Local government elections present a critical opportunity for civic rehabilitation

Across South Africa, numerous urban and rural centres have degenerated into hollowed-out versions of their former selves. The visual hallmarks of this decay are ubiquitous: cavernous potholes that seem to amuse rather than shame politicians, non-functioning traffic lights, persistent water shortages and uncollected garbage engulfing public spaces. 

This pervasive collapse is a direct symptom of institutional rot within local government. It is an untenable status quo that can neither be ignored nor permitted to endure.

The recent municipal audit by Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke paints a damning portrait of deteriorating financial health, which has systematically triggered widespread service delivery failures. The report reveals a grim reality: only 39 out of 257 municipalities achieved clean audits. Concurrently, South Africa bled R14-billion in water losses, shouldered R72-billion in unrecoverable debt and suffered R21-billion in electricity losses.

The decay is unevenly distributed but universally felt. The North West – which bears the highest unemployment rate under the expanded definition – and the Free State failed to produce a single local municipality with a clean audit. 

These stark realities directly erode the lives and livelihoods of those who live in South Africa. Dysfunctional municipalities aggressively deplete household disposable income by forcing citizens to bankroll private alternatives, such as generators and independent water supplies. Furthermore, this institutional failure applies suffocating pressure on micro, small, and medium enterprises. 

We have already witnessed the macroeconomic fallout of this crisis. Corporate giants like Clover have relocated processing plants due to municipal paralysis. When large employers exit, the collateral damage ripples through the local socioeconomic ecosystem. Smaller enterprises collapse, and communities suffer the devastating trickle-down effects. Local logistics firms and staff transport services vanish. Property owners relying on rental income from backyard dwellings see their tenants return home due to job losses. Predictably, crime and insecurity surge in the vacuum left by economic flight.

It is therefore paramount that South Africans do not approach the upcoming local government elections as a superficial game of political musical chairs. The electorate must treat the ballot box as a mechanism for institutional leverage, a tool to demand stringent accountability and developmental results. Effective governance fosters an ecosystem in which enterprises can be born and thrive. When reliable basic services are rendered, businesses are both able and willing to pay their rates and taxes. Crucially, it creates an environment in which residents can feel secure. 

Voter apathy

The dangerous trajectory of voter apathy was recently highlighted in a social media post by a resident tracking a ward that had rapidly deteriorated following a 2021 by-election. According to Electoral Commission data, a councillor was elected to office after only 2,000 people cast their ballots in an area with more than 13,000 eligible voters. This micro-election is a microcosm of a systemic, nationwide pathology. 

In 2021, South Africa had an eligible voting population of more than 40.6 million people. Of those, only 26 million registered, and a dismal 12 million actually turned up at the voting booths.

Civic duty must be reclaimed as a paramount responsibility. While social media outcry and localised protests are expressions of legitimate frustration, they are insufficient on their own. Elections offer the most concrete, structural opportunity to effect tangible change in your immediate environment. 

There is overwhelming evidence that robust civic engagement is the defining necessity of our current political landscape. Platforms like the Madlanga Commission have repeatedly illuminated the desperate need for institutional reform and transparency. The objective here is not to prescribe which political parties citizens should choose, but to urge voters to engage critically with their local realities and vote for viable alternatives.

South Africa deserves leaders who care – but that requires an electorate that cares. DM