SIBONGAKONKE SHOBA | Joburg needs new ideas, innovative ways to govern properly

Rubbish has been piling up in most parts of Johannesburg. Pikitup, the city’s waste collection entity, has failed to do its job – at least for the past two weeks. In the north of the city, frustration has been growing among residents, especially in the Randburg and Fourways areas.

Waste collection is a basic function of any municipality. It is embarrassing that a metro as big and important as the City of Johannesburg cannot perform this simple duty.

The inept mayor, Dada Morero, was quoted on Wednesday as saying Pikitup could not pay service providers to perform this task. He claimed the service would resume, as the entity had now been paid what was due to it. Yet, in many areas yesterday, rubbish was still piling up on the sides of the roads.

It is unacceptable that residents have to deal with the stink. Morero has proven to us again and again that he is simply incapable of leading Johannesburg.

But he is not alone. Johannesburg is among 69 municipalities whose grants were withheld by the National Treasury this week. These are municipalities with a growing trend of unauthorised, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure. It means councils with leadership that is reckless with taxpayers’ money.

The national government has sat on the sidelines for too long while councils are being run into the ground by incompetent and corrupt politicians and officials

We all know such expenditure is a breeding ground for corruption. In addition, these municipalities have failed to settle their debts with Eskom and water boards. As if that is not bad enough, other councils owe millions to employees’ pension funds.

Now National Treasury wants these municipalities to commit to settling their debts before funding can be released. This is a welcome intervention. The national government has sat on the sidelines for too long while councils are being run into the ground by incompetent and corrupt politicians and officials.

Pity the Treasury intervention did not come early enough to save the lives of Sipho Motaung and Katleho Moloi, who died during a violent protest in Ratanda last week. They were part of a protest against water shortages in the area.

Rand Water had reduced supply after the Lesedi local municipality failed to settle its water bill. Lesedi is one of the councils that the Treasury has ordered to commit to making payments to Rand Water. The municipality owes millions.

The problem of municipalities struggling to collect revenue from consumers is well documented. A municipality like Lesedi has some of the poorest citizens, who cannot keep up with payments for rates and services. It is one of those councils that survive on grants from the national government. Its very existence is in question.

This raises the issue of whether our approach to cooperative governance is still viable. It sparks another debate on the existence of the provincial government sphere. Do we really need provincial governments when funds could be directed to local governments, which are supposed to deliver essential services to residents?

These are the discussions the nation should be having as we seek answers to a myriad of problems.

While it is not disputable that corruption and mismanagement are major root causes of our problems, some of our challenges are structural. You can elect the most incorruptible politicians and hire the most competent officials, but there is nothing you can do to save an unviable municipality with no revenue base.

The above, however, cannot explain why Joburg residents had to endure the stink of garbage for this long. Fortunately, even if the ANC is able to muster a coalition arrangement after November 4, Morero will not be in the picture. He failed to make the cut in the ANC’s internal selection process.

Johannesburg needs new ideas and innovative ways to govern a complicated economic hub like ours.