer.

We have achieved these things, because the people have consistently responded to the ANC's call to work together.

It is a call for not waiting for government to deliver, but for every citizen to take part in this great task of building a better life for all. It is also a commitment by the ANC to work closely with communities.

There is a lot we still have to do. Since the 2009 general election, our work has been guided by two principles:

Working together we can do more to address the problems our country faces; and

We need to do things differently to ensure faster change.

At the local levels this is even more important.

In developing this Manifesto, the ANC and its local election candidates have interacted with communities - in thousands of community meetings and community protest actions.

We have heard people's concerns. As ANC government, at all levels, we share responsibility for problems that people have experienced at the local levels.

To make local government work better for our communities requires effective cooperation and strong support by both national and provincial governments. Without eroding the powers of local government, and seeking to strengthen municipalities, national and provincial government will be far more active in supporting local government.

The ANC government, working together with the people - communities, business and workers - has been hard at work implementing the priorities of its mandate and addressing people's concerns.

This local election represents another opportunity for communities to use their power to take forward these priorities.

We call upon our people to rally behind the ANC's vision of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. The ANC believes firmly that the creation of non-racial nation is a cornerstone of the values and principles enshrined in the Freedom Charter which is the foundation document of the ANC.

Together we can build better communities!

Vote ANC!

We call upon our people to rally behind the ANC's vision of a united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.

The ANC believes firmly that the creation of non-racial nation is a cornerstone of the values and principles enshrined in the Freedom Charter which is the foundation document of the ANC.

TOGETHER WE CAN BUILD BETTER COMMUNITIES

VOTE ANC

A better life for all - ANC

Transcribed from PDF. Please check against original.

Issued by the African National Congress, February 27 2011

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