The events of May 2021 in the city of Mangaung – Bloemfontein – were a turning point for tired-of-being-sick-and-tired of long suffering. Dubbed the Mangaung shutdown, the protest saw tens of people take to the streets to barricade roads with stones and burning tyres. The protest impacted on the city’s ailing economy, too.
The protest demanded the “political heads” to come down to the people, to have a fair conversation on basic service delivery promised when campaigning every election.
Service delivery implies the allocation of basic resources to citizens: reliable energy, water and sanitation; agricultural resources; and decent social housing. Regrettably, the promise is unreliable.
The Mangaung Metro’s promise of service has been a sad story to tell since the 2016 local government election. With potential to grow, the council is in shambles. Its appalling situation was laid bare when it was placed under a mandatory intervention in 2019. This happened prior to Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidential imbizo in Mangaung, which culminated in sour mismanagement leading to 2022.
Analysis indicates that every municipality that is under administration improves and performs better. However, Mangaung is the opposite of that.
In 2019, Bloemfontein received a new township called Phomolong and other extensions. We also saw the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) and Public Employment Programme (PEP), which is a partnership with the municipality. One could sense a new atmosphere and change in the city. Again in 2022, the national government directorate of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) took over administration of the municipality.
Déjà vu – we again notice fairness in allocation of developmental projects, not just friends and family. Hence the construction of a section of Moshoeshoe Road was completed after lengthy delay. Credit for this goes to the intervention administration team handling affairs of the municipality.
The intervention team is led by the administrator, and is made up of a technical team, as well as governance, finance, and administration experts, whose key mandate include improving the following aspects of the municipality: audit outcomes, governance, administration, legislative compliance, infrastructure planning and implementation, as well as maintenance.
The team took over the running of Mangaung, despite having, presumably, capable councillors and a mayor. There are cities and towns in the world without councillors or mayors – the so-called political heads – or even no presence of political parties, but run much better.
There is a merry-go-round in the city council of Johannesburg revolving around the position of mayor. Political parties continue playing the dangerous game, neglecting their mandate to render basic services, address backlogs of infrastructure planning and the implementation thereof.
Positions and positioning have gone to so many heads of so-called political heads. It is time that councils should be without councillors and a mayor. We the people can do better without these fairytale stories that politicians live in.
) Tshegofatso Leeuw
is a community
columnist.
