Addressing service delivery challenges

“When are they (the municipality) going to fix the street lights? How long does it take to fix a faulty robot? Must a resident die in an accident before they (municipality) fix the potholes? How difficult is it to paint the road marks at intersections, street signs, and speed humps? Where is the equipment? Why is nobody accountable for poor service delivery?”

All these are legitimate questions from a taxpayer’s perspective, but what are the real issues?

In an open discussion with Cllr Jee Dee Cloete (FF Plus) from Ward 1, the following issues were highlighted:

Bela-Bela Municipality has many challenges to be addressed to provide effective service delivery to all the inhabitants.

When the issue of street lights is mentioned, people should keep in mind that theft remains a huge problem. It takes less than five minutes to cut the wires and strip the pole of its copper conduit and the thief leaves that section in the dark. Replacing the wire cables takes special equipment, stock to replace and a dedicated maintenance team approximately four hours to rewire the light.

A Cherry picker is vital in the process. The municipality has already launched an alternative solution and thus far the feedback is positive on the new streetlights in Chris Hani Drive. This project will be rolled out to all the streets in Bela-Bela in due time.

Cloete said that residents must bare in mind that the local municipality is also responsible for Pienaarsrivier, Bela-Bela Township, Spa Park, and Jinnah Park for service delivery.

Should people then stop complaining and take everything at face value? “No and another emphatic NO,” said Cloete. Complaints drive service delivery and residents have the right and should complain about issues that affect their daily lives. However, he stressed that residents should have realistic expectations.

In retrospect in the last 24 months, we have made progress with some service delivery. There is no longer sewage flowing in the streets, the availability of purified water is no longer an issue, water leeks are attended to without delay and the improvement of electricity supply in Noodhulp, Bospoort and Roodepoort is obvious.

The road surface in Van der Merwe, Chris Hani, Luna, Sutter, and Pretoria roads has been resurfaced over this period.

There are still serious challenges that remain. Tender allocation is lacking and falls short because the system is flawed. Incompetent applicants are often awarded contracts because competent competitors refuse to put in tenders. Sometimes the enforcement of rules, ordinances, and laws can be more effective than a new speed hump, or a new stop sign, and that is where the challenges are rooted.

Officials need to see their value in society, and incompetent officials need to be rooted out. This can be done by pressure from councilors. Residents are urged to keep complaining and have substantive evidence of negligence or non-performance. We must keep the challenges in mind. The current budget only came into effect on 1 July (just over a month ago).

An unbiased observer will see the progression over the last 24 months. The municipality still has challenges but the motivation to improve service delivery has become a mantra.

More stakeholders have taken it upon themselves to restore Bela-Bela to the prosperous town it was.