LETTER: Why municipalities are collapsing

Robert Stone’s letter, “Don’t Fool Yourself” (October 19-25), touches on a small part of this country’s municipal woes. The easy way to riches without accountability, ably demonstrated by those in politics, is the start to this whole process: it begins at local government level.

Having been a past chair of a rural ratepayers association, I have had close ties with newly elected mayors and municipal managers. Drawn from the ranks of teachers, health workers and others whose financial expertise is managing their monthly salaries, it is no surprise that when they appoint their friends into positions controlling millions they are totally clueless.

Even worse is when a newly appointed financial manager is approached by an IT company, with apparent promises of brown envelopes, to install a new accounting system. The new system in most cases does not link with the old system so all past records are lost, arrears are never collected and new services are not billed because the database has gone. This is the backbone of these municipalities.

Not to worry, the indigent grant will be used to cover their new salaries, there will be no service delivery, and eventually the money going around will be too little to sustain the municipality. Hence the devastation of the rural areas especially, closely followed by the metros.

The fix? Appoint qualified people for the job. But we already know that.

Peter Gordon Grant
Sedgefield

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