The Nokeng Tsa Taemane Story

Note to editors: This is an extract of a speech prepared for delivery today at the Plot 175 informal settlement in Nokeng Tsa Taemane, Gauteng. This municipality was governed by the DA from 2001 to 2006 - a period of unprecedented service delivery to the community. The ANC took power there in the 2006 election and ran the municipality into the ground. After the election on 18 May, Nokeng will be absorbed into the Tshwane metro.   

Fellow South Africans,

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.

And that is why we are in Nokeng Tsa Taemane today. There is probably no better case study of the DA's governing formula. It is not complicated. It's about getting the basics right.

When the DA took over Nokeng from the ANC in 2001, it 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. Here in the Plot 175 informal settlement where we stand today, there is no running water. This is because the pipes that the DA laid when it was in office have not been maintained since the DA left office.

This municipality is in such a mess that, after the local election this year, it will be absorbed into the Tshwane metro. This means that in this election you will vote for the ward councillor you want for this area and you will vote for the party you want to govern Tshwane.

Now, you know better than I do that the Tshwane metro has failed to deliver a better life for all. I have heard about the infrastructure backlogs that leave people without running water. I have heard about the copper theft that cuts off people's power supply. I have heard about people being wrongly charged exorbitant amounts by the municipality and having their services cut off when they can't pay. And I have heard that the metro police is so corrupt that people drive around with R100 notes just to pay off the cops when they are stopped.

It doesn't have to be like this in Tshwane.

When the DA took over Cape Town in 2006, it inherited many of the same problems that you experience in Tshwane today. There were infrastructure backlogs. There was copper theft. There was widespread corruption in the metro police and morale was low.

The first thing we did when we took office was re-prioritise expenditure to roll back the infrastructure backlogs. We allocated money to the metro police for equipment and additional staff. We got rid off the bad apples. And we set up a specialized police unit called the Copperheads to combat metal theft.

We did these things because we wanted Cape Town to work. And we knew that Cape Town would only work if we got the basics of government right.

The result is what we call the DA difference. It is what sets DA municipalities apart from the rest. We want every municipality to experience the DA difference. And we don't see any reason why we can't start applying our formula here in Tshwane right after this local election.

Because the truth is that the DA can win the election in Tshwane. But it is up to you. You have the power. You can choose five more years of corruption, power outages, water cut-offs and poor service delivery. Or you can choose the DA.

It's up to you. So, whatever you do, make sure you vote on the 18 May.

And vote DA.

Because the DA delivers for all!

Issued by the Democratic Alliance, April 8 2011

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