Palesa Phili, CEO of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says that despite a presidential commitment to work with the private sector, attempts by business to turn the city around from a “rundown, dysfunctional slum” are being blocked by “rogue officials”.
“Nothing's changed, it's business as usual for them. Nobody holds them accountable, they basically do their own thing and God help us all.”
In desperation at the lack of service delivery and collapsing infrastructure, business met with President Cyril Ramaphosa five months ago and he approved a presidential working group specifically focused on eThekwini.
“We outlined our key areas of concern which were water, sanitation, distribution of electricity and infrastructure. We were very clear that we'd like to partner with government because he told us government doesn't have the money to fix these things. We said we've got the money, we've got the expertise, give us a financial model so we can get things done quickly.”
They told him business confidence in local government was “very low” because of corruption, lack of consequence management and lack of accountability.
“Officials don't do their jobs and nobody holds them accountable. We want to see consequence management, accountability and the end of corruption. We told him corruption really needs to stop. The city needs to be turned around, it can't go on like this.”
Some departments are worse than others. Tourism, which used to be a key economic driver for the city, is “a complete disaster”, with sewage on the beaches and hotel groups relocating to Maputo.
The officials who run tourism in eThekwini don't have any relationship with the tourism business sector, she says.
“They're not taking it seriously. That you still have people like that who are ruining the economy of this city is a major concern. We need to see consequences for people who don't want to work. We're hoping that one day they will be asked to go so that we have people at the municipality who do want to work.
“There are officials working there who don't want change to happen. The only way to fix that is through consequence management. Officials need to be held accountable.”
That has to come from the political leadership, but it's not happening.
“We need to see change. If officials don't want to adapt and make sure that there is progress in the city then they must go.”
She believes their resistance to change stems from a mixture of corruption, incompetence and hostility to the private sector.
“Whatever the reasons are we cannot afford to have a great city like ours derailed by a handful of government officials who don't want to do their jobs.”
She says they've had positive engagements with the premier and MECs of the new government of provincial unity.
“From a provincial point of view we're really seeing people wanting strong, meaningful change. Hopefully, with our new mayor [Cyril Xaba, who has replaced the now “redeployed” Mxolisi Kaunda] we'll start seeing better implementation at municipal level.”
Official unconcern, bungling and corruption have stalled property development with approval of plans taking “forever”. Along with the other issues this has had a seriously detrimental impact on industrial development in eThekwini, she says.
“We want more engagement from the mayor with industry, understanding their concerns and where he needs to start to address them.”
Business is cautiously optimistic that with the new provincial government and new mayor they'll start seeing a turnaround
Phili says business is cautiously optimistic that with the new provincial government and new mayor they'll start seeing a turnaround.
“It ’s not going to be easy. For a start we need to see consequence management. If people are not performing, they need to be fired. I’ve had this conversation with the mayor. I’ve said to him we need to see this kind of thing happening. It shouldn’t be hard. In business if somebody is not performing you get rid of them", says Phili who was an ICT executive at leading multinationals for 10 years before joining the chamber.
“How hard is it to get rid of these corrupt, rogue officials working for government so that service delivery can actually happen?”
Contributing to the crisis is the ongoing lack of service delivery at Durban port in spite of the departure of top Transnet executives after a call by the chamber 12 months ago for them to be fired.
“The issue at the port is that there is no equipment. We've been hearing the same story for two years now. Nobody is actually bothering to order the equipment needed for onloading and offloading.”
This continues to have a devastating impact on exports and imports that retailers and manufacturers depend on.
As a result of inefficiencies at the port businesses, including mining companies and industrial logistics operator Grindrod, are increasingly using Maputo as an alternative to Durban.
“We really need an efficient Transnet. We cannot continue hearing one excuse after another as to why essential equipment is not being purchased when the economy and jobs are being lost. We really need people at Transnet to take this issue seriously.”
Transnet has blamed a court case that is delaying the finalisation of a privatisation deal with Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services, but that's no excuse, says Phili.
Even if the company is given the go-ahead, as long as there is no equipment, port operations will remain dysfunctional at huge cost to the city's economic growth.
“A lot of our members have offered to buy the equipment and get the money back later. Almost similar to what we’re trying to do with water, sanitation and electricity distribution infrastructure in eThekwini, where we’re saying, ‘We ’ve got the upfront capital, can we help so that things get moving ? ’”
They've been lobbying government for 24 months to come up with a model to facilitate this, “and we're still nowhere near a way forward”.
She's encouraged that the GPU is now looking at possible models with the National Treasury, but concerned that “yet again we will get pushback from eThekwini city officials. Because if they do not agree then nothing is going to move forward”.
Ultimately it's the political leadership in eThekwini that needs to hold them accountable, she says.
“We can't have rogue officials and untouchables who are ruining people's lives and nobody does anything about it.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.