If some are not more equal, bring them into the Kremlin

Much has been said about State capture of late.
There are even commissions of inquiry, the results of which we will probably never read about.
But what about municipal capture?

Take a relatively stable, prosperous town in a quiet corner of Northern KZN – surrounded by fertile green farmland, coal mines and stepped in battlefields history.
The town runs fairly smoothly – battling the usual vagaries faced by most small towns – small budget, tiny rates base. But what it lacks in money is more than compensated for by the passion of those running the town.

Now, add in greed, political patronage and nepotism. The results are stunning. Like a block of ice in the Karoo midday sun, everything evaporates.
The budget is shredded. Potholes grow bodies and genitals. Street lights grow dark. By-laws are by-passed. Complaints are brushed away under the guise of ‘non-transformers’.

There are more bodyguards in the municipal building than people who actually work. Mayoral cars are bigger and more expensive than the average man’s annual salary.
With this comes in fighting. Ill-gotten tenders are hived off to friends and the politically connected.

The thing with this kind of power is the ultimate need to ensure that power is retained – at all costs. The election fodder is vaguely appeased through so-called Ward Committees – the representatives of which are paid to keep them fairly tame.

Now and again a huge marquee is put up (tender to another friend) and fried chicken dispensed to the would-be voters. A full, passive voter puts his/her cross in the right place. Now and again, there is a rebel who burns a tyre or chucks a stone at a police van and maybe threatens school kids.

Don’t fright. Find the agent provocateur and make him the manager of the manager of the manager at the Kremlin.
You never hear from him again. Next minute he is eating with the Lords, mumbling something about ‘some are more equal than others’.