Ditsobotla and Joburg — A Tale of Two Cities

The handling of Ditsobotla has become a tragic joke.

Residents have complained for years of a collapse in services, of raw sewage pouring into a waterway, of no water or electricity.

And yet nothing has been done.

The reason was obvious. Neither the provincial nor the national ANC wanted to interfere in a conflict that was really about two party factions in in North West.

This allowed two people to claim to be mayor at the same time.

It also followed a long history of disaster. As The Sowetan pointed out on Tuesday, this is the ninth time it has been placed under some form of administration since 2008.

Now, a task team from Cogta will coordinate the recovery.

Considering the deep-seated nature of the disputes, and what is at stake for the local leaders, there is likely to be strong resistance to any changes.

People will not stop fighting for influence and access to resources just because of this intervention.

Read more: Make municipalities work by appointing qualified staff — Cogta’s Hlabisa

On Wednesday, mayor of the Nkaga Modiri District Municipality (which includes Ditsobotla), Khumalo Molefe, told Newzroom Afrika that workers in the council were likely to be involved in this, too.

He said that in the council, the “terrain is highly politicised and less professionalised” and that “many employees are not recruited following due recruitment policies and therefore they are aligned to Mayor A or Mayor B”.

This shows how it is entirely possible that some council workers will continue to play a political role. They might actively sabotage efforts to fix service delivery. Because they know the systems so well, they can probably do this without anyone actually knowing how it was done.

This means the people who are administering the council will be seen as responsible when problems occur.

Some of their opposition might well be visible and coordinated. In the past, when workers have refused to work or have frustrated efforts at reform, they’ve been supported by the union Samwu. 

This might even lead to protests by workers against the administrators.

This means that any repairs to infrastructure might well have to be done by people who live outside the area. It might even lead to situations where workers, or people linked to the various factions, use violence to stop any repairs.

Considering the history of how some people have deliberately damaged water pumps at dams to ensure there is business for water tankers, none of this will be new.

The people deployed to fix the problems would be up against people who are the ultimate insiders, who have a long history in the council and know how it works and who to influence.

For example, in 2023, Elizabeth Lethoko from the PA was the mayor. She resigned just hours after being elected, after a dispute over the position of municipal manager.

She had previously been the mayor in 2016 for the ANC, but was then convicted of corruption.

Despite that, she had found herself mayor again seven years later, this time for a different party.

This is the kind of person a new team of outsiders will be up against.

Even if there is no active opposition, the sheer scale of the problems means that it might be some years before local people start to see an improvement in their services.

Joburg administration’s failure

All of the above might well hold true for a metro the size of Joburg, should there be a big change in the upcoming elections.

One of the important and perhaps under-examined aspects of the situation in Joburg is that despite President Cyril Ramaphosa’s public criticism of the city, and his stated efforts to fix it, very little seems to have been done.

Read more: ‘Not a pleasing environment’ — Ramaphosa says Joburg must fix its many problems, and fast

While the mayor, the ANC’s Dada Morero, is making big promises about the G20, he is still opening roads that are closed to traffic. And he has not been able to appoint a member of the mayoral committee for transport despite the huge number of potholes in the city.

Read more: The long wait — Can Johannesburg’s broken traffic lights be fixed before the G20?

It is utterly amazing that to have problems fixed, Ramaphosa has had to go to structures outside the ANC and the councillors who were elected.

He has had to set up committees that include the Presidency to make sure something is done.

This is very similar to Operation Vulindlela, where a group of people use the political capital of the President to ensure change in some departments.

Essentially, they’re doing some of the work that these government departments exist to do.

Read more: Wanted: A new government for Johannesburg’s great people

It is clear from this that Ramaphosa believes the current administration is unable to fix the problems. He has to go around them to get things done.

Then there are huge problems with infrastructure.

The problems this week, when many households in different parts of Joburg were without water, are an indication of how deep-seated these problems are.

Some areas had water restored by late on Monday, but other areas, such as Westbury, were left with nothing. This led to angry protests after promises to restore the water were broken.

Read more: Police fire rubber bullets at residents and journalists in Joburg water protests

All this happened while the Vaal Dam is 105.9% full and Sterkfontein (which supplies the Vaal) is at 99%.

If there were to be a drought, resolving these problems would become both much more urgent and much more difficult.

Inflection points

Of course, things can change.

It’s possible that in Ditsobotla, politicians realise that they will be held accountable by voters if they are seen to frustrate change.

Workers in Ditsobotla might come under pressure from their own families and communities to be a part of a concerted effort to improve services.

A canny administration team might be able to create feelings of pride in teams of workers and politicians who come to benefit from improvements.

That could provide a blueprint for a new team in Joburg, whether they come from the DA, ActionSA or even from the ANC if there is a leadership change in its upcoming Joburg Region elections.

In Joburg, the civil society groups and experts who are working furiously to improve things could be asked to stay on board to continue the effort.

Read more: Communities repair roads, water and power in DIY revolution as City of Joburg falters

The difference, of course, is that instead of a reform that appears to go around the administration, it would move with the administration.

This would give it more momentum and should help to make change happen more quickly.

Many of our councils, including Ditsobotla and Joburg, are at inflection points. They might improve, or continue to fail.

Whether they succeed or sink is now due almost entirely to politics. And if they sink, the politicians should take the blame. DM

This article is an Analysis, which presents a specific argument supported with evidence. The views expressed are those of the author (usually a journalist) and do not necessarily represent the views of Daily Maverick.