Political interference from provincial and national levels overrides local needs, undermining Section 151’s autonomy vision.
Weak internal controls let graft flourish, with only 13% of municipalities achieving clean audits in 2024.
In my view, this ethical collapse isn’t accidental, it’s a deliberate hijacking by dominant parties protecting their fiefdoms, leaving citizens to pay the price through higher tariffs and taxes for subpar services.
Dominant party structures treat municipalities as extension offices for national agendas, diverting funds and stalling decisions.
This hierarchical meddling creates bureaucratic quagmires, where local leaders fear defying party bosses.
Coalition governments have worsened this in metros like Johannesburg, breeding instability and inept mayors focused on power grabs over pothole fixes.
As an opinion, this top-down control mocks devolution principles, turning empowered local spheres into puppets.
No wonder trust plummets; voters see elections as theatre when real power resides in Luthuli House or the Union Buildings.
South Africans head to the 2026 local government elections on November 4.
In this year’s polls, one reality will tower above all political slogans, party manifestos and campaign promises — these elections will ultimately be judged on service delivery.
For millions of citizens, local government is not an abstract sphere of governance discussed in council chambers or policy papers.
It is experienced daily through running water, functioning street lights, refuse collection, safe roads, reliable electricity, sanitation, housing and responsive municipal administration.
It is for such reasons that local government is referred to as being at the “coalface” of service delivery.
When these basic services fail, democracy itself begins to feel distant and hollow.
Eastern Cape co-operative governance MEC Zolile Williams makes a valid diagnosis.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ engagement session in Mthatha recently, he said this year’s polls would test whether municipalities could regain public trust.
And indeed, a legitimacy crisis has been created where voters increasingly question whether municipal institutions serve communities or political elites.
It is common knowledge that public confidence in municipalities has been undermined by corruption scandals, debates over cadre deployment, poor financial governance and repeated adverse findings by the auditor-general on irregular expenditure.
All this misgovernance manifests in roads riddled with potholes, raw sewage flowing in residential areas into our river systems, persistent power outages, dry taps for days or even weeks and the betrayal of unspent millions meant for infrastructure development returned to the National Treasury.
And in that context, service delivery must be the ballot’s defining issue
The irony, and as if authorities are saying we don’t care, is that there is little or no administrative consequence management and accountability.
If anything, the situation gets worse each year.
For us in the Eastern Cape, classic examples include what is transpiring at the Makana and Enoch Mgijima local municipalities.
Even putting them under administration and all sorts of national interventions have failed to yield reasonable positive results.
Residents have demonstrated their dissatisfaction through several service delivery protests.
The 2026 elections therefore present more than a routine political contest.
They are shaping up to be a direct referendum on whether municipalities are fulfilling their constitutional imperative of a “better life for all”.
Voters are becoming less interested in liberation credentials, ideological battles or national political theatre.
Instead, they are asking practical questions: Does my tap work? Are my streets safe? Is refuse collected on time?
Can my municipality account for public money? Are officials accessible when problems arise?
The 2026 polls give the electorate a platform to send a clear and uncompromising message: deliver services or lose support.
It is a moment to decisively shift politics away from rhetoric and toward performance.
And in that context, service delivery must be the ballot’s defining issue.
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Two decades of restructuring, from the 1998 White Paper to recent reviews, have flopped.
Salga urges funding overhauls and professionalisation in the 2026 state of the nation address, yet implementation lags.
The National Treasury flags financial distress from unproductive wage bills and poor revenue collection.
Reforms falter because they ignore political wills, oversight exists but goes unenforced.
Frankly, these are Band-Aids on a gaping wound; without axing corrupt officials, no policy saves the day.
Not all is doomed as Western Cape standouts like Swartland, Saldanha Bay, Swellendam and Hessequa top national rankings for clean audits, funded budgets and reliable services.
Cape Town, despite disputes and it being forgetful about surrounding townships, leads metros in performance.
These prove competence triumphs strong leadership, ethical procurement and community engagement deliver.
Emulating them nationwide could reclaim trust, but it demands ditching patronage for merit.
Political renewal isn’t optional; it’s survival.
The crisis involving former social development minister Sisisi Tolashe could not have come at a worse time for the ANC and President Cyril Ramaphosa.
It has reinforced many of the criticisms that continue to erode the party’s standing in society.
This comes at a moment when the ANC is trying to rebuild public trust, reconnect with frustrated voters and recover from its electoral decline.
For Ramaphosa, the Tolashe saga was a direct challenge of his leadership.
He has been working at restoring the credibility of public institutions after the era of state capture.
Failing to act against her would have undermined his efforts.
It would have also strengthened the criticisms that the ANC talks about renewal while continuing to tolerate unethical behaviour and mediocrity in cabinet when it suits its internal party interests.
So, he needed to demonstrate that there are limits to what can be politically defended.
He had several options, though, at his disposal.
He could have opted to suspend Tolashe pending investigation, give her a formal warning or move her to another role.
Admirably, the president chose a more decisive course of action by firing her from office.
Granted, his decision may also have been shaped by limited political space to manoeuvre, given that opposition parties had already called for Tolashe’s dismissal.
Moreover, with local government elections on the horizon, Tolashe’s presence could be a costly liability and lethal campaign ammunition against the ANC.
Voters now are restless, demanding competence, accountability and ethical leadership.
They want a government that is committed to fixing the country’s problems, not leaders who put themselves and their families first.
Her ethical judgment and emotional intelligence should have guided her away from this pattern of poor decision-making
If Tolashe’s actions had been limited to a single lapse in judgment, they might have been easier to understand.
After all, leaders are human and fallible.
However, hers was not an isolated incident. It developed into a pattern of conduct marked by embarrassing episodes, reputational damage and growing public concern, ultimately raising serious questions about her suitability for leadership.
Her ethical judgment and emotional intelligence should have guided her away from this pattern of poor decision-making.
Her saga has now reignited the controversy around the practice of cadre deployment.
Critics have long argued that the ANC uses it to reward internal loyalty and manage factional interests, often at the expense of competence and ethical leadership.
Whether or not this view is fair, it remains a politically damaging perception, which the Tolashe crisis now reinforces.
It suggests that three decades into democracy, the ANC still struggles to consistently prioritise competence, capability and credibility in its government appointments.
Had the party rigorously applied its own “Eye of the Needle” guidelines in selecting leaders and public officials, it is unlikely Tolashe or many others now occupying key positions would have made the cut.
You only need to look at the Madlanga commission to see the damage caused by appointing incapable individuals.
Many municipal failures stem from deploying people who lack the necessary skills, but are appointed primarily for political loyalty or seniority within the ANC.
The issue is not that ANC members serve in government, but that competence is too often sacrificed for factional interests and cadre deployment.
No society can thrive when mediocrity is protected because of political connections.
SA does not need loyalists without capability.
Political loyalty or seniority alone cannot be the primary qualification for running a modern state.
A country as complex as SA requires the best available skills, experience and ethical leadership, wherever they may be found.
It is unrealistic to assume that every ANC cadre inherently possesses the expertise needed to manage critical institutions, grow the economy, repair infrastructure, improve education, strengthen health care or rebuild public confidence in the government.
SA’s future cannot be limited to the talent pool of a single organisation.
Across all sectors, there are capable South Africans with proven experience who can contribute meaningfully to rebuilding this country.
Citizens should not feel compelled to accept poor or unethical leadership while more qualified and capable individuals are overlooked for political convenience.
Such approach weakens government and ultimately harms the people it is meant to serve.
The reality the ANC must urgently wake up to is that it does not have the political luxury of scoring silly own goals.
Voters judge the party not by its liberation legacy, but by the lived realities of governance and the performance of public officials such as Tolashe.
Every scandal now carries electoral consequences, and each questionable appointment becomes a test of the party’s credibility.
Failure to act decisively only deepens the perception that the ANC has not fully grasped the gravity of its declining support.
Thami Dickson, media professional and commentator on African affairs.
First, enforce clean audits with zero tolerance, dispute them like Cape Town did, but resolve swiftly via independent tribunals.
Second, overhaul funding: ring-fence grants for infrastructure, tie allocations to performance metrics.
Third, ban cadre deployment; appoint managers via open, skills-based processes.
Fourth, reform governance to stabilise coalitions, perhaps government-of-local-unity models with clear mandates.
Fifth, empower communities through participatory budgeting and recall mechanisms for failing councillors.
Parties must pledge renewal: professionalise leadership, crush corruption, restore autonomy.
Voters, demand it; otherwise, freedom’s promise dies in sewage-flooded streets.
Story audio is generated using AI
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”.
If the Madlanga commission of inquiry can be extended to all municipalities in the country, heinous things can be exposed
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.
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The 2026 elections appear as judgment day, choose renewal or resign to decline.
Half-measures in service delivery and promises won’t cut it.
Voters must perpetuate the status quo or reject entrenched parties propping up this rot and demand multi-party coalitions with ironclad service delivery pacts, no more horse-trading for posts over pipes.
Professionalise administration: ban political interference in hiring, enforce qualifications for municipal managers and tie councillor perks to audit outcomes.
The government must act decisively. Ring-fence utility revenues, slashing leaks and prioritising infrastructure.
Empower independent oversight: let auditor-general reports trigger automatic interventions, with criminal probes for fruitless expenditure.
Restructure funding, more equitable grants, less reliance on debt and devolve real power to wards via participatory budgeting, echoing indigenous governance models where communities held leaders accountable.
Without this, protests will escalate into unrest.
Lastly, private businesses too must step up via public-private partnerships for infrastructure, but only under strict anti-corruption firewalls.
Fellow South Africans, this crisis isn’t inevitable, it’s engineered by leaders who forgot “ngoobani abantu?” (who are you serving?).
Demand renewal now: vote for services over slogans in 2026, petition for clean audits and hold coalitions to deliver key performance indicators (KPIs).
Pretoria’s decay mirrors the nation’s soul, restore it, or watch democracy erode further.
The imperative is clear: political renewal or perpetual protest.
Let’s choose renewal that will stick like glue on service delivery and job creation from all provinces.
Dr Sandiso Mahlala, Sol Plaatje University, Kimberley, head of department, economic and management sciences
