Winde: ‘I love that town’
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, an old boy of Knysna High, told Knysna-Plett Herald that his heart bleeds for his hometown. “I recently saw a photograph of a child in Knysna watching adults fight over water. I will never forget that image. Council should be working night and day to fix the water problem.”
Asked to identify the biggest problems in Knysna Municipality Winde listed the following:
Financial management problems Senior staff appointment problems Lack of executive ability to manage basic services
No economic vision; and
No planning
Administration route not so easy
Many business people and other opposition parties demand that the municipality be placed under administration by the provincial government, but Winde says it's not that easy. "Section 139 of the constitution was written to protect against political abuse, but it also limits the role that Province can play. It doesn't give Province enough power to intervene in a municipality when desperately needed - as is the case in Knysna."
Responding to President Cyril Ramaphosa's Sona speech last week, Winde publicly begged Ramaphosa to help the
Western Cape Government place Knysna under administration.
"We have to follow due process to help a struggling municipality. Other municipalities like George have stepped in to help Knysna with service delivery at great cost to themselves."
He said Knysna faces huge debt, cash flow problems, bad management and compromised infrastructure.
To prove his point about the difficulty of placing a municipality under administration, Winde refers to the time when he, as Western Cape Finance minister, placed the Overberg Municipality under administration.
“Within a day the ruling coalition obtained an interdict and chucked me out. The law says the people have made their choice and we have to abide by the people's choice of rulers."
Regarding allegations of Knysna Municipality being captured by "mafias", Winde said there are lots of allegations of people manipulating processes and appointments.
Water and waste
As to the water shortages in many areas in town, Winde says Hornlee needs an engineering solution, including a new pipeline. In a statement on Monday 19 February, Knysna Mayor Aubrey Tsengwa said he has addressed the causes of the water supply interruptions and refuse collection problems. He listed various factors hampering service delivery including ageing infrastructure, load shedding, vandalism and theft of infrastructure and a growing demand due to the huge influx of residents to Knysna and specifically Hornlee.
He said a lack of funding is at the heart of all Knysna's problems, and that they are considering public-private partnerships. Meanwhile water tankers continue to service the affected areas of town.
The refuse collection problem is largely due to eight trucks that have broken down and problems with the conveyer belt at the transfer station. Tsengwa said it should take about eight weeks to iron out all the waste problems.