Johannesburg’s last hope may be the ballot box

We do not have to live like this, with our municipalities crumbling.

The outcry against dysfunctional local governance is growing. Presidential and ministerial interventions are underway, and the auditor-general has released another devastating report.

Will any of these fix our municipalities? Johannesburg, South Africa’s richest city, is an obvious example of failure.

Business Leadership SA CEO Busi Mavuso says Johannesburg, which has been in a state of gradual decline for many years, cannot manage its R89.4 billion budget adequately.

Mavuso bemoans the lack of financial management skills in municipalities, noting: “There simply aren’t enough qualified people working in local government to ensure the accounts are done properly.”

She doesn’t single out individuals, but I will. Joburg’s member of the mayoral committee (MMC) for finance, Margaret Arnolds, has no financial skills or qualifications.

An internet search will tell you where she went to high school, while on Facebook she says she “studied media philosophy at Unisa”. Ja, nee. Very reassuring.

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With that skills deficit, no wonder she did not want to engage with our team’s constructive suggestions in the build-up to last week’s budget speech.

Joburg’s budget is not fully funded, being over reliant on loans, whose repayments burden ratepayers. The trend is unsustainable.

Borrow, borrow, borrow while, at the same time, chasing away ratepayers, is an approach worthy of a Darwin award. Who will fix Joburg? Certainly not the current crew.

Cooperative Governance Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa recently launched a review of local government. However, in an interview with the Sunday Times, he gave the impression of passing the buck.

Asked about consequence management, he deflected responsibility to provincial MECs. Pressed further, he said he wasn’t going to ask the relevant Gauteng MEC why Joburg’s mayor hasn’t been fired.

So, no pressure there. What about Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidential working group? We are told the group is active in Joburg.

It reportedly includes chambers of commerce, township economy business associations, plus civil society groups such as the Johannesburg Crisis Alliance and the SA National Civics Organisation.

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There is no mandate for this. No detail has been presented to council. Indeed many elected councillors feel undermined by this unelected intervention which has yet to show any progress.

Daily there is social media coverage of “high impact service delivery” attributed to the mayor. Despite photographs and hagiographic descriptions, the overall impact is risible.

Deterioration continues apace. The daily grind of water and electricity outages, sewage spills, unreinstated excavations, faulty traffic signals and nonworking streetlights is relentless.

More and more people are having their water or electricity cut off, often erroneously. Reconnections are taking too long, with ward councillors in the crossfire.

Who will break this pattern? Hlabisa says some interventions in municipalities have been going on for more than 10 years, with no improvement.

We cannot rely on any president, minister, provincial MEC, municipal MMC or civil society group to save Joburg. You can do it, collectively as voters.

At the earliest opportunity, use your vote to get rid of the unqualified, incompetent, corrupt people who are ruining our great city. We do not have to live like this.

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