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BUFFALO S O L D I E R S The municipality of Buffalo City has been facing problems in its operations and service delivery. The recently-appointed executive mayor and city manager are in the process of pulling the city together in time for the World Cup, Ruari McCallion reports.
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Buffalo City FEATURE
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he 880,000 citizens of the municipality of Buffalo City deserve a better service than they have been receiving from their city government – and they are in the process of getting it. The largest municipality after the metro areas of Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban, Buffalo City was created by the South African government’s reorganisation of local administration that was commenced in 1999. Buffalo City includes East London, King William’s Town, Bhisho and the surrounding villages within its municipal borders. It has to be conceded that the reorganisation did not go as well as was hoped – even the city’s garbage has not been properly collected. In 2009, Dr Lulama Zitha was seconded from the Office of Corporative Governance and Traditional Affairs to assist Buffalo City in its drive to transform itself into a forward-looking area, attractive to business, vibrant, and resident and tourist-friendly. She took up her duties in Spring 2010, as acting manager. Buffalo City starts with some obvious advantages, with glorious beaches and a pleasant year-round climate. It already has a major industrial employer, in Daimler-Benz’ assembly plant, and it has much less crime than Johannesburg. However, its oncestrong textile industry has collapsed in the face of cheap imports from the Far East. Unemployment runs at over 30 per cent, the rural areas do not offer long-term career prospects and it is heavily dependent on the public sector. These are meaty problems for Dr Zitha and executive mayor Zukisa Faku, who has a background of activism and political involvement stretching back to the early 1980s. She is a firm believer in raising skills and employability through education at all levels.
“The economy of the municipality is unbalanced, with both employment and welfare support dependent upon the public sector,” said Dr Zitha. “The South African government’s welfare programme covers unemployed parents, chronic disease support and also a programme for low-income rented housing. There is free education for poorer families and Poor Grant Relief funding for the municipality. Water and electricity is subsidised. As a result, city tax receipts are not that high.” Which may indeed be the case but the city has not been good at spending even that. At a meeting in May 2010, Dr Zitha announced that the city had more than R1 billion available, which should be spent before June. Residents in East London have threatened to pay their rates into an escrow account, rather than to the city, because rubbish has not been collected. The response has been to launch a campaign and project called MAD, which stands for ‘Make a Difference’. The month of May saw words turn to action, as residents, young people, members of sports clubs and even parolees roll their sleeves up and set about cleaning up Dimbaza, near King William’s Town, on 12 May and Zwelitsha on 19 May. A similar clean-up day was scheduled for Mdantsane on 2 June. They swept the streets, closed down unlicensed rubbish dumping areas, provided more rubbish drop-off points, and picked up litter. It seems odd that there should be tax revenues in the city treasury but the streets are not being cleaned. “My objective is to ensure the implementation of the turnaround strategy and to ensure delivery of services,” said Dr Zitha. “I had to suspend a number of officials, who were simply not doing their work. There was money to construct and maintain roads –
We are seeking to recruit students who are able but disadvantaged and help them with their education
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Buffalo City FEATURE
it wasn’t happening. Money to collect rubbish wasn’t spent. We are starting to get people who can deliver services, especially to the poor areas. Within two days of my arrival, work started on building a 50km stretch of roads in Mdatsane, which is the largest township outside Soweto. A developer called Club View is now constructing the roads. We are getting private contractors to undertake refuse collection. We are also hiring people on shortterm, temporary bases to go round and do the jobs that need doing – collecting refuse, cutting the grass – and so we have even been able to create some employment opportunities.”
Other areas requiring urgent attention include the provision of low-cost housing and the installation of sanitation facilities. Eight hundred and fifty new units have been started but the elimination of the ‘bucket system’ – essentially, ‘slopping out’, as it is known in prisons – is behind schedule. “The bucket system was supposed to have been eradicated in 2007,” said Dr Zalitha. “We are implementing solutions that are costeffective and have an immediate impact, so that means chemical toilets. They don’t need heavy investment.” Because prospects have been poor locally, there has been a drift of young people to the metro areas. “We are seeking to recruit students who are able but disadvantaged and help them with their 4
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Amatola Water Providing sustainable bulk water services to Buffalo City Municipality Amatola Water provides various support services to Buffalo City Municipality, which range from bulk water supply to secondary services such as infrastructure development, water conservation and water demand management and a variety of implementation agent related services to municipal eradication backlog programmes. In addition to the Operations & Maintenance services provided, Amatola Water is currently assisting local government through project implementation services to eradicate backlogs for water and sanitation in rural schools and communities in and around Buffalo City Municipality.
education. After they qualify, we hope to retain them within the city. We are sending people for more advanced training, with the help of private partners. We have an internship programme, although that has to be improved. We meet regularly with Daimler-Benz in order to develop ongoing partnerships and are working with PricewaterhouseCooper on future skills development. We are looking to make Buffalo City attractive to the private sector.” Failure to mention the ongoing political infighting in Buffalo City would simply be a gloss painted over deep cracks. Different factions have disrupted meetings, seemingly more dedicated to frustrating opponents than in getting things done for the municipality. The help of senior officers of the ANC has been requested to sort differences out, restore discipline and get the city moving forward. “We want to see Buffalo City develop into a vibrant community, which effectively provides services to its people and is a place they are proud to live,” Dr Zulitha said. “We want to build tourism and compete with Cape Town and Durban. Buffalo City has a good port, car manufacturing and basic industrial infrastructure. We have an airport, very good weather and excellent prospects.” END
This is Amatola Water Amatola Water is a state-owned, non-profit business enterprise which serves as a multi-service, bulk water services provider. Its core aim is to assist local government in the effective development and sustainable provision of safe, reliable water supply and waste water services. With its headquarters in East London in the Eastern Cape Province, Amatola Water operates twelve plants and seven sub-regional, bulk distribution networks in a designated service area covering most of the Amathole and part of the Chris Hani District Municipalities. It offers comprehensive contract services to all local municipalities for water abstraction, treatment, bulk supply and water quality monitoring for domestic, industrial and agricultural use. Through effective partnerships with local government and water services authorities, we are committed to our vision of being the preferred bulk water services provider for the Eastern Cape.
Amatola House, 6 Lancaster Road, Vincent, 5247 Tel: +27 (43) 707 3700 • Fax: +27 (43) 707 3701
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