As a sphere of government closest to the people, local government is reliant on residents to reach its full potential in the delivery of services. Without residents, whose votes determined the composition of municipal councils, municipalities cannot function and fail to serve communities.

Emfuleni is no exception, when residents don’t pay for services, the municipality struggles and in some cases completely fails to deliver even the most basic of services.

So, what happens when residents fail to pay their municipal accounts?

The list is endless, but chief among other severe consequences are the following:

• The streets are dark – Street lights and high-mast lights are not maintained and repaired, leaving our roads and residential areas plunged into darkness, which exposes motorists and residents to opportunistic crime and accidents.
• The potholes are deep – Our road network needs urgent rehabilitation, which is impossible without financial investment.
• The taps are dry – The municipality purchases its bulk water from Rand Water and when residents fail to pay their municipal accounts, the municipality cannot meet its obligation with this utility, leading to intermittent supply and decreased water pressure.
• The lights are out – The municipality purchases its bulk electricity supply from Eskom and when residents fail to pay their municipal accounts, the municipality cannot meet its obligation with this utility, leading to unannounced and unplanned power outages.
• Waste piles in the streets – Municipal trucks, like any fleet, require consumables like petrol and constant maintenance because of the heavy-duty schedule of collecting waste across our wards. With the cash flow challenges we’re facing, this has led to inconsistent collection of waste from our streets.
• Response to service delivery defects delayed – water leakages, sewer blockages and power outages becomes difficult as overtime is limited and materials needed to effect repairs are not immediately available.
• While the Municipal Infrastructure Grant [MIG] is helpful, the municipality must also have its own-funded projects aimed at improving the lives of our residents but this cannot be undertaken when revenue is depleted.

When residents open their taps, flush their toilets, place their waste at their door-steps, switch on the lights, and even when they drive in their cars or in public transport to various destinations, they are interacting with our ageing infrastructure. This means they are interacting with Municipal Services which rely on Municipal Finances which is supported by the sustained maintenance of Municipal Infrastructure.

In other words, Municipal Services, Municipal Finances and Municipal Infrastructure are interwoven by their need and reliance on each other. However, these three pillars of our municipality cannot exist without consistent payment of services by residents – without revenue, the municipality cannot render services to residents.

Our uncertain financial position, caused mainly by a sustained culture of non-payment for services, has placed increased pressure on our ability to deliver sustainable service delivery in Water, Sanitation, Electricity, Roads and Cleansing – all which are our core services.

Our immediate challenges in service delivery include curbing water losses, unblocking sewer spillages, sealing potholes and rehabilitating roads, sustainable waste collection and replacing stolen and vandalized municipal infrastructure. These are a few examples of service delivery backlogs which require our urgent attention, but this can only happen when residents start paying their municipal accounts.

Plans and projects outlined in the IDP [Integrated Development Plan] – which is essentially a blueprint document which combines plans of local government with the inputs of residents in the wards, cannot be undertaken and/or activated because of cash-flow challenges. This leaves the municipality dependant of it Municipal Infrastructure Grant – funding from national government meant to be spent solely on infrastructure projects.

By Wandisile Kunene