Pietermaritzburg, The City of Choice. A city of decay, filth, potholes, electricity outages that last for up to five days and water outages even longer. No money, no spare parts.
While we are still in the midst of the repeat shockwaves of Covid-19, one ailment for which it seems there is no vaccine is that state of local government. “the tier of government that is closest to the people”. There are persistent indications that many local municipalities are unable to deliver basic services.
Johan Mettler was the head of the provincial intervention team appointed by the department just two months’ earlier to formulate a turnaround strategy for the municipality. According to local media, they were reportedly not making headway because “officials refused to cooperate with the team”. These events will come back repeatedly like a cancer that will not respond to treatment.
But the cracks became visible. As the ANC leadership contest played out between the Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa camps, the political and administrative leadership fissured — with mayor Chris Ndlela and Nkosi backing the CR17 campaign, and deputy municipal manager Ray Ngcobo and deputy mayor Thobani Zuma, well, it’s obvious. On the night of the long knives, Ndlela was recalled and Nkosi was suspended by his own two deputies.
Sibusiso Sithole, who completed the first period of provincial administration, returned to his old job. Mayor Njilo was replaced by Mzi Thebolla in August 2019. The post of municipal manager, which had been vacant since the controversial Sizwe Hadebe was suspended in July 2018, was filled by Kadoda Mathide in April 2020 — just as the hard Covid-19 lockdown struck.
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