Politicians must stop taking us voters for granted

Dear political parties, Millions of South Africans are going to vote for you. They expect you to deliver on your promises.

They want efficiently run municipalities so that they do not embark on protests due to poor service delivery.

You have crisscrossed the country ahead of tomorrow's voting day, selling to them what you will do for them if they vote for your party.

There have been improvements in some areas but there are still areas where people live in inhumane conditions.

One wonders what went through the mind of some of you as you campaigned, knowing very well that you have failed to deliver in some areas.

You heard the people; they want houses, running water, electricity, jobs and many other things.

Remember, there are two types of voters and, regardless of their circumstances, they all have similar expectations from their local municipalities.

There are voters who are employed or self-employed and they can afford to pay taxes and rates.

However, their hearts bleed at how officials continue not to be able to account for how they spend on the municipal budgets.

There are also voters who depend solely on the government to survive; either they are unemployed or do not have stable jobs.

Many own RDP houses, live on social grants and their children go to government no-fee schools.

They also want a better life.

During the election campaign, politicians, especially those from the ANC, DA and EFF, held rallies during the week because the unemployed guaranteed that these rallies would be well attended. No rallies were held in the suburbs.

The poor remain loyal to their parties despite their conditions. These are the ones who wear party T-shirts and turn up at rallies, hoping for food parcels.

But if no political party will take the auditor-general's 2014/15 report into consideration, then nothing will change for the better.

For the past financial year, the AG's report on the state of municipalities revealed that irregular expenditure by municipalities has more than doubled since the current administration took office five years ago.

The report stated that in 2010/11, irregular expenditure was R7.3-billion, but this has risen to R14.75-billion. The reason for the increase is the continued noncompliance with supply chain management legislation.

The municipalities that are the the main culprits linked to the increase are in Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, North West, Free State and Northern Cape.

The ANC has been running the majority of municipalities and its lack of action against councillors who are corrupt has led to what the AG is referring to in his report.

Statistics SA recently revealed that municipalities were still battling to provide water and sanitation services, with Eastern Cape contributing largely to the 2.3million latrine units (long drops) countrywide.

It also said Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan municipality had 24876 bucket toilets and 17240 latrines last year.

No politician would want to live under these circumstances.

Anyway, no one can forget the 2011 protest that led to the death of Andries Tatane in Ficksburg in Free State.

Their municipality was poorly managed but that protest led to the ANC firing some councillors. Today, the place is not perfect but service delivery has improved and residents are happy. There are several examples in other municipalities where councillors remain put despite service delivery protests indicating that they are not delivering services.

The Ficksburg example demonstrates that you, political parties, should stop putting wrong people in jobs they cannot execute.

Now is the time for politicians to stop taking voters for granted.

Going forward, if you fail to deliver, don't expect us citizens to make it easy for you to campaign again.

Malefane is Sowetan's Associate Editor