Municipal Rot: ANC Reaping What It Has Sown

As a press statement, KZN premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube’s wrath at failing municipalities is impressive (The Mercury, July 13). But in reality, the shambles in local government is a result of the adage – reaping what you sow.

Admonishing municipal officials for “thinking municipalities belong to them or their families,” is a bit late when cadre deployment is official ANC policy. Former ANC heavyweight, Smuts Ngonyama’s declaration that he “did not join the struggle to remain poor,” is evident in the lifestyles of ANC holders’of public office.

Just this week, it was reported that there are 300 councillors in KZN who cannot read or write. How were these people ever considered fit for public office, Madam Premier? How can they be expected to hold officials to account? In recent months it has been reported that scores of officials in key positions have bogus qualifications. How did they pass the probity tests in their interviews?

Therefore, it really is risible for Premier Dube-Ncube to state that she wants “to get an understanding of what needed to be done to get things right.” The answer is obvious: scrap cadre deployment and demographic job quotas. Implement what she states in her concluding remarks: employ dedicated, responsive public service professionals.

That is the policy opposition parties have been exhorting for years. Unfortunately, premier Dube-Ncube, the rot the ANC has caused, in many cases, is terminal. Economic realities are going to dictate what follows, not racist, socialist ideology. Already this is starting in eThekwini where ratepayer organisations are going to withhold rates. The ANC is reaping what it has sown.

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