With less than two weeks to go before South Africa’s eagerly awaited local government elections, it appears to be getting hotter in the kitchen as the main protagonists are cooking up all sorts of promises in their quests to snatch municipal votes.
South Africans due to vote for the new leadership of the country’s 52 municipalities dotted across nine provinces.
Local government in South Africa consists of municipalities of various types. The largest metropolitan areas are governed by metropolitan municipalities, while the rest of the country is divided into district municipalities, each of which consists of several local municipalities.
More than 300 political parties are vying for the right to run the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities, 44 district municipalities and 205 local municipalities.
However, it is the contest among the top three political parties – the ruling African National Congress (ANC), main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) and the militant opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) that has been hogging the limelight.
The campaign message by President Cyril Ramaphosa has struck a familiar tone wherever he goes to canvass for votes: vote for us and we promise to do better this time around in terms of delivering on our election promises, including ridding our ranks of corruption and improving on service delivery.
He repeated the same message at the weekend, telling supporters in Maluti-A-Phofung in Free State province at the weekend that the ANC was aware that the people were “angry with the party” due to service delivery failures alleged corruption in the town and other areas.
He said all those who would become ANC mayors after the 1 November local government polls would be “put through a strict vetting process” to hold office in municipalities.
“We don’t need thieves. We don’t want laziness, and we don’t need people who fail to look after the people,” Ramaphosa said.
ANC officials have been accused of corruption, allegedly engaging in self-enrichment schemes at the expense of service delivery – a development that has triggered several protests against local government officials over the past few years.
The DA and EFF are seeking to capitalise on the ANC’s poor record and have been urging the electorate to vote for change.
The DA has drawn attention to its track record of municipal management in comparison to the ANC’s troubled record of local governance as a reason to vote for them.
During the campaign trail, it has cited DA-run municipalities such as Cape Town and George as shining examples of professional local government management.
EFF leader Julius Malema promised to root out corruption in local authorities if his party wins the elections.
Speaking during a rally in the Free State city of Mangaung at the weekend, Malema promised a skills audit to ensure that competent people are employed to run councils, and that the EFF would work towards improving service delivery in the municipality.
JN/APA