Make your cross to vote out corruption

AT A TIME when you could get two pieces of Chappies bubble gum or a box of Lion safety matches for one cent, things worked like clockwork in Durban.

Those were the days. If I came across a defective set of traffic lights, I would call the City Police duty room (now metro police) and report the fault. Driving back through the same intersection 10 minutes later, there would be an officer directing traffic until an emergency repair team arrived.

Today, dozens of signals at busy intersections in all cities and towns do not work for days on end. Whoonga-intoxicated tsotsis deliberately – and criminally – disable control boxes and use the direction of traffic as a business opportunity. They cause mayhem at traffic lights while genuflecting for the coins tossed by foolish drivers, who perpetuate the criminality instead of following the rules of a four-way intersection: all must stop and the first to arrive leaves first.

I often see SAPS and even metro police vehicles being guided by the rogue elements through intersections with defective traffic lights. I have never seen the criminals being rounded up.

The above is just one example of service delivery failure. Service delivery remains a big challenge for most municipalities. By lacking in infrastructure, resources and maintenance, mainly because of poor management or corruption or both, they are unable to provide communities with quality service delivery.

Pietermaritzburg has become a major dump. Piles of uncollected rubbish are ever-present. Most roads are ridden with potholes. During my boyhood, when I would spend holidays at my maternal grandmother’s house in the provincial capital, I would be fascinated to watch water trucks spraying streets and pavements in the city centre every evening, such was the emphasis on hygiene then.

Uncollected domestic garbage is a common feature in most municipalities when workers frequently go on strike over unpaid or poor wages. Why? Because contracts are corruptly granted. eThekwini’s former ANC mayor, Zandile Gumede, and 20 other municipal officials stand accused of fraud. The charges emanate from a R320 million waste contract that the eThekwini Municipality issued in 2017, while Gumede was the first citizen.

Many municipalities face significant water challenges due to misuse of financial resources, poor management and corruption, which result in dry taps and polluted rivers. Village taps run dry so that some councillors and their friends can get contracts to truck water. Many people have become ill or have even died from drinking unsafe water.

Many companies pay bribes to municipal officials to get business. Some companies have promoted unnecessary projects and claimed payment for work done badly or not at all, often colluding with some officials. Ever noticed how water pipes burst mostly at night or over weekends when premium overtime repair charges can be levied? And let’s not forget about some security companies that also make a killing guarding the repair team.

The service delivery problems at municipalities are also aggravated by a failure to appoint competent people to do the jobs required, and some officials being pressured by politicians and seniors to do the wrong thing, risking dismissal or worse if they don’t comply. A senior municipal official told me that you are booking your grave space if you dare report corruption or attempt to block a contract being dishonestly awarded.

On November 1, the local government elections will be held to appoint city and town councillors. Given the collapse of service delivery, many eligible voters are asking whether it would be worth their while to place their crosses next to parties and candidates. Before I continue, I must state that there should be no question about whether one should vote. Voting is a democratic obligation. Yes, you must vote.

The city or town council is not there just to sort out bins and issue parking fines. The council is involved in everything across the community, from health to housing, the provision of electricity and water supplies, refuse removal, road maintenance, environmental well-being, the development of recreational areas and even the allocation of burial grounds.

Effective local governments provide overall quality of life for communities. The public gives elected officials the power to achieve the municipality’s objectives with a focus on continued community growth. Citizens expect local governments to spend their rates wisely. Citizens expect municipal workers to work as efficiently as possible.

Well-performing municipalities are effective and efficient. They are effective because they produce a desired result, while doing the right thing to make it happen. Being efficient means preventing or minimising wastage of materials, energy, effort, money or time.

But in South Africa, most of those who are elected see public office as a route to patronage, power and resources. They do not have the best interests of the voters at heart.

Using the ANC-controlled eThekwini Metro as an example, there are transgressions of effectiveness and efficiency all the time, mirroring the governing party’s performance in the national government. At the beginning of last year, it was reported that a serious lack of consequence management resulted in irregular expenditure of R2.34 billion in the eThekwini Municipality in the financial year, ending June 2019. There had also been flagrant abuse of Section 36 contract awards, which allow for a deviation from normal tender processes in the case of emergencies.

The ANC has lost the moral authority to rule. The foundation of long-held values on which the ANC was established has been, sadly, abandoned. Too many ANC-run councils have failed in their duty to provide services.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has pleaded for the ANC to be given a second chance to fight corruption. I will not trust the ANC and its cohorts to mend their ways in the foreseeable future. The tumour of corruption cannot be surgically excised.

The rot runs deep. Some crooked ANC politicians and officials have become too used to bribery, theft and sleaze. It has become a way of life. I do not expect them to do any better for another generation.

The EFF is blatantly racist. For a start, its leader, Julius Malema, will not buy this newspaper – he has openly displayed his loathing of Indians.

What prevents an EFF-controlled eThekwini from banning jhunda poles in Chatsworth and Phoenix on the pretext that they are unsightly? I will not be surprised if the EFF deems the black fowl prayer racist and demands that white chicken be used instead.

The DA has had some success wherever it has held power. The IFP governed KwaZulu-Natal satisfactorily for a decade from 1994. Both parties have again committed to govern without patronage politics, nepotism and corruption. As for the Minority Party, well it will always be in the minority, without any clout.

When deciding which party to support, look at the track record. Ignore parties that have been corrupt. Study the manifestos of parties carefully. Look at the calibre of party candidates and independents. Vote with your head, not your heart.

Finally, perish any thoughts of not voting. You must go to the polling booths. Blood was shed and lives were lost for the right to vote. The sacrifices must not be in vain.