KENNETH MOKGATLHE: North West municipalities are in disarray and dysfunctional

It is difficult to bring oneself to acknowledge that life and livelihoods were better under the puppet regime of Lucas Mangope than they have been under the governance of the ANC for the past 28 years.

Much of the existing infrastructure in North West province is a legacy of Mangope; the ANC arrived with nothing but their suits. Instead of building on what was left they are now finishing everything off.

The Balkanisation of SA during apartheid to create bantustans such as Bophuthatswana was nothing to celebrate, but it would be a lie to claim that life is better under the ANC. We have dysfunctional municipalities throughout the province and nobody seems to care. 

It is extremely disappointing to many residents that the national government is not paying adequate attention to the deteriorating state of our municipalities. Other provinces face similar problems, but North West municipalities are in particularly dire straits. None of the 22 municipalities obtained a clean audit in the last report of the office of the auditor-general.

There are now almost daily community protests against the deteriorating water supply in the North West, with the R49 and N4 roads, both of which lead to the border with Botswana, regularly barricaded by residents demanding that the Ngaka Modiri Molema district municipality restore water supplies. The local municipalities in Ngaka Modiri Molema are among many in the province that are financially unstable and failing dismally to supply drinkable water in line with their constitutional obligation.

As a freelance reporter investigating allegations of corruption involving R8m in flood relief funds I was not shocked to hear accusations that a large part of the pie has been misappropriated by government officials. This after Deelpan village experienced severe flooding in December 2021 and earlier this year, yet has received scant assistance.

Instead of helping residents who lost their homes and belongings during these two flood events, R300,000 was allocated by government officials to host meetings to discuss the tragedy. One can only wonders what the money was used for. Lavish meals and (bottled) refreshments for the attendees, perhaps? 

According to a report by the municipality, about R2m was used to supply materials for shacks, tents, mattresses and blankets. Yes, shacks. Even the racist apartheid government, which needed our parents to live near its cities to exploit their labour, built small two to four-roomed houses for them to live in.

Yet the ANC government, which should be helping to restore the dignity of those labourers’ sons and daughters, is doing the opposite. The people need decent and safe houses that are close to schools, recreational centres and workplaces, but after almost three decades there is nothing.

Last year’s closure of the Clover factory in Lichtenburg, which falls under the Ditsobotla municipality — the same one where the flood relief funds are alleged to have been misappropriated — did not seem to overly concern North West government officials. The only people who spoke out about it were the former Clover workers, who are now struggling to find jobs.

There were no indications of the provincial government intervening to stop Clover from having to close its plant due to the lack of reliable water supplies. When the matter was in the media the provincial government and affected municipality expressed concern but no concrete action was taken. Whether the company stayed or left did not seem to matter as much as their primary concern — whether they could continue looting state resources.

It is past time for the national government to begin to take the situation in North West seriously. We have municipalities that can hardly pay their staff yet are used as battlegrounds by ANC factions as they vie for control of their budgets.

When there are political or administrative interventions by either the provincial or national government they are frequently biased towards particular factions. The motivation is seldom genuinely about addressing the issues that are causing dilapidated municipalities to fail. The “administrator” who is sent to fix things is invariably biased and pursuing a particular political outcome. 

Most of the province’s municipalities depend on the National Treasury’s equitable share budget allocation as they are unable to generate their own income. But those funds are certainly not spent on infrastructure maintenance or service delivery.

It is encouraging that two former municipal managers, at the Moretele and Ratlou local municipalities respectively, have been arrested this year. We  can but hope they face the full might of the law.

However, there are many others who still occupy official positions all over the province and have not paused in their looting. Nor will they until there is clear evidence that stealing public funds has consequences, no matter which faction you belong to.

• Mokgatlhe is a freelance journalist.