Mr President, we need to see some swift action
YESTERDAY’S decision by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal to shaft the entire leadership of the party in the eThekwini and Msunduzi municipalities shows once again it is unable to deal with corruption and incompetence within its ranks or manage the fractious relationship between the two factions in the party.
Welcome though the decision was, it was too long in coming.
Pietermaritzburg has been under administration for some time, occasioned by an almost complete breakdown in the delivery of simple services like refuse collection. This had the predictable effect of the CBD resembling a landfill site.
The legislature sits in Pietermaritzburg. How the premier, who has a residence in the city, and Co-operative Governance MEC attended meetings in the city over these past many months, without feeling the need to intervene, requires some explanation.
In Durban, controversial mayor Zandile Gumede caused anarchy on the city’s streets when she placated the uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans Association by giving huge increases to MKMVA members employed by the municipality, understandably angering employees not benefiting from the deal.
No action was taken against her. While several allegations swirl around her, she has been formally charged with corruption relating to a waste removal tender of R208 million and has made several related appearances in court.
The ANC’s tardy response to the situations in these two municipalities gives the lie to Cyril Ramaphosa’s promises to clean the public service.
It appears he will only act when it is politically expedient to do so, and against those who backed Jacob Zuma and subsequently Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
This was nothing more than a display of the politics of factionalism, with the stronger faction getting rid of the weaker.
If, as is suspected, Gumede and the others are “redeployed” to other cushy positions, it will mean their incompetence has simply been redeployed to another area.
For us to take Ramaphosa at his word, we need to see prompt action taken against the incompetents and corrupt at all levels of the public service, including against those in his camp.