Parties ‘deceive’ voters in run-up to elections

With less than a month to go for local government elections, it is once again “service delivery time” and parties are campaigning on the promise of basic services by giving communities the bare minimum, which often leaves citizens unhappy.

According to political analyst Ralph Mathekga, the reality of “service delivery before elections” is things are done haphazardly and in a hurry, but the system has been experiencing lapses throughout, which has led to several tender traps.

“Throughout elections it is always the case that we see them ramping up just to gain a competitive edge over the opposition parties because they could have delivered those services before. But why is it that suddenly there is a sense of urgency in delivering basic services before elections?”

Some of examples of these halfdone services include the Lesseyton sports facility, near Komani, Eastern Cape, which was understood to have cost R15 million – or R22 million depending on whom you believe – and a newly constructed dusty road in Engcobo local municipality.

Then there are the multitude of abandoned and half-completed projects meant to uplift communities dotted around the country and the 7 464 buildings in a “poor” or “very poor” condition, meant to be maintained by the department of public works and infrastructure, according to its 2020/21 annual report.

Mathekga said while it was offensive to voters and a very sinister move used by political parties for quite some time, voters know best and are seeing right through the cracks of “the so-called service delivery”.

“What we are facing is what I call an ecosystem of corruption, money is circulated in a way that can infiltrate the system, which is what has caused discretion in the system,” he added.

One South Africa movement leader Mmusi Maimane said corruption had always been high and political parties had constantly deceived people during the time of elections, but have actually never delivered.

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In a tweet, the former Democratic Alliance leader disputed the cost of the multimillion-rand sports facility in Eastern Cape.

He said there was no defence for the looting of public funds and that the bottom line was that the “stadium” did not cost R15 million.

“I have been involved in construction projects, I have done financial oversight on several construction projects. I have extensive experience with PFMA and MFMA from my prior and current jobs. It’s a very overpriced project,” said his tweet.

Maimane added that communities such as some areas of Soweto have been without electricity, while Emfuleni has had sewage flowing on the streets for years and nothing could be done to fix everything in time for elections.

“People should be able to vote for the change they see. If you look around communities, some changes cannot be implemented as quick as they have done with some others,” Maimane told The Citizen on Wednesday.

“So, the truth is that history has been in decay for a long time. If we give people who have stolen money a chance to continue they will destroy us even further.”

Political analyst Asanda Ngoasheng said unlike other years, this season ahead of local elections had been horrible, with sub-par projects which cost two or even three times more than their budgets.

“South African political parties regularly deliver nothing for most of their five-year terms and then during the run-up to the election they suddenly get busy with building and delivering the services that communities have been waiting for years for,” said Ngoasheng.

“There is the R22 million stadium that at most cost R11 million, the road that has no tar and was just bush-clearing and flattening the surface that also cost millions.”

She added that there had been many incidents of these types of speedy service delivery at election time but South African voters don’t fall for such tricks.

However, due to politicians’ failure to deliver throughout their tenure – and not only at election time – it hasn’t helped them gain the trust of the public and get re-elected.

“The prospect of independent candidates being one of the largest numbers seen in recent times in South Africa is giving many previously relaxed party politicians a run for their money,” Ngoasheng said.

“They rely on the party to win the vote and don’t do anything to build trust with communities or deliver services.”

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za