Mothlanthe’s dream for local government is revolutionary

He didn’t say it in so many words, but Kgalema Mothlanthe, like Martin Luther King, has a dream – of salvaging local government from the ruin into which it is falling.

And, it is a vision of the future which is revolutionary in the true sense of a word much abused by our politicians to cover their own incompetence or greed.

The former president told delegates to the Inclusive Growth Forum hosted by his foundation that what was needed in local government was the establishment of a series of “local states”, which would be “distinct and independent from the political component of local government”.

As he sees it, these “local states” must “outlast the term of the politicians” and be able to collect revenue and develop programmes to grow sustainable local economies.

In other words, the mechanics of our municipalities and local authorities should be run by experts – whether accountants, engineers or planners – and not by those “cadre deployees” who have ruined so many large and small towns across our country. (Even as Mothlanthe spoke, barely three hours away, in Durban, there were reports of municipal sewage being pumped into rivers and the bay.)

His dream is a logical solution to the crisis, but what makes it revolutionary is that it seeks to de-couple completely the politicians from the trough from which they have been gorging themselves for decades.

And therein lies the biggest problem. Mothlanthe’s own ANC runs on the fuel of patronage and who owes whom what. It is going to be very difficult to eradicate the culture of “now it’s our time to eat” which is so pervasive in the country … not only in the ruling party but in other political formations, too.

This nettle has to be grasped, though, if we are to save South Africa from becoming just another failed state.

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