By Lebone Rodah Mosima
Government plans to curb political interference in municipal appointments and step in earlier at failing councils as it begins implementing a rewrite of the 1998 White Paper on Local Government, the framework that has guided the sector for almost three decades.
Deputy Cooperative Governance (Cogta) Minister Namane Masemola said on Tuesday that the revised White Paper would shift government away from repeatedly trying to rescue individual failing municipalities towards reforming the system that allows failure to persist.
Cabinet approved the revised paper on 23 September. It also endorsed a time-bound Transition Management Body and a phased, whole-of-government implementation programme, jointly led by Cogta, National Treasury and the Presidency.
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Speaking during a public lecture at the University of Pretoria, Masemola set out reforms aimed at separating politics from administration, professionalising municipal administrations and allowing government to intervene before councils reach the point of collapse.
“The WPLG reforms the entire local government system, not just individual failing municipalities or the local government sphere,” the presentation said.
Among the proposals are a ban on political interference in municipal appointments, procurement and operations, stronger consequences for corruption and interference, and a requirement that councillors stay out of supply-chain management.
Senior municipal appointments would have to be merit- and competency-based, transparent and resistant to political manipulation. The White Paper also proposes rebuilding technical capacity in engineering, finance, planning, infrastructure, procurement, information and communications technology, data and asset management.
Minister’s comments
The proposals follow comments by Cogta Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa days that government intends to change how senior municipal officials are appointed.
Hlabisa told SABC News last week that the framework would be implemented immediately. He said President Cyril Ramaphosa was scheduled to launch the revised White Paper on 22 October, and that a transition management body would then roll it out. He said the policy would help raise competency levels among councillors, and has previously said cadre deployment must end if municipalities are to survive.
In a separate interview, reported by EWN on Monday, Hlabisa said government wanted to intervene earlier in recruitment by checking whether advertisements for senior municipal posts complied with requirements before appointments were made. He linked weak municipal governance and financial management in part to appointments made on political or personal grounds rather than competence.
“Immediate” implementation will be phased. Cogta has said it will first develop a 90-day Transition Plan, and describes the 4 November local government elections as a transition point for carrying the White Paper into the new municipal term. EWN reported that the reforms are to be rolled out after the elections.
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A system under strain
The revised White Paper comes as Cogta warns that municipal failure is spreading.
“Municipal failure is no longer confined to isolated cases. In too many places, residents experience the consequences of a system under severe strain,” the presentation said.
It identified unreliable water and electricity, sewage spills, deteriorating roads, uncollected refuse, unsafe public spaces, inaccurate billing and unanswered complaints among the problems confronting residents. Municipalities themselves are struggling with financial distress, unpaid bulk accounts, unlawful expenditure, low revenue collection, deferred maintenance and weak technical capability.
“The longer reform is delayed, the greater the cost to residents, public health, local economies and the national fiscus,” the presentation said.
The department described a reinforcing cycle of failure. It starts with weak political governance and instability, which leads to politicised, unstable or incapable administrations.
That is followed by weak financial control, procurement and revenue management, deferred maintenance and infrastructure decline, increasingly unreliable and unaffordable services, and declining public trust and payment levels.
The result is deeper financial and institutional instability. Political interference, fragmented regulation, unclear responsibilities, uneven provincial capacity, delayed interventions and weak enforcement reinforce the cycle.
Earlier intervention
One of the most significant changes is a move towards earlier intervention when municipalities begin showing signs of distress. Instead of waiting until failure is entrenched, the framework envisages four stages of response: early support, a recovery partnership, formal intervention and, where necessary, enforcement or escalation.
This forms part of five broad shifts: system-wide reform, practical differentiation between municipalities, earlier intervention, binding intergovernmental commitments and a managed transition from policy to implementation.
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The differentiation model would move away from treating all municipalities alike, allowing structures, functions, finances and support to reflect differences in geography, settlement patterns, local economies and institutional capability.
The White Paper also proposes binding intergovernmental development agreements where programmes require different spheres of government to coordinate budgets and delivery.
Cogta said South Africa needed a local government system that protected democratic government while delivering reliable and affordable services, maintaining infrastructure, supporting economic development and responding to communities before institutional failure took hold. The outcome, the presentation said, is “a capable, developmental, ethical and responsive local government system”.
78 proposals
The revised White Paper contains 78 high-level policy proposals across 10 chapters. They cover institutional design, intergovernmental relations and cooperative governance, the political system and accountability, municipal administration, citizen and community relations, traditional and Khoi-San leadership, municipal finance, infrastructure and services, spatial transformation, economic growth and climate resilience, and an implementation mechanism.
Municipal finance reforms include changes to billing, revenue collection, tariff design and property rates administration, as well as the municipal electricity financial model and Eskom debt arrangements.
The White Paper also proposes reforming equitable-share and conditional-grant arrangements and strengthening fiscal early-warning, recovery and intervention mechanisms.
For infrastructure, it proposes stronger technical capability and provider accountability, differentiated service standards that protect minimum access and affordability, and asset management, maintenance and renewal at the centre of municipal governance.
Community participation would also be overhauled, with more structured partnerships between municipalities, residents, businesses, labour and civil society, and with complaints, petitions, billing disputes and social accountability becoming core municipal functions.
Transition machinery
Implementation will be coordinated through the Transition Management Body.
“A time-bound Transition Management Body coordinates implementation without taking over statutory authority or delivery responsibility,” the presentation said.
