Communities and access to municipal services

The Freedom Charter, a policy document adopted at the Congress of the People on the 26th June 1955 in Kliptown, in Soweto near Johannesburg, South Africa; endorsed by the South African Coloured People’s Organisation, the South African Indian Congress, the African National Congress and the Congress of Democrats states that: There Shall be Houses, Security and Comfort! It cannot be argued that for South Africa to achieve or meet some of the objectives and the commitments set out in the Freedom Charter and other government policy documents, drastic, radical, innovative and rapid steps  would have to be undertaken to ensure that these can be realised. 

The Freedom Charter, The South African Constitution and the promises government officials, community and traditional leaders make, amongst other reasons, fuel the beliefs within communities that these municipal services are a right and that they are entitled to them, and therefore there are no favours being made. To a large extent this also explains the type of demonstrations and unrest that has taken place over the perceived lack of services delivery in various the disadvantaged communities of South Africa. In his address at the inauguration of the Executive Mayor of Tshwane on the 10^th February 2001, President Thabo Mbeki said: “The provision of free basic amounts of electricity and water to our people will alleviate the plight of the poorest among us while plans for the stimulation of the local economy should lead to the creation of new jobs and the reduction of poverty.” 

Access to services such as water, sanitation, health, education, electricity, telecommunication and other municipal services has for many years been a privilege of a few. The new government has since 1994 made measurable strides in ensuring that such services can be accessed by all. A drive through the countryside and squatter settlements of South Africa reveal a picture never thought possible, let alone necessary, by the oppressive policies of the previous government. In some villages and townships of South Africa flushing a toilet and switching electricity on was a novelty and privileged reserved for the a few wealthy households. For many black Africans in the rural and urban areas of South Africa, the opportunity to flush, switch-on, open a tap of water and cook on an electric stove came with the new political dispensation. There is no doubt that as long as many communities continue not to have access to the basic municipal services, many might indeed believe that they have not yet tasted the fruits liberation. There is view in other sections of our communities that service delivery standards have declined since 1994, the advent of democracy in South Africa. It has to be understood that the broadening of the service delivery programmes into the previously marginalised communities has not necessarily come with extra source of funding for government programmes and responsibilities. This should not be an excuse for inefficient and mismanaged municipalities that experience ongoing and precarious financial difficulties.

According to a White Paper on Municipal Service Partnerships published for comment in April 2000, the backlog had reached between R47 to R53 billion, with an average backlog of about R11 billion. The statement went to suggest that unless there was the participation and the involvement of the private sectors, non-governmental organisations, and community based organisations and other public institutions, this backlog would never be addressed even after more than half a century. The most important municipal services that municipalities have the responsibility to provide, amongst others, depending of the communities concerned are; municipal health services, refusal removal, municipal roads and storm water drainage, water supply, street lighting, sewage collection and disposal, electricity and gas supply, municipal parks and recreation. There are many communities, especially the most disadvantaged and poorly funded, which have to make choices, prioritise and accept that these services are not going to all arrive in a basket at the same time. Municipalities of these communities have to make tough choices and spend the limited funds on the most needed municipal services. 

 

Water and its role in providing life in communities

Water services are provided to communities in various ways. In the rural and urban areas and squatter settlements water is available through taps and tanks in the yards or homesteads. Many rural and under serviced urban communities rely on communal taps to access water. Long queues are usually found at the communal taps, these results in people spending hours waiting for their turn to access water.

For some communities in the rural areas, the river remains the most reliable, cost effective and accessible source of water for cooking, drinking, bathing, washing the body and washing laundry. The manufacturers of products and brands that are used at places such as rivers need to look at how these products can be designed and packaged to allow for easy use. For example, powder soaps that is used to wash laundry at the river is mostly available in material that absorbs water and the package is usually soaked with water, which spoils or renders the hardened soap in the pack difficult to use at a later stage and the pack breaks from being wet. There is a need for the design of packaging that allows for ease handling and carrying from the home to the river, which can be over a long distance from the home. 

In some villages women still opt to wash clothing and bath in the rivers, even where water taps have been installed. They express a view that it is cheaper to use water from the river and the river also provides an easier way of washing clothing. The river also provides an opportunity for children to wash and play in the river while the parents are busy with the laundry. The river is a cooling source on very hot days. The riverbanks have ample space with huge stones to lay the clothes to dry.

It is also fact that many rural and urban communities that previously did not have access to water close to homes and in the yards have received this service. Many homes in the urban areas and townships have a tap in the yard, and the well serviced areas have had taps installed in the homes. However, within these successes, it also still common to find households travelling long distances on donkey carts and with wheelbarrows to fetch water from rivers, streams and communal water points. According to the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, 27 million people had access to clean water by mid-2002. The Department goes maintains that 51 percent of the country’s population live in areas where municipalities are now offering a basic amount of free water every month. The amount of free water provided to poor families is stipulated by government policy to be 6 000 litres every month.

The demands and protests that usually surround the discussions around the provision and access to water tend to be strong and in some cases very emotive. There are beliefs within communities that water is a gift from God and the ancestors and therefore no human being has the authority or right to determine who should and should not have access to it, let alone sell it or charge a fee to those who would like to access this natural resource. The view in these communities is that water must be allowed to flow through all communities and no person should temper with its purity or its flow. In these communities, the sale of water, as it happens with the bottling and branding of water for sale is viewed as absurd. There is more of a preparedness to buy a bottle of Coca Cola or any other fizzy drink than there is to buy a bottle of Valpre or Bon Aqua mineral and still water. It is taking a lot of courage and adjustment for individuals emerging from these communities, when they go into the cities and towns, to accept that they have to buy water in restaurants or cafés when they are thirsty. The courageous ones have been determined enough to request that they be served water from the tap, perhaps with slice of a lemon, when they order their food from the restaurants.     

The role of women in fetching water for their households

It is extremely difficult to quantify the percentage or ratio of women compared to that of men in fetching water for the benefit of households. What is very clear is that in the main and the majority it is the women who travel long distances to the rivers to fetch water or stand in the long queues at communal taps waiting for their turn to fill the drums with water for their families to cook and drink. Even in cases where a donkey cart or bakkie that is ridden or driven by a man is seen carrying drums of water, in most cases it is the women of that have made arrangements with the owners of this donkey carts and bakkies to have water collected on their behalf. Husbands are often requested by their wives to assist with the transport of water from the rivers or the distant communal tap. Children, both boys and girls, play a very important role in the collection of water for their homes. In some communities, men, women and children would charge a fee for the collection and transportation of water to the homes of those that do not have the means to fetch water.

Electricity, the provider of energy and safety

Travelling through and past some rural and urban communities of South Africa at night might give one the impression that these places have all municipal services the communities require or need, because of well lit streets and homes. At daylight one would then be exposed to the reality that in essence these are still the poor and under serviced communities of South Africa, and that access to electricity is part of the first giant steps government and municipalities have manage to bring to these disadvantaged communities.

The availability of electricity to many of the urban and rural household has provided many household with choices in the type of appliances and electronic products and devices that would have not been accessible before due to a lack of electricity. Many households are now able to purchase, if they can afford to, appliances and other products that require electricity to operate.

But it has been interesting to note that some households have selected to use grass and wood for fuel to cook and heat their homes. Coal and paraffin are viewed as other cost-effective sources of energy, amidst the health risks associated with smoke and the fire hazards that usually follow the use of paraffin stoves. For some, these other sources of energy allow for the limited available cash to be used to purchase other essential products, while others still prefer the traditional way of cooking their food and heating the home. They will attest to the fact that food prepared from an open flame cooks and tastes better.

In the many urban and rural communities of South Africa coal and wood is still delivered to homes by trailers drawn by tractors, donkeys and horses. The coal may be sold in 25 litre drums and containers and the amount of the coal can be measured depending on the amount of money the household has available to purchase coal.

The introduction of the REDs (Regional Electricity Distributors) and the impact these will have on the electricity supplies from municipalities and the costs thereof are not yet known or even understood by households throughout South Africa. The view is that it is not important who supplies and brings electricity to the homes, as long as it gets there and government plays a key role in the restructuring. It is evident that households prefer that government be the key driver in the supply of essential municipal services. There is a lack of trust of the role of the private sector in providing municipal services, more so in the low-income communities.

Roads infrastructure in rural and urban communities

For some in the rural areas of South Africa, the size of the dust produced by a vehicle travelling and approaching at a distance is an indicator of the type of vehicle it is. The arrival of the bus can be determined by the size and the shape of the dust and how often the dust disappears as the bus makes its various stops along the route. This can provide ample opportunities for people living on the hills to make way down to the road and wait for the bus. Grading the road is important for these communities, especially after heavy rains.

The snaking gravel roads are a feature for many rural communities. For these communities the priorities for service delivery may be water, sanitation and electricity and that roads, stormwater drainage and solid waste disposal are luxuries that should come at a later stage when the basic needs have been addressed. After all, they have managed to struggle with bad roads for many years; however, a warmer home and a place to cook food to feed the family are important.

As it is with delivery of water and electricity services to communities, it appears that the state of roads and the successes in providing these essential services to communities depends of the municipalities and perhaps where these are located. There are urban areas and townships that boast well-maintained roads infrastructure and there are those municipalities that have deteriorating roads and no workable plans to bring roads to their communities. For example, the City of Johannesburg has succeeded in laying tar in all the streets of Soweto, a township that used to have roads affected by soil erosion during heavy rains. The city if making similar progress in other previously disadvantaged communities. This achievement cannot be said for roads that lead into some urban and rural areas of South Africa.    

Refuse generation and its collection in our communities

According to studies conducted by various academic institutions and municipalities, household income has an influence on the amount of waste per person or household per day. Based on the study done by the City of Johannesburg, high-income individuals or households generate on average 1.4 to 1.7kg of waste per day, middle-income individuals or households account for 0.8 to 1.1kg of waste per day and low-income individuals or households 0.37 to 0.7kg of waste per day. The observations that can be made are that it emerges that the most visible waste and refuse can be seen in the low-income communities. Is it because there are usually high numbers of people living within densely populated area or is it that the people in those communities have other priorities that are perceived to be more important than the need to look after the environment and ensure that refuse and waste are properly disposed of?  

Urban and rural communities seem to have varying methods and privileges in dealing with the issue of refuse collection and disposal. In the urban areas and the townships community members have grown used to placing their refuse at a designated point at predetermined days and times, for the municipality truck or contracted waste company to collect for disposal. This service is not as efficient in some places as it is others. The former White suburbs appear not to have a problem with the collection of refuse or the sweeping of the streets by municipality workers. This success in refuse collection and the cleaning of the streets in the White suburbs is attributed by some to be the result of the ability of the people living in these suburbs to complain, contact relevant municipal officials and media that ensures that the municipality collects the refuse during agreed days and times and keeps the streets clean as expected.

The principles of recycling seem to have been practiced for many years by people living in the villages and rural areas of South Africa. Waste is often separated and the biodegradable material buried in the garden on in well prepared area of the property or homestead. The waste that can be used as fuel is often kept aside to be used for cooking and heating and the unwanted waste is burnt or other use is found for such waste. This explains the reasons that ensure that one is hardly confronted by heaps of waste and papers in the streets and roads of our villages and rural areas. It is possible to travel fro kilometers along the roads in the villages and rural areas without seeing a piece of paper littering the sides of the roads. This comes from communities that are often are referred to as unsophisticated, by those that live in the townships and urban areas.     

It cannot be said that generally the streets in the townships and urban areas are littered with papers and other waste, because there are townships that seem to have found ways of keeping the streets clean from litter and the kind of waste that generates flies, rodents and other pests. There are areas in the townships of Daveyton in Ekurhuleni, Attridgeville in Tshwane, Seshego in Polokwane, Galeshewe in Kimberley, Montshiwa in Mafikeng and others where one would battle to find papers and other refuse having being strewn in the streets. The properties, pave-ways, community and recreational parks and the streets are spotless.

It then boggles the mind that some townships such as Alexandra Township, north of Johannesburg, east of Sandton, one of the most affluent suburbs in South Africa, can remain so filthy and the members of the community be exposed to large amounts of refuse and rodents on a daily basis. This scenario occurs in other townships and squatter settlements located next to the cities and towns of South Africa. These communities represent areas that are exposed to numerous forms of media and information about health and environmental issues. Community based and non-governmental organisations have invested resources in these communities to as an attempt to stem continuation of this type of environmental degradation. These are communities that have people that have over the years considered others from the rural areas as abo bari, the not so smart or clever ones.       

Whose responsibility is it, to place refuse at points that provide for easy and effective collection? Some community members argue that they pay taxes and therefore the municipality has the responsibility to collect the refuse, others believe that it the responsibility of the municipality to provide municipal services, even where they do not pay for such services. There is no doubt that in many of these townships, the municipality has done what it can to improve the environment and collect the refuse. In many of these townships the environment remains clean for one to three hours after the municipal workers have swept the streets and collected the refuse and other waste. However, the refuse and accumulates in a much uncoordinated fashion as soon as the municipal workers have performed their duties. It is quite clear that these community members and households need to look into themselves, realise and accept that there is a greater role that they will have to play to ensure that the state of cleanliness of these townships does improve and they can live in healthier environments. The times of blaming the municipality and government should come to an end.

The are points of view in these communities that as long as people do not have a sense of home or permanence or pride in these townships, the state of environmental decay and health risk will continue and that many of the people that live in these townships regard the houses they live in these townships as temporary abodes that serve the purpose of accommodating them during the times when they have to be working in the urban areas. Those that hold the above views would make mention of the fact that the rural homes where many of these people come from are very clean and well-kept. It is a bit difficult to fully buy into this view, since it appears that the litter and the waste are contributed to the environment by all who live in these townships, perhaps nobody cares anymore.

There is a very close relationship that most black Africans share with nature. There a sense of great respect and protection for certain types of plants and trees, some animals are revered because these are believed to possess mystical powers and others are treated with total contempt and dislike because these are associated with evil. There need to look after nature and protect it is taught in many black African homes in the rural homes and some urban homes. The very existence of black African communities, more so in the rural areas of South Africa is linked to nature and the cultural and traditional practices have expressed relationship with nature and the environment. It is difficult to understand why is it that this respect for nature is not transferred to the environmental care and respect that seems to be lacking in some townships of South Africa.        

Sanitation and its impact on rural and urban life

At the beginning of 2001 the national backlog of persons without access to adequate sanitation facilities was estimated to be 18 million or 3 million households.  The majority of persons falling in this category live in rural areas, peri-urban areas and informal settlement areas.¹ According to information available from the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, it is estimated that up to 26% of urban households and 76% of rural households had inadequate sanitation at beginning of 2002. The number of people without adequate sanitation is said to be 15.3 million from the beginning of 2007. The picture shown below was taken from village called Humulani, in Phalaborwa, Limpopo. In 2007, the Limpopo province was reported to have the highest sanitation backlog in South Africa with more than 810 000 households lacking adequate sanitation.

Many rural communities have made great strides in providing themselves with reasonable sanitation. The practice of digging deep holes, toilet pits, in the ground continues to provide sanitation for poorer people in the rural communities of South Africa. The fact that most communities and households do not have adequate access to sanitation is not exaggerated. In the majority households and in the townships and rural areas have one toilet serving on average more than six (6) people. The use of airfreshners is common in more modern homes with flushing toilets. These airfreshners enable household members the ability to use the toilet more frequently. The popular airfreshner brands are Airwick Haze and Airoma.

The payment for services

The delivery of reliable and affordable services to all the communities of South Africa is set to be a formidable challenge for municipalities, public and private sector providers of these services in the future. The culture of non-payment inculcated as part of the political strategy of the liberation forces to create an ungovernable South Africa in 70s and 80s continues to make it difficult for the collection of payments for services. Coupled with the non-payment factors that exist within various communities, lies the lack of understanding by service providers of the payment patterns of households in the rural and urban homes.

The service providers need to come to terms with the payment methods of many of these communities. It needs to be understood that many household have developed a system of staggering payments for various services and instalments. The strategy of cutting these services in some areas because of non-payment has not improved the relationship between the service providers and the communities. The payment systems that have been developed by stokvels and societies must be looked into for information and guidance on how service providers, credit grantors and retail outlets can manage relationships with customers.

The pre-payment for services like electricity and water is gaining acceptance in many communities. The challenge is going to be that of assuring communities that the payments they make exclude the free basic amounts provided by government. It costs between R200.00 and R600 to have electricity connected to a household.

The challenge for the service providers of water and electricity is that of creating confidence in the minds of the consumers. The confusion created by the free basic services provided by government and the amount households must pay for the extra consumption has to be addressed. There is a general lack of trust in the ability of the municipalities to provide accurate and reliable accounts.

The ability to properly define for communities what is meant by “free basic services for the poor” and at what point do people have to start paying will determine and influence the willingness for people to pay for the services consumed or used. Communities are aware that they are entitled to some free basic services and that their President and other leaders have told them so, during elections and other important community gatherings, and they will not waiver or rest until they have received these free basic services, as promised.

A number of municipalities have, with the best intentions of encouraging households to start paying for services rendered, decided to write-off arrears. This is done with the understanding that some households would not be able to pay for long overdue arrears and with the hope that starting on clean slate would urge households to pay for new arrears. However, in other communities this strategy and approach have been met with anger and disappointment from those households that have been paying for their services. There is a view emerging within these communities that wrongdoers are rewarded for non-payment and in many cases the refusal to pay for services. These write-offs might defeat the purpose and lead to more non-payers. There is a need for well coordinated and executed plans of action when these write-offs are implemented. It is important that communities and households view this gesture from government as being well thought-out and that it would be sustainable. Those that diligently pay for the municipal services must be seen to be doing the right thing and where possible and necessary, they should be rewarded. Communication and consultation process must be geared at ensuring that all affected communities and households have a clear understanding of the reasons for the write-offs and how these will be implemented and managed in the future. Constant and sustainable communication and consultation must be maintained.      

The spirit of sharing of services

The spirit of sharing that has become a way of life for many in the rural and urban communities of South Africa does also include the sharing of electricity or water or toilet facilities. Households have grown to understand that if one household has had water cut-off, the neighbour would be more than willing to allow that household to access water from their yard or home. The same can be said for electricity. It is common in the townships to find electrical wires running across the streets and over wall and fences connecting electricity from one home that has power to one that has not paid for its electricity or is still waiting to be connected. It is also a known fact that some of these households trade in electricity or the connected households will jointly contribute to the payment of electricity bill or for the prepaid voucher or the household that suppliers the electricity to the neighbour would charge a price for a connection over a period of time. In many situations, the fact that the household that has electricity is connected illegally or not becomes irrelevant.

Those households that have electricity and therefore deep freezers and fridges have also been willing to keep frozen food such meat and poultry on behalf of their neighbours. The neighbour that does not have a chest freezer or fridge would arrive in the morning to fetch meat to cook for the day and also arrive in the afternoon to fetch meat to cook for the evening.  

Forwards with service delivery! Is the time bomb ticking?

The lack of access to basic services remains a challenge that still besieges many rural and urban communities. A lot of work needs to be done to provide these services to all people of South Africa. Communities continue to depend on water from rivers to wash clothing, drink, bath and cook. The use of wood, paraffin and coal as sources of energy have other health risks and the availability of these sources are not sustainable.

It would be inaccurate to suggest that government lacks the will to bring needed municipal services to the people of South Africa, especially those that live in the rural areas and remote distances from the opulent and well to do cities and towns of South Africa. However, visits and discussions with community members in some urban and rural areas that have been battling over many years to access municipal services might draw to the conclusion that there is a lack of skills and workable strategies on how these needed services will be brought to these communities. A balance has to be found between appointing politically aligned officials to key positions within the municipalities and that of ensuring that those that are appointed have the understanding of how to go about implementing government policies and plans. This critical balance has to also ensure that plans that were designed and paid for by previous political office bearers are evaluated or adapted or continued by new incumbents. The approach by many municipalities and government departments of engaging new consultants and paying for new large volumes of “plans” works towards delaying service delivery and turning government into a producer of numerous “plans” that never see the light of day. Communities are getting tired of events and imbizos that are called to inform community members about programmes that might never happen. It is also unfortunate that many believe that without the presence of musicians, food and entertainment, community members would not attend such gatherings.

The lack of or the adequate delivery of the essential municipal services affect all aspects of social and community life, to an extent that important social fibre. This would impact negatively on how households watch television and listen to their radios, cook their food and clean their homes, provide warmth in their homes and create a conducive environment for normal life.

There are those that believe that the time-bomb is ticking and that South African communities will rise and violently confront government because of the slow delivery services to the people. The facts on the ground are that people have a great sense of trust and understanding that the ANC-led government is committed to making their lives better. These are people that are willing to wait for their turn and in many cases work with government to realise their dreams of having reasonable municipal services. However, it has to be borne in mind that as long as any programme of government can be politicised, there will be communities that take to the streets and riot because they believe that government is not delivering expected services. Protests and riots also provide opportunities for common criminals to drive their evil agendas in the communities. There is no doubt that more people will feel forsaken by the government hat is supposed to make their lives better, if these services do not reach these communities sooner. The ANC-led government has made these promises to the people; therefore expectations are not unfounded. The reality is that people travel to other communities and can see the successes and the progress made by government in providing a better life to the people, and this heightens their expectations. The blame the lack of service delivery will often be placed in front of the local councillors, as they get defined to be incapable of bringing the required services to the communities that they lead.

To ensure that other communities do not see uncontrolled protest and riots as a means of having grievances addressed, government will have to act firm and decisive with law breakers, and move rapidly to assist communities that have the greatest need. The pattern adopted to bring these services to the poorer people must be seen to be following a set strategy that is fair and transparent.          

Communications, engaging with communities and talking to affected people will be crucial insuring that government’s plans are understood and timeframes are acceptable to the people. It is often said that the weakest link for government is not the inability to deliver services, but the inability to communicate the work that government is carrying out.

Batho Pele, People First

Government has identified that in some areas the people that are working as public servants are the weakest link in the chain of ensuring that municipal services reach the intended communities. The Batho Pele, a Sesotho word meaning, People First, is a programme or campaign to galvanise the energy and support of public servants in thriving to deliver excellent services to the communities they serve. Members of communities have in various forums expressed dissatisfaction with the services and the customer care levels at the municipalities and the attitudes of officials towards members of communities have been found to be negative. With pay-off-line, positioning statement and slogans; A better life for all South Africans by putting people first: Together beating the drum for service delivery, are parts of government’s plan of providing a caring, people-centred and service oriented public service.

This should be a commendable step by government, given a history of an uncaring and oppressive government of the past that was geared at looking after the interest of the minority and totally ignored the well-being and the development of the Coloured, Indian and black African communities of South Africa.

The Batho Pele programme or campaign is driven by eight (8) key principles, namely, consultation, setting service standards, increasing access, ensuring courtesy, providing information, openness and transparency, redress and value for money. It is clear that the principles set out in the Batho Pele initiative are informed in many ways by the cultural ways many people have conducted their lives and their relationships with other people. So, these principles will feed onto a system of life of a people that have been opened to an approach that considers human beings to be first and important. The first principle refers to the need for consultation, which is in line with the way communities have engaged with their community and traditional leaders and government can do well by becoming part of this way of seeking consensus matters affecting communities and that way create buy-in for its programmes.