Challenges on the provision of free basic services in Makhado Local Municipality

Abstract

The study is about the challenges that are faced by Makhado Local Municipality in the provision of free basic services. The free basic services that are offered by the Makhado Local Municipality are water, sanitation and electricity. Electricity was previously not regarded as one of the free basic service, but it was regarded as such with further development within the ambit of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. It is for this reason that there is legislative framework that is in place to regularize the provision of these services within the limited resources. The constitutional framework also regularizes the norms and standards in the provision of these services. Makhado Local Munipality experiences huge backlogs in the provision of these services and the backlogs in question require some strategic interventions. Strategic interventions might as well be outlined in the Integrated Development Plans (IDP) of the municipality. From these free basic services, water and sanitation have been the highest in the backlogs while electricity provisioning has also been taking its tall. Essential household service package comprises of water supply, sanitation, refuse removal and supply of basic energy as well as assisting in the housing process. The challenges that are experienced by Makhado Local Municipality are resource and budgetary constraints coupled with insufficient funding complimented by selected ones pertaining to the lack of modern infrastructure and water reserves. Contrary to the norm, is that electrical power cables get vandalized from time to time culminating to further challenges in the provision of free basic services. Selected solutions peep into the building of water reserves and an effective turnaround strategy in the provision of water and sanitary pipes in the rural areas. Additional results relate to the expected co-operation between the councilors and traditional leaders in order for them to address the experienced challenges.