Africa-Press – South-Africa. The situation in eThekwini municipality can be turned around but for this to happen, a multi-stakeholder approach is needed argue Paul Kariuki and Avin Bhola.
The Constitution envisioned a society where citizens from all walks of life could access basic services and resources allocated to all municipalities and would be used for the intended purpose.
The main objective of this Constitutional imperative was to ensure that citizens experience governance through the local government as the closest sphere of government to them. However, the situation in most municipalities across the country is far from being optimal.
According to the Auditor General’s 2022 report, most municipalities across the nation have faced tremendous challenges in recent years, mostly about accountability, poor governance, instability, weak institutional capacity, and service delivery failures, among other challenges. The outcome has been increasing disillusionment among taxpayers and service delivery protests, further compounded by load shedding and increasing cost of living.
Administration failures
The national Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) recently placed the eThekwini Municipality under Section 154 administration. To begin with, it is important to make sense of this action by the department and its implications for eThekwini residents.
The Constitution, through Section 154 (1), empowers the national and provincial governments to step in to support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities to manage their own affairs and perform their constitutionally mandated obligations. Against this background, eThekwini municipality has been found wanting in so far as managing its functions is concerned.
The Metropolitan has been marred by a myriad of administration failures, ranging from its failure to spend grants on time; fraud allegations; a litany of questions around service delivery, corruption, and fraud cases; and an exodus of R47 billion in disinvestment, among other issues.
Implications?
So, what are the implications for eThekwini residents?
Firstly, the provision and delivery of basic services to city residents will be severely impacted. The slow pace of delivery will be even slower. There will likely be no consequences for the slow pace as the jostling for control over the metro among the different political parties continues unabated.
Secondly, connected to the above point, the low morale among municipal employees will eventually catch up with the extra burden of being the face of collapsing service delivery in the metro. It is an undesirable situation for employees to be in who work extremely hard daily to fulfill their constitutional obligations to city residents.
Third, the citizenry will continue to be more despondent about their municipal leaders and their elected representatives for failing to live up to their electoral promises. If political leaders do not take the concerns of city dwellers seriously, it is highly likely that they will use their vote to demonstrate their desire for change in the metro.
Can the situation be fixed and turned around? Certainly, the situation can be turned around. However, for this to happen, a multi-stakeholder approach will be needed to ensure accountability and commitment from the various stakeholders, such as the municipal leadership, political parties, council members, and the intervening team from the National and Provincial COGTA.
First and foremost, the task of the above team of stakeholders is to restore public trust in the metro. This is not an easy task, given the scope of the leadership deficit at the metro. However, as daunting as it can be, it is still needed and must be fast-tracked. In order to restore public trust, it will require instilling a culture of performance, transparency, accountability, and integrity in the metro. Anything short of this ideal will be an exercise in futility as the public yearns for the day the metro functions optimally in providing basic services efficiently and effectively round the clock.
Leadership model needs to change
Secondly, there has to be a change in the leadership model at the metro to support good governance. The leadership model must be one that is citizen-centric leadership. This approach to leadership allows citizen participation in the design, and formulation of strategies, including decision-making processes. There is an urgent need to have citizens’ needs and aspirations at the centre of metro leadership. It has been the missing link.
The more citizens influence the various decision-making processes, the better for enhancing accountability and good governance at the metro. Thirdly, appoint ethical leaders to lead the metro. The increasing incidences of maladministration and corruption at the entity serve to reduce the ability of the city to attract any investors and risk losing the few investors still operating their businesses in the city. Moreover, coalition partners must come to an agreement that citizen needs must be prioritised. There has to be an urgency in cleaning up the metro leadership to stabilise it from the present jostling of positions among political parties and to focus it on the concerns of the city dwellers – service delivery.
In conclusion, while the task of turning the metro around is daunting, all is not lost. There are many city dwellers, irrespective of their political affiliations, who are concerned about the state of affairs while at the same time willing to put their hands on the plough and work towards restoring the city to its glory days.
Citizens are yearning for a transparent metro leadership that is accountable to its electorate, committed to improving its performance, and better management of public finances to deliver basic services efficiently. Moreover, they are also yearning to see their elected political representatives and municipal officials demonstrating integrity in all their dealings with them and each other, resisting every form of corruption and dishonesty, and complying with the legislation to ensure the metro is properly governed. This is their cry. Will the metro leadership hear and respect it? Only time will tell.
– Dr. Paul Kariuki is the Executive Director of the Democracy Development Program. Avin Bhola is the coordinator of the Local Governance and Advocacy Learning Network (LGALN) and the chairman of Kwenzokuhle Community Organisation.
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