An alcoholic, it is said, needs to hit rock bottom and acknowledge the extent of his or her addiction and how it has ruined their life before being able to start on the long journey to recovery.
Is it too much to hope that the collapse of the water supply might be that moment for the ANC and its leader, Cyril Ramaphosa?
There were signs that might be the case when Ramaphosa delivered his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday night. He was frank about the fact that “water outages are a symptom of a local government system that is not working”.
ALSO READ: President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address in full
The short-term action includes harsh medicine: criminal charges for municipalities not delivering on their mandate to provide services; criminal charges for officials who are incompetent, but there was a sweetener in the form of a R54 billion incentive scheme “for metros to reform their water, sanitation and electricity services”.
But what was far more onerous – and encouraging, if the government does what Ramaphosa promises – is “a far-reaching overhaul is now underway to address the root causes of dysfunction in many municipalities”.
A White Paper on local government may well turn the current system of devolved functions on its head by centralising power and control in Union Buildings… and Ramaphosa’s remarks throughout his speech about central government stepping in to help solve the water crisis gave that possibility added heft.
Of course, concentrating more power will be bad news for those who believe in self-determination, like our conservative politicians.
One of them, Kallie Kriel, noted – quite accurately – that this would, effectively, give even more power to those who created the mess in the first place.
But local government has to be saved. Now, if Ramaphosa and the ANC execute on that promise, the country could be on the way back.
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