Go to the comments section of any news site or social media and you will see countless people ‘wondering how the corrupt and incompetent get the vote’.
Just like a Catch 22 situation the answer lies in those two words: Corrupt and Incompetent – one feeds off of the other creating a monster.
Except that this is not a chicken and the egg conundrum as we definitely seem to start with incompetent which leads to corrupt.
Lets look at this in terms of our local situation and lets look at a suburb like Motherwell.
Now Motherwell is in a constant state of growth – very soon the shacks on the back road of Motherwell that takes one to Kariega will overtake the Garden Town.
Stands measuring 20 x 20 meters are to be had for around R500 paid to the ‘correct structure’. That money gets you a handwritten receipt torn from a book courtesy of your nearest CNA (do they still exist?).
So with no title deed, no ratepayer account and no security of tenure a shack gets built.
Eventually the shack gets electricity and access to a tap.
Of course, no-one pays for the electricity or water or rates.
This where the incompetence comes in as we have City Fathers who have absolutely no clue about planning and just continue with the disgusting apartheid spatial planning that got us into this mess in the first place.
Why incompetence?
- Failure to plan
- Failure to manage
- Failure to measure
- Failure to bill
- Failure to do environmental assessments
Why Corruption:
The interesting thing that happens is that when the free electricity to an area fails the corruption comes in.
- The community invariably embarks on a mass protest demanding the re-instatement of a service for which they do not pay.
- The politicians come in and promise additional electricity and/or immediately switch the electricity back on.
- Of course it wouldn’t be an oversight visit unless the community were reminded that only a certain political party was able to turn the electricity back on AND, inherent in that ‘knowledge bomb’ is the underlying threat/promise that only one political party is deserving of the communities vote come LGE2026
And that, dear friends and law abiding citizens, is how the Incompetent and Corrupt Politicians manage to stay in power year after year.
Kick the T-Shirt’s and KFC to the corner – using ratepayer money to control your voting fodder is the new game in town.
