Dear OUTA Supporters,

South Africans are expected to obey the law.

We renew our vehicle licences on time. We pay our taxes. We settle our municipal accounts. We comply with regulations because we are told that it is our civic duty.

That is exactly how it should be. A society governed by the rule of law depends on citizens respecting the law.

But there is another side to that social contract.

Government must be prepared to meet the very same standard, if not a higher one. Compliance cannot be a one-way street. If the State expects South Africans to obey the law, it must be prepared to obey it too.

Increasingly, however, we are seeing a worrying pattern. Citizens are expected to comply with every law, regulation and deadline, while government departments, municipalities and public institutions repeatedly fail to meet their own legal and administrative obligations.

Consider just a few recent examples.

Government has implemented Phase 2 of AARTO while expecting millions of motorists to understand and comply with a new legal system. Yet important information about the independent Appeals Tribunal, including who serves on it, how its members were appointed and how motorists may exercise their right of appeal, was disclosed only after OUTA prepared legal action.

That information should never have had to be extracted through the threat of litigation. Citizens should not need to submit a PAIA request or approach a court simply to understand how government intends to exercise powers that affect their rights.

Transparency should never be a by-product of litigation. It should be the starting point of good governance.

Across South Africa, municipalities, and even the governing political party, have repeatedly withheld employee pension fund contributions to ease their own cash flow constraints. This is tantamount to gross misconduct and borders on theft, placing workers’ retirement savings and financial security at risk. Yet those responsible are seldom, if ever, held accountable.

National Treasury has had to intervene in municipalities that repeatedly ignored basic financial management laws, allowing poor governance and mounting debt to continue for years before meaningful action was taken.

Even something as routine as issuing vehicle licence discs has been disrupted by failures in the planning and procurement of licence-disc paper. Motorists, however, remain expected to comply with renewal deadlines regardless.

These examples span different parts of government, but they reveal the same pattern. When those entrusted with public power fail to meet their legal obligations, ordinary South Africans carry the consequences.

The evidence emerging from the Madlanga Commission brings this problem into even sharper focus. The Commission is examining allegations of criminality, political interference and corruption within institutions entrusted with enforcing the law and protecting the public.

This strikes at the heart of the principle that compliance starts with government.

When institutions responsible for policing, intelligence, prosecution and oversight become vulnerable to interference or criminal influence, the damage extends far beyond the misconduct of a few individuals. It weakens confidence in the entire justice system and raises an uncomfortable but necessary question: how can government credibly demand respect for the law if those entrusted with enforcing it are not themselves held accountable?

The Commission’s work is important, but South Africa has seen commissions before. Hearings, testimony and reports cannot become substitutes for consequences. The true test will be whether credible evidence leads to proper investigations, prosecutions, disciplinary action and lasting institutional reform.

The same lesson applies elsewhere.

The governance failures identified by the Mpati Commission were meant to mark a turning point for the Public Investment Corporation. Yet the ongoing instability at the PIC, including leadership turmoil, board resignations and renewed governance concerns, suggests that many of those lessons were never fully embedded. Once again, questions are being raised about political influence, weak oversight and instability within an institution entrusted with safeguarding the retirement savings of millions of South Africans.

Encouragingly, positive change is possible when evidence, persistence and public pressure come together. This month, Cabinet finally approved ten-year driving licence cards for ordinary motorists, a reform OUTA and other civil society organisations have advocated for since 2020. It has taken far longer than it should have, but it demonstrates that sound research, constructive engagement and sustained advocacy can influence public policy.

We don't raise this as a victory lap. We raise it as a reminder that government can change course when presented with credible evidence and when citizens refuse to accept inefficient systems as inevitable.

Too often, compliance appears to be something government expects from everyone else while treating its own legal responsibilities, transparency obligations and administrative duties as optional.

Government must exercise public power lawfully, transparently and accountably. That also means ensuring there are real consequences for officials and leaders who fail to act in the public interest. Public confidence is not built by demanding compliance. It is built by demonstrating it.

These are not unreasonable expectations. They are the foundations of a constitutional democracy and the rule of law.

As we approach the local government elections on 4 November, South Africans will once again have an opportunity to choose the municipal leaders they believe are best equipped to serve their communities.

I encourage every eligible voter to confirm that they are registered in the correct voting district before election day.

Elections matter. They determine who governs. But no election can replace the rule of law.

Governments will change. Political fortunes will rise and fall. The principle that must remain constant is that those who exercise public power are bound by the same laws they expect every South African to obey.

That is why independent oversight matters. It is why organisations like OUTA, together with the courts, investigative journalists, Chapter 9 institutions and active citizens, play such an important role in protecting our democracy. Accountability should never depend on who is in office. It should depend on the consistent application of the law.

The stories in this month’s OUTA newsletter reflect that work.

They show why accountability matters, why independent oversight remains essential and why the rule of law must apply equally to those who govern and those who are governed.

To everyone who donates to OUTA, shares our work and participates in our campaigns, thank you. This month's decision to extend the validity of driving licence cards is a reminder that persistent advocacy can produce real change. Every investigation we conduct, every submission we make and every reform we help secure is possible because of your support.

Because compliance should never be demanded only of citizens. It must begin with government.

Stay well and stay warm. Spring is just a few weeks away.

Wayne Duvenage

CEO, OUTA