Election 2011: We can bring our record of excellence in government to Tshwane

Election 2011: We can bring our record of excellence in government to Tshwane

The Democratic Alliance’s record in local government shows that we deliver services and infrastructure, promote opportunities and choice, stimulate development and job creation, clamp down on crime and corruption, and put people in charge of their own futures. That’s why our municipal administrations, in Cape Town and elsewhere, stand out as an example of the constructive role that government can play in facilitating prosperous, growing, safer communities.

This is why the Democratic Alliance is here today, to show how our vision for clean, efficient government has worked in other municipalities and can work here in Pretoria as well. We are here today to say that the myriad of broken promises made to the people of Pretoria, Soshanguve, Mamelodi, Ga-Rankuwa, Centurion, Atteridgeville and the other areas that collectively make up the Tshwane Metro.

The best way of envisioning how DA governance could change Tshwane is to consider the DA’s previous record in local government, and compare this with how the Tshwane Metro has been governed in recent years. When you do so, you see two cities moving in opposite directions. Since 2006, when the DA took over from the ANC in Cape Town, the city has steadily improved in service delivery, quality of life and its dedication to reducing crime. Today it sets the standard of excellence for all metros in each of these areas. In contrast, Tshwane has been gradually declining through weak service delivery, diminished quality of life and crippling Metro Police corruption. This decline has now become quite apparent. It’s time for a change.

In this press briefing, we want to share the facts regarding the difference between service delivery under the DA versus delivery under the ANC. We aim to show that this difference makes a difference.

Our analysis extends to three particular subjects: first, our comparative record in delivering basic services; secondly, the state of crime in Tshwane; and finally, a case study of the Nokeng Tsa Taemane municipality. We begin with service delivery:

1. Service delivery and accountable governance

It is the responsibility of local government to implement service delivery. It is the face of accessible government for most people. It is arguably the most important sphere of government, especially for those at the bottom end of the economic ladder, who rely on local administrations to deliver those essential components of opportunity – basic services, like water, electricity and sanitation.

So which party is fulfilling its service delivery promises?

According to the Universal Household Access to Basic Services (UHABS) report – compiled by the National Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs last year – the DA-run City of Cape Town is the best performing metro in the country in every service delivery metric while the ANC-run Tshwane metro is the worst. The report uses metrics from four basic service delivery areas: water, sanitation, refuse collection and electricity. For each, it provides the percentage of households in the municipality that have access to a basic level of that particular service. The report shows that Cape Town is comprehensively outperforming other ANC-run metros in each of the four areas that were reviewed, especially Tshwane, which performed the worst.

Most impressively, the report shows that the percentage of residents who have access to all four basic services – universal access – is far higher in Cape Town than in any ANC metro. 91% of residents have access to all four of these services in Cape Town while a meagre 66% have them in Tshwane.

Indeed, service delivery in Tshwane is at an all-time low. The storm water drains of Mamelodi East have not been cleared for years, causing a constant damming-up of water. Streets in Phumolong are washed away with every bout of heavy rains. Residents of Atteridgeville receive bills for services which they never enjoyed. How has the city council let it come to this?

Perhaps it is because Tshwane spent only 61% of its original capital budget last year. Or because it spent only 11,8% of its original housing budget, a paltry R30,2 million out of R255,5 million. Or because it racked up R841,9 million in unauthorised expenditure and R167,1 million in irregular expenditure.

It is likewise difficult for the Tshwane Metro to deliver services when the current city council has at least 14 members who have been on paid suspension for more than 3 years. It is difficult when thousands of jobs are lost because the city planning department could not process a rezoning application by Hyundai, the major international carmaker that wanted to locate here. And it is difficult when Metro Police officers are so poorly resourced that they can’t prevent cable thieves from destroying our electricity infrastructure, leading to power outages at the Pretoria Magistrates Court, the Tshwane Events Centre, various government departments and businesses, as well as major intersection traffic lights.

These are the problems particular to an administration that is not interested in delivering basic services, and is wholly unaccountable to its citizens.

Consider the DA’s alternative record in delivering transparent, accountable governance:

• When the DA took the City of Cape Town in 2006, we opened all council meetings and Mayoral Committee (Mayco) meetings to the public. To this day, Cape Town is the only metro that holds open Mayco meetings. Wouldn’t it be great if we could do the same here in the capital city? What a refreshing change that would be.


• The DA also opened up the meetings of the Bid Adjudication Tender Award Committee which decides all contracts between the City of Cape Town and outside suppliers. No ANC metro does this. Why not? What are they trying to hide?


• The DA in Cape Town also established the first municipal Standing Committee on Public Accounts which, similar to its national parliamentary SCOPA counterpart, is chaired by a member of an opposition party.


• Finally, the City of Cape Town releases monthly reports on its financial performance to the public, freely available on its website. Such facts reveal which party is committed to truly open, transparent democratic processes and which isn’t.

Crime and lawlessness

The failure to provide adequate resources to our Metro Police is just one of many problems plaguing local law enforcement. Considering the high levels of crime that Tshwane residents face, we need a dedicated, professional police service that can make the city safer through honest, efficient police work. We don’t have that yet. In fact, we have one of the most corrupt police departments in the country. An astonishing 23% of all officers have cases pending against them for a variety of charges. During last year alone, more than 350 internal disciplinary cases were opened, the bulk coming from Region 6 where a criminal syndicate is allegedly operating within the police ranks. Dozens have already been found to have joined the police service with prior criminal records.

Since June of last year up until last month, 250 cases against Metro police officers were registered: 15 for bribery, 14 for corruption, 4 for fraud, 2 for attempted murder and 1 for rape. About 80 members were found guilty of these offences, though more cases are yet to be finalised.

Unfortunately, the ANC-led council has done little to help matters. When a new police boss was appointed last year, without advertising the vacancy, the appointee did not have the required Traffic Diploma and a Municipal Police Diploma. Such mistakes are unlikely to turn around this crucial institution.

We should not underestimate how seriously this impacts the city, especially the poor and vulnerable who most need good police services.

In Cape Town, under the ANC, the outlook was similar. The City suffered from severe shortages in both equipment and specialised skills, even carrying a reputation for corruption and inefficiency. In 2005, it had only 1 786 of its budgeted 2 400 staff and was run by a political appointee with no on-the-beat experience, and who insisted on being called “general”. But since 2006, when the DA took over the City, its Metro Police has improved dramatically. It now has a higher proportion of its force engaged in real policing – as opposed to revenue raising activities like traffic fines – than any other metro in the country. In 2009/10, they made 955 arrests for drug-related crimes, a dramatic increase from the 180 or so for 2005. Cape Town has also reintroduced specialised units – substance abuse, land invasions, metal theft and displaced persons – that the SAPS had disbanded several years ago. And it has the largest CCTV footprint in Africa and continues to expand this, investing R10m/year. Cape Town has turned its Metro Police force around, enhancing morale and efficacy amongst its staff, creating partnerships between them and city stakeholders.

Earlier this week, I announced an eight point plan to bring precisely these sorts of changes to our beautiful city.

3. The Case Study of Nokeng Tsa Taemane

Lastly, I want to bring our comparative discussion closer to home, by looking at the fortunes of Nokeng Tsa Taemane, the local municipality that was recently put under administration and is now slated to become part of the expanding Tshwane metro. It is a sad tale, but illustrative of the difference that good political leadership can make, if given a chance.

Nokeng has traditionally been dominated by the ANC, but between 2001 and 2006, the DA was able to govern the municipality in a coalition. When the DA took over, Nokeng faced major problems which the DA immediately set about fixing.

When the DA took over:

• Eskom was about to cut off the municipality’s electricity because it owed the parastatal R5.5 million which had escalated to R11m due to unpaid interest. The DA set up a new debt schedule and, by 2006, reduced it by R9m to just R2m.


• Physical infrastructure of government was also extremely poor. The small municipal offices had little furniture, no computers and no administrative systems. There was no town engineer and the municipal manager was the brother-in-law of the then mayor. The DA built up the systems and physical infrastructure necessary for a workable administration and furnished the new mayor’s office with furniture he brought from his own home.


• Infrastructure development also lagged, with few houses built and little in the way of maintenance. But under the DA, a new sewerage works was built, the Refilwe township hall was refurbished, and water and electrical systems were overhauled and expanded. The DA administration also built 1,970 RDP houses between 2003 and 2006, using provincial grants.


• We also sold the previous mayor’s car, a Mercedes, and put the funds back into the pool for service delivery and infrastructure. To save money, the DA mayor drove his own Nissan 1400.

Subsequently, under the ANC since 2006:

• Electricity payments to Eskom have faltered again, with power cuts made to the sewerage pumping station on two occasions, forcing the town to make overdue payments to Eskom.


• The rate of housing delivery has decreased by 97 percent.


• The mayoral entertainment budget has boomed from R50,000 per year under the DA to between R400 000 and R500 000 per year.


• Spending on luxuries and perks has increased. The speaker received two cars, a 240E Mercedes (with a blue light) and an Audi A4, which were purchased illegally. The mayoral Mercedes, which had been crashed and written off by the end of 2006 in a single vehicle accident, was promptly replaced by a new Audi when the Gauteng provincial government gave a third financial lifeline of R5m to the town last year. Absurdly, the mayor was driven everywhere by a uniformed and armed Nokeng traffic officer.


• The ANC mayor has also wasted public money, according to the Auditor-General and MEC for Local Government who investigated the financial affairs of the municipality. One time, the mayor took a business class flight to a conference and overnight stay at a top hotel in Pretoria, just 30km from Nokeng.


• And, most tragically for the people of Nokeng, the municipality was placed under financial administration in 2009 and is now set to be absorbed into the Tshwane metro.

This is the tragic legacy of the ANC’s rule in Nokeng: being literally run into oblivion. After the DA had run Nokeng frugally and with a can-do focus on actual municipal governance, development and service delivery, the ANC failed to further enhance the lives of Nokeng residents, but rather wasted public funds on useless luxuries and ultimately destroyed it as a political entity. What a sad and unnecessary tale. If the DA had been able to run Nokeng since 2001, as it has Midvaal, which the ANC’s own premier says enjoys the highest quality of life in the province, we would be telling a very different story: one of achievement, success and excellence. That is the legacy the DA imparts to municipalities. But only the voters can decide whether they want to go the way of the ANC’s Nokeng or the DA’s Midvaal.

Conclusion

Ironically, the residents of Nokeng face the same fate as the residents of Tshwane today, so our destiny is now united under the same metropolitan leadership. But what kind of future do we have? The administration that brought Nokeng to its knees is similar to that which we have in the Tshwane Metro council, which has ushered us into a major cash crisis that threatens the viability of our great city. It is the same administration that has allowed Metro Police corruption to fester. And it is the same administration that has made Tshwane the worst-performing metro for service delivery in the country.

The people of our city has an alternative -- one that can improve lives.

Indeed, the DA has proven in places like Cape Town, Midvaal, Baviaans, Mossel Bay and, formerly, Nokeng, that we deliver services to all better than any other party. We have a track record that shows we have the right systems in place to produce excellent outcomes for local residents. And because we believe that every citizen has a right to participate in government, we have made our structures open, accessible and transparent. We build these qualities into every element of our decision-making processes.

This is why we DA members are here today, excited to share with the residents of the Tshwane Metro the difference that the DA can make in their lives and in city government. We have the right people and processes to make our beautiful Jacaranda City and home to the nation’s capital, a dynamic metro that can release the potential of everyone who lives here.