A supporter of the Umkhonto Wesizwe (MK) Party gestures while wearing a t-shirt featuring the face of party leader Jacob Zuma and Vladimir Putin, among others. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen The eThekwini municipality put on its brightest smile over the festive season. The roads and beaches in major tourist hotspots around Durban were clean, police were everywhere, and public parks were manicured.
But stray too far and a dirty and tired CBD revealed all that had been swept under the carpet. The city, like others in the province, is battling for survival. Service delivery is slow, immigration and lawlessness a plague, and hopelessness hangs overhead.
Having lived in the municipality and KwaZulu-Natal for several years, where I spent most of my days in townships and impoverished areas, I could see that the municipality was trying to deliver work, services, and a better life for its residents. But these efforts were almost always tripped up by corruption and incompetent leaders. It seemed the further north you went, the more accountability became a suggestion instead of a necessity.
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Government officials ran districts and municipalities on their own time and for their own enrichment. While the local government elections later this year offer hope of change, it is unlikely when a majority of residents in the province hold on to the legacy of the ANC and its former leader, Jacob Zuma through his uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK party). And the tide to keep the MK party from getting into power is weakening by the day.
A failed vote of no confidence in the KZN Premier Thami Ntuli led theNational Freedom Party (NFP) to call a press conference last week, lambasting the government of provincial unity (GPU) coalition. A coalition that they were eager to jump into when they realised they were the kingmaker. The thing about kingmakers is that they are not the king themselves, and so once their vote is secured, they can easily be relegated to court jester.
The NFP labelled the partnership as rotten and rogue, and apologised to its supporters, not for being greedily blinded by the chance of power and positions, but for being in such a political arrangement. Thecoalition partners have been meeting with the party this weekto negotiate, but the NFP is, for now, slithering over to the MK party.
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