Surely government must by now have learnt that South Africans are put at grave risk when municipal managers who do not have the necessary know-how are appointed. Surely by now government must have grasped that local authority appointments based on political affiliation alone cause monumental failure.
The latest harrowing example is that the bulk of the R57.6-billion that National Treasury allocated for needy households to receive 50 kilowatt hours of free electricity a month has been misdirected. Even the owners of soccer teams know that competent coaches are a must and if they have to be imported that it is well and good.
The level of municipal mismanagement has been so widespread for so long that country-wide damage is now pervasive and must be brought to a halt, even if it means also importing experienced municipal managers, just as soccer teams do.