South Africa\u2019s metropolitan voters face an epic decision when they go to the polls in a few weeks. These local government elections are the most important in our democratic history. <\/p>\n
There is no doubt about what the cities need: honest leaders who are willing to focus on infrastructure and services rather than using cities as platforms for power and patronage. There are few such leaders on offer. <\/p>\n
Running a large city is enormously challenging. It involves managing a huge budget, running a complex billing system and raising revenue. It is at least as difficult as running a large corporation. <\/p>\n
Cities get almost all their revenue from rates and services and very little from the fiscus. This is as it should be, but it means the infrastructure on which we all depend depends in turn on the ability of city leaders to manage revenues and invest responsibly. <\/p>\n
Aside from financial management, running a city involves mastery of many disciplines, including electricity and water provision, infrastructure management and maintenance, oversight of building regulations and addressing the truly difficult challenges of spatial inequality, transport and housing. It also requires mastery of political management, especially in the face of coalition politics, and an ability to connect with residents. All of this demands enormous talent and resilience. <\/p>\n
Nowhere is this challenge greater than in Johannesburg. The city has been thoroughly broken and its ranks are inhabited by predators with deep links to organised criminal syndicates. It has also become overly politicised, with small coalition parties demanding \u201cownership\u201d of city entities and using this to extract funds for party and individual benefit. <\/p>\n
Infrastructure planning has fallen by the wayside. Joburg spent less than 5% of its budget on infrastructure in the past financial year, when it should be spending 20%. It has swelled the ranks of senior management and created a vast array of service providers demanding remuneration while offering little value. Fixing the city will mean breaking these networks, and that will be a dangerous thing to do. <\/p>\n
Nowhere is this challenge greater than in Johannesburg. The city has been thoroughly broken and its ranks are inhabited by predators with deep links to organised criminal syndicates. <\/p>\n
This is where politics is so important. Not only will the voters have to elect parties that actually want to fix the cities, they will also have to provide the ongoing support required to dismantle the syndicates. The beneficiaries of supply-chain crime will cry foul, claiming that they represent communities. They will defend their networks by trying to take the moral high ground, as Jacob Zuma did two decades ago. <\/p>\n
The fight to reclaim the cities will require us to tone down the rhetoric and doggedly focus on the task at hand. The priorities are clear: invest in infrastructure, procure cheaper renewable power, fix the water pipes, bridges and treatment plants, incentivise affordable housing, rebuild public transport, provide safe taxi ranks, deal with hijacked buildings, and rebuild a network of parks, libraries, clinics and sports facilities. <\/p>\n
The human resource aspects of this will be challenging, especially given the need to discipline staff, restructure city entities, reduce the number of managers and prevent the metro police from becoming a private army. <\/p>\n
Such an approach will require a steady coalition. No mayor can depend on a coalition partner that demands access to tenders in exchange for support or threatens a no-confidence vote every other day. A serious programme of reconstruction requires stability and commitment. <\/p>\n
This is why it is imperative for voters to consider their choices carefully. Just as South Africa stood at the precipice in 2019, so the cities stand at the precipice now. Our municipalities are in desperate need of honest, capable leaders and strong technocratic management.<\/p>\n
Voters, over to you. <\/p>\n
\u2022 Bethlehem is an economic development specialist and partner at Genesis Analytics. She has worked in the forestry, renewable energy, housing and property sectors as well as in local and national government. She writes in her personal capacity.<\/p>\n
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