SACP mayoral candidate Chuene Malebana says Polokwane Municipality has been turned into a “spaza shop for comrades” and he is gunning to shut down the tender machine and put people before profit.
Malebana, who is leading the South African Communist Party’s charge to govern Polokwane on its own for the first time, has delivered a blunt diagnosis of why the capital of Limpopo is broken despite its massive budget.
“The senior management leadership is not accountable to the community and the party they represent is incapable of holding them to account,” Malebana told Africa Daily.
“Polokwane is extremely and deliberately over-tenderised. There is no difference between political leadership and administration in terms of accountability. The entire system and its management is conflicted and compromised by tender system. This leads to corruption, maladministration, as is always on media, AGSA, on investigations by law enforcement agencies and protest by communities.”
Malebana said the results are visible everywhere. The capital budget is wholly outsourced, maintenance has collapsed, and water and electricity losses sit above 35% because of cable theft, illegal connections and corrupt contractors.
His commitment is simple and ideological.
“Put people before profit. Put workers before tenderpreneurs. Put services before tenders. That is what we will do in Polokwane,” he declared.
That commitment will be tested in his first 100 days, for which he has set three non-negotiables.
First, he says he will end reliance on tenders and rebuild internal capacity.
“Relentless and relying on the internal capacity to provide services and do proactive maintenance instead of unnecessary tenders, patronage and corruption,” he said, pointing to his plan for a Water and Electricity War Room: a 24-hour rapid response team.
“We insource maintenance. We audit all contractors. Fix the basics, fill potholes on main routes, collect refuse on time, stop illegal billing, and fix the indigent register so poor families actually get their free basic water and electricity.”
Second, he wants to mobilise communities and support law enforcement agencies against what he calls capture by selfish private interests.
Third, he is promising radical transparency: lifestyle audits for councillors and senior managers and publishing every tender online.
“If you can’t explain your house and cars on your salary, you must answer. Look at possibilities of publishing all tenders online for everyone to see,” Malebana said.
He also wants an effective system to ensure councillors are truly answerable to communities.
Asked how he would pay for it without raising tariffs, Malebana said Polokwane does not have a revenue problem, it has a stealing problem.
“The current allocation of budget to the municipality can make a serious impact, what is essential is to stop wastage and corruption,” he said.
His funding plan includes cutting water and electricity losses, insourcing security, cleaning and fleet to stop paying private companies for work municipal workers can do, collecting money owed by government departments and big businesses, and using the municipal infrastructure grant properly.
“The rich must pay, not only the poor. And use the municipal infrastructure grant properly instead of returning money to treasury while our roads are broken,” he said.
On coalitions, Malebana said the SACP will not trade principles for positions.
“We will work with any party if the programme helps workers and residents – water, jobs, clean streets. But we will not sell the mayoral chain for positions and tenders. Our loyalty is to the red programme, not to tenders, but only be guided by the interests of our communities and our manifesto commitment,” he said.
He said after one year, residents should judge him not on speeches, but on taps and streetlights.
“Simple, you can check it yourself: Water is running, lights are on, streets are clean. Judge us by service, not by speeches,” he said.
“We will run Polokwane like a factory, not a spaza shop for comrades. That means insource workers, no more labour brokers exploiting people.”
For Malebana, the biggest issues facing residents – water, unreliable electricity and youth unemployment – are linked and require a political solution.
On water, he vowed to take on the tanker mafia.
“We will protect boreholes, fix leaks fast, and fight the water tanker mafia – those who benefit when taps are dry. No more buying water from tankers while taps are dry,” he said.
On jobs, he promised to ring-fence 40% of all municipal jobs and contracts for youth from Polokwane, use the industrial park to support cooperatives, not importers, and support hawkers and small businesses through what he calls a People’s Red Caravan that will bring professionals and state institutions together.
His one accountability commitment is daily presence.
“Working closely and every day with residents in addressing challenges of water and service delivery generally,” he said.
“The SACP is not promising miracles. We are promising to stop the stealing, fix the basics, and put workers and residents first. Vote SACP.”
