Charged local government scene

In the highest chambers of the land, both in Cape Town and the various provincial capitals, local government has received a good bit of attention recently: in the State of the Nation and the various State of the Province addresses as well as Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s National Budget Speech.

Certain elements of this attention can become highly charged and – against the backdrop of continuing protest over service delivery – even lead to explosive situations.

Much of this attention is to be expected, with the next municipal election barely a year away. In a democratic state, politicking is an integral and inescapable part of the deal.

The more fundamental and long-term structural elements to governance at municipal level also caught the spotlight during the early-year political high season. One of those is the way in which the electricity sector in the country is structured – in terms of generation, distribution and the cost at which it is made available.

On each of these fronts, it is clear that the electricity dispensation as we have come to know it in South Africa is about to change forever – with a new independent buying and distribution agency, more generators besides the state-owned utility Eskom, and even the base sources of energy, including the costs associated with developing these renewable energy sources.

As the electricity reseller of last resort, and which is dependent on the income it generates from this activity, these developments hold profound implications for local government.

As it is, local governments in many parts of the country are the targets of protest about perceived lack of adequate service delivery.

That, together with the fact that we are heading for election time on the local front, can turn the subject of electricity, its availability and its cost, into a very explosive one. Municipalities will have to think carefully about how they manage the process of handing over rising electricity costs to their residents.

Unfortunately, it is the municipalities – and not institutions such as Eskom – that are in the immediate firing line when frustrations reach boiling point.

Piet Coetzer