NORTH WEST – The JB Marks Local Municipality in the North West has secured an unqualified audit opinion for the 2024/25 financial year, yet residents and stakeholders maintain that this financial milestone has not translated into improved daily service delivery.
Despite the Auditor-General issuing a clean audit for the highly contested municipality, the office noted that significant compliance concerns still remain. For the local community, the disconnect between financial reporting and lived reality is stark. Residents point to persistent infrastructure failures, including non-functional streetlights and severe sanitation issues, arguing that the much-touted administrative improvements have yet to spill over into their daily lives.
The official opposition in the municipality argues that the region’s challenges run much deeper, particularly following the merger of local administrative areas. A spokesperson for the opposition noted that the area was once considered a flagship and one of the best-run municipalities in the country. However, they highlighted that residents are now grappling with widespread potholes, sewage flooding local rivers, and severe infrastructure capacity constraints. According to the opposition, these systemic failures are stunting local economic growth and deterring investment, as the municipality struggles to expand its basic services.
Echoing the frustration, a local community activist emphasized that resolving these crises requires genuine collaboration. The activist stressed the need for frank, transparent conversations between government officials and the public, arguing that politicians must prioritize transparency to ensure meaningful public participation in addressing the municipality’s decline.
In its defense, the JB Marks municipal executive acknowledged the current service delivery challenges but provided historical and financial context for the region’s decline. According to the municipal spokesperson, the downturn began during the 2022/2023 financial year, driven by steep tariff hikes from the energy regulator NERSA (nearly 18%) and Eskom (12%). These increases pushed the municipality’s Eskom debt to between R500 million and R700 million. The executive noted that a five-year repayment agreement was successfully established with the power utility and that no payments have been missed since that arrangement was made.
Furthermore, the municipal leadership pointed to internal institutional shortcomings, such as a poorly monitored, decentralized supply chain management system spread across different departments, as contributing factors to the service delivery stagnation.
Addressing the structural changes in the area, the executive explained that the merger of a struggling municipality with a previously well-performing one was intended to bolster service delivery to communities. Following the 2021 local government elections, the ANC consolidated its power in the area through a coalition arrangement with the Patriotic Alliance.
Despite the inherited challenges, the municipal executive maintains that governance structures are stabilizing. They assert that operations are now running properly and that service delivery is becoming increasingly inclusive across all areas under the JB Marks jurisdiction, including Potchefstroom and Ventersdorp.
As the upcoming local government elections approach, the contrasting narratives between the municipality’s financial compliance and the residents’ daily struggles are expected to remain a central point of contention at the polls.
