News24 | ‘This can’t continue’: Ramaphosa punts new govt paper as ‘bold reset’ for failing councils

President Cyril Ramaphosa launched a revised white paper on local government, calling it a “bold reset” of a failing system.

Storm Simpson/News24

• President Cyril Ramaphosa launched a revised white paper on local government, calling it a “bold reset” of a failing system that has left millions without reliable services.
• The white paper, drafted under Cogta Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa, replaces the 1998 framework and proposes legislative, institutional and financial reforms.
• Ramaphosa conceded that politicised appointments had opened the door to corruption and a lack of accountability.
• For more political news, visit News24 Politics.

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday heralded the revised white paper on local government as a “bold reset” of a system that has left millions of South Africans without reliable services.

Speaking in Boksburg, the president said too many communities have grown accustomed to unreliable services, deteriorating infrastructure, and unresponsive municipal administrations.

“This cannot continue,” he said.

The white paper, drafted under the watch of Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Velenkosini Hlabisa, replaces the 1998 framework and proposes far-reaching legislative, institutional and financial reforms.

In his foreword, inscribed in the monograph, Hlabisa said his department approached the research on a new model with the necessary “candour” to rebuild public trust.

READ | Cogta considers fewer municipalities as local government white paper review begins

The white paper sets a direction towards “renewing the whole local government system”, he added.

It comes at a time when municipalities owe Eskom more than R120 billion, with many also in arrears to water boards by billions.

Ramaphosa said the original model was built on flawed and now-outdated assumptions: that merging historically unequal municipalities with wealthier ones would produce viable institutions, that economic growth would strengthen revenue, and that the system would overcome the social fractures spawned by apartheid.

He conceded:

We underestimated how politicised appointments would open the door to corruption, malfeasance, and a lack of accountability.

The white paper urges sweeping changes to professionalise municipalities.

“There must be consequences when public resources are stolen, procurement is manipulated, or public duties are neglected,” Ramaphosa said.

The paper proposes five main reforms.

They include the introduction of a differentiated model that links powers and functions to a municipality’s size, capability and performance. Where municipalities cannot deliver, responsibilities would be assigned elsewhere, most likely at a regional level.

READ | ‘Every municipality must work’: Minister calls local government collapse a national emergency

The new model treats local government as a single, integrated system and strengthens the district development model to align national, provincial, and municipal work, according to Ramaphosa.

Ramaphosa said the new model will ring-fence revenue from electricity and water sales for infrastructure maintenance.

He said:

We cannot build our way out of failure if we do not maintain what we have already built.

The document positions local government as a partner in economic growth, emphasising the need for reliable services to stimulate investment.

Ramaphosa pointed to gains since 1994, noting that more than 90% of households now have electricity and 87% have piped water.

However, he said, the shortcomings of the present system were stark: in some municipalities, there are still informal settlements without amenities, while in others, the taps have run dry and local authorities have been unable to repair vital infrastructure.

The Cabinet has endorsed a phased approach to implementing the reforms set out in the white paper, supported by a transition body led by Cogta, the Presidency and the National Treasury.

Ramaphosa urged voters to make their voices heard in the local government elections on 4 November, and again lamented the fact that local government had become replete with incompetent people.

READ | Cogta braces for ideological tensions as overhaul of local governance policies begins

“A disagreement in council must never become an excuse for an unapproved budget, an abandoned project, or the collapse of an essential service.

“When you see ‘lona ayikho into ayaziyo’ [that this one knows nothing]… We can’t continue appointing incompetent people,” Ramaphosa said, switching to isiZulu.