Deep, dark Africa. No, I am not talking of the Congo or Zimbabwe. I am talking about Emfuleni. For those not aware, Emfuleni is the municipal organ that was created in 1999 to run most of the Vaal Triangle. This Emfuleni municipality, after inheriting a thriving community, has promptly through the corruption and ineptitude of 21 years of ANC cadre deployment, run Emfuleni and the Vaal Triangle into the ground.
Some facts disputed by a delinquent CFO, are 6 BILLION rand in arrears at all sorts of creditors ranging from Eskom to Rand Water to BXC etc. This failed municipality is now running under partial administration (biggest con job ever) for more than two years. The billing system has collapsed to a point that customers are expected to phone in for their monthly statements.
As of October 2020 Emfuleni is running on an unfunded budget for the 2020/2021 year which means they have no control over anything financially related. They can promise the communities the world but in a million years not be able to deliver. The money is not there anymore. IDP sessions were hastily arranged for the 45 wards to ensure government grants were not lost.
Emfuleni was divided in 45 wards for the purposed of control, budgeting and logistics. Twenty years ago this worked well. The high paying wards like Three Rivers, Arcon Park, SW5 and other Vanderbijlpark areas were able to subsidise the lower paying wards and informal settlements. Twenty years later that model is broken. The high paying wards are now sitting with no water, no electricity, sewerage leaks, no refuse collection, streetlights not working, road surfaces that have all but collapsed, non-existent road signs and road marking. Traffic management has collapsed, police services are invisible. By-law implementation and enforcement does not exist. Town planning is a joke. In the past you could still find a competent motivated staff member who would try to help you but now Emfuleni has 2 300 demotivated, uneducated, ill equipped staff members who make you feel like they are doing you a favour when assisting you with valid problems.
So, why this tirade against Emfuleni? The area Three Rivers which is part of Vereeniging, has been without electricity for nearly a month and no solution and many lies later we still sit literally and figuratively in the dark. For clarity, a large part of Three Rivers was off for three weeks and then through a makeshift plan brought back online for all of 4 days before the system failed again.
People have lost 1 000s of rands in groceries that went bad. People have had to spend up to R350 a day on diesel to run generators. Children writing exams have been affected and all the while residents are phoned and harassed to pay their incorrect Emfuleni accounts.
The devastation to the community morale is palatable and something will have to give soon.
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