LETTER: Politics is always local

Peter Attard Montalto is wrong in believing all opposition parties are starting “at rock bottom”, or that meaningful turnarounds are long in the making (“Manifestos show no-one has a magic wand to fix key issues after polls”, April 8).

An excellent example that contradicts both is the DA’s Chris Pappas-led turnaround in the uMngeni municipality. Dramatic, decisive, results within months, visible improvement to the most cynical within a year or two.

It matters a great deal if those in charge possess a modicum of competence, and actually set themselves to improve things. The ANC’s governance capacity is of little value anywhere as it is either corrupted by rent-seeking and ideology, or broken by straightforward incompetence.

The reference to a lack of DA capacity outside the Western Cape, particularly in Gauteng, and this being “strange”, is as inane as it is wrong. One builds capacity when one gets the chance, and we don’t have the space here to recite the litany of secured councils that have been overturned due to bribes that then stymie the required capacity building. It is not strange at all.

Competence in elected officials, followed by competence in appointed public service positions, immediately delivers better outcomes because someone bothers to turn the lights on, accurately produce invoices, responds to maintenance requests, fixes leaking roofs when needed, reads for meaning, and pitches for work.

The implosion of the Knysna municipality after the counsellor for the Plaaslike Besorgde Inwoners flipped, was quick. A flood of advisers was  quickly appointed, money was quickly redirected, and now rubbish can’t be collected.

Politics is always local, as Montalto should know.

Martin Neethling 
Via BusinessLIVE

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