Helen opens the coffin lid

[Bob Molloy]

This little village was dead and almost buried until it elected its first DA administration. Helen's bunch came in and opened the coffin lid. This is her account of how it happened. Read on, and weep.


THE STORY OF NOKENG TSA TAEMANE

The election on May 18 is a watershed in our history. For the first time, voters have an opportunity to compare the track records of the two main parties and vote for the one that delivers.
That is what this election is about. It is about delivery.
Where the DA governs, we do our best to deliver for all. No DA municipality is perfect. We make mistakes. And when we do, we try to fix them. Every one of our municipalities can do more to improve service delivery and increase economic growth to create jobs.
What is important is that we are moving in the right direction, step-by-step. Every survey of municipal performance says so.
But the surveys and the statistics don't always capture the full picture. Sometimes you have to go behind the numbers to understand why it is that DA municipalities succeed where others fail.
There is probably no better case study of the DA's governing formula than the story of a small Gauteng municipality on the Limpopo border called Nokeng Tsa Taemane. The formula is not complicated. It's about getting the basics right.
When the DA took over Nokeng from the ANC in 2001, the municipality had just about collapsed. Eskom was about to cut off the power because of an R11- million unpaid electricity bill. There was not much furniture, no computers and no filing system in the tiny municipal offices. Officials were disillusioned and demotivated. There was no town engineer at all. The Municipal Manager was the previous Mayor's brother-in-law.

The new DA team went to work building the systems and physical infrastructure necessary for a workable administration. Garages were converted into office space; computers and administrative systems were installed. The new Mayor furnished his office with his own furniture brought from his home.

The DA Mayor and Speaker had no other staff besides the one secretary they shared. They sold the mayoral Mercedes Benz and used the money for service delivery. The Mayor drove around in his own Nissan bakkie instead.

Through good financial management, the DA managed to stop Eskom from switching off the lights, and paid back R9m of what it owed. And it managed to upgrade the infrastructure that had been left to decay under the previous administration. A new sewerage works was built, the Refilwe community hall was refurbished and the water and electricity infrastructure was expanded. Around 2,000 RDP houses were built in three years.

But then, because elections in the past were not about service delivery, the ANC again won the 2006 local election in Nokeng.

The new ANC Mayor started her term by refurbishing her office at a cost of R135 000 to the ratepayer. Two luxury German vehicles were purchased - one for the Mayor and one for the Speaker. The Mayor increased her expense account from R50 000 to R500 000 and appointed 12 new staff members to work in her office. When the Mayor had to fly anywhere, she flew business class and stayed in expensive hotels.

It wasn't long before the municipality went bankrupt again, and had to be bailed out by the Gauteng provincial government at least three times. In four years, only 78 houses were built. Infrastructure was neglected. During one month the municipality didn't send out bills because it didn't have enough money for the postage.

By 2009 things were so bad that Nokeng was placed under administration by the Gauteng government. The municipality is in such a mess that, after the local election this year, it will be absorbed into the Tshwane metro.

When I visit towns where service delivery is failing, people often say to me: Helen, please bring the DA here and fix things up. I reply that the DA stands for elections everywhere but that we can only fix things if we win and govern the municipality. We can only win in the place where you live if enough people vote for us. Only you can take control of your future. You vote is your power to do that.

Because the truth is this: if you want a better life you need to think about choosing a party that has proved it delivers for all wherever it governs.

So give us a chance to prove it to you. Put us to the test. You have nothing to lose by trying something new in this local election.

If you usually vote for the ANC in the national election, the local election is your chance to do something different. Use your freedom to choose.

This election is about breaking free of the straightjacket that keeps people voting for the same party over and over again and somehow expecting a different result.

In a democracy, you can make the change and choose a party that will deliver a better future.

[Paul (Pepe) Freemantle]

Thanks Bob, very interesting article. I hope our ANC friends will take note of the post and get out of the Straight Jacket.

[Michael Alexander]

I see that the DA is hoping to take PE also this year... this could get interesting....

[Paul (Pepe) Freemantle]

Yip Mike, they have their eyes set on Johannesburg and Pretoria as well. Go DA!!!!