By 
Political parties are now gearing up for the upcoming local elections this year, amongst the biggest challenges that also affect the economy of the country is service delivery at local government level.
During his January 8 statement, the President of the African National Congress (ANC) Cyril Ramaphosa outlined six priorities of the party they intend tackling this year, amongst the priorities is fixing municipalities and improving service delivery.
Ramaphosa said the ANC managed to make some inroads in attending to and resolving some of the service delivery issues. Load-shedding and regular reliable water supply has been a serious issue for households and the business community at large. The President said they managed to turn the tide on load-shedding.
“We have seen dramatic improvement in electricity provision by Eskom, alongside increased private investment in electricity generation.
However, municipal load reduction continues to disrupt daily life. Load reduction is a mechanism municipalities use to manage debt to Eskom. We call on all electricity users to pay for the services they use and to support government in preventing illegal connections that cause overloads and outages. We also call on municipalities to strengthen billing and collection systems, honour debt-repayment commitments to Eskom, and act decisively against illegal connections and vandalism,” he said.
Ramaphosa said communities in rural areas will be using green energy through solar and battery technology; especially those who have not been connected to the grid yet. He said the Department of Electricity and Energy will connect 20 rural communities each year, ensuring access to clean and affordable electricity in those communities.
“Last year, we elevated water security as a priority task for 2025. Government currently has 13 major water resource infrastructure projects under implementation, including the Lesotho Highlands Water Project to provide additional water to Gauteng and the uMkhomazi Water Project to provide additional water to eThekwini. In the North West, the Department has allocated R1.2 billion to improve access to water services.
We call on municipalities to ensure proper project preparation, the use of skilled contractors and disciplined implementation so that these projects benefit communities,” said Ramaphosa.
“The ANC also calls on all municipalities to ring-fence water revenue and intensify efforts to reduce water losses in a water-scarce country. Accordingly, ANC councillors must educate communities on careful water use and on paying for the water they consume. Households that cannot pay for water and electricity must be placed on the indigent register,” he continued.
The ANC President appealed to municipalities and their leadership to capacitate their municipalities and get their house in order, and to develop and grow their local economies and create the much needed jobs at local government level; and make their municipalities attractive towards investment.
“Local government has a central role in economic development and job creation. We call on all municipalities to ensure that local economic development plans reflect the comparative advantages of each area and build partnerships with the private sector.
Municipalities must revitalise industrial parks and Special Economic Zones to attract investment that supports local manufacturing and creates jobs. Municipalities must review by-laws to improve the ease of doing business and reduce red tape for local SMMEs and informal businesses by speeding up approvals and reducing licensing costs,” said Cyril Ramaphosa.
