Rightly, he points out that critics mistake the symptoms of the rot for the disease. His outline of the symptoms points unambiguously to the rooted depth of the disease in eThekwini. Durban, once debt-free, now carries a R47 billion debt. 65% of its potable water is recorded as “non-revenue,” meaning it is either lost or stolen. The R7,6 billion, which has been written off in the past two years, is euphemistically attributed to  “the system in which public resources are managed.”

What candidate Mkhaliphi omits to mention are the two causes of the disease. It began when institutional knowledge and memory were pensioned off, discarded, and literally chased out in the rush to implement the ideology of demographic and diversity representation.

That policy enabled the entrenchment of the disease to take root as every aspect of municipal administration came to be occupied by politically connected and largely unqualified cadres. Given the prevailing view that political control of a municipality facilitates financial rewards, the staff of eThekwini has doubled from 14,000 to 28,000.

But despite his apparently earnest intentions, the cure for the dysfunctionalism that now prevails in eThekwini is omitted by prospective mayor Mkhaliphi because ideologically it is an unthinkable heresy. That cure is merit, irrespective of race, gender, or political outlook.

Therefore, in stating what needs to happen in “rebuilding the municipality’s internal capacity,” the EFF’s proposed intervention, Operation Hlasela, to change the system that has caused eThekwini’s decline, will be ineffectual as long as it is premised on ideology.

Whilst it is generous of Mr Mkhaliphi to say “Durban belongs to its people,” he needs to accept that if he is elected, his salary would depend on the billings of ratepayers, the majority of whom do not subscribe to the EFF’s racial ideology and socialism.

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Significantly, alongside that report is a scathing indictment by business leaders concerning Durban’s deteriorating infrastructure. Almost 30 years of ANC cadre deployment, racist B-BBEE, looting, and gross incompetence are laid bare for all to see.

The plight of those Verulam residents should be a sobering lesson to those of us who complain when pipe ruptures deprive us of water for only a day or two. Yet Verulam’s waterless plight is the sorry reflection of the disaster of ANC governance. It underlines the veracity of the words of Dr RW Johnson, author of How Long Will South Africa Survive? written in 2016: ‘The ANC is the most destructive force ever to have inflicted South Africa.’

There is only one conclusion for those suffering Verulam residents to draw from their shocking water deprivation experience: ensure that you are registered to vote. Then, on election day, ensure that not a single vote is cast for the ANC. The time for liberation from the ANC is overdue.

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