The politicians won’t save us. We will save each other if we begin to engage and just try. (Photo by Gallo Images/Darren Stewart)
KwaZulu-Natal faces a massive uphill battle to rebuild a provincial economy devastated by deadly rioting and floods over the past two years — estimated to have cost a collective R37-billion in infrastructure damage and lost business — in addition to the two years of Covid-19 lockdown.
Waning business and investor confidence, undermined by both events, has been exacerbated by the political instability in the ANC in the province, which sparked a new wave of killings ahead of the local government elections in November.
The recovery efforts have been hampered by an apparent trust deficit between the national government and the provincial administration, with the release of central funds to provincial departments delayed as a result of this.
The ongoing legal difficulties of former president Jacob Zuma mean that the province lives with the threat of a repeat of July 2021, when protests over his incarceration for contempt of court sparked a wave of looting and vandalism.
Zuma’s corruption trial over bribes allegedly paid by his former financial advisor Schabir Shaik, and French arms dealer Thint, is finally set to begin in Pietermaritzburg later this year, while he might face fresh charges over the Zondo Commission findings.
The former president’s release on medical parole by former prisons boss Arthur Fraser is also being challenged in court by the Democratic Alliance.
In addition, the province is struggling with an ongoing water crisis in the Thukela and Ugu District Municipalities – and in parts of the eThekwini Metro which sustained heavy infrastructure damage in April – with the major water supplier, Umgeni Water Amanzi, unable to maintain supply to Durban because of pump failure, theft and vandalism.
Eight of the 54 municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal have been placed under administration by the province over the collapse of municipal services, the result of corruption, lack of capacity and political conflict within and between parties.
Earlier this year, the auditor general expressed “significant doubt” that 17 municipalities across KwaZulu-Natal would be able to continue as going concerns, with a further collapse in services – and intervention from the provincial government – probable in the coming year.
Premier Sihle Zikalala’s administration has also failed to deal with the ongoing conflict generated by a dispute over traditional leadership, which although officially resolved, continues to threaten the operation of Richards Bay Minerals, one of KwaZulu-Natal’s largest employers, with 4 000 full-time workers.
Whoever emerges from the provincial conference as chairperson faces the potential loss of the province for the ANC in the 2024 national and provincial elections, given the party’s electoral decline since 2016 and the resurgence of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in November.
The local government elections also saw the ANC lose its majority in the eThekwini Metro and in a number of rural towns it had controlled since 2006, a trend which the party will struggle to reverse come 2024.
[/membership]