By Seth Thorne
Numerous towns across the country are dysfunctional, with residents and businesses plagued by a collapse in basic services, political instability, and financial mismanagement.
As a result, residents, civil society organisations, and private businesses have had to step in and deliver the local government’s mandate to prevent their towns from collapsing.
The key agricultural, mining, and industrial province of the North West has eight towns under provincial administration for failing to meet their constitutional mandate of delivering effective services.
Of note is the Ditsobotla Local Municipality (DLM), which residents have described as “in a state of collapse.”
The crisis stems from long-term issues, including political instability, corruption, a lack of oversight, and the failure to maintain essential infrastructure.
As such, residents endure a lack of reliable access to basic necessities like water and electricity and inadequate sanitation services.
This situation did not suddenly occur. It resulted from a steady decline in service delivery over the past decade, exacerbated by a lack of effective intervention from provincial and national authorities.
The community has been left to bear the costs of a broken system and cope with a lack of basic services, while higher levels of government have been unable to address these deep-rooted problems.
Many have stepped in to mitigate the impact of the decline, installing backup power and boreholes and sharing it with the community. However, it can only go so far.
“Many small businesses have already closed or are considering leaving. It’s simply not an environment conducive to growth,” said the CEO of leading agricultural company NWK Limited, Pieter Kleingeld.
Sakeliga said that some things still work at all is largely thanks to the businesspeople, farmers, community organisations and residents who exert intense pressure and make alternative plans.
Travelling around Ditsobotla, the extent of this soon became apparent. One such example is where residents are provided water from those with boreholes as municipal provision is scarce.
A key intervention has been the establishment of the Ditsobotla Services Association (DSA) – a not-for-profit organisation set up by local businesses and communities with assistance from Sakeliga.
Naude Pienaar, a representative of the association, said that the association, founded roughly two years ago, is working to address service delivery issues by uniting businesses and residents to speak with one voice when communicating with the municipality.
The community has been donating money, including cables, pumps, and motors, to help the municipality with repairs for some time now.
Pienaar said, “We cannot continue like this. It just doesn’t make business sense that we are doing the maintenance”.
“We are providing the infrastructure. We are providing the pumps and the motors and the cable that they need to give us service delivery. And then we have to pay for that same service delivery”.
Members of the association also spent their own time and money repairing roads, electricity and water networks.
However, Pienaar said that the relationship with the municipality has been hostile.
The DSA has offered help to the municipality, including testing the quantity of the yield in the boreholes, free of charge, but “they did not even answer us”.
Pienaar also said that despite promises from new leadership, “I still haven’t received anything… They just don’t care”.
The association also offered to investigate why pumps burn out so frequently, but the municipality did not respond again.
Pienaar concluded that “they are not willing to work with us” and that it is “frustrating, alarming, and of course totally unnecessary”.
“Unless businesses and organised communities take the lead to re-establish order themselves, the vacuum of governance and administration will be filled by gangsters,” said Sakeliga.
Civil society group Afriforum can also be seen doing pothole repairs around town. For years they have patched up thousands of potholes in the town with dozens of tonnes of tar donated from residents and businesses.
Residents in Coligny are on their way to collect water from a borehole installed by a resident.
Failing infrastructure increases operational costs, disrupts production, damages equipment, negatively affects employees, reduces community spending and investment, and threatens the long-term sustainability of businesses.
The impact is not only on large businesses but also on small businesses and the overall community.
Two large agricultural companies in the area, NWK Limited and Agrico, have actively stepped in to address the service delivery issues in Ditsobotla.
Kleingeld shared that NWK’s engineering department has invested in solutions, such as providing expertise and funding for pumps to address water and electricity issues.
He said that the company has a critical responsibility to support the community, as without the community, there would be no town.
Similarly, Agrico’s factory manager, Hannes Kruger, highlighted that they have contributed by supplying funds, time and expertise, clamps to fix water leaks and thumpers to identify electrical faults, but these actions have only provided temporary relief.
In addition to these measures, local businesses have contributed funds to repair the town’s roads and infrastructure.
While these efforts show a proactive approach to the ongoing issues, both companies agree that the key challenge is the lack of political will and capacity to address the problems at a systemic level.
“Businesses need to step up, but it’s also crucial for the municipality to do its part,” said Kleingeld.
“We try to play a big role in supporting the community, but we can’t do it alone. Without proper service delivery and infrastructure, it’s hard for businesses to thrive, and the local economy will continue to suffer,” he added.
Sakeliga, after having been approached by several stakeholders, has taken the DLM to court on multiple occasions.
Their litigation has led to court rulings, including urgent interventions for water and electricity supply.
A key ruling in late 2023 ordered the North West Provincial Government to intervene and place DLM under section 139(5) provincial administration, with the municipality required to report quarterly to Sakeliga and local partners.
Sakeliga’s team is now documenting failures in provincial intervention for potential action under Section 139(7) to involve the national government and National Treasury.
If necessary, businesses may fund additional court cases for urgent relief. The DSA has called for an independent forensic audit of the municipality, as discrepancies between reported spending and actual conditions are apparent.
Sakeliga suggests that alternative structures, like the DSA, can start accumulating funds and providing services as groundwork for future negotiations.
BUSINESS TECH