Time to let errant civil servants pay

One thing few would deny in SA is that there is very little accountability for our civil servants… the ones who are paid by us, either as taxpayers or ratepayers, to deliver services.

How many municipal managers or engineers or board members of utilities have been fired, demoted or even had their bonuses cut or stopped because their “customers” didn’t get their electricity, water supply, refuse collected or damaged their cars on potholed roads?

Don’t hold your breath on that one… we know of no-one who has had their feet put to the proverbial fire for incompetence and failing to do a proper job.

That is why it is a breath of fresh air to hear Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina threatening to bring criminal charges against those municipalities guilty of allowing filthy sewage water to pollute rivers, dams and even the sea.

ALSO READ: Dirty water… and antics: Over 50% of municipalities face criminal action over sewage crisis

She doesn’t say how the charges will be brought – because towns and cities are entities not individuals – but we hope she follows through and that the threats are not hot air.

If the errant municipality is charged and then fined, that fine must be extracted from the people responsible, who must be fired or locked up.

Then, perhaps, we’d have accountability.