There are moments in time when the mists of our complex world part and allow us to see with clarity the most pressing question we face. Our city is at that point. The question is simple: how far is too far? What for us is the point of no return?
Our city is in a tailspin, and our pilot, the mayor, is incapable of extracting us from the nosedive. Instead he appears determined to take all of us with him.
It’s not the question that should be occupying our minds. We should be looking at how we can turn this into the best little city in the world.
How do we take our natural assets, combine those with 1.2million citizens and create a city that works for all?
But we have allowed ourselves to become distracted.
Internal politics within both the DA and the ANC have leadership focused elsewhere.
In World War 2, British bomber pilots would make a mark on their fuel gauge indicating the point of no return.
It was the point at which a critical decision had to be made: continue with the mission, run out of fuel and crashland, or turn back to base in order to save the plane.
Modern aircraft now have numerous warnings and while a simple line has been replaced with a master caution or annunciator light, the warning colour remains red.
The optical cue remains a simple one. Act now or the situation is irrecoverable.
Pick any measure of city performance.
Murder rates, necklacings, abuse of women and children, youth unemployment, foreign direct investment, refuse collection, water leaks, road surface conditions, water quality in our rivers and bay, IDP meetings held, council meetings held, service delivery protests, temporary occupants in senior administrative posts, vacant posts, criminal cases pending, rates collected, or simply how often you feel led by the mayor, and the warning lights flash the same colour – red.
We know the options we face. Place the city under administration, as happened prior to the appointment of Danny Jordaan. Or wait it out until the city goes to the polls again in 2021, in the hope that one party will emerge with a majority and that in the interim damage is recoverable.
The third option has not been tried – a local government of unity. A negotiated settlement between the DA and the ANC that horse-trades leadership positions in order to get the political decision-making process functioning.
There are calls for mass action, or a rates boycott. Social media sites are being created to save the city.
The ANC and DA separately appear to be hard at work behind the scenes to convene an urgent council meeting to call our mayor’s bluff.
There are those that question the lack of intervention from our new president – when will he act?
Those of religious persuasion may consider prayer as their go-to. Even those who do not believe in a deity are likely muttering words heavenward, hoping that something sticks. But we are distracted. The local ANC is caught up in deciding the future of it’s key councillor, Andile Lungisa. The DA is gearing for a 2021 toldyou-so campaign, while its city leader and ex-mayor, Athol Trollip, is focused on beating Madam Zille for national honours.
The EFF appears lost among the quagmire of daily revelations of its national leadership’s riches allegedly gained from the VBS looting.
And the UDM leader, to whom our mayor ostensibly reports, is missing in action.
To be clear, this is not on mayor Bobani – he is simply doing what he has been given freedom to do. The UDM represents 2% of the voters of the city. The power the mayor has is at the behest of the distracted other.
How is it possible that the local ANC does not have suitable candidates for the position of mayor or political head of economic affairs and tourism?
Is it really the DA’s winning strategy to wait it out until 2021 in the belief that voters will somehow give it more votes despite the party’s very public national tailspin?
Our city has produced the likes of Oom Ray Mhlaba and Molly Blackburn – where are their equivalents today?
At what point do the ANC and the DA say ‘this is now too far, we need to act? We need to do something different’?
At what point do civil society – business, churches/mosques, NPOs, communitybased organisations act?
Or have we all become so engrossed in fighting for the remaining parachutes, that noone considers working together to change the pilot, in the hope that we individually will survive the crash?
The question that should be occupying our minds is how do we take what we have and turn that into a city that is the lifestyle envy of the world.
Five biomes, two commercial ports, world-class beaches, on the doorstep of the Big-Seven wildlife reserve and two wilderness areas, a bay and estuary of global eco-system importance all combine to create a platform of exceptional value. And our people. What is their potential if we create the right platform for them to shine?
But that’s not where we find ourselves. Today our priority is simple. What is too far? And what will we do when we reach that point?
I think this is on us – the people of the city. We can choose to go about our daily struggles and say this is not a problem of our making. We have protested before.
We asked then president Zuma to intervene. We have voted. But to no avail, our downward spiral continues.
We can do something different. Each of us has a circle of influence, how best do we use it?
How best do we act, because act we must.
● Gary Koekemoer, PhD candidate and Wessa Algoa Bay branch chair