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A Sea-Change Or Same Old “Same Old’? |
 Service Delivery Protests The government reacted with a modicum of dismay and concern that was impossible to hide. What had they done wrong? Why were minority voters not migrating to their vision of a people united under the ANC flag? Why the mistrust? And why had the DA in particular had such an overwhelming re-endorsement in the wards and municipalities they already held? How had they bled, of all things, Black voters!!!!!????? How had their propaganda backfired so badly? After all, even the ancestors were supposed to be ANC-aligned. This column will not try to answer those questions. Its function is to stir debate and to stimulate reflection. There can be little doubt, though, that change is in the air in our country. While the majority of the voting public still chose to place its trust in the ruling party, more sections of the same supporters of the status quo are realising their power and choosing to register their frustrations with the continued service delivery deficiencies by means of public protests. Corruption in local government is being challenged and in some cases the offending officials have been suspended, fired and/or charged. Little wild fires are flaring up with monotonous regularity and getting publicity. An unhappy populace is not an indicator of good governance. |
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WARNING:PG21 SNLP but no Violence. No sentient animals were harmed in writing this. Promise!
 Kokstad Municipality
A big shout-out to Nosisa Jojozi who was inaugurated as Mayor of Kokstad, or whatever else the technical terms is for hanging a chain around someone’s neck. Of course, mayors have to swear an oath of office too, but how often have Kokstad residents not sworn at the office and gotten nowhere? Maybe “they” changed this formality too, because everyone in the Greater Kokstad Municipal offices contracts Alzheimer’s Disease. How else do you explain how quickly they forget that the oath of service is to the town at large, not a party? At any rate, it sometimes “takes a woman to do a man’s job,” to quote a feminist fiend, I mean friend. (Sorry. truly!)
It seems Ms Jojozi intends to have an open-door policy and that no appointments are necessary. (Yo! Only in KDs, eksê!) How that is going to work on a practical level is still to be seen. Up to now, any complaints you want to lodge with a manager – every other municipal employee, it sometimes seems - gets the “Out of town” or “In a meeting” response from the apparently ‘automated’ receptionists. |
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 Social Cohesion It startled me when a young man and an older educator proudly declared that they hadn’t voted. Unhappy with the present local government structures, they do not support the ruling party either, but feel powerless to change anything through their single little ballot. We’ve all heard that position before, I’m sure. Some of us might even be guilty of the same thinking. The point of elections is not whether you win or lose, but that you participate in a poll that measures how many people are happy or dissatisfied with those who govern locally and/or nationally. That is what it means to live in a democracy: the people’s voice speaks through the ballot box. These voices would ideally speak truly and dispassionately, but this is not an ideal world. People who are hungry for services, in need of homes, employment, food, schools, healthcare – the list continues – are particularly vulnerable to promises. And politicians are wily. Subterfuge and misdirection, so skilfully used by magicians, become the currency of politics. It actually doesn’t matter that the ANC did not roll out the solar geyser project, for instance, but that broad references to “what we have done in our communities” leads the hearer to associate the party and the item together. And who not want an expensive device that will lower the electricity bill? |
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