Monday, March 28, 2011

Local Government elections - a process to a "better life for all" or a chance for opportunists to continue to filch ratepayers' money?

Local government elections

By Marimuthu Subramoney
(aka Subry Govender)

There's now a mad and sometimes unseemly rush by political parties and their candidates to garner the votes of the people for the Local Government elections on May 18. The political leaders, their underlings and the candidates are making all kinds of promises to hoodwink, mainly the uninformed and the gullible.
They are also using all kinds of tricks - such as beryani and t-shirts - to seduce the poor and the vulnerable.
While a few candidates enter the fray out of their genuine commitment to providing a service to ratepayers, the majority see the opportunity of becoming councillors as a road to amassing wealth and enriching their families, friends and other hangers-on. It's because of this we now see the growing trend among political party members to rebel against certain candidates chosen to contest the elections.
Most of them also want to climb the bandwagon and, therefore, find it difficult to accept certain incumbents who have been chosen as candidates once again.
Being a servant of the people is of secondary importance to most of the party loyalists.
When one looks at the tamasha today, one is duty bound to ask what has happened to the "struggle culture"? Has it been thrown out of the window?
Just before the first democratic local government elections in 1996, the country's first democratic president and struggle icon, Nelson Mandela, reminded the people that they should hold municipalities and councillors accountable for service delivery. He went onto say that as ratepayers, they have a right to demand services and to question the inefficiency of council employees. He also called on ratepayers to take a firm stand against fraud, corruption and other underhand happenings.
For the first five years after the 1996 local government elections, most councillors distinguished themselves as "servants" of the people. They were not seduced by high salaries, luxury cars, official lunches, inside information on tenders to enrich oneself and other perks.This was the case because most ANC councillors at that time had a "struggle" background and they were committed to the principle of "a better life for all".
Unfortunately, over the past 15 years most of these councillors have left the scene. They have now been succeeded by people who have no track record of being involved in the "struggle" and by other opportunists who have jumped from one political party to another and to another.
Some of the "struggle" councillors who still remain have also lost their moral compass.
The result is that in most cases being a "servant" of the people has been replaced by the hunger to promote one's personal well-being and ego.
Unlike 15 years ago, many voters, including former activists, are no longer prepared to be taken for granted. They are now questioning the suitability of candidates and whether the candidates will be able to provide services such as cleaner streets, start-up houses for the very poor, sporting facilities, and a crime-free environment. They are not prepared to allow their rates and taxes to continue to be filched by unscrupulous officials, unworthy councillors and their unscrupulous henchmen.
They have had enough of fraud and corruption that has become endemic in the Ethekwini municipality and other councils. They have also become fed up with the double standards of muncipalities. While Ethekwini and other municipalities go out of their way to ensure that places like Umhlanga, Durban North, La Mercy, Umhlali and Ballito are promoted and maintained as "first world" suburbs, they fail to do the same in places like Tongaat and Verulam. They just allow these places to deteriorate and become a haven for criminals.
The voters today have had enough of this double standard and are not going to cast their ballots for questionable candidates, irrespective of their party loyalties.
It seems that the candidates and the political parties concerned will have an uphill batter this time around to convince most ratepayers that they are really "servants" of the people. - Subry Govender, Chief Editor

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