Local is crucial
This week sees the world’s largest gathering of African journalists for the 21st edition of Highway Africa hosted by Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies.
This year’s theme is Media, Accountability and Local Governance and, as Rhodes Vice Chancellor Sizwe Mabizela said in his welcoming statement, it is very relevant to our continent.
“Dysfunctional local government has a huge impact on the lives of people, businesses and institutions… At the heart of the breakdown in the pact between people and their elected representative in government is betrayal of trust and oath of office on the part of those entrusted with the responsibility of changing the lives of ordinary citizens for the better.”
One of the panel discussions yesterday dealt with the relationship between local government and the media.
For Grocott’s Mail, the way we cover local government ranges from straight-up reporting on the basics (why aren’t the taps running and when will the water be back) to the kind of intrigue that led up to the explosive Kabuso report.
Our history includes the notorious war in which a former editor published a story a former municipal manager didn’t like. He enforced an advertising boycott, eventually successfully challenged in court. It mattered: “The municipality was one of the biggest advertisers and this boycott hit the paper hard financially,” related that editor, Jonathan Ancer in a recent interview.
The relationship has been, it seems, one of co-dependency – at times blissful, at times hell. More recently Grocott’s has to a large extent enjoyed a high degree of open and frank communication from city officials about the basics, which we’ve been able to share with citizens.
If we have “an approach” to how we report on local government, it’s through the lens of community media: Small stories build the big picture - but also remind officials how seriously the way they execute their duties can affect people’s lives in very real and basic ways.
In this edition, we report on yet another nightmare sewage spill from our overloaded sewers, that flooded a family’s house, destroying their month’s groceries and forcing them to seek shelter in a nearby hall.
In July we reported on hundreds of people who had gathered opposite the Mayfield Phase 1, Extension 10, housing development. Sick of waiting to be allocated houses, a group of residents had formed a committee which was allocating plots for people to build homes.
A delay in upgrading our sewage infrastructure to handle a heavier load means a 2 000-plot formal housing development nearby is on hold.
Sewage, housing and a deal brokered with officials of the previous Makana Council (among others) that went sour come together in today’s story about the clubhouse at the old Cradock road golf club.
Our dams are still low (Howieson’s Poort 21%, Settlers 20% according to Makana’s spokesperson) and there’s every indication that November remains the likely D-Day when we simply won’t be able to pump any more.