When citizens step up, government slaps them down

When action is taken against fed-up communities that take service delivery into their own hands, you have to wonder if it is a case of authorities being too scared that they will be shown up, or if they really are just that spiteful.

Threats to punish the public for putting up solar systems because of irregular power supply, residents fixing potholes, a community starting their own “fire brigade” and a principal’s husband offering garden services for free are just some of the examples that have been clamped down upon by the local government.

Former Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink hit the nail on the head when he said government “is part of society and it doesn’t dominate society”.

He said: “It should allow communities, including businesses to assist with delivering public goods and that includes assisting where the state is clearly failing.

“That doesn’t mean the power of the state is your server, it means the public you could have served, despite the failing of the state.”

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“When we and our coalition partners were in power, we established a community upliftment project where folks could sign an agreement with the municipality to fix streetlights, to look after parks, to do the things that the city under financial distress struggles to do.”

It just doesn’t make sense. And the residents and ratepayers are the big losers.

AfriForum district coordinator for the greater Pretoria south region Arno Roodt said: “The city has placed itself in opposition to its own residents – specifically those who step in themselves where the city fails.

“We see this time and time again, where residents and AfriForum put their shoulder to the wheel to address the city’s issues themselves, action is taken against them rather than working with them.”

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face…

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