SISA NHLABATHI | Why local government matters more than many realise

South Africans are often seduced by the theatre of national politics. We become animated by cabinet reshuffles, enthralled by parliamentary skirmishes and consumed by the daily melodrama of personalities in Pretoria.

We speak with passion about presidents, ministers, party conferences in Ekurhuleni, coalition intrigues and ideological contests.

Yet, while the nation gawks at the grand stage, the taps run dry in our suburbs, potholes widen in our streets, refuse gathers on pavements, streetlights die quietly in the night and sewage trickles into rivers.

The most intimate face of government is not national; it is local.

It is your municipality that determines whether the water flows when you turn the tap. It is your municipality that decides whether the road outside your gate is navigable or resembles a battlefield. It is your municipality that collects your refuse, maintains your parks, processes building plans, keeps libraries functioning, regulates informal trade and manages much of the civic machinery upon which ordinary life depends.

One may survive poor national rhetoric. It is far harder to survive poor local governance. For a decade and a half, the local governance ratings agency Ratings Afrika has sounded a warning bell that many have chosen to ignore.

Municipal collapse does not announce itself with trumpets. It arrives through neglect — invoice by invoice, burst pipe by burst pipe, outage by outage

Its annual Municipal Financial Sustainability Index, assessing 107 of the country’s largest local municipalities, including the eight metropolitan councils, has repeatedly pointed to a distressing trend: a persistent decline in financial management, administrative competence and long-term sustainability.

This is not merely the language of accountants. It is the language of lived reality. When municipalities are financially unsound, pipes are not repaired, roads are not resurfaced, electricity networks are not maintained, wastewater plants decay, billing systems malfunction and creditors go unpaid.

While honest officials become demoralised, corruption finds fertile soil, residents lose faith, businesses relocate and property values stagnate.

Municipal collapse does not announce itself with trumpets. It arrives through neglect — invoice by invoice, burst pipe by burst pipe, outage by outage.

The Western Cape example

Broken down provincially, the Western Cape has consistently distinguished itself as home to many of the best-performing municipalities in the Republic. Whatever one’s political sympathies, facts deserve respect.

A considerable number of municipalities in that province demonstrate adequate levels of financial sustainability, allowing them the fiscal capacity to deliver services, develop infrastructure and build reserves to absorb shocks.

That last point is often neglected. Good governance is not merely about surviving sunny weather. It is about resilience when storms come.

During the 2024/2025 financial year, the Western Cape budgeted spending about R2,860.00 per person on capital expenditure. Gauteng, by contrast, stood at roughly R1,055.00 per person. This is in the economic heartland of South Africa, a province grappling with water insecurity, ageing infrastructure, congestion, rapid urbanisation and immense service pressure.

One may grandly debate geopolitics over dinner, but if the drains outside your home are blocked, the discussion soon acquires a different urgency

Such a disparity ought to provoke serious national reflection. Capital expenditure is not glamorous. It does not sing campaign songs. It does not trend on social media. It does not fill stadiums. Yet capex is civilisation in spreadsheet form. It is reservoirs, substations, roads, clinics, stormwater systems, fleet upgrades, broadband networks and future capacity.

A municipality that neglects capital expenditure is eating its seed corn. To be clear, no province is perfect and no municipality should be placed beyond criticism. Yet where there are examples of relative competence, they ought to be studied rather than dismissed. Pride has bankrupted many institutions. Humility can still save some.

Why this matters to every household

There remains a curious tendency among voters to treat local elections as secondary contests. Turnout is often lower; interest is thinner; analysis is shallower. Some use local elections merely to “send a message” about national politics.

This is a costly misunderstanding. Local government is the tier of state closest to your front door. It influences your safety, convenience, property value, transport time, household costs and quality of life more directly than many realise.

One may grandly debate geopolitics over dinner, but if the drains outside your home are blocked, the discussion soon acquires a different urgency.

The national government’s intervention

Recognising the seriousness of municipal decline, the national government has sought to intervene through Operation Vulindlela, including the creation of a performance-based incentive grant reportedly worth R54bn over six years, initially targeted at the eight metropolitan municipalities.

The purpose is sensible enough: incentivise reform in three crucial municipal trading services — electricity, water and sanitation.

These are not peripheral functions. They are the bloodstream of any modern city.

The reform model contemplates city enterprises operating as standalone sustainable units, led by professional executives and managed with the discipline one might expect from listed companies. In theory, this introduces accountability, technical competence and clearer financial controls.

One should not oppose professionalism merely because it sounds corporate. Yet structure alone is never salvation.

South Africa has learnt repeatedly that elegant organisational charts do not guarantee competent execution. One may create boards, committees, entities, agencies, task teams and strategic frameworks in abundance. If leadership is weak, ethics absent, procurement compromised and accountability evasive, failure merely receives a new logo.

Johannesburg offers a cautionary tale. It possesses immense assets, extraordinary economic potential and sophisticated institutional architecture. Yet residents know too well that formal structures do not automatically translate into clean streets, stable water supply or dependable service delivery.

Perhaps the most useful way to think about democracy is this: South Africa is a public company, and its citizens are the shareholders. We do not own equal wealth, but we do own equal votes

The issue is not only design. It is stewardship. Perhaps the most useful way to think about democracy is this: South Africa is a public company, and its citizens are the shareholders. We do not own equal wealth, but we do own equal votes. Every election is an annual general meeting of the Republic. We are invited periodically to decide whether the board should be retained, reprimanded or replaced.

Too many citizens speak as though politics is weather — something that merely happens to them. It is not weather. It is governance. Governance is human. Human decisions can be changed by human choices. The ballot paper remains the most peaceful instrument of correction yet devised.

Cynicism is a luxury we cannot afford

Some will say voting changes nothing. This sentiment is fashionable, but often intellectually lazy. If voting changed nothing, political parties would not spend fortunes trying to persuade, manipulate or mobilise voters.

If voting changed nothing, coalitions would not be negotiated with feverish intensity. If voting changed nothing, campaign machinery would not descend upon communities every election season. If voting changed nothing, no one would care whether you stayed at home. Apathy is not rebellion; it is surrender dressed as sophistication.

To abstain because one dislikes all options may feel morally pure, but drains do not unblock themselves through philosophical disappointment. Water systems are not repaired by cynicism. Streetlights do not return because one posted a clever complaint online.

Democracy is imperfect because people are imperfect. Yet imperfect participation remains superior to elegant disengagement.

Vote on performance, not poetry

The forthcoming local government elections must be approached with maturity. Citizens should vote neither tribally nor sentimentally. They should vote empirically. Do not be hypnotised by slogans. And equally, do not reject competence because of prejudice. Vote as a citizen, not as a captive.

South Africa remains a country of immense possibility. We possess talent, resources, strategic geography, deep constitutional architecture and resilient people. Yet nations are not built by potential alone. They are built by functioning institutions.

The municipality is where the republic either works or fails in practice.

The coming local elections are therefore not minor contests. They are neighbourhood referendums on civilisation itself. This is where citizens decide whether decline shall continue by inertia or whether renewal shall begin by intention.

Local government matters more than many realise because it is where life is actually lived.

• Nhlabathi is a legal practitioner with interests in entrepreneurship, business development and public affairs.

Sowetan