A few days ago, ActionSA announced that it has appointed Xolani Khumalo as its mayoral candidate for the City of Ekurhuleni. Khumalo is well known for his work as the former presenter of Sizok'thola, a crime-fighting show that aired on Moja Love.
Charges against him related to an alleged drug dealer's death were recently withdrawn. Khumalo's work on Sizok'thola exposing drug dealers has earned him national acclaim. In a country battling the scourge of substance abuse and drug addiction, it stands to reason that someone of Khumalo's calibre would be regarded highly by communities.
Drug addicts are not the only victims of the proliferation of drugs in SA. Their families and communities suffer just as greatly, for it is they who are tormented and brutalised by addicts, who destroy public infrastructure and commit theft to fund their destructive habit.
Khumalo's show was watched by millions and loved by many, and when there were accusations that the show used brutal tactics on drug dealers, millions stood by him. During the period when he was facing legal problems, Khumalo enjoyed great support from those who regard him as a hero, as someone who is doing right by young people who are the main victims of drug abuse.
There is no question that he is a popular figure. But herein lies the discomfort for me – the rise of the celebrity politician.
Over the years, we have seen celebrities enter the political arena, leveraging their popularity for political gain. It has become especially common in the ANC where desperation has kicked in as the party haemorrhages electoral support.
Celebrities should not be apolitical, and artists have certainly played an important role in both our liberation Struggle and the forging of a democratic nation. But there is a significant difference between politically conscious celebrities using their art to contribute to nation-building, and celebrities being given the huge responsibility of running a government.
The City of Ekurhuleni, one of eight metropolitan municipalities in SA, is an institution in crisis. Once a thriving metro that obtained successive clean audits and was ranked among the best performing in the country, the City of Ekurhuleni has become a tragic example of how a municipality can be collapsed.
It is in a state of near total dysfunction, with governance and service delivery down the drain. Years of instability, maladministration, corruption and poor financial and political governance have eroded the good progress that happened before the 2021 local government elections, and the residents of Ekurhuleni are paying the price.
Raw sewage flows through the streets, potholes damage vehicles, public infrastructure is in a state of collapse, and toxic waste is piled in heaps across many areas. Officials are being assassinated for fighting against corruption, and criminal syndicates and crime bosses such as Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala have free rein.
The problems of Ekurhuleni and all other municipalities need people who understand what it takes to run a government. These people must be highly skilled and qualified to turn local government around. Popularity should never be a measure of one's ability to run a government, especially one that is in desperate need of reform.
Khumalo's plan to implement a strategy tackling crime, corruption, and service delivery issues may sound great, but as someone who has been a government official for close to a decade (with three of those years spent as a senior specialist in the Ekurhuleni metro), I know too well that strategies are plenty and, on their own, can do nothing.
The building of capacity within the municipality, as well as its professionalisation, is a more important and urgent task. It is not a task that should be left to people who have no experience and appreciation of the system of governance. We need to start treating governance like the serious responsibility that it is.
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