By Josh Silbert
Municipalities have been continuously constrained by inadequate human resources, lack of skills, scarce finances, years of neglect and corruption.
South Africa is renowned internationally for its legislation on socio-economic rights, yet its government is also condemned domestically for its persistent failings.
South Africans are guaranteed a progressive diversity of rights by both the constitution and the body of international rights frameworks to which the country belongs.
Despite this, socio-economic rights have been systematically disregarded.
Most recently, Johannesburg has been facing severe water shortages.
Some residents have gone without water for almost three months and 86-hour cutoffs were planned over the December 2024 holiday period. Concurrently, Johannesburg is struggling with ongoing sewage contamination issues and increasing service delivery protests.
The responsibility for these failings largely lies with the municipal and national governments. The national government, which plays a key facilitative role, often opts for supervision and overregulation over
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