Ramaphosa must prioritise fixing local government

Municipalities around the country are in crisis and it has to be addressed. Inexplicably, local government did not feature in President Cyril Ramphosa’s state of the nation address as one of his top priorities. All he reported was that the government had begun a process of supporting and stabilising some 57 municipalities.

This is a drop in the ocean.

Some months ago co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister Dr Zweli Mkhize revealed that 31% of the country’s 257 municipalities were dysfunctional and 31% were almost dysfunctional. The remaining 31% were reasonably functional and only 7% could be classified as “functioning well”. The functionality of local government impacts on citizens’ quality of life more directly than any other sphere of government.

It is the coalface of service delivery. Where it is failing, people are denied basic services, including the provision of water, electricity, sanitation and refuse removal. If these systems are not in place, it impacts on people’s health, welfare and sense of wellbeing. It also impacts on the ability of businesses to thrive which, in turn, impacts on job creation.

Auditor-general Kimi Makwetu stated recently that more than half the EC’s 39 municipalities were in dire financial distress. In places like Stutterheim – and now Bathurst and Port Alfred – we have begun to see community fury at municipalities’ failure to deliver services. Frustration has boiled over into violence, and infrastructure and homes are being burnt and lives threatened.

In Makhanda, water delivery and bulk sewerage are compromised by unmaintained, weak and ageing infrastructure. Raw sewage flows freely into Kowie ditches and is allowed to cascade into the Blaauwkraantz and Kowie river systems.

Meanwhile its population of some 80,000 are forced to go without water for days on end because of municipal inefficiencies and a wildcat strike by municipal workers.

The implications of dysfunctionality in any city are serious. Ramaphosa needs to make it a priority to address inefficiencies in local government.

If he doesn’t the consequences will be dire for all concerned.

The functionality of local government impacts on citizens’ quality of life more directly