R Resilience in service

Resiliency is the capacity to recover from failures, disasters, crises or fiascos and still have the ability to function effectively. Resilience can also be described as a community’s capacity to deal with an out-of-the-ordinary occurrence and be able to resist it, acclimatise through it and then to recover effectually and to ultimately learn from the disruption.

Covid-19 taught us how to cope in the face of immense adversity, and the new normal brought with it communities, cities and organisations that are building their resilience to cope with an uncertain future. The ability of a service delivery structure, such as government, to react, adjust and fortify in the face of conflict is crucial.

“We cannot undo the mistakes that were made in the past,” President Ramaphosa proclaimed in his 2023 State of the Nation Address. “What we can do is fix the problem today to keep the lights on tomorrow and for generations to come.” The problem today is that we are in the grip of a profound energy crisis, the seeds of which were planted many years ago.

Ramaphosa then announced that government had classified the crisis and its impact as a disaster and declared a National State of Disaster. “It will enable us to accelerate energy projects and limit regulatory requirements,” he said. Read more about the reforms, rollouts and rebates that government has taken to mitigate the disaster on page 8.

South Africa’s energy shortage is having a profound impact on its cities at a time when they urgently need to recover from the Covid-19 crisis. South African municipalities have a constitutional mandate to distribute electricity to citizens (page 17).

Craig Kesson, PwC South Africa, says: “Resolving the energy shortfall requires a collective effort across private and public sectors, including, and especially, by municipalities who play a key role in the development of sustainable energy strategies. By playing a key role in resolving the energy supply gap, municipalities will be able to contribute to local economic development and job creation.”

Municipalities also bear the biggest responsibility for clean water provision in the country, but do not have the ability to fix the system. Each year, budgets to safeguard water supplies go unspent.

Efforts to fix South Africa’s water system have been hampered by weak local capacity and deep degeneracy (page 14).

After more than a decade of neglect, mismanagement and corruption, the country’s water infrastructure can no longer supply many communities with reliable access to safe drinking water. In the Department of Water and Sanitation’s latest drinking water report, more than 60% of water supply systems did not meet water quality standards (page 18).

And Eskom’s decline is deepening the problem. “In places like Johannesburg, you have the water supplies; however, you are experiencing shortages because of dilapidated infrastructure,” explains water expert Dr Anja du Plessis. “[That] infrastructure is now collapsing under loadshedding.”

The ability of a service delivery structure, such as government, to react, adjust and fortify in the face of conflict is crucial. We need to be resilient, to serve and to fix the problem today to keep the lights on for tomorrow and for generations to come.

Enjoy this issue!

Alexis Knipe Editor

Editor: Alexis Knipe | Publishing director: Chris Whales | Managing director: Clive During | Online editor: Christoff Scholtz

Design: Brent Meder & Salmah Brown

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