FIDEL HADEBE | Culture of nonpayment for Eskom and municipal services harming SA

The culture of nonpayment for Eskom and municipal services came under the spotlight recently when minister Enoch Godongwana presented the national budget in parliament. Nonpayment for municipality and Eskom services were used as a political strategy to force the hand of an undemocratic government before 1994, but sadly this culture was not consigned to the grave with the apartheid government in 1994 when a democratic state came into being.   

Speaking during the budget speech Godongwana said the following about this culture of nonpayment: “More generally, the culture of nonpayment, not only by municipalities but by all organs of state and individual household customers, is concerning.”

He went further to express concern on how this culture cripples institutions such as  municipalities and Eskom, rendering them unable to deliver much-needed services to residents. “Such behaviour undermines and cripples our institutions and makes it impossible for them to deliver services.”

What residents have to realise is that local government is the most important sphere of government and there cannot be any local development when municipalities are in disarray and unable to deliver even basic services such as the collection of refuse and the provision of water and sanitation. This is one sphere of government that directly belongs to them, including the assets it owns.

When municipalities function and deliver services, business is attracted to these areas and invests. In this way more opportunities are unlocked as jobs are created and other down-stream opportunities emerge for small businesses to earn an income.  

As was said by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the State of the Nation Address, many municipalities are in financial distress and are generally in a crisis situation with no service delivery taking place, not even basics like grass cutting and waste removal. Residents in these municipalities are not getting much in the form of municipal services and the impact of this is felt across the entire system.

Given the national state of affairs, especially as it relates to the electricity supply, it is likely that these municipalities will continue to be dysfunctional, in part because when Eskom cannot deliver electricity, municipalities have nothing to provide to residents.

As is the case now, other areas of life such as water supply are beginning to be affected as residents spend long hours without running water as a result of infrastructure failures.

Already we are experiencing an increase in the number of violent service delivery protests taking place. Though always dressed up as complaints about poor or nonexistent service delivery, these protests also incorporate other social issues such as unemployment and crime, which are issues that, strictly speaking, fall outside of the competence of municipalities.

But residents do not really care about the different spheres of government and what each sphere is responsible for. They only know one government that is responsible for service delivery, including creation of jobs, and in a way cannot be blamed for this understanding.

As has been pointed out by different people including political analysts, local government is the centre that holds things together in society. If municipalities are dysfunctional and cannot deliver the most basic of services it goes without saying that other areas of life will suffer.

Businesses do not invest their money where there is no service delivery and we are beginning to see what one can call “capital flight” where businesses leave certain areas to set up in areas where they consider service delivery to be of acceptable standards. When businesses do this, they leave behind a lot of social distress as people lose their jobs and even small business operators who sell fat-cakes, pap and vleis are affected.  

Given the state of affairs facing local government in many parts of the country, municipalities must improve their communication and social mobilisation as part of making residents feel they are part of finding solutions to solve municipal challenges.

All the conversations around fixing the local government crisis happen at a high level where vbig men and big women” own all the conversations and the actual communities are left out on the fringes. The many violent service delivery protests and the continuing refusal to pay for services or even adopt the metering system point to this serious shortcoming. 

For the first time in our post-1994 dispensation, municipalities are faced with a combination of so many social and economic problems of load shedding, water supply, ballooning youth unemployment, lawlessness and a high cost of living.

What this situation calls for is a need for those in charge of this sphere of government – from mayors to councillors and municipality managers – to re-orientate their leadership style to fit the existing social and political climate and avert disaster.  

• Hadebe is a social impact and behaviour-change strategist