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This year’s local government elections will amount to a public verdict on municipalities’ ability to deliver services, Eastern Cape co-operative governance and traditional affairs MEC Zolile Williams said.
He was speaking at a stakeholders engagement session in Mthatha on Thursday aimed at shaping an “electoral roadmap” to ensure the polls are free, fair and credible.
“We as stakeholders envisage this process will culminate in the delivery of free, fair and credible 2026 local government elections,” Williams said.
“The programme is envisaged to deliver new municipal leaders after November 4.”
Williams said his department had been tasked with supporting preparations for the elections in the province, promoting civic participation and ensuring communities were informed and able to participate meaningfully in the democratic process.
The engagement, which coincided with Africa Month, brought together government officials, traditional leaders and representatives of tertiary institutions, municipalities, business organisations, NGOs and the Electoral Commission (IEC).
Williams linked the continent’s anti-colonial struggles to the need to strengthen grassroots democracy in SA.
He said coalition governments had become a defining feature of municipal politics since the 2021 local government elections.
“A defining issue is the continued fragmentation of electoral support.
“Since the 2021 municipal elections, many councils — especially in metropolitan areas — have been governed through unstable coalitions,” Williams said.
He said this year’s polls would test whether municipalities could regain public trust.
He warned the election could become “a referendum not only on service delivery, but also on whether coalition politics can produce stable municipalities”.
Williams said public confidence in municipalities had been undermined by corruption scandals, debates over cadre deployment, poor financial governance and repeated adverse findings by the auditor-general on irregular expenditure.
“This has created a legitimacy crisis where voters increasingly question whether municipal institutions serve communities or political elites.”
He said evidence before the Madlanga commission on the procurement scandals in metros such as Ekurhuleni and Tshwane reflected deeper governance failures.
“If the Madlanga commission of inquiry can be extended to all municipalities in the country, heinous things can be exposed,” Williams said.
“Protests are all over the media daily. It is a sign of things to come.”
He also highlighted youth unemployment and service delivery failures as major risks ahead of the elections.
Williams warned that the high levels of youth unemployment in the Eastern Cape could lead either to lower voter turnout among young people or increased support for anti-establishment and independent candidates.
“Young voters could either deepen democratic disengagement or reshape municipal politics,” he said.
He described service delivery failures involving water, sanitation, roads, refuse removal and electricity as the most immediate causes of community anger and protest.
“Municipal elections are therefore often fought amid anger over tangible living conditions, not abstract ideology,” Williams said.
“Many councils are struggling financially.”
He said municipalities in the Eastern Cape and elsewhere were grappling with shrinking revenue collection, rising Eskom debt, unpaid creditors and deteriorating infrastructure.
He described electricity-related debt as “a major determinant of municipal viability”.
“As a result, the 2026 elections will occur under conditions where newly elected councils may inherit institutions already near financial collapse.”
Williams said inflation, food insecurity and stagnant household incomes were increasing frustration among voters.
“The local state is often blamed for national economic failures because it is the visible face of government,” he said.
He said issues likely to dominate the election campaign included affordable housing, municipal tariffs, the regulation of the informal economy, local job creation and infrastructure maintenance.
Williams, who is also the ANC’s Eastern Cape treasurer, said the elections would unfold during a period of major political change in post-1994 SA.
“The long-standing dominance of the African National Congress continues to be challenged by declining voter loyalty, generational shifts, civic movements, independent candidates and issue-based local activism.”
He said the central question was no longer simply which party would govern municipalities.
“It is increasingly about whether local democracy can regain credibility as an instrument of development.”
The local elections would take place “at the intersection of democratic fatigue, economic hardship and a deepening crisis of local governance”.
He said the polls would reflect broader struggles over the legitimacy of the state, service delivery and the future of grassroots democracy.
The engagement session was also aimed at outlining key election timelines, clarify the role of departments and municipalities, encourage voter participation — particularly among young and first-time voters — and address voter apathy, misinformation and barriers to access.
Williams said his department would work closely with the IEC on voter registration and election logistics.
SA’s first democratic municipal elections were held in 1995, except in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, where voting took place in 1996 due to boundary demarcation disputes.
“This year our democratic local government system is 31 years old. It has evolved to what we see around in the local government ecosystem,” Williams said.
Daily Dispatch