two municipalities

For Emfuleni residents, life is a daily grind of service delivery failures

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The ANC is not taking full responsibility for the state of affairs in Emfuleni.

(Delwyn Verasamy)

Unlike their neighbours in Democratic Alliance-run Midvaal, life for residents of the Emfuleni municipality south of Johannesburg, governed by the ANC, is a daily grind of endless service delivery failings which they blame on the party.

But ahead of next year's local government elections, where service delivery is again going to be a key campaign point for political parties, the embattled municipality is not taking full responsibility for the state of affairs here, instead accusing some of its customers of being selfish and not paying their rates.

"There are also people who are selfish in the communities who have the money to pay, who are working and have the money to pay, but they don't pay," Emfuleni municipal spokesperson Makhosonke Sangweni told the Mail & Guardian, saying this was a widespread phenomenon around the country.

"If you look at them, they have DSTV that they pay monthly, they pay clothing accounts monthly, they are drinking expensive alcoholand that is not a conspiracy theory, it's the truth.

"We do our best to make sure we are collecting revenue. People receive letters, warnings and all of those things, but because we are the government of the people, by the people, for the people so therefore it means that in our actions, we will not be arbitrary.

"We can't behave like some apartheid government and wake up in the morning and switch off electricity and say those who are not paying, we are switching off, we don't do that, we persuade them and I think that is where the problem is with our democracy that sometimes being patient and caring can be confused as weakness."