Dysfunctional municipalities erode public trust, Ramaphosa warns

By Thapelo Molefe

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a far-reaching overhaul of South Africa’s struggling local government system, warning that dysfunction in municipalities is undermining service delivery and eroding public trust.

Delivering his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday, Ramaphosa said the country’s service delivery challenges are symptomatic of “a local government system that is not working” and pledged urgent reforms to address what he described as systemic failures, weak accountability and political interference.

Quoting the Auditor-General’s latest report, the President said local government is characterised by “insufficient accountability, failing service delivery, poor financial management and governance, weak institutional capability and widespread instability.”

“In many places, local government administrations are weak and governed by patronage rather than technical capacity and merit,” Ramaphosa said. 

“Arresting the decline of local government will require our collective action. We are now taking collective action.”

Central to the reform agenda is a revised