Community-led service delivery — good in the short term, difficult in the long term

Recent reports of residents in one part of Joburg repainting street names and being allowed to actively manage their local swimming pool follow many reports of previous initiatives over the years.

In Tshwane, a group called “Betereinders” has been filling in potholes for years.

In Joburg, at least one insurance company still does this through an arrangement with the city.

And, from time to time, a smaller council will try to go to court (and has sometimes succeeded) to prevent ordinary citizens from fixing common infrastructure.

This is not confined to middle-class areas. In many places, community groups patrol informal settlements at night to protect people. Some might contend that almost every act of vigilante justice could be argued to be the community protecting itself, in the light of police failing to do so.

However, what might make this kind of activity in middle-class areas so significant is that it is an indication that services are failing even in areas which have been developed for many years and were once provided with services.

This trend is probably impossible to stop.

Morally, it would be hard to justify preventing residents from performing a service for other residents, especially if a council has simply failed.

One can hardly argue that a pool should remain closed when there are people with the resources to fix it and manage it for the good of everyone.

But it also shows that even Joburg, with a budget of more than R83-billion, is unable to provide simple services.

It begs the question, where does all of this money go? It does not appear to be properly spent anywhere, in any area, no matter how poor or rich its residents are.

The benefits

The challenges