Minister, MECs present multi-pronged Local Government intervention to turn the tide on service delivery protests.
Today we are part of real history in the making.
Mayors of the Delivery Agreement on Outcome 9. This signing constitutes our public commitment to create a responsive, accountable, effective and efficient Local Government (LG).
To fully grasp the significance and meaning of this historic occasion allow me to quote Cde.
We shall not rest and we dare not fail in our drive to eradicate poverty.
"The year 2010 shall be the year of action. The defining feature of this administration will be that it knows the aspirations of the people, understands their needs and responds faster.  Government must work faster, harder and smarter. We will expect the executive the public service to comply with this vision. We are building a performance oriented state, by improving planning as well as performance monitoring and evaluation."
It is these directives from our Commander in Chief thatinform and thusmake this signing ceremony be unique. It marks the beginning of a new era for Local Government, the country and I dare say the world as a whole, The new administration under the leadership of Jacob Zuma is indeed writing a new chapter with regard to making and holding public representatives accountable and transparent to the communities they serve.  No country has ever trailed this blaze before.
What makes this occasion even more significant is that it comes against the backdrop of the successful holding of the National General Council of the ANC as ruling party over the past week. The NGC has just reconfirmed the need for working together to accelerate service delivery in order to achieve our common and shared national goal of building better life for all, particularly within local government. That will of necessity require that we professionalise Local Government. This includes all of us ensuring that we collectively work towards a situation where office bearers in political parties do not hold senior public servants posts in local government as that has often led to compromised service delivery as well distorted accountability.
This signing ceremony also follows the resounding successful hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the first ever to be held in the African continent to whose success Local Government contributed immensely. The World Cup confirmed that if we work in close cooperation, united, in professional and most importantly project based manner we can achieve more. Once again I must take this opportunity to thank all the host cities, their leadership and communities for making the 2010 World Cup a resounding success. You have all done the country proud!!!
Furthermore, we are as a country preparing to celebrate the first decade of democratic LG in South Africa. All of these events do indeed remind us now perhaps more than ever before, we need a strong Local Government. It is a sphere therefore that ought to function like a well-oiled machine; work in close cooperation with all spheres of government, stakeholders and perhaps most importantly with the communities.
Therein lies the increasing significance of the Local Government Turn Around Strategy as a blueprint that will ensure that the goal of a better life for all especially the poorest of the poor, is realized sooner rather than later. In the spirit of making Local Government Everybody's business, we urge all gathered here to rally behind this initiative and make this part of our livelihood. We are currently working in translating the LGTAS into all official languages so as to make sure that all our communities understand and rally behind it. For we believe that the people should be active participants in matters governance and development that affect them in their locality. They must therefore be treated with the dignity and compassion care and sensitivity they deserve.
Therefore the IDP's, budget, LED's and any other issues of importance must at all times be informed by the inputs from and needs of the people.
Programme Director, we have repeatedly said that Local Government is the most important sphere of government. It is at the coal face of service delivery of the most basic needs such as water, electricity, sanitation, and waste removal. It touches the lives of all 48 million South Africans on a daily basis in terms of the satisfaction of their basic needs.  It is when Local Government works effectively and efficiently that the cherished national dream of better and sustainable livelihoods life for all can be come to fruition.
Programme Director, this sphere of government has done a lot to make monumental achievements in the terms of improving the lives of millions of people over the past 16 years of democracy. To date no less than 92 % of the people have access to clean water. 69 % have access to sanitation. 64 % have access to refuse removal whilst over 81% have access to electricity. Whilst a lot has been achieved we will agree that a much more still needs to be done.
Yet it is a sphere which has over the past decade been faced with many challenges. It is those challenges that today the MEC's, the Mayors and all the leaders of this sector have come to commit to do away with. We have come here to say that as we move towards the 2011 Local Government elections, we will work diligently to make those elections free and fair and thus restore the confidence of the public in this critical sphere op government.
We have come to commit to working together as diligent and professional servants of the people; accountable to the people and most importantly, committed to rooting out all malpractices such as corruption and abuse of state resources and power as well as ensuring good governance at all times.
We are here to say with our signatures that we shall hold each other's hands and work together and  commit to deliver on all the seven outputs of Outcome 9 by 2014 viz.
I therefore call on the MEC's and the Mayors to join me as I append my signature and publicly commit to the country and the world to know that we shall, working together, make sure that what we sign here today truly translates into the building of a better life for all especially the poorest and most vulnerable.
Copyright ï¿½ 2009.