ANC+NGC+Commissions+5+and+6,+Legislature,+Governance+and+Constitutional+Affairs



CONSOLIDATED REPORT ON SECTORAL STRATEGIES
 * ANC National General Council, 29 June - 3 July 2005**

=**__Commissions 5 & 6__**=


 * LEGISLATURE, GOVERNANCE AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS**


 * 1. PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY**

Participatory democracy can be enhanced by addressing the following issues:

· Public participation unit to educate on the role of public in the elections process in relation to service delivery. · Government documents must be simplified and where possible they must be produced in languages understood by the community. · We need to explore appropriate mechanisms to empower communities to engage better with the state. · Strengthen all formal and informal nodes of contact between civil society, the executive, legislature and administration. · Institute an aggressive national programme of civic education that familiarises all citizens with the Constitution, new structures, citizen rights and obligations, participation and so forth. · Government to be encouraged to systematically review whether a hierarchy of recourse avenues a) Exist for dissatisfied citizens; b) Are accessible to all, and c) Function effectively at all levels of government and in all sectors

**A. Ward Committees**

 * 1) There is a need to review how ward committees do their work to ensure that recommendations made through public consultations are addressed by the council.
 * 2) Roles of public representatives, ward committees and CDWs must be clarified to resolve challenges that have arisen.
 * 3) Ward public meetings should be convened regularly (quarterly).
 * 4) A review should be undertaken to determine:
 * Adequate resources are made available to ensure that ward committees function.
 * Appropriate and uniform approaches to compensate ward committee members for their expenses.
 * 1) Work with progressive civil society to mobilise communities to engage with government policies and programmes.
 * 2) ANC branches should actively mobilise communities to participate in the public hearings on municipal integrated development plans and budgets.

**B. Izimbizo**
2. Need to improve on the coordination of izimbizo by the three spheres of government to avoid competition.
 * 1) Commitments made at public meetings should be followed up by the relevant public representatives to ensure that other spheres of government are not held accountable for such commitments.
 * 1) Need to analyse issues arising from the izimbizo to ensure follow up on implementation.
 * 2) A calendar of izimbizo must be developed to enhance effective participation.


 * C. Public representatives**


 * 1) Capacitation of public representatives must also include councillors so as to help them to execute their responsibility.
 * 2) Public representatives' work to be guided by the organisation and must seek to complement work of the constitutional structures to build branches and strengthen community relations.
 * 3) Legislature and council work should be simplified and talk to community issues.
 * 4) Decentralisation of constituency offices to enable councilors to have offices.
 * 5) Parliamentary, legislature and council hearings must be held in ward communities to give them a voice.


 * D. CDWs**

1. Role of CDWs must be further clarified and ensure that their work complements councilors.
 * 1) CDWs should be coordinated from the office of the Premier and mayors.
 * 2) CDWs should not be allowed to stand for political office in the municipality to avoid conflict of interest.
 * 3) The process of recruitment should be clarified and reviewed to ensure transparency and acceptance by all stakeholders.


 * 2. ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT**

1. The need to transform the political system at local government level and create better accountability mechanisms between mayoral committees and the mayor.
 * 1) Equitable distribution of resources should be reviewed in order to respond to service delivery challenges.
 * 2) How do we ensure that competing needs are dealt with correctly and make sure that allocation of resources is responding to these issues (unions demanding salary increase vs. service delivery).
 * 3) Ensure that cross boundary municipalities are done away with before the next local government elections.
 * 4) Positive gains have been registered over the past seven years and legislative environment has created better scope to improve on areas of services delivery.
 * 5) ANC must intervene before section 139 interventions where there are political issues.
 * 6) District municipalities must be given resources and capacity to ensure coordination.
 * 7) Evaluation and monitoring may need alignment at system- MFMA.
 * 8) There is a need for an objective performance review of political office bearers, municipal managers and others deployed to local government to ensure effective service delivery.
 * 9) Need for youth development agency based on youth development strategy in all municipalities.
 * 10) Review of public office bearers remuneration in order to address current remuneration based on fiscal capacity of municipalities.
 * 11) Review the ordinances at local government level and repeal those that are no longer valid.


 * 3. TRANSFORMATION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE AND JUDICIARY**

1. One of the important elements for transformation is: equality before the law, access through the use of appropriate language, access to justice by enabling access to courts for all our people.
 * 1) Our approach to the transformation of the public service and the judiciary must be informed by a broader institutional transformation process, informed by the African Charter on People's and Human Rights.
 * 2) We need to find ways of maintaining the political consciousness of cadres deployed in the public sector, by ensuring that the movement retains dynamic contact with them.
 * 3) Need to have competent, responsive and sensitive judiciary (mindset, gender, etc).
 * 4) Strengthen interface with the people by providing quality services.
 * 5) As we transform the institutional framework, we need to go beyond the deployment of individuals to institutions and have a comprehensive deployment strategy of people with requisite skills.
 * 6) Transformation of the judiciary in the lower courts must be fast tracked.
 * 7) Independence of the judiciary must be maintained while responding to real challenges of transformation.
 * 8) Consideration should be given to the appointment, development and training of lay assessors to compensate for the inadequate transformation amongst the judicial officers (judges, magistrate etc).
 * 9) Consideration should be given to the establishment of small claims courts in rural areas.
 * 10) Role of the judiciary and their ability to do work without compromising their independence.


 * 4. ANTI-CORRUPTION**


 * 1) The NGC reaffirmed the solemn declaration of the membership of the ANC that we join the organisation voluntarily and without motives of material advantage or personal gain.
 * 2) The ANC must remain at the forefront of the national campaign against corruption.
 * 3) We need to strengthen the comprehensive mechanisms against the perpetrators of corruption as well as the beneficiaries at all levels of governance and in the public and private sectors.


 * 5. CAPACITY OF THE STATE**

1. Sharing of human resources among the three spheres of government in order to respond to the capacity challenges on service delivery issues.
 * 1) Develop a sustainable programme for delivery of services and support for local municipalities without a tax base.
 * 2) Speedy implementation of the single public service framework will enhance service delivery.
 * 3) Often the different spheres of government are sending mixed signals to the community and there is a need to improve the coordination between different spheres of government.
 * 4) Demarcation issues must strive to integrate communities (single tax base). All outstanding issues with respect of cross boundary municipalities should be resolved before the local government elections.
 * 5) Amalgamation of youth and women's development structures to ensure that issues pertaining to young people and women are dealt with from an integrated approach. The amalgamation of youth development structures should follow the conclusion of an integrated youth development strategy and a feasibility study.
 * 6) Introduce performance monitoring legislation and identify gaps.


 * 6. ON INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY BUILDING FOR IMPROVING SERVICE DELIVERY**


 * 1) Strengthen government at all levels to be able to deal with lack of delivery among three spheres of government.
 * 2) Over reliance on consultants in municipalities is undermining the ability of the municipality to develop its capacity and ensure that critical skills are retained.
 * 3) We must develop a clear skills development strategy and implementation plan.


 * 7. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR, PARLIAMENT AND PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURES**

1. Capacity of the legislatures to do oversight over the executive and hold it (executive) accountable.
 * 1) Management and understanding of the separation of powers between the organs of the state to enable our democracy to function with the clear understanding and appreciation of their distinct roles.
 * 2) Review of provinces in the context of the increasing devolution of powers and functions to municipalities and this must be done speedily to give certainty and stabilise the governance institutions.
 * 3) The NEC should discuss and finalise outstanding issues in relation to the role of provincial legislatures in the provincial budget process.


 * 8. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANC AND GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES**

1. Strengthen caucus structures at all levels so that they can give clear political direction to all the deployed cadres in that institutions.
 * 1) Election of ANC public representatives must be informed and guided by the political approach determined through the existing ANC policies by the NEC.
 * 2) Where appointed to executive positions in government, new members of the ANC, who do not qualify to stand as leadership at branch level, should not necessarily sit ex-officio on the executive structures of the ANC.
 * 3) Weak organisational structures contribute towards lack of accountability of public representatives.
 * 4) We must strengthen ANC branches and empower them to work with communities.
 * 5) Important ANC documents like the Freedom Charter and Strategy and Tactics must be made available in all official languages.
 * 6) Access to information by ANC structures must be improved and ANC structures, parliamentary and constituency offices must be centres of information.
 * 7) ANC members must be active in the different sectors in the communities including active participation in these structures (SGBs, CPFs and other community structures). The members of the ANC should also be at the forefront of non-governmental community structures and non-statutory forums.
 * 8) The ANC should mobilise community members to participate in community structures (professionals, business, etc).
 * 9) Provincial programmes targeted at branches and regions to create awareness of the functioning of the judiciary and transformation initiatives.
 * 10) The ANC constitutional structures should give strategic direction to governance structures and unified leadership.
 * 11) The ANC must introduce clear performance measurements for all public representatives and to allow constituencies to do an evaluation while accepting that branches must also conduct such.
 * 12) ANC needs to create internal capacity to monitor implementation of decisions taken by way of resolutions.
 * 13) It further needs to develop evaluation capability with respect to impact of policies on special interest groups it had identified, e.g. the poorest of the poor, women, youth, etc.
 * 14) Through undertaking projects and campaigns, learn through action! Revitalise Letsema campaign.
 * 15) The ANC must audit what is reflected in the manifesto and what has been delivered on the ground.
 * 16) The Know Your Neighbourhood campaign must be taken up by all our structures as part of the process of building a people's contract to advance the vision of the Freedom Charter.


 * 9. Post Employment Restrictions**

We need to investigate measure to deal with potential conflict of interest relating to access to work in the public sector.

From: http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/ngcouncils/2005/consolidated_report.html