Every year residents of the KwaDukuza Municipality experience a recurring pattern: as the financial year draws to a close, the pace of service delivery deteriorates even more significantly.
Potholes acquire names and personalities, infrastructure projects stall,and community whatsapp groups become a breeding ground for complaints.
These aren’t isolated incidents, but a deep dysfunction rooted in financial mismanagement and politically motivated decision-making. Municipal budgets are often exhausted well before year-end— not because services have been efficiently delivered, but due to rushed, early-year expenditure that fails to align with long-term planning. In KwaDukuza we consistently highlight underspending in key departments with overspending in others. This fiscal misalignment means essential services are delayed precisely when communities need them most.
Compounding this , is the procurement process which is a playground for the politically connected. The procurement bottlenecks are not new, yet in KwaDukuza nothing has been done to streamline or digitize systems , or to create a transparent procurement environment. Projects that start with promise are often left incomplete or delivered well past deadlines, due in part to weak internal controls and a lack of accountability.
Obviously there is always a political dimension to this inefficiency. Service delivery is often manipulated to serve electoral or factional interests. Promises of infrastructure are timed strategically to coincide with pressure from political stakeholders. In KwaDukuza, many communities feel that th
ey are being held hostage by political agendas rather than served by a responsive government.The real price of this dysfunction is paid by ordinary residents.If KwaDukuza is to break this cycle, it must begin with stronger financial planning, transparent procurement, and meaningful oversight. Municipal officials must be held to accountable for their spending patterns, and residents must demand transparency in how their money is being spent. As the next financial year looms, we cannot afford another round of excuses. Quality services are not a luxury – they are a constitutional right. | Privi Makhan Caucus Leader – DA KwaDukuza
The recent utterances of prolific letter writer T Markandan of an anti-Christian nature refer.
I humbly request this eloquent and erudite person to please avoid being divisive, hostile and “stirring”.There is enough hostility, conflict and strife in this world in areas such as the Middle East, Ukraine, DR Congo and Sudan.
Please do not add to this sad lot.
One has the right to believe in a higher power as one chooses and even the right not to believe in a superior entity at all, with mutual respect between believers and non-believers.
Thus unto each, his /her own.
To be provocative, intolerant and arrogant is, with respect, uncalled for and certainly unacceptable.
It’s just vitriol.
One can’t help but wonder what causes a presumably sane person who is well versed in world affairs and life’s matters such as history, politics, art, culture and sport, to be caustic, antagonistic and even rude and hurtful.
Was he perhaps abused in his early life or even bullied to cause him to make such vengeful utterances. I do recall vividly about a decade ago Markandan , in a published letter to editor, indicated that his wife had referred to him as Belzeebub (the devil). Is this perhaps not the “causal nexus” for the offending remarks which were made recently and even before on other occasions? Fortunately forgiveness is an integral part of Christianity.It is even part of the Lord’s Prayer.May God bless Markandan and all dear to him and grant him discernment and tolerance. Thus unity, cohesion and harmony will overtake hostility, divisiveness and petulance in life and it’s manifold affairs that must be conducted peaceably and with civility and dignity. | Simon Dehal Verulam
It must be known that not only did the DA and the EFF win the Vat increase Court Ruling but the judge went and gave what can only be termed, an enormous slap down to the government.
Our High Court has three scales of costs orders against the losing party. The most punishment a judge can give the losing party is to grant costs against them on the C scale. In this particular instance the judgment gave costs against government on that C scale.
The message being put across to the government in this case is that they really made complete fools of themselves. | MICHAEL BAGRAIM Cape Town
In recent times much has been made of in the media about the danger and also cost to motorists caused by the plethora of potholes on our roads.
Road authorities regularly tell the public about how many have been repaired giving the impression that the problem is solvable. However any competent and experienced roads engineer will tell you that potholes are only symptoms of incipient total failure of the traffic carrying structure in a same way that pimples on your face are symptoms of a more serious malady.
For decades experienced engineers have been trying to spread the message that unless adequate maintenance is given to our road traffic bearing structure it will eventually fail, in the same way as our power and water systems have failed. However the warnings have been disregarded and the “chickens have now come home to roost”.
Fixing potholes is only a temporary measure aimed at improving riding quality – in the long run the whole road traffic bearing structure will have to be rehabilitated.
However I doubt that our country has sufficient funds to do this – so the pothole problem is here to stay. An unpleasant alternative which was resorted to some 40 years ago by an experienced road provincial roads engineer was to rip up the surfacing and restore the road to its much earlier gravel road condition.
Would the public and road authorities accept this?
I doubt it. | Dr Malcolm Mitchell. Pr. Eng. (ret) Hillcrest