President Cyril Ramaphosa’s statement that “many of the challenges in municipalities arise from the design of our local government system” is true. Many councils cannot fund themselves because their revenue base is too low (mainly because the people who live in these municipalities do not have money to pay for services).
The other major reason that councils, including metros with strong revenue bases, are falling apart is because of politics, and in particular the actions of ANC leaders.
It is because of the ANC that major parts of Joburg are a disaster. The same is true of eThekwini, Mangaung and many other places.
Ramaphosa’s solution, “an updated White Paper on Local Government to outline a modern and fit-for-purpose local government system”, will not solve the problem.
Within this is another set of problems.
The council wards are mirrored by the ANC branch structures. This then creates ANC regions like Joburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.
These structures are likely to fight hard against any plan that sees them losing power.
As a result, this proposal to make radical changes will be opposed by the very people who have ruined the current system and come to power through it.
The politics of our national coalition means that making major changes will require broad support from other parties.
However, these parties are likely to be focused on fighting each other ahead of the local government election, meaning any real change will have to wait until long after that.
By then, it may be time for national and provincial elections, which could bury the entire idea.
Infrastructure delays
Then there is Ramaphosa’s repeated promises about infrastructure.
Similar promises were made by former president Jacob Zuma during his Sonas in 2009 and 2014.
In his 2024 Sona, Ramaphosa said, “New and innovative funding mechanisms will be used to increase construction of infrastructure.”
This year he said, “We are developing innovative ways of funding infrastructure. We are engaging local and international financial institutions and investors to unlock R200-billion in infrastructure financing.”
In 2024, Ramaphosa said: “We are overhauling the freight rail system by allowing private rail operators to access the rail network.”
This year he said: “We released a network statement in December 2024 which, for the first time, will enable private rail operators to access the freight rail system.”
Read more: President Ramaphosa’s 2025 State of the Nation Address
It is hard to argue that there has been substantive progress in each of these cases.
With so many promises of government spending on infrastructure in the past, it would be rational to assume that our construction companies are run off their feet with business.
Instead, Murray & Roberts is in business rescue, Group Five has been in serious trouble and Basil Read also had to go through the business rescue process.
Another big promise from Ramaphosa on Thursday was about Phase Two of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
He promised, “The Polihali Dam will feed 490 million cubic metres of water a year from the Lesotho highlands into the Vaal River System, securing water supply to several provinces for years to come.”
He did not explain the real reasons for the delays — the insistence by the ANC and the water affairs minister at the time, Nomvula Mokonyane, that certain people be picked as BEE partners.
If there is a water shortage in Gauteng because of this delay, it should be remembered that Mokonyane played a key role in this — not just because of BEE, but because she wanted certain companies to be the BEE partners.
The project is still not going smoothly.
As BusinessLive reported, Lesotho believes that the current CEO of the project, Tente Tente (a Basotho national) should not have been reappointed, because evaluations showed he was in the “lower spectrum of average performers”.
Our government, that is the government led by Ramaphosa, said Tente should not be blamed for the chronic delays and the budget shooting up from R35-billion to R53-billion — being content to defend someone who has presided over delays that could lead to disaster in Gauteng.
A president leading a coalition will always have to make promises when delivering a State of the Nation Address.
However, these must be promises that can be fulfilled, otherwise the speech will not have legitimacy and neither will the person who gives it.
While Ramaphosa’s speech is an important statement of aims, recent history has shown that many of them are unlikely to occur.
This does solve one problem for Ramaphosa though — he can repeat the promises next year. DM