Defaulters, corruption to blame for mess in municipalities

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has outlined an injection of R28.9 billion for the country’s ailing municipalities … but is this likely to be a Band-Aid solution for a machinegun wound?

Godongwana admitted that 175 of the country’s 257 councils are in financial distress. Most of these are in less developed and even poverty-stricken rural areas. But why is that the case, and what can be done?

For the South African Local Government Association (Salga) – the umbrella for our municipalities, both working ones and basket cases – there is a simple answer. Ratepayers and consumers of municipal services – especially in smaller towns – are not paying their dues.

These municipalities are dependent on revenues from their services … but the “user pays” principle clearly doesn’t apply. Small towns cannot even recoup some money through adding a surcharge to electricity supplies because Eskom normally services consumers directly.

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There is certainly merit in that argument – and the reality that millions of South Africans have been freeloading on municipal services for years … mainly because they have been getting away with it.

The harsh power and water cut-offs being carried out over the past two weeks by the City of Tshwane are perhaps a sign that at last defaulters are being brought to book. Hopefully those campaigns extend further than the capital city.

Yet, at the same time, placing the blame for collapsing service delivery on defaulting ratepayers ignores the truth that many councils have been brought to their knees through the incompetence or corruption (or both) of their managers and politicians.

These are, largely, deployees of the ANC who get the opportunity “to eat” because of their long loyalty to the party and not their ability.

Until you start cutting off the salaries of these people as quickly as the services of account defaulters, local government will continue to go down the drain.

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