PODCAST: Poor service delivery- ‘We have a leadership environment which encourages and rewards incompetence’

Just a few days days ago, National Treasury told Parliament that 151 local municipalities in South Africa were on the brink of collapse with 43 of them already having collapsed and in urgent need of intervention.

Therefore, violent protests by disgruntled and irate residents can be attributed to such.

In Gauteng, residents of Emfuleni local municipality have for years been complaining about poor service delivery with issues such as raw sewage spilling in residents’ homes and potholes being among the major concerns.

Elsewhere, in the Ditsobotla municipality, residents have also been complaining about not receiving quality services.

The municipality in question has for the longest time been plagued by political instability to an extent where the municipality was at some point being manned by two different mayors.

ALSO READ: Two ‘mayors’ fight over NW municipality as services collapse, businesses close

This municipality has already lost a big business in cheese and milk factory – Clover SA, which has since relocated to KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) due to poor service delivery.

Only 16% of the country’s 257 municipalities were given a clean audit by the Auditor General for the 2020-21 financial year, with the overall standard of financial management having regressed in the past five years.

ALSO READ: Malfeasance in municipalities a threat to constitutional order – Ramaphosa

While addressing the Local Government Summit held in Ekurhuleni early this week, Minister of Corporate Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, said local municipalities were in need of more money.

ALSO READ: Dlamini-Zuma says municipalities need more money

Senior digital reporter for The Citizen Stephen Tau invited former Mayor of Midvaal Municipality, Bongani Baloyi, to share his thoughts on good governance and what he thinks about the state of the country’s municipalities, considering the fact that he received seven clean audits during his tenure.

Listen here:

The Citizen Talk with Stephen Tau’s Podcast is available to listen to on www.citizen.co.za.