Ballito resident Tony Kruger writes:

Reading Ward 22 Councillor Privi Makhan’s ‘Report Back’ in the Courier (13 February, 2026), I felt irritation and some despair.

Here is a seasoned, senior councillor complaining about and bemoaning poor service delivery by KwaDukuza officialdom, from top to bottom. She is most alarmed at party political bias, complaining that even “very junior” officials appear either to be more responsive to or to ignore councillors along party lines. I have to ask, are our ward councillors so toothless, constrained or perhaps jaded that they can’t be effective in sorting out such basic issues? Issues that are well within their spheres of influence and, I imagine, their mandates. How can they so simply and easily be sidelined and reduced (as is so with us ordinary local tax-paying residents) to only being able to complain, and then complain some more?

She also says the “uncomfortable truth” is that officials who are “entrusted” to do their jobs are not doing so. Sure, but why not say “made to” rather than use the polite-sounding ‘entrusted’? It’s evident that many officials breach our trust, that this must be fixed, so this needs to be made to happen. It may well be that I don’t know the whole story, so I would welcome being educated, but not to be told that it’s complicated and it’s not simple, because after cutting through the political and other clutter, things are simple.

Whilst I recognise and appreciate that this councillor is very active, eg, chasing up issues such as water and electricity breakdowns, surely she and like-minded fellow councillors across party lines can do more than give us “report backs” that are really just complaints, mixed with the usual calls for “restoring a culture of service delivery.” After all, this is a core part of her/their job – to be effective in making municipal officialdom do their jobs properly and with the right “attitude.” People doing their jobs effectively is a simple expectation.

Misconduct due to political allegiances will continue trumping and frustrating service delivery as long as there is no top-of-the-agenda, sustained effort by our chosen and elected local-level councillors to fashion out a plan of action, beginning with stopping complaining about it to us and with collectively refusing to be ignored and side-lined.

It seems to me that one of the best, even the only, way out of this morass is through joint organisation amongst willing councillors themselves, and then in working together with active local-level civic organisations. This way, more power can be exerted, more control achieved and only then can real change follow. No doubt, most of what I’m saying should be stating the obvious and has been said before. But the uncomfortable truth is that this is not happening and I’m quite sure ordinary community members on all sides of political divides and both sides of the tracks, want, need and expect greater control over and better local-level service delivery.

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