Sudden plans by white councillors to privatise profitable municipal services have lifted the lid on racism in Hartebeespoort
Thuli Nhlapo
The conservative local council of a wealthy holiday town near Pretoria has quietly set up its own private company to take over municipal services ahead of the council’s imminent transfer to black hands.
The Hartebeespoort local council’s executive committee has decided to privatise all profitable municipal services and hand the contract to the newly formed Gemeenskapont-wikkelings (Pty) Ltd – owned by the eight white members of the nine- person council. Gemeenskapontwikkelings, which will handle, among other things, maintenance of roads, refuse removal, parks and recreation and street cleaning, will kick in on December 1, just before the local government election.
When Dr Dalene Rossouw, chair of the board of directors and council executive committee member, was asked about the motive behind the establishment of a private company, she said: “Other municipalities have done it and why can’t we do it? Privatising municipal services is not a new concept but a 1983 government plan. We are in line with the government plan.”
A closed tender was conducted in appointing Gemeenskapontwikkelings. Rossouw responded by saying: “It was not necessary for the council to conduct an open tender process because there are other specific procedures that the council followed in establishing and appointing the company.” Hartebeespoort’s only black councillor, Reverend Frank Senatle, was not informed about the council’s decision to establish a company that would take over many of the council’s functions. “In our last meeting we discussed the establishment of a sports trust. That is all I know because I fought with council members simply because the trust was not going to benefit blacks in the area. But these whites are in the majority; they resorted to a vote, so I lost.” According to Senatle, only cleaning services are currently privatised. Senatle believed the council members were going to discuss the formation of a company during this week’s Thursday meeting.
In a confidential letter addressed to the staff dated November 1 and signed by Rossouw, which is in the Mail & Guardian’s possession, lengthy negotiations during the past months regarding the establishment of a company are mentioned.
The letter states that the company would provide functions currently rendered by the employees.
“It is obvious that the company would be prepared to employ as many as possible of the employees currently employed by the municipality. The appointment of existing municipal staff by the company will be based on two draft agreements developed between the municipal council and the company.”
Employees were told that the Hartebeespoort Municipal Council in its present form may disappear after the pending municipal elections have taken place.
While Rossouw stated clearly in the letter that the company will be assured of an income that should be adequate to cover its operational costs plus it furthermore has the right to generate additional income, she mentioned that “it is at this stage not certain what the financial position of the newly established municipality will be”. The staff has until November 15 to apply for positions in the new company. Rossouw concluded the letter by saying “kindly note that should you not wish to apply for a post or are not appointed, you will, in all probability, be seconded to the company as from 1 December 2000 to render the same duties that you are currently rendering”. The current Hartebeespoort local council is also guilty of blatant racism. The more than 30 illegal eviction cases on farms in the area and the fact that that there is not a single Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) house for more than 2 000 homeless blacks living and working there, however, is not the only proof that the white local council regards blacks as unwelcome visitors.
It takes walking to the council offices in Cosmos to convince a black person that the place is reserved for whites only. At the gate a white person who said he was going to see someone inside was allowed entry while a black woman who explained in her broken English that she wanted to fill in forms was turned away. That the incident happened at the gate would indicate that even the guards have been given clear messages who is allowed to enter the local authority offices in Cosmos.
One resident, Mapula Sejaphala, is meanwhile battling to bury her common-law husband, Albert Zondo after a Hartebeespoort farmer he worked for refused to help. The local council demands R650 for a six-foot grave and only ratepayers and landowners could be buried at the cemetery. Sejaphala lives in constant fear of eviction.
When Rossouw was asked why the council has not built a single RDP house even though R16-million has been idling in its coffers since June last year, she said the council is still looking into the matter.
In 1998 when then-mayor Pieter Rautenbach was asked about the council’s failure to build low-cost housing for blacks, he said it was because the North West government had turned down several requests for money that would allow the council “to buy land for low-cost housing where it won’t affect the tourism industry”. There are three state-owned pieces of land in the area that are currently managed by the council because of the 99-year lease management contract it was granted in the 1980s by the then-government.
The council has put up fences and boom gates on all of them, preventing day visitors, most of them black, from walking to the dam to fish. Oberon Resort has been built on one of the state properties, with 20 camping tents, complete with verandahs, nine chalets and two swimming pools.
However, the next local authority, presumably black, will inherit a debt of R1-million for the building of the chalets and R750 000 for construction of the tent sites. The wood used to build chalets was not treated and sources in the construction industry allege that it will not last long – and that the chalets have not been South African Bureau of Standards-approved.
Moreover, the sewerage of one of the chalets, closely situated near the water, has been badly constructed and sources say that leaves the council with the task of pumping it out once a week – straight into the Hartebeespoort Dam. The council did not explain how a private individual, Steward Shaw, owner of the Water Safari Restaurant, was granted rights to own a business on state-owned property.
Keith Khoza, representative of the North West premier’s office, says the provincial government is aware of what is happening in Hartebeespoort but is awaiting official documents from the council. Once these are received, the matter will be investigated. Khoza described the situation as “disturbing”.
Even in Oberon, the strategy to keep blacks away continues. A staff member at Oberon claims that minibuses with black passengers are not allowed inside, but if the passengers are white, they are allowed entry. It is R25 a person for entry and R15 a car. However, when the M&G visited the area, a white male driver was allowed to enter free.
When a black reporter tried to make bookings for a weekend stay, she was told the place was fully booked and the phone was banged down in her ear. However, a white male’s request was politely attended to. He was asked how many were in the party that wanted to visit and the chalets were described to him. Even though he was told the place was fully booked, he was told to call another white woman who would let him know if there were cancellations.
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