Emfuleni residents must step up
News that a group of 900 businesses in the Emfuleni municipality in Gauteng’s Vaal area have decided to stop paying rates and taxes while others intend moving their enterprises elsewhere spells doom for that local government and residents.
It means that jobs will be lost and the municipality will have even less to meet its obligations to suppliers of electricity and water.
Spin and carefully crafted statements will not help. The municipality is crying out for a complete overhaul. The rapid deterioration of governance and financial management is a threat to the democratic project itself. The increasing levels of voter apathy are not helped by having municipalities like Emfuleni. It becomes difficult to convince voters about the need for a democratic government if election after election the outcome is that ratepayers continue to pay individuals for a set number of years for doing or delivering nothing.
Residents must also take some responsibility. In a democracy, you get the government you deserve. The Emfuleni government did not impose itself on a people. It was democratically elected.
It is an indictment to both residents and the government that there are potholes so deep they can be mockingly used as makeshift swimming pools. This is a tragedy.
Unlike business, the vast majority of residents do not always have the privilege of uprooting and setting up elsewhere. Like business has done, residents need to start organising themselves to have an effective voice in the running of their municipality.
Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s announcement that they are looking into making the municipality part of a new Sedibeng Metro is a start but will not address the fundamental problems of an accountable government and an indifferent electorate.
If there is to be any movement in the right direction, the electorate must stop shrugging its shoulders in defeat. They must get involved in the making of their own futures. The state must insist on placing only those most qualified, regardless of their political preferences, in charge.
This is also a reminder to us all that the price of democracy and freedom is eternal vigilance and participation in the affairs of our communities and country.