Staff reporter
Bloemfontein – In what many May see as indictment on the ruling party, African National Congress (ANC), just few weeks before national elections, Free State municipalities are Mabenas of all provinces in service delivery.
This as South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has ranked the state of service delivery in the Free State amongst the worst performing provinces.
The commission headed by former provincial head of Public Service Commission (PSC), held a week-long enquiry where all municipalities were invited to account on service delivery.
Commissioner Dr Henk Boshoff said Kopanong Local Municipality was the only municipality in the province that showed it the middle finger by not pitching up.
Free State was the court province after similar enquiries were held in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo.
BUCKET TOILETS
The commission reports that there are many human rights violations in the province. It says municipalities in the Free State rank second in the country with households still utilising bucket toilets.
It said the use of bucket toilets is an indictment on authorities. And that poor service delivery points to lack of political will.
According to the outcome of the enquiry, municipalities struggle with refuse collection, water and housing provision, as well as bad roads. The commission says poor service delivery deprives people of their dignity and basic human rights.
“There are serious human rights violations in our municipalities. I mean raw sewer is flowing into our rivers and its affecting the health of our citizens. There are so many cases of cholera that have been reported. Criminal cases have been opened against three accounting officers in the Free State province because of raw sewer being spilled into our rivers and those were the serious human rights violations that we have identified in the Free State,” Boshoff said.
UNDERSPENDING
Aging infrastructure is not the only challenge municipalities are grappling with. The commission says underspending is rife in the province. This also means that fewer municipalities are able to demonstrate that they are viable. Boshoff further explained:
“Some municipalities stated that they were grant dependent and struggled with revenue collection from residents. They are certain that this impeded their ability to fund capital projects and to effectively deliver sustainable services to communities within their jurisdictions.”
Residents from across the province have also weighed in on the shortcomings of municipalities on delivery of services.
“We don’t have water for 15 years now. We do have a proper developed place. However, it doesn’t have a sewerage system and does not have any water. The water that we use is the water that we have connected illegally from other places where we can find water. And we spoke to all the councillors regarding this issue we are about four councillors who have passed until the current one and none of them have assisted us with this issue.”
The commission said from accounts given by residents during the enquiry they show a gloomy state of affairs and grim lived experiences.
Boshoff said it will take about 15 years to turn the tide on service delivery.
COGTA MEC, Ketso Makume and his HoD, Sugar Ramakarane will have to crack the whip otherwise things will get even worse.
There were at 44 criminal investigations by the Hawks.
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I’m not surprised. Everything the anc and his incompetent caders touch, turns to a rotten mess, as they are!!