The Democratic Alliance (DA) has uncovered that Emfuleni Local Municipality, in collusion with the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements, has spent approximately R96 million on service delivery, without any meaningful progress.
This was revealed after the DA posed questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature regarding budget allocation for service delivery in Emfuleni which is in a crisis.
The Gauteng Department of Human Settlements supported the Emfuleni Local Municipality in upgrading informal settlements through the Informal Settlements Upgrading Partnership Grant (ISUPG). The province subsequently appointed service providers to deliver basic services such as sanitation, electricity, and the formalisation of informal settlements.
Despite R96 million being spent, Emfuleni has failed to upgrade these communities. Informal settlements such as Azania, Hollywood, Marikana and Moscow continue to experience poor living conditions, with residents still lacking access to basic services like water and electricity.
Albeit the exorbitant sum expended, there is still no visible signs of improvements in basic service delivery in Emfuleni suggesting that there has been gross financial mismanagement, administrative incapacities, inflated or irregular contracts and possible corruption by government officials.
The ANC-led province and municipality bear the accountability for the collapse of service delivery in Emfuleni as they both are complicit in prioritising contracts that benefit the politically connected few and not the community, as the province cannot act without the full participation of the municipality. As a result, neither can be absolved as they worked in collaboration to enable the breakdown in service delivery.
Several projects were even listed as “completed” despite the ongoing lack of service delivery to residents.
This raises concerns about the procurement processes, oversight, monitoring and value for money of the projects.
The residents of Emfuleni deserve the dignity that is afforded when they have access to reliable and accessible service delivery. The DA will continue to fight for improved living conditions and the overall well-being of the residents of Emfuleni.