When Your Municipality Fails the Fundamentals

As you read this think about an old 33 record on a turntable with a scratch…

Fundamental Municipal services include the Big 3:

1. Water
2. Electricity
3. Refuse

There is a very true adage in business; “If you cannot measure it, you cannot control it!” In fact we have a business based solely on that principle – BA Systems. In fact BA Systems is able to automate the reporting of our dam levels on an almost constant basis.

Let’s look at one fundamental that we cannot do without – one that our very lives depend upon: Water.

I am in the unenviable position of being able to compare just how two metropolitan municipalities measure the levels of this vital resource: Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Bay.

For the month of September:

• Cape Town has reported their dam levels 18 times
• Nelson Mandela Bay has reported their dam levels 3 times

Based on the principle of; “If you cannot measure it, you cannot control it!” – which municipality is demonstrating their grasp of this vital adage?