Johannesburg – One of the terms that grinds my titties is consequence management.
This meaningless term entered popular discourse with politicians eager to fool the population into believing they are rolling up their sleeves and will deal with officials who misuse resources.
If consequence management had any meaning, many municipal managers and senior officials would be out of jobs. The fact of the matter is that despite the auditor-general producing annual reports showing a decline in the use of municipal finances, no official or politician has been held accountable.
As a result, ratepayers are beset with rubbish not being collected, street lights that are not working, potholes that resemble craters and sewerage flowing through the streets. When he was Mpumalanga premier, David Mabuza promised that heads would roll should any municipality not attain a clean audit.
The following year, it was business as usual for provincial municipalities, but not a single head was guillotined. That’s politicians for you. When the Medupi power station was delayed and the country starved of electricity and plunged into darkness, then public enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba dispatched senior Eskom suits to Lephalale to unblock the blockages and promised that “heads will roll”.
Loadshedding has become part of our daily bread and overpaid officials remain in their positions.
Words are either employed to mean something or to obfuscate, and consequence management is an example of words designed to hoodwink the masses. In a year when we’ll be electing councillors to provide services in our local enclaves, one would expect a modicum of services being provided, if only to fool us one more time.
But no, the Johannesburg Roads Agency has said it has no money to fix potholes. However, there is definitely the budget to pay the exorbitant salaries of the officials.
In Matjhabeng in the Free State, sewerage flows through the central business district despite businesses paying rates.
Rubbish collection happens sporadically and township residents have no idea when the refuse truck will show up. Apparently, there is only one truck to service the six towns that make up the local municipality.
Residents don’t put out their trash out because dogs would rummage through the bins. On the day when it shows up, those at home scramble to put out the trash and even have to chase the truck as it cruises past.
On weeks it does not come, people simply empty their rubbish on many of the illegal dumping sites all over the township.
The Matjhabeng refuse removal squad is known to report for work and when the truck is not available, simply hotfoot it to kasi to imbibe during working hours. Local government elections are tabled for this year and you can expect politicians to come bearing bags full of promises.
Like an abused spouse, our people will vote for the same charlatans, and a few months later, go on a frenzy of vandalism and looting in the name of protest.
Consequence management my foot!
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