Ratepayers must hold city officials to account

THE eThekwini Municipality has a few days of cash on hand. Previously, it had about two years of cash on hand. What went wrong?

There is no need to be a rocket scientist to figure this one out.

Apart from the looting, it seems that more than half of the municipal employees are not fit for purpose but are being paid exorbitant salaries with benefits.

Some of them are incompetent and unskilled, and were employed as cadres.

In other words, these cadres don’t have the know-how for the jobs they are employed to do but as long as they are politically connected, no one can touch them.

How sick is this when there are millions of people in our country dying from poverty?

Don’t some of these people in government and municipalities have a conscience? I guess not.

So, what do we as ratepayers of eThekwini do? Do we sit back and hope for the best?

I am sure while driving around Durban many ratepayers observe the laziness of some municipal officials.

For example, on numerous occasions I notice parks and gardens staff start work at about 11am.

I brought this to the attention of the supervisor but this culture of laziness continues across all departments within eThekwini.

Also, when one enters a municipal office, it seems that these officials are doing you a favour when you request help. We also cannot disturb them if they are on their cellphones.

At Durban Solid Waste and the electricity and water departments, there does not appear to be accountability. It sometimes seems as if there are incompetent people in management positions. So, how does one expect those departments to run efficiently?

What a slap in the face for ratepayers when officials use municipal vehicles for private use at the taxpayers’ expense.

It makes you sick when there are qualified job seekers who are willing to work to ensure our city improves.

We as ratepayers must not accept that a lack of service delivery is due to a lack of resources, skills, etc. These are not valid excuses because humans have created this situation. The only excuse we should accept for a lack of service delivery is a natural disaster, not a human disaster.

It is about time that ratepayers take over the eThekwini Municipality through the courts.

We need people who add value and have the relevant qualifications and skills. This can be done easily by employing an independent skills audit company.

As ratepayers we should demand to see the performance contract of every head of department.

They need to supply the ratepayers with a portfolio of evidence as well.

We are the employers, not government or the municipality.

This can easily be demonstrated by a rates boycott.

YUGEN MOODLEY

Durban