In the 10th year of democracy we have seen miracles achieved due to a new sphere of government which, in our decade of freedom and democracy, is in fact only three years old. We have seen hope restored and a new commitment to build our future together.

In the arena of local government, we have made tremendous progress, through various phases of transformation, towards making true developmental governance a reality.

In terms of the Constitution, the first local government election following the adoption of the Constitution would see the establishment of a sphere of local government for the whole of the Republic (wall-to-wall municipalities) to function in a unique relationship vis-à-vis the national and provincial spheres of government. This relationship is based on the principles of co-operative government, and which declares all spheres of government, i.e. national, provincial and local, as distinctive, inter-dependent and interrelated. This heralded the end of domination of one sphere over another, and ushered in an era where all three spheres could interact in the spirit of co-operative government as co-operative partners.

The last decade in local government was characterised by transformation. Two powerful processes dominated this transformation: firstly, the establishment of democratic political structures for local government, and secondly, local government was concretised as a distinct sphere of government embracing a new dispensation.

Apart from creating democratic political structures in local government, the past ten years saw the establishment of a distinctly different sphere of local government, as envisaged in the new Constitution. This sphere also required its own structures and systems.

We have come a long way - In the Western Cape, the 95/96 municipal elections resulted in the dissolution of 527 former local representative bodies/councils:

• 213 municipalities
• 21 regional services councils
• 195 coloured management committees
• 6 Indian management committees
• 92 black local authorities

This was transformed to 136 local authorities and on the day of the local government election on 5 December 2000, the former 136 local authorities in the Province were disestablished and 30 new municipalities established in their place, namely:

• 1 Metropolitan Municipality
• 5 District Municipalities
• 24 Local Municipalities

Through the close co-operation with municipal officials and councillors, the transition from fragmented to democratic structures in local government occurred without disruption in service delivery - a miracle on its own.

Looking at the constitutional objectives of local government, the progress in the Western Cape in implementing municipalities was significant.

These objectives were embodied in a suite of local government legislation, which crafted the new system of local government.

The next Ten Years

The first ten years of local government democracy is not an end in itself. Rather, democracy in local government has been structured and institutionalised only since the local government elections on 5 December 2000, making democracy in local government a mere 3 years old.

The coming years will require commitment from municipal officials and councillors to achieve appropriate constitutional objectives. A number of systems will have to be institutionalised and implementation problems dealt with, before the true impact and success can be measured.

In addition, the implementation of the Disaster Management Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act, will impact positively on the local government sphere, making future challenges even more daunting.

Municipalities in the Western Cape Province have performed well in providing services to their communities. They are the basis of continuous and excellent service delivery. It is also our officials and councillors who are in the firing line when things go wrong, It is our officials and councillors who are the first to be blamed and for this, on behalf of the provincial government I thank you. Aristotle said "It is possible to fail in many ways...while to succeed is possible only in one way." Thank you very much for your committed and continuous efforts to achieve success with local government. We all take pride in our Western Cape municipalities.

Enquiries: