Ward 27 councillor in eThekwini, Cllr Ernest Smith, says his hands are tied in the ‘problematic’ municipality.
Councillor for Ward 27 in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, Cllr Ernest Smith, has said the issues in his ward are not isolated. He said the municipality was riddled with internal challenges that hampered service delivery and that ward councillors’ hands were tied.
“eThekwini, as well as many other municipalities, is in a mess,” he said, in an interview on Salaamedia. “Its infrastructure – ranging from electricity, water, sanitation … right across the board – is problematic. It’s not an exclusive issue only here in Morningside, it’s actually impacted various parts.”
Smith is the councillor for Ward 27, which includes the affluent suburb of Morningside. Last week, residents Ameena Dawood and George Koster spoke of a lack of service delivery having a negative impact on the area. They accused their councillor of being unresponsive to their challenges.
Smith, however, said it was difficult for councillors to get things done in a system that was internally flawed. As a member of an opposition party (Democratic Alliance) in council, his efforts were only met with more resistance.
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eThekwini on the brink
The once attractive destination for local holidaymakers appears to be dying a painful death. Irregular expenditure, mismanagement and the resultant service delivery issues have collectively steered the city towards an iceberg.
In a scathing account by the Auditor General’s office earlier this year, a litany of issues were brought to the fore. Be it officials failing to report family members doing business with the city, wastewater treatment plants with no licences and the abuse of supply chain procedures, the city had it all.
For the period 2021/22, said AG official Vanuja Maharaj at the time, irregular expenditure increased by R1.5 billion. This represented a 94% increase against the previous year (R770 million)..
“Unfortunately, we’re sitting in a position where the municipality is aware it’s losing over half of its water supply. It’s aware that its infrastructure in all the areas are failing and dilapidated and it seems that they don’t have any solution in mind, no matter how many times it’s spun off politically to say there is some sort of remedial action,” said Smith.
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Hard choices
Smith said officials working inside the municipality were faced with hard choices. He said the R65 billion budget did not allocate enough to some of the most pressing issues like water infrastructure.
“Everytime we sit, we hammer the officials. We hammer the water department. We hammer the electricity department. The same complaints that residents bring to us, these issues are relayed in those forums but it would seem to be that not only are the water and electricity departments underfunded, but it also seems they’re not able to effectively deal with the issues.”
He pointed out that the city lost around 57 litres per 100 litres it bought, daily. On average, the city incurred 2 252 pipe bursts a month, while it could only tend to 72% of those in 24 hours.
“When we’re looking at issues, we also have to look at internal issues …At the end of the day, our hands are tied to a large degree because we cannot instruct officials. That’s where a lot of times residents don’t understand.”
Smith acknowledged that it was necessary for residents to receive services for which they paid. He said, “They pay rates – and they pay a lot – and they should be getting the services which they pay for. That is not the question”.
But it was ultimately the decisions of senior officials that either improved or hampered service delivery, he suggested. “Whether or not the senior officials want to listen or have their own internal issues that they’re facing is something that they don’t always tell us.”
