A ward councillor or mayoral candidate must have demonstrated a commitment to public service through volunteering, must have matric and a tertiary qualification, must have been employed, must be able to manage their finances, and must not have any criminal record, if South Africa is to turn the tide on service delivery, experts say.

Professor William Gumede, a governance expert from Wits University, said citizens must vote for candidates based on competency, honesty, and experience.

He added that people must vote against their political party when it is failing or when their party puts up a candidate they disagree with. 

“Don’t vote according to your party line, just for the sake of it. That’s very important, and it’s one of the things that are missing in our country. Voting does not mean you must vote for the candidate of your party, because you like your party. In fact, voting against your party’s candidate is as important as voting for your party,” Gumede stated. 

Sometimes people vote because they know the person. You can’t vote just because the person is your friend, a family member, or is from your ethnic group, looks like you, and speaks like you. People must vote based on competency, he said.

He warned that if there has been no service delivery in a municipality, citizens must not re-elect the same people.

How do you identify a candidate who can make a good leader versus a terrible leader?

Gumede said that when a councillor or mayoral candidate just uses slogans and doesn’t come up with practical solutions, they are not leaders; do not vote for them. 

“Sadly, many people think, well, if I come up with slogans all the time, that people like to hear, and then blame others, I’m going to be a good leader. No, that person is going to be a terrible leader,” Gumede warned. 

He highlighted that if citizens hear a candidate on their campaign trail, blaming other people for all of the problems, they must not vote for a person like that, because a big part of leadership is that you do not look for scapegoats, but you offer solutions.

“I would say, go for boring people. Go for humble people. Go for modest people, whose lives look coherent. Check if they look after their families and extended family. Are they personal examples to other people? Outside politics, can they be personal examples? Honesty is key, meaning has there been any controversy in the past about this person? Secondly, have they run non-political things in the past, or have they worked elsewhere in a real economy?

“This is very important because if you elect a person who has only been in politics and has not worked in the real economy, that person is unlikely to be competent. At least you will then know that the person understands how the economy works if they have participated in a work environment. This is because if politics is the candidate’s only thing, and they have never worked in their life, then that person is unlikely to be a good leader,” Gumede said.

He stated that it is important to find out if a candidate is a holistic person and how they participate in a non-political society. 

“Look at their basic education. If that person at least has some form of matric, you know they will be able to look at the budget numbers. If you can’t look at the budget numbers, you can’t be a good councillor. How are you going to oversee procurement processes if you don’t understand the numbers?” Gumede stated.

He highlighted that citizens need to make certain that the person they vote for actually lives in their area, because if a person doesn’t live in your area, how is that person going to look after you? How will they know the issues? Are the kids of this person attending local schools? At least that’s one way you can hold a person accountable. 

He added that before assuming office, people need to be taught how to be a councillor. What does it mean to be a councillor? How do you behave as a councillor? How do you engage with people? How do you manage your personal finances? There is a need to do the same for councillors, just as it is done for members of Parliament. 

“Let’s say you are a councillor, and you’ve never worked anywhere in your life before, and you’ve never received as much money as you will get as a councillor. The first thing most people do is buy a big car, take out a loan, and do all these flashy things. Now this puts them in a debt trap where they can be swayed and easily corrupted because they need money to fund their lifestyles,” Gumede said.

He added that political parties must improve the quality of their candidates by conducting background checks on them. They must also consider interviewing council candidates, just like the DA does.

“Citizens must be more engaged at the local level by participating in ward committees, reviewing budget processes, being more visible, and blowing the whistle if things don’t work out. People must also complain to the national leadership of the party if the local leaders do not deliver,” Gumede said.

Professor Purshottama Reddy, public governance specialist in the Graduate School of Business and Leadership at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said that to many municipal functionaries, the posts they occupy are just a job, ensuring a regular source of income.

However, they lack the requisite management and political will to respond to the service delivery gaps and ensure an enhanced quality of life for the local communities.

“We are currently in the third decade of democracy in South Africa. We cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand, oblivious to bad governance and poor service delivery. In the absence of a critical electorate that also should be demanding public accountability, we are likely to end up as a failed state, of which we have many in Africa,” Reddy stated.

He added that there is a need to work across political party lines to ensure robust intergovernmental coordination and close collaboration. The overarching consideration and priority should be responsive basic service delivery, job creation, and good governance, he highlighted.

Reddy said the lifestyle of public functionaries should be put under the spotlight. 

“They could be living large despite having limited income as public functionaries. In such cases, lifestyle audits should be conducted to determine if they have additional sources of income that they have earned dishonestly. It should be noted that people who have high lifestyles are always looking for additional income to fund their extravagant lifestyles. The money has to come from somewhere, even if it is earned through the scourge of corruption,” he stated.

Professor Siphamandla Zondi, director of the Institute for Pan African Thought and Conversation at the University of Johannesburg and a volunteer for Devoted Citizen NGO, said a candidate who has not achieved anything cannot be entrusted with public office and people’s resources; “we need the most competent among us”. 

He added that a candidate who has failed elsewhere should not be considered until they register success in voluntary public services. 

“The Devoted Citizen NGO has outlined nicely what citizens should look for. This includes the track record that a person brings to the position, a CV detailing what a potential candidate has achieved for themselves and others, which is also verifiable by us all. 

“Secondly, the person must have a decent level of education, and a post-school qualification is a fair requirement given that all South Africans can now afford tertiary education due to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). Thirdly, they must be a person of known integrity who is disciplined and upright before others, as they need optimum self-control to be trusted with people’s assets and resources,” Zondi said.

He added that ideally, no one should be trusted with a paid public office before they have demonstrated commitment to public service through NGOs, Community-Based Organisations (CBOs), Faith-Based Organisations (FBOs), and other voluntary platforms.

“They should earn the trust of a community network of citizens or society generally. They may apply for a competitive public service job and excel, and resign to make themselves available for public office with a verifiable track record at hand,” Zondi said. 

He highlighted that the South African system is premised on the hope that political parties would have a stringent process for leaders they put forward to represent them in government; however, this is not happening.

gcwalisile.khanyile@inl.co.za

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