South Africans understand that public services need funding. What they no longer accept is paying more while receiving less.

This month's opinion piece examines the growing accountability crisis facing municipalities and public institutions, where residents and businesses continue to shoulder the financial burden of poor governance, weak leadership and declining service delivery.

We explore why consequence management, transparent financial oversight and competent local government are essential if public trust is to be restored. More importantly, we argue that accountability must reach beyond the balance sheet and extend to those whose decisions created the crisis in the first place.

Because rebuilding South Africa starts with ensuring that honest citizens are no longer expected to pay for failures they did not create.

Read the full story here