As the popular African proverb goes, “when the elephants fight the grass suffers” and no-one has borne the brunt of a divided ANC more than the citizens of the North West regarding service delivery.
With more than half of the municipalities in the North West under administration, service delivery in many towns has collapsed resulting in irregular or no supply of water and sanitation, lack of refuse collection, electricity and deteriorating roads. Factional battles within the ANC have led to some municipalities facing dissolution.
The lack of service delivery in the municipality has led dairy giant Clover to move its cheese factory from Lichtenburg to Queensburgh in KwaZulu-Natal, with the relocation under way.
“Long-standing service delivery issues relating to water and electricity supply and infrastructure maintenance in the Lichtenburg area contributed to the decision to relocate,” said Steven Velthuysen, group manager for legal and secretarial at Clover. He said the relocation was comprehensively considered and decided on several years ago.
About 220km away, in the east of the province, residents around Hartbeespoort Dam have been at odds with the Madibeng Municipality over the Sunway Village sewage works from which raw effluent has been pumped directly into the dam since October last year.
Paul Kruger, owner of Hartiwood Films, said businesses in the area pay for services twice: “once for water from the local government, and then again to have backup water tanks and pumps, once for electricity and then again for inverters, solar panels and generators.”
“Those that can afford these expenses make it work, but it is the poorest of the poor, the residents in the townships, who cannot afford any backup,” he said.
Tourism businesses
This is echoed by Mmeli Mdluli, the founder and executive chair of the Hartbeespoort Community Development Initiative. “It is the poor and those than cannot afford to buy bottled water who for years have been subjected to the most non-potable drinking water imaginable.”
Tourism businesses that operate boats and cruises have experienced a loss of income “due to the overgrown water hyacinth and common salvinia that is now covering a large part of the dam, which has made it hard to operate. The invasive plants are due to the pollution in the dam where sewage effluents are the main pollutants. This has led to their inability to provide employment to the thousands of residents currently unemployed,” he said.
According to Mdluli tourism operators have experienced rising operational costs, which are further increased by the need to buy purified water for guests or purchase purifying systems.
Kruger said the corruption and lack of service delivery is impacting further development in the area with developers walking away from the tedious and corrupt process to allow a new development in the area.
“People who arrive here with a dream and funds later just turn away as it is made so difficult,” he said.
The collapse of the North West government, still under administration, and the disbanding of the ANC executive in the province, has left five out of 22 municipalities facing dissolution while 13 are under section 139 (1) (b) of the constitution that empowers a provincial executive to intervene in the affairs of a municipality that cannot fulfil its functions. The provincial government itself has also been under administration since mid-2018.
Co-operative governance & traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in May told the standing committee on co-operative governance & traditional affairs that most problems in the North West municipalities were due to infighting and instability in the councils and that, even with section 139 applied, there was only so much that could be done when the problem is at a political level as the minister could not appoint or remove mayors.
Worst form
This was echoed by political analyst Kagiso Pooe, senior lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand School of Governance.
“I think the North West politics is the worst form of politics for citizens there. It is a clear example of lack of political leadership — ANC in the main — harming voters and cities and towns,” Pooe said.
The ANC, which won the 2016 local elections with 59.4% of the vote, has not had a stable leadership since the disbandment of the Supra Mahumapelo provincial executive committee in 2018. Three years on and the party has still failed to agree on a new crop of leaders for the beleaguered province.
Recently, the co-ordinator of the ANC interim provincial committee (IPC) in the North West, Hlomani Chauke, found himself in hot water with deputy secretary-general of the party, Jessie Duarte, who threatened him with suspension if he does not toe the line regarding the party’s new candidates list process.
Despite the deep political and delivery issues in the province Pooe said that “unfortunately, Bokone Bophirima [North West] voters are still loyal to the ANC more than anything. It could be because no real alternatives have stepped up or they have simply given up on politics”.
But, with the upcoming local election, citizens have become disillusioned with political parties and have turned to independent candidates who have shown their mettle as activists in their communities.
A Constitutional Court ruling on independent candidates being able to contest at national level has given independent candidates and residents hope that service delivery will become a reality.
The North West electorate now have the opportunity to stabilise councils by introducing many independent candidates elected through independent candidate formations. Most of these community-based candidates are driven by the desire to deliver services to their community.
The Kgetlengrivier residents association representing residents of Koster and Swartruggens, and which has taken over the supply of water and wastewater treatment from the municipality, has been called upon to take part in the elections as independent candidates.
The Moretele Independent Candidates Coalition (MICC) was established in response to the failure of political parties to deliver in that North West municipality, said Thabo Mashigo, co-ordinator at the MICC.
“As the MICC we have more than 10 independent candidates contesting in Moretele. This is the highest number since the establishment of the municipality in 2001”, Mashigo said.
“We made history, even the IEC in Makapanstad said it is the first time that they have had so many independent candidates contesting municipal elections. It shows that people have lost hope in political parties and look to independent candidates to better service delivery in Moretele.”
Pooe said independent candidates having council seats is a good idea on paper, but does not change much unless the people going into these chambers and municipal political structures go in with a clear agenda.
“Most North West municipalities are broke and [under] administration. What is their vision to reverse this? These questions require answers now before going in. I commend anyone that is honestly willing to serve in these chambers, and they need our support and goodwill. But they must also be realistic about what they want and will achieve.”
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