OPINION| Role of municipalities in South Africa’s Just Transition

By Zimasa Vazi

Municipalities are uniquely poised at the forefront of the South Africa’s Just Transition, given their constitutional mandate to provide basic services, encourage social and economic development, and to promote inclusive governance.

Local governments also play a crucial role in climate action, developing and implementing plans to mitigate and adapt to climate change at the local level, often through initiatives like green infrastructure, emissions reduction, enabling economic development, and community resilience programmes.

Yet, their actions are strongly determined by the national fiscal, regulatory and policy contexts in which they are embedded in, but it is at the municipal level where the real test of the just transition will play out.

Despite these responsibilities, municipalities must navigate difficult socioeconomic environments that are marked by a lack of funding characterised by financial constraints, ageing infrastructure, service delivery backlogs, and ingrained inequalities.

Our municipalities are foundational to the country’s service delivery