Quite understandably, the bluenose reader will consider the occasional gleaning on social media, at best, as tardy journalism. So I trust they’ll forgive my eavesdropping this past Sunday on Songezi Zibi’s ‘presser’ of another kind. The Rise Mzansi leader and chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) was sat candidly discussing the work that the committee is engaged in particularly around the OR Tambo District Municipality (ORTDM) and Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) on his TikTok live.
Relaxed in his study, Zibi opened the stream to some of his 36 600 followers on the platform, even fielding questions from them about the municipalities’ appearance before the Committee this month. The day’s topic: service delivery issues especially in municipal billing and rates, clear patterns of mismanagement in tender allocations, unfulfilled multi-million Rand projects, decaying municipal infrastructure which local government specifically in the Eastern Cape (EC) appears to be miserably failing to reverse, and rural communities that are severely affected by it all.
Particularly in light of last year’s finding by the Bhisho High Court that the BCMM had not allowed for meaningful public participation on its draft electricity tariffs for the 2026/2027 financial year. Various ratepayers’ associations and non-profit organisations had hauled the municipality to court last year August and by November the had court reviewed and set aside these new charges.
However, according to a subsequent statement by the EC Democratic Alliance, BCMM were allegedly rushing headlong in trying to push through the new tariff models ‘with another compressed public input window’ in the hope of submitting them to the national energy regulator by 12 December 2025. These exorbitant rate increases have left communities in the area in an uproar, have drastically affecting the poor and leaving them, in Zibi’s phrasing ‘squeezed.’
For Zibi these have raised pertinent questions especially because ‘we don’t know the accuracy of the billing.’ For instance, how do meters actually work, how do water leaks (which are quite frequent in these areas as a result of a deteriorating infrastructure) ultimately affect billing and what is reasonable for municipalities to charge?
Moreover, he notes that the lack of effective communication with communities is not limited to tariff increases. Some 60% of people who qualify for free basic services or ‘indigent status’ have not applied for it. Also, ratepayers in the BCMM are decreasing and if these excessive rates are meant to absorb this shortfall, how come residents appear to be paying so much and receiving little in return? The municipality, he finds, is coughing up only 1% of its budget towards infrastructure maintenance instead of the national benchmark of around 8%. As such it descends down a ‘death spiral’ where the lack of infrastructure spending leads to leaks, illegal electricity connections, and other malfunctions that have cost the municipality north of half a billion Rand in the past financial year.
The situation is worsened in the surrounding rural villages where critical tender projects are often not honoured and the circumstances of surrounding communities often leaves him wondering how people living there are even alive. He mentions the dire situation of places like Tsolo, Makhanda and certain parts of Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality have inspired ‘something cooking’ between the Committee together with the Special Investigative Unit and Auditor General around municipalities with dubious tender irregularities and financial mismanagement. At least one official at OR Tambo remains in her position despite evidence that vast sums of money had been paid directly into her account by a supplier.
Because Municipal Public Accounts Committees (MPAC) whose mandate it is to monitor and exercise oversight in municipalities across the country are often people drawn from the dominant political party at that specific municipality, Zibi says, they are often weak and ineffectual. To him, only decisive action by institutions like the SIU can deal effectively with wrongdoing. That, of course, along with elections.
With the upcoming local government elections (LGE), Zibi appears to be riding on his party’s 2024 election ticket of ‘bringing government to the people’ as a few TikTokers were quick and grateful to point out. But more importantly this seemed like his way of making a call for activists to come forward as he clearly feels that not enough political and voter education is being done on the streets.
Although he seemed reluctant or maybe because his voice was indeed ‘tired’ to go into depth as to Rise Mzansi’s strategy in the upcoming ballot, he did touch on the topical matter of foreign nationals. ‘Any country,’ he said, ‘that doesn’t know whos here, what their name is, what their address is, that is a security risk.’ That said, he was also quick to say that although he is ‘not a shut-the-door-on-everyone person but I’m also not one for open borders.’ And, although he also believes that the transfer of scarce skills is central and necessary to South Africa’s development, ‘you can’t tell me you can’t find South African waiters and clerks.’
For the most part, most of his time was dedicated to issues mostly affecting everyday people such as the R1. 25 billion disaster relief grant allocated last year. These are matters not only communities in Eastern Cape municipalities are grappling with but are a microcosm of much of SA. Zibi’s plausible move – and one that leaders can tear a page from – is that although he had the Auditor General’s audit report in hand and no doubt other resources, he wanted to hear from ordinary people as to what the real problems are.
So he went on TikTok and allowed enybody who wanted to ask questions to do so. And what he got were the raw, heart-of-the-matter questions that those who asked them would’ve felt pleased that someone was at least taking their concerns seriously enough to take them to Parliament. It would’ve been a breath of fresh air for such a prominent figure to be so accessible especially to a youth that has grown apathetic to issues of politics and democracy. The only downside was that after a lengthy Q&A, Zibi could not go into detail on questions around his party’s election strategy, leaving the BarefootLionHunter (this writer’s TikTok pseudonym) missing out on a possible ‘scoop’ for his dear reader.
Featured Image: A screen grab of Songezo Zibi’s TikTok live stream.