Residents deserve better service delivery from councils

When one thinks about municipalities and the performance of local government, the name of former Cogta minister Sicelo Shiceka comes to mind.

He advocated an ambitious “Operation Clean Audit” that supposedly would ensure that all municipalities in SA achieved a clean audit outcome by 2014.

Ironically, auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke in her 2019/2020 municipal audit outcomes report found that the financial situation in many municipalities is so dire that there is significant doubt that they will be able to continue operating as a going concern in the near future.

This effectively means that municipalities are not able to generate sufficient revenue to pay their expenses and that their obligations exceed the money they have in the bank. Invariably this means that they are reliant on the equitable share given to them by national government to remain operational.

If that is the situation, it tells you that the former minister’s operation clean audit was an ambition that could not be achieved. After reviewing the 2019/2020 audit outcome, it is clear that it will take a much longer period before Shiceka’s ambition can be achieved.

The auditor-general in her 2019/2020 municipal audit outcomes report points out that:

● Though most municipalities are unable to generate sufficient revenue, they are not managing their expenditure appropriately — fruitless and wasteful expenditure has increase by R3.47bn during the year under review;

● The municipalities prioritise the payment of their officials and councillors salaries with the limited financial resources they have. Whatever is left is used for service delivery issues like electricity, water and so on;

● Some municipalities fail to pay statutory deductions timeously to the SA Revenue Service and the pension fund;

● The finances for infrastructure projects are often underspent and in most cases it is because of poor project management. Often funds are used for unintended purposes;

● Most municipalities hire consultants to prepare financial statements as their own finance employees lack the skills required to prepare financial statements and schedules in support of those financial statements;

● The inability of these municipalities to prepare reliable financial reports means that they appoint consultants year after year, without ensuring that skills are transferred to municipal staff — so the cycle never ends; and

● During the period under review, of the 257 municipalities in the country, only 12 municipalities managed to achieve clean audit outcomes.

The period leading up to the local government elections was characterised by a lot of scrutiny on the performance of municiplaities.

News headlines were dominated by issues of service delivery — service delivery failures and political turmoil, maladministration, financial administration challenges and poor audit outcomes, skills shortages, inadequate infrastructure planning, corruption and abuse, labour discontent, water leakages and sewerage spillages.

The South African mainstream media, both print and electronic, played a pivotal role in disseminating information to the public about these issues.

The media needs to be commended for playing such an important role in enhancing our democracy.

The media scrutiny pressured political parties and this resulted in President Cyril Ramaphosa announcing numerous measures aimed at making new councillors of the ANC to deliver on their mandate.

However, the voting day was characterised by the lowest voter turnout since the dawn of democracy. The ANC and DA were the big losers. The DA recorded substantial losses in the Western Cape due to the continued loss of votes to the FF+, a significant failure to attract coloured voters, and the erosion of DA support in townships.

Analyst Dawie Scholtz said that some number-crunching had shown that the DA lost more than half its 2016 support in Johannesburg townships. In 2016, the party received 77% support from coloured voters and in 2021 it dropped to around 54%.

The DA normally boasts about the so-called “DA difference” in service delivery but the party should be worried about its losses in the Western Cape. It lost its outright majority in Beaufort West, Oudtshoorn, Cape Agulhas, Saldanha Bay, Breede Vallei and Langeberg.

If the DA is consistent in the treatment of its leaders, then John Steenhuisen is probably facing some difficult times ahead. It has been correctly pointed out by many that his predecessor, Mmusi Maimane, was made to fall on his sword after the 2019 polls. After an election in which the DA’S support dropped from 26.9% in 2016 to 21.76% in 2021, will Steenhuisen have to do the same?

The ANC felt more pain as its support dropped in all Johannesburg townships including the 18% drop in support in what has always been the ANC stronghold of Soweto. In the metro of Johannesburg, ANC support has dropped 26% over 10 years.

It was perhaps in Kwazulunatal that the ANC felt its losses most strongly, particularly after the huge loss of an outright majority in ethekwini. It would appear that the voters were giving the ANC a clear message — that South Africans deserve better service delivery.

The ANC received an outright majority of more than 95% of municipal councils during the 2016 local government election and this has been a trend since before 2016.

The service delivery failures in local government should be put at the door of the ANC. Ramaphosa conceded in the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that the service delivery failures are as a result of the appointment of incompetent individuals in key position.

The assumption is that they have learnt from these mistakes as the party has promised to rigorously interview individuals who will be deployed in key municipal council positions.

The municipalities prioritise the payment of their officials and councillors salaries with the limited financial resources they have