The 4 November 2026 local government election is very significant and going to be a watershed event for several reasons. It is the first local government election being held under the banner of the Government of National Unity (GNU) and the Provincial Government of Unity (PGU) in KwaZulu-Natal. The elections are also important for gauging the electorate’s views, ahead of the 2029 national and provincial government elections. There have been sittings of two major commissions of inquiry between 2024 and 2029, namely the Zondo and Madlanga Commissions, and the revelations that emerged from them were laid bare as part of the wider scourge of corruption that has engulfed South African society post-1994, and more specifically in the past decade.      

South Africa became a democratic state on 27 April 1994. Since then, there have been five democratic local government elections, and it has not been a “good story to tell.”  especially in the last decade of democracy. Local governments and municipalities are currently at the crossroads as a third sphere of government in South Africa. It has either to break that cycle of poor performance, limited openness, poor service delivery, corruption, and lack of public accountability that it has been characterised by for more than two decades, or alternatively it can rapidly transform itself to become facilitative agents to enhance the quality of life of the local citizenry, through the transformation of electoral promises made by political parties and their respective councillors. More specifically, the newly elected political leadership of the municipalities and their executive functionaries have to get back to basics, notably the uninterrupted supply of good-quality water, a continuous supply of electricity, quality public housing and decent roads, as espoused in the Constitution, the White Paper on Local Government and related legislation. All of these legislative and policy developments introduced post-1994 constituted the basis of the new local government dispensation. In mitigation of the lead partner in the National Government of Unity (GNU) and Provincial Government of Unity (PGU) in KwaZulu-Natal, which ushered in liberation in South Africa and also introduced a very futuristic local government system, the first ten years of local democracy and local governance were robust, responsive, and municipalities discharged their obligations effectively. The metropolitan municipalities nationally can bear ample testimony to that, and some of them were even top performers (with eThekwini Municipality in particular) at the continental level. There have been serious cracks and defects in the local governance system since then, resulting in the local citizenry becoming very frustrated and disillusioned and brazenly pointing out that they had had enough and were “gatvol” of the basic services delivered at the local level. The question then arises: what has changed to bring about this sad state of affairs, in which local communities have lost confidence in the local government system and structures, and, more specifically, the executive municipal functionaries?  This has been happening over a period of time since 2016,    

In the last three decades, local government has become highly politicised, where political parties have not put the best candidates forward for executive leadership positions in municipalities, notably Mayors, Deputy Mayors, Speakers, Chairpersons of Committees, Municipal Managers and Heads of Departments. The selection and appointments for these posts were not based on a meritocratic system or the best person for the job. It was based on party loyalty and seniority, race, and, to a large extent, economic circumstances (someone who was previously an MP, MEC, or senior public servant who has since lost their job and needed an income).  The incumbents selected and appointed did not, in many cases, have the qualifications, expertise, experience, or, more importantly, the passion for the job. There was no real accountability to the citizenry at large, and the parties did not hold these incumbents to account as well. Additionally, there was some arrogance on the part of these incumbents, given the modus operandi in making appointments and their ties to the ruling political party networks. This is where some political parties have lost the plot, and it will be some time before the citizenry’s trust can be restored.

There have been moves afoot in the past five years to professionalise local government, initially through the commissioning of the Professionalising/Repositioning  of the Local Government Sector Report (2018) by the LGSETA, a National Framework Towards the  Professionalisation of the Public Sector Report (2022), prepared by the National School of Government, and the SALGA-sponsored Local Government Professionalisation Indaba held in 2023. The professionalisation of local government, according to the National School of Government, is a deliberate intervention “aimed at building a meritocratic, capable and ethical municipal administration to reverse service delivery failures and financial distress”. These documents did not clearly spell out how the key proposals would be implemented in practice; consequently, the impact on local government functioning and performance was limited. This has not inspired the requisite confidence in local government among the local citizenry.  The President, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, has, in the past two SONA addresses, called for the introduction of a meritocracy in the public sector. The Public Service Act of 2026 has recently been promulgated and approved, and local government has since been incorporated into the public service. The Public Service Commission will now play an oversight role in local government, together with other state structures. All these interventions will have a limited impact unless the quality of local government leadership changes radically.  Additionally, there must be firm and decisive political and managerial will to transform local government so that it becomes the “hands and feet of government” in delivering effective and responsive service delivery. South Africa has no shortage of skills. The skills are there, but they need to be harnessed and retained rather than marginalised, as has happened in the past decade. There has to be consequence management for poor service delivery, non-performance, corruption and malfeasance at the local level, and this has to be taken to its logical conclusion through punitive action.                     

Aspiring councillors should be public-spirited and have a track record of working with local communities, ward committees, ratepayers/residents’ associations and other NGOS over a period of time. Additionally, they should be passionate about service delivery and addressing developmental backlogs; this is particularly important in a country like South Africa, given its history of apartheid and challenges in providing basic services. The councillors should be accessible and respond to queries. The emphasis cannot be on material benefits, in which political parties put forward candidates who have lost their posts elsewhere, are out of a job, and need to earn an income. Municipal functionaries entering the system in this manner tend to be arrogant and believe that they are accountable only to the political party that appointed them, and not to the local electorate.