The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

My dear friends and fellow South Africans,

News of the appalling rioting of the last week has not only found its
way into the New York Times, it has also thrown into stark relief the
issue of freedom in South Africa. For some in South Africa today,
freedom has been all but achieved; after all it is embedded in our
democratic dispensation, enshrined in our Constitution and exercised
periodically every five years in an election. For many others, freedom
merely exists on paper - without real substance or material benefits.

South Africa's poor are too preoccupied with mere survival to notice
government intrusion upon their freedom. Some are gradually
discovering that, despite their right to vote, they have no effective
control over the government they helped put in power.

South Africa's huge and inflexible civil service is something the ANC
inherited from the apartheid government and has, understandably, found
difficult to reform. The underlying fallacy of a large bureaucracy
having an intrinsic capacity to deliver public services in proportion
to its size continues to blunt the resolve for change.

Sadly, the rest of the continent offer little inspiration. Ironically,
the single economic freedom for which Africa scores higher than the
world average ? size of government ? is more a reflection of weakness
than strength. Governments are generally smaller in Africa not because
politicians want it that way, but because governments lack the
capacity to provide services.

Africa scores worse than the global average on taxation, meaning that
African governments are collecting more money than their peers but are
failing to spend it effectively, possibly because it is being siphoned
off through inefficiency and corruption. This is where we fall in line
with our neighbours.

In South Africa today we are reaping in part, as I have said before, I
believe, the bitter harvest of rendering the country's townships
ungovernable during apartheid. We have already seen how this culture
of ungovernability has found expression in the form of ugly dissent in
our public discourse and beyond, only consider the pervasive culture
of non-payment for municipal services.

Two other developments, one political and one economic, have, I
believe, led to a further meltdown in social cohesion and general
ethics in our country under the post-apartheid government. The poet
Yeat's famous line "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold. Mere
anarchy is loosed upon the world," could have been written today for
South Africa as it has witnessed the inexorable centralisation of power.

It is this uncontrolled and unaccountable concentration of power at
the centre, in the hands of the select few affiliated to the ruling
party, which is responsible for the insufficient delivery capacity of
the South African state and which is, in turn, fueling civil discord
bordering on lawlessness.

Much of our social discord stems from the lack of genuine consultation
between our government and the public: 'crossed wires'. The riots in
Khutsong a few` years ago, caused by the government's blatant
disregard for the residents' wishes regarding municipal demarcation,
attest to this. The scale and intensity of the unrest in Khutsong had
a negative impact on service delivery which deteriorated dramatically
when municipal officers could not enter the area to maintain
infrastructure.

Rioters' concerns then and now might be legitimate, but their
practices never are. The answer, I contend, lies in a return to a
genuine vision of being local.

Being local has implicit meanings: authentic, personal, known,
accessible, trustworthy. The same attributes, I believe firmly and
passionately, apply to local government. Local government is closer
than any other tier of state administration to the hopes, needs and
aspirations of the people. It is also closer to practical solutions.
Where national government is prone to setting up committees and
establishing policy units, local government contemplates and delivers
action. And it is action that makes a material difference to an
isolated, troubled or hungry community, not words. Municipalities, by
virtue of their proximity, can bring hope to the remotest areas of our
country.

This ode to the virtues of local government does not just flow from
someone like me who has long placed localism, decentralisation, family
and neighbourhood on top of their agenda. Local governments,
international experience shows, are fast becoming major actors in the
emerging global legal order. The United Nations, the World Bank, the
European Union and other transnational institutions are beginning to
view local governments as vehicles for the advancement of policies on
a global scale. Local governments are increasingly used as a means for
disseminating and implementing global policy programmes, sound
financial schemes and governance strategies.

The traditional legal focus on state actors is shifting on to local
governments, giving them independent legal status in the new global
order. Local governments are obtaining international duties, powers,
and rights; enforcing international standards; forming global networks
involved in the creation of international standards; and becoming
objects of international regulation. It has indeed become impossible
to understand globalisation and its legal ordering without considering
the role of localities: They have become prime vehicles for the
delivery of global capital, goods and workforce.

It is for these interrelated reasons that I, as a politician,
subscribe to a strong, independent and properly resourced local
government to lead the fight against poverty in South Africa. However,
the current dynamic between central government, local services and
citizens, characterised by a confusion of responsibilities and
accountabilities, will have to change if we are to deal with the roots
of poverty effectively. Our local government services are heaving
under the weight of neglect, fragmentation, political factionalism and
shortage of resources.

Until we bolster the resources of local government and properly
capacitate it, we will continue to witness the distressing scenes of
the last week ? and worse still.

Yours sincerely,

Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP