MyPE

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Small Towns in the EC in a State of Total Collapse

By

Dear Editor

Constant water and electricity outages, crumbling roads, overflowing sewage, sky-high unemployment, a total lack of basic services, and rampant corruption due to cadre deployment have broken the Eastern Cape’s once thriving small towns.

The state of the utter collapse became clear after the DA recently concluded a tour to 32 small towns in 11 Eastern Cape municipalities.

The towns visited were Krakeel, Joubertina, Clarkson, Woodlands, Stormsriver, Coldstream, Somerset East, Pearston, Bedford, Adelaide, Chintsa West, Chintsa East, Hofmeyr, Molteno, Komani, Whittelsea, Stutterheim, Cathcart, Makhanda, Steynsburg, Venterstad, Burgersdorp, Oviston, Middelburg, Cradock, Willowmore, Steytlerville, Klipplaat, Jansenville, Kirkwood, Patterson and Addo.

The purpose of the tour was two-fold, firstly to engage with communities and key stakeholders regarding the challenges experienced in terms of governance and discuss possible solutions, and secondly to conduct oversight over critical infrastructure such as roads, water, waste water, sewerage, other municipal infrastructure and basic service delivery.

In the Eastern Cape, 16 of our 39 municipalities are in severe financial distress. Half of our district municipalities are under administration. The municipal debt owed to Eskom has ballooned and is now standing at more than R3,5 billion.

The reality of what we experienced is that there is a general lack of basic service delivery in most of the towns and critical infrastructure has either already collapsed or is on the verge of collapse. Poor governance has devastating consequences for people in these small towns and seriously affects the quality of life of millions of people living in our non-metro areas.

Some of the most pertinent challenges include, high unemployment rates, water-shedding/unreliable access to water, sewerage problems, collapse of critical infrastructure and a total lack of basic service delivery.

There is a complete lack of effective oversight, assistance and intervention over the local government sphere in the Eastern Cape.

It is clear that governance in the Eastern Cape has been eroded by cadre deployment, corruption, criminality and a complete lack of political will to prioritise the needs of the people in the Eastern Cape. These elements are killing our economy, any prospects of growth and with it, the opportunities of our people in terms of job creation.

The DA proposes to rescue our small towns by building a capable state that will abolish cadre deployment.

We will also partner with the private sector and civil society in terms of a “whole of society” approach. There must be Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to enhance capacity and bridge some of the gaps that have been created.

The DA will continue to fight to rescue our small towns to ensure that local economies are protected.

In the General Election of 29 May this year, voters will have the opportunity to vote for the DA to Rescue South Africa and our small towns.

Regards

Dr Vicky Knoetze MPL
DA EC Shadow MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs

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