Deputy President visits Bitou
Deputy President began his visit with a stakeholder meeting on Friday, 20 August to establish the state of government programmes in the area.
During the meeting issues of improvement of how local government delivers its services to the community for immediate relief, amongst other issues the following areas were highlighted as needing urgent improvement within the Eden District municipality:
- Co-ordination among all spheres of government in order to enable effective and efficient service delivery
- Quality Education and Healthcare (Social Economy).
- Sustainable job creation.
- Youth skills development.
- Informed citizenry on accessing government services.
During the community meeting, several complaints were made regarding the allocation of houses, economic development with the special focus on job creation, access to primary healthcare in particular the HIV and AIDS treatment programme. Community members also expressed distress on the process of land restitution in the area.
“The recurring concern as we undertake this programme as national government is the lack of co-ordination of how government at local level delivers its services”, said Deputy President Motlanthe.
The meeting between Deputy President, Premier and Ministers suggested that the Western Cape Premier’s Co-ordinating Forum involving all municipalities should be effectively utilised to enhance inter-governmental relations and coordination. This should be extended to structured interaction between MECs and municipalities. This, it was observed, is not only a Constitutional obligation but must be done in the spirit of good governance and faster delivery.
Deputy President Motlanthe urged the local and provincial leaders to use the expertise gained during the World Cup to better service communities as government accelerates its anti-poverty campaign and the general economic growth programs.
Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille also addressed the community meeting and highlighted the need for communities to partner with government to uplift them from poverty. Premier Zille underlined the need for communities in the area to be vigilant and protect themselves against unplanned and teenage pregnancies as this perpetuates the cycle of poverty. She also stressed that people should hold their leaders to account and that “corrupt leaders make their people poorer” The community meeting further emphasised the necessity of education as the most effective weapon to fight inter-generational poverty. A commitment was made that the delivery of housing will be fast-tracked and that all spheres will work together to promote good governance and to fight corruption.
Community members were encouraged to sharply raise their concerns since it is their right to challenge government to improve the pace and quality of services.
A commitment was made that the national and provincial leadership will return to Bitou municipality to assess progress made in pursuit of commitments made.
