Professionalised civil service to include municipalities: Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa says his administration’s efforts to professionalise the public service will also be rolled out at municipal level. 

Ramaphosa said this would improve service delivery within the local government sphere.

The president was speaking on the last day of the National Council of Provinces’ (NCOP's) “taking parliament to the people” programme in Port Shepstone, on the KZN south coast, on Thursday.

The programme aims to improve public participation in the NCOP’s processes and enable it to exercise oversight on government programmes and policies.

But the occasion almost descended into chaos when members of the EFF disrupted the president’s address, prompting a slight delay.

 As Ramaphosa was about to deliver his speech, the EFF staged a mini-protest, saying he should not be allowed to address the sitting because of the Phala Phala farm scandal.

“We are not going to be addressed by a president who has broken his oath,” said EFF MP Mmabatho Mokause. “He is not going to address the house. He is a dishonourable president who lies on top of dollars.”  

But a section of the crowd that clearly supported the ANC voiced its displeasure with the EFF protesters, telling them to leave if they did not want to listen to Ramaphosa.

NCOP chair Amos Masondo eventually restored order and Ramaphosa took to the podium. 

Ramaphosa acknowledged the problems that had been raised by residents of the Ugu district municipality since Tuesday.

These ranged from a  lack of clean water and poor road infrastructure to rampant crime.

He said he was aware that the largely rural district relied heavily on social grants and reminded residents that the government had extended the R350 relief grant to 2023. 

“The government continues to provide social grants to millions of poor South Africans. Before Covid we had 18-million people receiving social grants, during Covid we introduced the Covid-19 special distress grant, which now covers 11-million people,” he said. 

“We heard during the public hearings that you feel the money is not enough but unfortunately the government doesn’t have funds to increase it. We will, however, continue with this grant in 2023.” 

He said there were “new” service delivery challenges at local government level that he had picked up during the five presidential izimbizos he’d had this year. He said new laws would be required to tackle them. 

“Among others, the laws will disallow municipal officials from also holding political office, define competency criteria for the appointment of municipal managers and strengthen the performance-evaluation process.” 

He said this was a way of “professionalising” the public sector and had been adopted by the cabinet in October. 

Ramaphosa raised concerns about inefficiency and criminal activities in the local government sphere. 

“The state of local government reports from the auditor-general and the National Treasury point to inefficiency, maladministration, lack of financial controls, corruption and poor governance in many municipalities,” he said. 

“It looks like all the criminals are at the municipal level because that’s where money gets stolen. It affects local government’s ability to provide basic services people need to live quality and dignified lives.”

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