HESSEQUA NEWS - A landmark survey on the economic sustainability of coastal metropoles in South Africa has revealed that most inner-city districts have manifested rapid decline over the past 20 years.
In his doctoral thesis on inner-city turnaround and economic and tourism development, Dr Hendrik Conradie of the Conradie Research Institute, says that most historic inner-city districts of large South African cities and towns, which had been economically viable and attractive to local and international tourists two decades ago, are now manifesting signs of severe decay.
"Inner-city decay manifests itself in elements such as problematic and run-down buildings, poor waste management, increased criminality, inadequate law enforcement, ineffectual municipal service delivery, social ills and a deteriorating built environment," said Conradie.
Conradie's national research found that the following factors were largely to blame for inner-city decay - lack of political vision, ineffectual political leadership, political instability, lack of continuity in municipal management, complex politics, poor stakeholder collaboration, corrupt practices, lack of municipal oversight, uncoordinated by-law enforcement, inadequate policing of problem buildings and illegal dumping, unsatisfactory municipal service delivery, undocumented immigrants and a general shortage of expertise and knowledge.
Dr Dennis Farrell of the Business Café in George thus conducted a survey focusing on the "State of Garden Route and Hessequa Cities and Towns."
The survey involved a total of 980 respondents commenting on the service levels of George, Knysna, Bitou, Mossel Bay, Hessequa, Oudtshoorn and Kannaland municipalities. Residents of Hessequa had requested an extension to the survey to enable better participation in their municipal area.
What stood out from the surveys, Farrell added, is that the different surveys were consistent with the trends of the other. One complaint raised by respondents were "insufficient or lack of any feedback."
No feedback on residents' input
In terms of public participation about 75% of Garden Route respondents who provided input on the Integrated Development Plan, the annual budget, Spatial Development Framework and by-laws, said they had not received any feedback from the municipality.
This underscores the assumption that municipalities do not take ratepayers' participation seriously and strengthens the majority view that only the needs of the political parties and municipal officials are being addressed.
"Taking a long-term sustainable outlook, the era for co-production of public services is needed whereby the private, community, academic and municipal sectors join hands to achieve a joint vision for the Garden Route. Almost 66% of respondents indicated that they do not know what the vision of their city or town is. Council and municipal leadership should ensure clear communication and participation in the cocreation of a corporate vision," said Farrell.
Conradie indicated that residents' and property owners' groupings can make a huge difference to a turnaround initiative. Farrell says municipal and council leadership should engage and address collective and individual concerns without being defensive.
If not, a climate of distrust and suspicion is created.
"These research findings should not be viewed negatively by municipalities or political parties. Instead, they should rather embrace the diversity of views and perceptions and jointly put action plans together to stop the decay, by utilising representative citizenry leadership in collaboration with appointed local authority leadership. Formal public participation practices are not accomplishing their intended goals - hence alternative engagement solutions need to be explored," said Farrell.
"Finally, in reviewing the content of the memorandum presented to the municipalities involved we found direct links to the questionnaire outcome with specific reference to, amongst other, exorbitant property rates, electricity needs, access to and poor municipal services, alleged illicit activities, transport needs and water services."
Farrell emphasised that the salient features in the feedback provided are not exhaustive, but it is enough to warrant urgent engagement of political and municipal leaders with other representative citizenry leaders in addressing the decay within the Garden Route and Hessequa.
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