Municipal services are regarded by more than 51% of all South Africans in seven major cities as being inadequate and inferior according to the latest results of a nationwide TNS Research Survey.
Municipal services are regarded by more than 51% of all South Africans in seven major cities as being inadequate and inferior according to a recent TNS survey.
The highest levels of dissatisfaction over service delivery were reported in East London, the Vaal Triangle and the West Rand. The cities surveyed include Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London and Bloemfontein.
According to TNS director Neil Higgs, the findings indicated that black people – who were most of the participants anyway – were the most dissatisfied and pointed to the fact that violence over a lack of service delivery is “almost a certainty”.
A total of 1 260 blacks, 365 whites, 240 coloureds and 115 Indian/Asian people took part in the survey.
The figures are almost identical to those contained in the previous year’s survey and, according to Higgs, this implies that the government has effectively achieved nothing to improve the the level and standard of services countrywide.
Local government elections are due to take place on 18 May and the lack of service delivery is likely to be the central issue for political parties trying to muster support from voters.
Higgs says that the government has already set service delivery issues as a central theme for the elections and this is evident from President Jacob Zuma’s promise to improve service delivery in his State of the Nation address last month.
Spokesman for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs spokesman, Vuyelwa Vika, says that the department has “noted” the findings in the report without attaching any importance to them.
She claimed that not all protests – often accompanied by civil disobedience, looting and property destruction – were linked to complaints over service delivery.
She claims that the municipal authorities rather than the national government are largely to blame for the high levels of dissatisfaction among residents in different areas.
The government has embarked on various strategies to improve service delivery and, in some instances, has even taken over the administration of a number of local councils in the country that have been unable or unwilling to improve service delivery.
Meanwhile, in a dramatic rebuttal of reports that the Hawks are set to arrest various municipal officials in eThekwini over housing contracts worth about R3,5-billion, Hawks spokesman, McIntosh Polela denied that any officials are being investigated.
At the same time, Mike Sutcliffe, eThekwini’s municipal manager says that his office has not been contacted by the Hawks “at any time” adding that he had written to the Special Investigating Unit informing them that he was prepared to co-operate fully with any pending investigation.
The Sunday Times reported last weekend that several council officials were being investigated over housing contracts and that warrants of arrest had been issued against them.
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