Leaders fail us on local government, not the law

A new White Paper on Local Government must tackle the root problems and, most importantly, be put into action. If not, local government will continue to fail.

The core of the problem is failed leadership, not inadequate law or policy, says OUTA.

“More than two decades since the adoption of the 1998 White Paper, South Africa continues to face systemic governance failures, financial mismanagement, political interference, and declining public trust in municipal institutions,” says OUTA in a submission to the national Department of Cooperative Governance on its Discussion Document on the Review of the White Paper on Local Government.

“OUTA believes that unless these systemic issues are addressed with urgency and courage, any new policy framework will suffer the same fate as its predecessors. Reform must be rooted in ethical governance, professionalised administration, and a relentless focus on public accountability.”

What’s happening

The 1998 White Paper on Local Government is being updated.

The Department of Cooperative Governance has issued a discussion document on reviewing the White Paper (see here), which is open for public comment until 30 June. See the department’s webpage on this here.

This document is an insightful and detailed assessment of the state of local government.

The department intends to publish a revised White Paper in March 2026.

OUTA’s submission: leadership is the core of the problem

OUTA’s submission to the Department of Cooperative Governance is here.

OUTA’s submission identifies lack of political will, lack of ethical leadership, and lack of accountability as crucial challenges. “There is a pervasive absence of political will to enforce accountability and implement reforms. Too often, leadership positions are filled based on political affiliation rather than competence,” says OUTA’s submission.

The submission details key challenges in local government.

Oversight mechanisms exist, but are underused or ineffective. Political interference, cadre deployment and manipulation of procurement are rife. Municipalities are in financial distress, often due to poor revenue collection, rising unproductive wage bills, debt and mismanagement. The constitutionally authorised interventions by national and provincial governments have failed. Previous reviews have not succeeded in implementing reforms.

“Corruption, nepotism, and procurement irregularities continue to flourish in the absence of deterrence. Internal controls are bypassed, whistleblowers are unprotected, and law enforcement responses are slow and inconsistent. Those who need to enforce recommendations or hold the corrupt accountable are often kingpins in the process,” says OUTA’s submission.

OUTA wants the public to be more involved. “Although citizen engagement is a constitutional requirement, it is often superficial and tokenistic. Ward committees are weak or inactive, and communities lack access to timeous transparent and accessible information on budgets, projects, and performance. The methods of engagement are completely out of date and starving for innovative solutions,” says OUTA.

The submission notes that good systems exist, but are not implemented. “We have learnt that without strong enforcement mechanisms and committed leadership, these elements become mere rhetoric. Trust has eroded due to corruption, poor service delivery, and lack of meaningful participation,” says OUTA’s submission.

The submission refers to “poor attitudes, toxic cultures, and lack of capacity”, and calls for “fit-for-purpose leaders (including an ability to read and analyse financial statements), far greater transparency and access to information for the public, active community engagement, lifestyle audits for key personnel, performance-based systems, protection of whistleblowers, the linking of grants to performance, consequence management, and prosecutions and harsher penalties for transgressors.

The key question: How can South Africa do it differently?

It’s not the first attempt to change local government. There have been various policy reviews over the years, which all identified critical concerns and made thoughtful recommendations. Unfortunately, many of those concerns remain.

One of the key points the department wants the public to help answer is how to get a new White Paper to work. “What are we going to do differently this time around about decision-making and implementation to produce more decisive and effective results? If we cannot answer this question, then the WPLG98 review process will simply produce yet another report, and we will have wasted another year or more!” says the Review document.

What’s broken

The department’s discussion paper details the state of local government, and comments that “the debate, therefore, is not about whether the system of local government needs to be reformed. The focus needs to be on ‘by how much’, ‘how quickly’, and ‘by who’.”

According to the whitepaper, this includes:

• Implementation of reforms is poor, leaving the public cynical.
• The triple system (205 local municipalities, 44 district municipalities and eight metros) is cumbersome.
• In 2023, 35 municipalities were distressed and 161 at risk.
• In 2024, households owed municipalities R230.5 billion (74% of the total debt owed to municipalities). The Review document calls this “an indicator of the broken social contract”.
• In 2024, municipalities owed Eskom R58.5 billion, owed water boards R18.1 billion and owed the Water Trading Entity R17.1 billion.
• In February 2025, National Treasury listed 152 municipalities (59%) as bankrupt and insolvent.
• Municipalities can’t manage their infrastructure spending: over the last five years, they returned R17.7 billion in conditional grants to the fiscus as unspent.
• In 39% of municipalities, less than 1% of the budget is spent on maintenance.
• Indigent policies need updating, and “millions of households” that should be classified as indigent are not registered as such by municipalities.
• Ward committees are ineffective.
• The delivery – or failure to deliver – water is a key challenge.
• The Department of Water and Sanitation listed 67 municipalities charged with non-compliance with water and sanitation drop standards in 2023.
• “Unethical leadership and poor quality of political and administrative leadership are prevalent.”
• Service delivery protests have increased steadily over the last 20 years, especially over water and electricity issues.
• Across the country, 14 million people live in informal settlements, complicating service delivery.
• Since 2001, there have been provincial interventions in 145 municipalities, with multiple interventions in 17 of them.
• Municipalities have poor relationships with citizens.
• Political infighting affects sound governance.
• Municipalities bear the brunt of climate-induced disasters: some pioneer resilience, but most struggle to cope.

What can you do?

• Join your local residents association;
• Join a ward committee;
• Get involved in local initiatives;
• Vote for new leadership at next year’s local elections;
• Comment on this White Paper discussion document;
• Don’t support corrupt municipal practices;
• Learn more about your municipality’s budget and Integrated Development Plan process, and participate in those public participation processes;
• Demand transparency on procurement, and watch the tender result.

More information