Municipalities have become a happy hunting ground for political mafias who run amok hounding municipal officials to give them lucrative contracts and forcefully sign invoices without following proper financial protocols.
During the state of the municipalities report released by the South African Local Government Association (Salga) in Durban this week, the organisation painted a grim picture of the severity of the situation in some councils.
Safe havens for extortionists
It said municipalities have become safe havens for extortionists, reporting an increase in hostage situations where senior municipal employees, especially those responsible for managing finances and paying suppliers, were kidnapped and held without their will so that they would unduly pay unscrupulous service providers.
“The prevalence of violence and killings do not happen in isolation of a culture which normalises a culture of interference, attempts to unduly influence and intimidate,” reads the report in part.
“In reported instances, management of some municipalities has been taken hostage and forced to sign agreements before they were released.”
In eThekwini, the only metro in KwaZulu-Natal, officials attached to the city’s water and sanitation unit have been assigned bodyguards following a spate of murders.
“At the heart of the bloodbath which has claimed at least four senior managers is a fight over tenders between various tenderpreneurs. Some officials have resigned citing safety concerns.
High-stakes game
Answering questions from Sunday World, Salga chairperson Thami Ntuli said the political office has become a high-stakes game.
He explained that what is happening in municipalities is also linked to the assassination of councillors.
“Figures collected from KZN municipalities since November 2021 reveal that it is now undeniable that assassination was the leading cause of death in KZN for councillors,” said Ntuli.
Out of 40 councillors who died during the period under discussion, 18 were assassinations, 17 died of natural causes while two were suicide. Three died as a result of accidents.
Ntuli, who is also the IFP chairperson in the province, questioned the failure by government to implement the recommendations of the Moerane commission.
Access to government resources
The commission was probing the killings of councillors in the province.
The panel, chaired by advocate Marumo Moerane, concluded that the killings were about competition and access to government resources.
Among the recommendations of the commission was that once a councillor has been assassinated, there should be no by-elections until the next election year.
It was also suggested that there should be stringent criteria put in place for one to be a councillor such as possessing a three-year university qualification.
