The downgrading of Sol Plaatje to a category 4 municipality has dashed hopes that the municipality would eventually transition into a metro and must be an urgent wake-up call to political and municipal management about the dire state of the municipality.
The downgrade was made public in council yesterday. While it will have a knock-on effect on salary scales of staff members, it will also have a knock-on effect on the amount of funding received by Sol Plaatje, especially with reference to certain grants. Given the poor state of water and sewerage systems, in addition to a critical lack of bulk infrastructure to support development, this does not bode well for Kimberley.
Sol Plaatje only has itself to blame for this unenviable situation. Despite experiencing a population increase, the municipality has failed to sufficiently improve revenue collection to stave off the downgrade.
Due to its own inadequacies, political bias and its failure over the past two decades to upgrade bulk infrastructure, many job-creating developments have been turned down, while others wait in the queue of the barely functioning Spelum Committee, for consideration.
The downgrade is a slap in the face of the Premier, Dr Zamani Saul, who once said that Kimberley would not deteriorate further under his watch. The sad reality is that Kimberley is a deteriorating city with a shrinking economy and if there is not a change in the political leadership of this municipality soon, its lights may go out forever.
The DA will continue to fight for better service delivery and for better economic opportunity for the residents of Kimberley. As we head towards the local government election in 2026, we hope more people will realise that Sol Plaatje needs to be saved from another term under the ANC local government.