Access to basic services appears to become increasingly difficult for the workers and landless peasants in South Africa due to instability in municipalities. This was again proven in December 2014 when a high-powered delegation of the ANC led by Jacob Zuma arrived in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro to disband the ANC Regional Executive Committee (REC). This followed several visits made to the municipality since October 2014. On 18 January 2015 a task team was eventually announced that would take over from the REC. At the press conference called to announce the task team, Jesse Duarte openly stated that business interests of councillors resulted in the conflict between opposing camps.
These moves are yet another attempt aimed at stopping years of infighting between bigwig ANC rivals in the region. Open clashes erupted between a camp led by former chairperson of the region, Nceba Faku and those led by then mayor, Zanoxolo Wayile. For three years the metro functioned without a permanently appointed municipal manager and senior directors critical to the functioning of the municipality. This resulted in a paralysis of the administration, financial mismanagement, labour unrest and a decline in the delivery of services to the poor people of Nelson Mandela Bay Metro (comprising of Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Despatch).
In March 2013 Zanoxolo Wayile was removed as mayor and replaced by the 81 year-old Ben Fihla, who was serving in the provincial legislature. It was hoped that the “redeployment” would bring stability to opposing camps within the ANC in the region. The municipality appointed Lindiwe Msengana-Ndlela as municipal manager and started to appoint senior directors in vacant posts. Hardly three months into her job Msengana-Ndlela was placed on “precautionary leave”, a euphemism for suspension. She returned in August 2013, only to resign after a few days. In a letter to the MEC for Local Government she blamed political interference and intimidation. She indicated that she hit a brick wall in her efforts to improve financial management and accountability.
The Department of Local Government and Traditional Affairs seconded Mpilo Mbambisa to step into the job on a temporary basis. He was soon afterwards appointed on a five-year contract by the council as municipal manager for the municipality.
Stability returned to the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, but only for a short period. Continued competing business interests have resulted in intimidation and even murder. In August 2014 the portfolio councillor for human settlements was assassinated. The human settlement programme of the municipality has been rocked by mismanagement, fraud and corruption. Hundreds of defective houses have been constructed and little or nothing is being done by the municipality to hold those contractors accountable. Huge amounts are spent on rectifying these houses instead of constructing new houses.
The ANC has once again shot themselves in the foot in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro. They have proven that the system of handing lucrative contracts to themselves can only result in inferior services being delivered to the people and infighting amongst themselves because of greed. Their intervention can only result in a redirection of those lucrative contracts to other tenderpreneurs, while the workers and landless peasants continue to experience extreme poverty and inferior services. There can be no stability and development in municipalities while councillors voted into power satisfy their own business interests, rather than serving the interests of communities. We must demand that councillors must be accountable to and be bound by the interests the communities that elected them.