(Debate in Parliament)
Although the intention may be good, the Municipal Structures Amendment Bill will still fail seeing as the ANC sees laws merely as guidelines and, therefore, does not adhere to them.
And in the meantime, the decay of municipalities is increasingly putting a burden on taxpayers as residents, who already pay for services that they do not get, have started taking over service delivery. A shining example is Kgetlengrivier where residents have taken over the delivery of certain services after a court ruled on the matter.
The court order also instructed that the municipal manager must serve a 90-day prison sentence if water supply and sewage services are not restored within 10 days. It did not happen and the municipal manager is still serving in his office and not a sentence in prison.
When it comes to not complying with legislation, the clearest example is that councillors, mayors and speakers in various city councils do not even pay for their own municipal services and face no consequences for it.
These people are the ones responsible for enforcing the relevant laws, but they themselves do not even comply with them.
It appears as if the ANC sees local government merely as a place where cadres, who failed elsewhere, can be re-deployed and where money can be taken from the community for personal gain. It is no longer the hub of service delivery, but a breeding ground for corruption.
The government's attempts to implement the so-called district development model, which will afford it even greater power, is indicative of the level of decay in local government and the ANC's unwillingness to execute legislation on service delivery and infrastructure.
The ANC government must realise that South African citizens and taxpayers are not the state's slaves, but that the government is actually supposed to serve the tax-paying public. It appears, however, as if the ANC government just cannot see or realise this.
Thus, the best way to ensure better service delivery is to get rid of the ANC. There will be an opportunity to do just that with the local government elections later this year.
;
