Voting Politicians Out of Office Is an Option, but There Is No Quick Fix for Local Government Failures

Analysis

In the run-up to the 2021 local government elections, activists Phindile Kunene and Ayanda Kota explored the reasons why local government is so broken in South Africa in a webinar hosted by Maverick Citizen editor Mark Heywood in collaboration with My Vote Counts.

Spokesperson of the Unemployed People’s Movement Ayanda Kota. (Photo: Supplied) | EPA-EFE/NIC BOTHMA | Senior Curriculum Developer at Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education, Phindile Kunene. (Photo: Supplied) webinar municipalities fail

As South Africans get ready to go to the polls in local government elections on 1 November, one of the prominent activists in the sphere, Ayanda Kota, said it was time for citizens to vote politicians out.

Kota was one of the panellists in a webinar hosted by Maverick Citizen editor Mark Heywood in collaboration with the NGO, My Vote Counts. Kota was one of the leading figures in a landmark legal battle against the Makana Local Municipality, which led to a ruling by the Makhanda high court that a collapse of service delivery is unconstitutional and grounds to have the municipal council dissolved. The ruling is currently on appeal at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein.

Kota is also part of the Makana Citizens Front, an organisation that will contest the elections in that town as a body of independent community members.

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