The Fate of the GNU Will Depend on What It Does to Fix Collapsing Municipalities

The success of the new Government of National Unity will depend on its ability to deal with the problems caused by failing municipalities.

Years of neglect have left many of our municipalities grappling with severe financial mismanagement, infrastructure deficiencies, governance and leadership issues. More than 150 are bankrupt. The success of the new Government of National Unity will depend on its ability to address these issues and serve people’s needs better.

The dire state of local municipalities is a major challenge for the GNU. The 2022/23 Report on Local Government released by the Auditor-General in August paints a troubling picture of local government failures across all nine provinces. More than 150 municipalities are currently under administration. This underscores the urgency for the GNU to find long-term solutions to stabilise municipalities and ensure they provide services.

Two municipalities exemplify the depth of this crisis:

• The Amathole District Municipality was placed under administration in January 2021 because of financial distress stemming from corruption and maladministration. Despite three years of intervention, thousands of households still receive water sparingly or not at all, forcing people to travel long distances to water sources which are often contaminated.
• Emfuleni Local Municipality has been under administration since June 2018, but it continues to struggle with providing basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity and waste management. A recent legal battle ended with a R1.3-billion judgment in favour of Eskom and a contempt of court ruling.

Litigation concerning basic service delivery in the Amathole and Emfuleni municipalities has been widely covered by the media. But these are not unique cases, as the audit reveals.

Systematic reforms, not temporary fixes, are necessary. There needs to be an established culture of ethics and accountability.

There must be consequences for failures in executive functions. Municipal officials must be held financially and criminally liable. In this context, the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) has recently launched proceedings against the City of Johannesburg executive officials to force their hands to account for lack of service delivery.

Funding for the Auditor-General must be increased. Currently, audits are often conducted on an annual basis. Additional funds would allow for more frequent audits, including mid-year and quarterly reviews. This would help identify and address financial mismanagement and operational inefficiencies in real time, rather than waiting for annual reports.

Communities should be regularly involved in decision-making. Frequent, structured community consultations should be instituted to involve residents, and local advisory councils that represent diverse community interests. These councils should include community representatives, local businesses and civil society. They would serve as platforms for regular town hall meetings and feedback, which will increase public trust in municipal governance.

A more collaborative approach to governance is necessary. The Constitution divides government into three spheres: national, provincial and local, which are distinct yet interdependent. Section 139 of the Constitution allows provincial governments to intervene in municipalities that fail to meet their executive or financial obligations. The Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act of 2005 promotes coordination and collaboration among the three spheres of government. The Western Cape Province has a template of good governance which can be shared with other provinces to improve local government at a national level. The template can become the South African blueprint to foster best practices and strategies in local government; and

Adoption of specific law reforms at a local level will strengthen and stabilise coalition municipalities. The Municipal Systems Amendment Bill of 2024 seeks to provide a definition for a coalition agreement at local level, and to ensure that political parties enter into binding agreements when no political party has a majority of the seats.

The Government of National Unity presents a unique opportunity to address the longstanding issues plaguing South Africa’s municipalities. Zooming into ethical governance, accountability, community engagement and intergovernmental cooperation, the GNU can pave the way for significant improvements in the way municipalities serve their residents.

Tsireletso Mokoaqo and Rientile Mdaka are based in the Home, Land and Rural Democracy programme at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, Wits University. Views expressed are not necessarily those of GroundUp.

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