LOCAL ELECTIONS TOUR: Sewage spills, service cuts, repeated audit failures — inside one of SA’s worst-run municipalities
Decades of municipal decay have left the bankrupt Eastern Cape municipality of Sundays River Valley trapped in a cycle of empty promises and fading hope. The ANC has historically dominated the council, but has failed to field proportional representation candidates for the upcoming vote.
The South African Eastern Cape municipality of Sundays River Valley (SRV) has a long history of municipal decay, with the ANC dominating the council but failing to field proportional representation candidates for upcoming elections. Workers commuting from nearby farms to their jobs as pickers and packers often travel in packed buses, making their way home amid dusty streets.
One farmworker, Unieunica Sipango, has been without water for two months and laments the poor conditions in the informal settlement of Hopetown, where she resides. She and others are dissatisfied with the SRV Municipality's performance, as they have struggled for years despite participating in election processes.
The municipality has faced repeated audit failures and a "worst possible audit outcome" from the Auditor-General for the past seven years. The Auditor-General has flagged weak internal controls, poor financial management, and wastewater-treatment service delivery failures, including sewage spills near households. The municipality's financial health has been a concern for two years, with debts to Eskom and the Department of Water and Sanitation amounting to R33-million and R65-million, respectively.
Local councillor Hubert Hendricks attributes the municipality's struggles to poor financial management and cited the disclaimed audit opinions as evidence of poor governance. The Eastern Cape MEC for Cooperative Governance, Zolile Williams, acknowledged the service delivery challenges and weak governance, noting that the provincial government is intervening by deploying officials to assist with improving audit outcomes.
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