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4.4 Implications of Corruption in the eThekwini Municipality
Corruption affects every citizen of South Africa; it threatens sustainable development, ethical and moral conduct, values and justice and hampers the rule of law (Corruption Watch, 2015). Those who rely on government housing, health care, education and welfare are those who are most greatly affected by resources lost to corruption. Corruption delays infrastructure development and fosters inadequate and inefficient service delivery to citizens (Corruption Watch, 2015). In this section, the social, economic and political implications of corruption in eThekwini Municipality will be discussed.
4.4.1 Social Implications
Councillors and bureaucrats in the eThekwini Municipality recounted various social impacts which corruption has on the eThekwini Municipality and its citizens. Socially, corruption diverts public funds away from essential services that government provides for its citizens. The allocation of contracts to cadres and cronies who lack the necessary skills and resources to carry out tenders efficiently leads to poor service delivery:
Corruption it cripples the society, in substandard jobs, houses cracking, roads not being complete (ANC 4, 25 June 2015).
In housing, because of corruption corners are cut, buildings are shoddy … made poorly. People move in they don‟t get tenure, they
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don‟t get title deeds to their property … within a year it starts to fall (DA 9, 28 May 2015).
The Human Sciences Research Council findings show that the ANC's deployment strategy systematically places loyalty ahead of merit and competence, and is a serious obstacle to efficient public services (Areff, 2012). However the ANC has defended its policy of cadre deployment in key municipal positions. ANC secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe, stated that one of the things we should never agree on is to regard cadre deployment as a swear-word, you cannot expect the ANC to depend on people who are hostile to the position of the ANC” (Seale, 2014:1). He further noted that the policy of cadre deployment could not be done away with as it allows for the alignment of the administration and political leadership (Seale, 2014).
Corruption violates the human rights of citizens in the eThekwini Municipality. The Constitution of South Africa outlines the basic services to which citizens are entitled. However, corrupt activity hinders the delivery of basic services to its citizens:
I think it robs the people of eThekwini … people have rights to receive services. People got rights to shelter and also a decent living.
But now people will need to stay or live in informal settlements for a very long time … I think it becomes unfair and unjustifiable (ANC 1, 21 May 2015).
You have a right to clean water … and a right to be safe. But those rights mean nothing if these services are not there. You have rights you can‟t realise because they have been polluted by corruption (DA 10, 28 May 2015).
Corruption thus directly violates the human rights of citizens in the eThekwini Municipality. It is the lack of basic service delivery to citizens, specifically the poor, who are reliant on government subsidised services and who are the worst affected. When citizens do not receive basic services such as water and housing, their human rights are violated.
Corruption also fosters inequality among its citizens due to the disparity in services received by the rich and poor. Furthermore, citizens become disenchanted with service delivery which results in mass service delivery protests. According to the Civic Protests Barometer 2007-2014, the number of protests in South Africa reached a high of 218 in 2014. The eThekwini Municipality was the third highest protest-prone municipality in South Africa (Powell & Visser, 2015). These protests are characterised by violence as a means to highlight the inefficiencies of the government and the poor quality of life citizen‟s experience:
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Service delivery is hampered, the service protests that are happening are because there is no service delivery. The protests are happening because people are not happy with government that promises things and they are not receiving (DA 6, 13 May 2015).
You see people on the streets burning tyres, destroying cars, doing all sorts of things … It‟s been so many years, they waiting for their service delivery … it‟s not happening (IFP 1, 14 May 2015).
Corruption not only has social impacts but economic implications as well.
4.4.2 Economic Implications
Councillors and bureaucrats identified the various economic implications corruption has on the eThekwini Municipality and its citizens. An important economic implication of corruption is that the City‟s budget becomes depleted due to the irregular expenditure that is not recovered. The City thus has to turn to higher levels of government to cover its loss and inevitably reduce expenditure on basic services. Corruption creates a situation in which the local government cannot sustain itself and will eventually succumb to deficits:
eThekwini, there is no tomorrow and corruption is not sustainable … we will go broke at the end of the day and that is coming quite fast. I think within the next eight years we will be broke. Now this is a city where, when I first was a councillor about 12 years ago, it had an egg nest of R6 billion invested in various places. It has now down to R2 billion … it can‟t go on like this … the city and the country have finite resources that have to be spread in a reasonable way (DA 5, 7 May 2015).
Additionally, corruption hinders international companies from investing in eThekwini Municipality.
A bad reputation is created, as companies feel that the costs of kickbacks to acquire contracts will be too costly, preventing investment. This will stunt economic development, reduce the flow of foreign capital and possible job opportunities in the city. Furthermore, corruption affects the tourism industry as international travellers fear the political instability that is associated with corruption:
We should be creating a safe society, where external companies, whether it be in the city or country will want to come and invest money and create jobs, but we are not doing that (IFP 1, 14 May 2015).
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It can affect the credit rating in terms of the municipality … investors will do all the checks and balances before investing … we always market eThekwini as South Africa‟s playground in terms of tourism attraction … (corruption) … can have repercussions and knock on effects (ANC 3, 3 June 2015).
Corruption in the eThekwini Municipality has led to irrecoverable irregular expenditure and budget deficits which drastically impact on service delivery. Corruption also has numerous political implications.
4.4.3 Political Implications
Politically, corruption undermines democracy and the rule of law. In a democratic system, legitimacy can be lost when people misuse their position and power for private gain. Councillors and bureaucrats recounted various political implications of corruption in the eThekwini Municipality. Politically, corruption may lead to a situation in which the city becomes ungovernable. Additionally, it creates a situation in which the ANC is delegitimised, as corruption may be regarded as synonymous with the ANC, in turn, legitimising opposition parties:
Political, I guess that it (municipality) becomes ungovernable and that no party will be able to control it. Like Somalia, it‟ll be fire all over the place, fire and blood (DA 5, 7 May 2015).
Politically, it can seriously damage the municipality that‟s led by the ANC. So they will then say ANC is corrupt look at eThekwini (ANC 3, 3 June 2015).
Politically, it works against the ruling party, whenever corruption gets exposed or allegations of corruption, it works in favour of the opposition party who actually expose it (DA 1, 4 May 2015).
Another issue that has been highlighted strongly by councillors in eThekwini Municipality is that corruption creates divisions within the ANC. According to Khoza (2015b), eThekwini which is the ANC‟s biggest region has been marred by the Party failing to convene a successful elective conference. The highly influential regional chairperson‟s position is being contested between eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo and Councillor Zandile Gumede, both members of the eThekwini executive council (Khoza, 2015b). A split thus exists in the ANC where two factions have arisen, caused by aspirations for power. At the ANC conferences there are major arguments in terms of who will run the City‟s budget. Inevitably, this individual will be able to determine who is awarded tenders and how the budget will be managed:
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Serious problem in the ANC, two serious factions with James Nxumalo and Sandile Gumede fighting one another because both want power. So they can clean out the city. James Nxumalo is controlled by Cele and Gumede is controlled by Zwele Mkhize, those are the two factions (DA 6, 13 May 2015).
I‟m thinking there‟s two things going on at the moment , it‟s an issue of positions, prestige and power… money will contribute to that but the key is holding positions in terms of power (ANC 3, 3 June 2015).
Corruption has numerous political implications for eThekwini Municipality. Not only does it delegitimise the ANC, it also undermines the principles of democracy. Additionally, it creates divisions within political parties and creates instability within the Municipality.
It is thus imperative to discuss the measures to curb corruption in the eThekwini municipality, which is the theme of the last section of this Chapter.