Cyril’s service delivery flagship project falls flat

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ambitious District Development Model is under threat after the collapse of the rural OR Tambo district municipality in the Eastern Cape, where the project was first launched amid excitement about this revolutionary prototype for service delivery.

Now, the municipality has been placed under administration due to reported political infighting among its leaders and officials, which hampered service delivery.

The district municipality was dissolved in terms of section 139 of the constitution, which required that an interim administrator be appointed to run the affairs of the council.

This followed widespread infighting among ANC senior councillors and a spat between the mayor, the deputy mayor and the speaker. The power struggle forced Bhisho to invoke section 139 in the interests of residents.

But there is concern that the instability, absence of elected leadership and sidelining of appointed officials could derail Ramaphosa’s plan to use districts as centres of service delivery.

When the model was launched in 2019, government spokesperson Phumla Williams said the district coordination model fulfilled Ramaphosa’s commitment to focus on unblocking bottlenecks to fast-track service delivery.

“By focusing on implementation at a district level, we will also have a clearer line of sight as to what we need to do to remedy failures at a local government level, but significantly to ensure development is driven in consultation with the citizens at grassroots level,” Williams said.

Ironically, the first District Development Model was launched at Lusikisiki in the OR Tambodistrict in September 2019 a few months after Ramaphosa was elected. The model was touted as a “revolutionary” way local government could bring services to the people in the rural areas.

Now, the indications are that the OR Tambo district, where Lusikisiki is situated, has collapsed. This threatens the entire model mooted by Ramaphosa.

OR Tambo is in the former Transkei, the poorest part of the Eastern Cape which was neglected by successive Bantustan administrations and the democratic dispensation.

Ironically, the rural municipality includes the majority of the province’s population, was named after late ANC president Oliver Tambo.

Cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC Xolile Nqatha said OR Tambo was placed under section 139 (1)(c) of the constitution because it failed to demonstrate commitment to the objective of the local government.

The provincial Cabinet, which took the decision, notified Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of its decision.

The province said OR Tambo Municipality had contravened the Constitution by failing to observe internal procedures when the speaker permitted 18 expelled councillors to participate in council meetings unlawfully on 30 June.

This was a contravention of section 160 (3) and of the constitution and violated the Municipal Structure Act on quorums and council decisions.

The expelled councillors were permitted to participate in the approval of budget in violation of the law. The unprocedural council meetings were presided over by the deputy mayor instead of the mayor, which was also abnormal in terms of the legislation.

The mayor and her deputy were involved in a dispute and the deputy sided with the speaker against the mayor. The politicians went to court to resolve their differences.

More bitter infighting ensued among senior officials, who also went to court to determine who was the head of administration.

Bhisho stated that the disputes were costly to the municipality as its duty to exercise its authority in the best interest of the community were adversely affected.

People’s Freedom chair Phumudzo Mukhwathi said most municipalities had political squabbles that affected service delivery. He called for the government to scrap all municipalities because they had been corrupt since 1994.

“The government must introduce national department regional offices where communities can report their service needs and get delivery.

“Services must come directly from the national government instead of local authorities. The government must scrap these municipalities, stop tenders and create jobs for unemployed members of the community,” Mukhwathi said.

– ericn@citizen.co.za