Following the announcement of his reshuffled Cabinet, South Africa’s newly-elected President Jacob Zuma also announced a string of changes to the various government departments.

The Department for Provincial and Local Government has now been renamed as the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, though the Honourable Sicelo Shiceka remains at the helm of the department.

Following are extracts from a speech given by Sicelo Shiceka at a debate in Parliament regarding President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address. 

“The Ministry and Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, which the President announced on the 10th May 2009, will diligently and relentlessly play its role as the Choir Conductor of our system of co-operative governance.

This Department will protect, guide and direct our unique voices and roles over the next five years, as we project a single national harmonious melody that must have rhythm, vibrancy and meaning.

Mr President, you have given the musical score and song-sheet to government and to the nation. It is clear, inspiring, unambiguous and focused. We understand that we will need to build on the gains that we have made in the last 15 years and simultaneously attend vigorously to our weaknesses and deficiencies.

Fighting poverty, creating decent work and improving the lives of our people will be at the centre of our collective actions. We will need to address the misaligned planning that exists between national, provincial and local government.

The Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and Local Economic Development Strategies of municipalities must reflect the priorities of the entire public sector, including those of public entities as well as those of business.

We are aware that this planning misalignment is a fundamental challenge. In the OR Tambo District Municipality in the Eastern Cape, for example, we have seen a situation where the District and one of its Local Municipalities were conducting separate IDP hearings in the same area.

Going forward, the Department will work very closely with the National Planning Commission as the premier partner in improving the alignment of our planning across all spheres.

The implementation of government programmes in many areas continues to be fragmented, disjointed and unco-ordinated.

A common complaint of municipalities has been that national and provincial government and state entities implement their programmes in local areas without the knowledge and input of municipalities.

Various national and provincial departments have their own reporting requirements that are imposed on municipalities. Secondly, our information and intelligence base of what is happening in municipalities is uneven, and actually absent in many respects. This is exacerbated by the fact that many of our provincial governments and District Municipalities do not know what is really happening in our Local Municipalities and communities.

The core challenge over the next 5 years will be to create a single window of coordination for local government and to significantly strengthen the monitoring and oversight regime for municipalities.

To read the full text of Minister Sicelo Shiceka’s speech visit the DPLG website.