By Geoff Embling, Ward 4 councillor
Makana Municipality has an ANC majority in council, and council oversees the appointment of key municipal administrators such as the municipal manager, chief financial officer, and directors of departments. The municipal administration, in turn, appoints managers, supervisors, and municipal workers, who are, therefore indirectly appointed by the ruling party. If the municipal manager allows corruption, and wasteful expenditure and does not discipline staff members, a majority in council can vote to suspend him. In 2022 the DA put forward a motion to suspend the previous municipal manager, but it was outvoted in council.
The administration is responsible for managing the finances and maintaining infrastructure in all wards within a municipality, fixing water and sewage leaks, roads, streetlights, removing refuse etc. Opposition councillors in ANC-run municipalities report broken infrastructure and service delivery issues month after month, and even year after year, sometimes with no result. For example, in Drury Lane, Ward 4, a river of fresh water flowed from a mainline pipe onto the Albany Sports fields, causing the lower field to become a boggy marshland. It was reported countless times but continued day after day for four years, draining water from the municipal reservoir and decreasing the supply for residents. It was finally fixed in late 2022. Similarly, sewage leaks, streetlights, potholed roads, and trees interfering with powerlines have been reported for years with no result.
Municipal employees are aware of who holds power, and some of them don’t even respond to opposition councillors. For example, the Makana Manager of water and sewage blocked the Ward 4 councillor on WhatApp in February 2022 and does not take his calls. This was reported to the Director, Speaker and Municipal Manager with no result, and the councillor remains blocked a year later.
There is hope, though. Umngeni Municipality in the KZN Midlands was an ANC stronghold which fell into the hands of the DA at the last local election due to shocking service delivery and outraged residents. Umngeni Municipality consists of 13 wards in the Hilton/Howick area, and it can be compared to Makana Municipality, with 25 councillors to Makana’s 24 and similar population size and demographics. Umngeni municipality is 75% black, 20% white, 4% coloured and 1% Asian.
DA Mayor of Umngeni Municipality, Chris Pappas, has turned the “ship” around in just over a year, and to date council has settled all its debt with Eskom and other entities. In the past nine months, it has settled R30 Million of outstanding loans, saving ratepayers R450 000 in interest repayments alone. It recently spent R11 million on a TLB front end loader, compactor and refuse truck and R7 million on a landfill site compactor for waste removal. It has set aside R1 million for repairing streetlights, R300 000 for grass cutting equipment and R4 million for fixing potholes. In time, and with proper budgeting, Umngeni Municipality hopes to reach the City of Cape Town’s standard, where potholes are fixed within 48 hours of reporting them.
Umngeni municipality has increased the number of indigent people that it supports, from poor and vulnerable households, from 133 to over 3050 in just over a year. Free basic electricity has been increased from 50 units to 150 units, and poor families receive free black bags so that they can live in a cleaner environment. Residents over 60 now qualify for a rates rebate and those who earn R13 500 or less qualify for a higher rebate. The municipality has a Covid rebate for the effects of lockdown and has provided some poorer areas with solar streetlights. The DA municipality has proven to have done the opposite to the ANC’s rhetoric about “bringing back apartheid”.
If the DA had a majority in Makana Municipality, it would ensure that the municipality employed competent directors, managers, and workers and that it disciplined or fired lazy and incompetent staff. It would use its expertise from the Provincial Legislature and Parliament to help formulate a budget and financial plan, and money would be spent on service delivery. Makana Municipality currently has 13 opposition councillors to 14 ANC councillors, but it is in such a bad state because the opposition parties are divided, and a house divided falls.
