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.

The Inkatha Freedom Party believes that councillors are being
mistakenly singled-out as the only people to blame for the service
delivery crisis that has led to violence in towns and cities across
our country in recent weeks.

In response to the crisis, the ruling party recently said that it was
to commission an audit on elected local councillors and municipalities
to come to grips with the problems on the ground.

But the IFP argues that it is not the elected councillors that are
failing their communities, but the very system that has been put in
place by government.

"In Ward 40, Meadowlands, Gauteng you have a classic example of a
service delivery crisis where 200 families share one toilet. For the
past four years, the issue has been raised continuously by the local
ward councillors but the plight of this community has been ignored and
they still live in dire circumstances," said Bonginkosi Dhlamini, IFP
spokesperson on housing.

Dhlamini added that Meadowlands has also not received any mention in
the City's Integrated Development Plan (IDP).

"The IDP is a plan for how the City will spend its money - on what,
and where. The IDP should be identifying the least serviced and most
impoverished areas and then spend the municipal funds in those areas.
Yet, despite the pleas by Meadowlands councillors the area which is in
dire need of basic services has been overlooked time and time again.
It should then not come as a surprise to government when people take
their grievances to the streets. They have the right to know what
happened to the promise of a better life for all," said Dhlamini.

Dhlamini said that he believes that the only lasting solution to the
service delivery crisis will be to re-evaluate the entire local
government system and how it operates.

"Councillors are the most direct form of access people have to
government. Usually people will turn to a councillor for direct advice
and support. As the IFP we are therefore calling for an urgent review
of the role of councillors in wards and committees and we want
government to re-evaluate the role of the executive mayoral committee
system - which often leads to mayors having the final say without
taking into consideration the views of councillors who are the voices
of ordinary South Africans at grass-root level," concluded Dhlamini.