WHEN THE FUN IS OVER
Future of Grahamstown Arts Festival falls under serious scrutiny
IT IS becoming increasingly difficult to justify the National Arts Festival remaining in a decaying Grahamstown, festival CEO Tony Lankester told Cooperative Governance Minister Zweli Mkhize yesterday.
Lankaster’s warning was echoed by dismayed Makana business, education and community leaders, all of who want the crumbling municipality’s financial, technical and service delivery woes addressed.
Mkhize yesterday announced he had appointed a large team consisting of the top management and technical leadership in his department to assist a turnaround in the dysfunctional and broke Makana municipality.
But, Mkhize warns there is no magical pot of money to bail out the municipality which, he said, needed to first get the basics right.
The minister and his large delegation met with business, political, educational and community leaders in Grahamstown yesterday to ascertain for himself how things stood in the municipality.
He was told in no uncertain terms how the collapse in service delivery, the potholed roads and the frequent electricity and water outages in the city was destroying investor confidence, business opportunities and employment.
Lankester said the impact rippled down to the level of everything done in the city, and it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to justify why the internationally renowned National Arts Festival should remain in Grahamstown, which has hosted it for 44 years.
“When I am asked (if it is staying in Grahamstown) I reply: ‘We will stay in Grahamstown as long as it is capable of hosting us.’ And it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify.”
Mike Duxbury, managing director of one of the city’s biggest employers, the Carara Argos Processing plant, pointed out that the company had spent millions of rands on dealing with the consequences of the collapse of municipal services. He said the company, which is a major exporter of pickled products, had to install its own water treatment facility to deal with the substandard municipal water quality, buy its own generators to deal with electricity outages, develop extraordinary water storage measures to deal with water outages, and buy its own tractor and skips to remove rubbish. The company also assisted the surrounding community by cleaning up informal dumpsites, mowed and cleaned its own verges and repaired surrounding potholed roads.
“How can we convince customers we operate to world standards and are able to supply volumes of export quality product if we are surrounded by an unsightly mess?”
Representatives of the Grahamstown Residents’ Association (GRA), Grahamstown Business Forum (GBF), Rhodes University, and all the private schools said they wanted to work with Makana municipality to turn things around.
GBF chair Richard Gaybba said that although Makana municipality was only one of dozens of municipalities in a dire state, it deserved urgent attention as it punched about its weight.
It was strategically positioned between two major metros, was home to Rhodes University, some of the best government and private schools on the continent, the national arts and other festivals, and the seat of the high court in the province.
Mkhize welcomed what he termed the goodwill and the willingness for all to work with the municipality.
He said his entire top management, consisting of his programme chief directors and directors-general were in the city to assess it and offer institutional support while demanding accountability on issues of governance.
“This team will ensure critical issues are dealt with and vacancies, including that of municipal manager, are filled. Don’t be discouraged that previous interventions have not worked out.”
Mkhize later told the Dispatch that the team would look at the constraints faced by the municipality and identify solutions and “quick wins”.
The minister is visiting municipalities in the province as part of his department’s support of interventions in distressed municipality.