DURBAN - KWAZULU-NATAL Premier Sihle Zikalala has admitted that both the provincial government and the ANC have failed residents of Pietermaritzburg under Msunduzi Municipality.
Briefing the media on the sidelines of the first day of the three-day provincial government lekgotla in Durban yesterday, Zikalala said Msunduzi residents had been at the receiving end of poor service.
Msunduzi Municipality has been placed under administration twice in 12 years, and earned the title of dirtiest city in South Africa.
“I think we must own up and humble ourselves and admit that it is quite an embarrassment what has happened in Msunduzi Municipality,” Zikalala told The Mercury.
The problems at the municipality have been blamed on infighting among ANC councillors, which has led to unstable political leadership, which in turn resulted in an inability by the councillors to conduct oversight on the administration.
The Msunduzi experience was a snapshot of the problems facing the local government sphere that Zikalala had identified as the primary focus area when assuming office in 2019.
“Our municipalities have also been beset by challenges of governance, with several under the Section 139 constitutional intervention.
“We have seen ineffective oversight by councillors over administration, leading to the repeated adoption of unfunded budgets, no improvement in audit outcomes, and low grant expenditure,” said Zikalala.
According to the premier, the KZN government’s own comprehensive assessment of 54 municipalities in the province found massive failures in the local sphere. The areas singled out by the survey included:
♦ Infrastructure backlog and gaps in the face of rapid urbanisation.
♦ Ageing and dilapidated infrastructure, and not enough matching revenue for repairs and maintenance.
♦ High water and electricity losses.
♦ High water and electricity illegal connections.
♦ Complaints over the slow turnaround by municipalities in dealing with complaints from residents.
In addition, the survey had identified financially related challenges by municipalities, which included:
♦ The adoption of unfunded budgets continues.
♦ Inadequate budget allocation for operations and maintenance, leading to dilapidated ageing infrastructure not being repaired.
♦ Low revenue collection coupled with low grant expenditure are an indication of the absence of the requisite capacity to implement.
♦ In many councils there has also been a regression in audit outcomes, and a slow pace in instituting consequence management.
♦ The absence of a rates base in traditional areas where services are provided, and an unaffordable salary bill despite shrinking revenue sources.
♦ High levels of incorrect billing that result in poor collection rates and non-payment by national and provincial sector departments for services rendered by municipalities.
Zikalala said that since the problems had been identified at Msunduzi and other municipalities, the government and the governing party had sought to bring stability at political and administrative levels, but admitted that more needed to be done.
“We need to stabilise at the implementation level and ensure accountability from operating in this area.”
He called on every municipality to develop a plan to address theft and vandalism of infrastructure, which affects the ability of the government to deliver services to the people.
“As we meet today, having identified the challenges facing the people of this province as outlined above, it is clear that the answer lies in fast-tracking the development of appropriate capacity inside the state, and the implementation of fast, effective and efficient service delivery,” Zikalala said.
He added that they would seek to fast-track consequence management, where those responsible for wrongdoing would face disciplinary action.
THE MERCURY