(Photo: SUMMER)
Fewer municipalities will not only be better for South Africa, but will also prevent a democratic collapse.
Prof. Joseph Sekhampu, attached to the business school of the North-West University, says the South African municipal landscape is weathering and collapsing in a single moment of crisis.
Sekhampu says it is as if local government systems operate as if the Constitution simply requires their existence, without considering their viability.
He describes this system as one that survives on “fiscal bailouts” from the national government while basic services such as water and electricity networks collapse completely.
According to Sekhampu, the warnings of the auditor general – that only a small number of municipalities remain stable – are no longer the exception, but the rule.
Although adj. pres. Paul Mashatile recently emphasized in Parliament the stabilization of services through better coordination, Sekhampu believes that this approach reflects a deeper misconception.
The crisis is about more than its mere poor management.
Solutions must be found, but the pressure to effect improvement should not be the driving force. Deeper structural questions must be asked, warns Sekhampu.
He describes the current municipal landscape as a “graveyard of political optimism”. What was once designed as a tool for community empowerment after 1994 now reflects dwindling tax bases and looted administrations.
Prof. Joseph Sekhampu, director of the North-West University’s (NWU) business school. (Photo: Provided).
Only a small group of municipalities are functioning properly, while most are limping along with little to no income. In such cases it does not benefit a municipality to be decentralized and it is really just lip service to refer to such a municipality as “local government”.
“Municipalities that are so crippled and struggling cannot really govern,” says Sekhampu.
The solution, according to Sekhampu, lies in a deliberate process to reduce municipalities and instead establish stronger regional authorities.
“This will result in the government aligning itself with the actual economic corridors rather than historical administrative boundaries.”
Larger regional municipality will mean more revenue, create better opportunities for essential engineers and planners and make national and provincial oversight more efficient.
He believes that fewer municipalities will not detract from democracy. Simply insisting on the survival of each municipality to maintain the “local voice” is actually anti-democratic the moment that municipality cannot provide clean water or repair roads.
President Cyril Ramaphosa waves to ANC supporters during an election campaign at Kwaximba on April 20, 2024. (Photo: Rajesh Jantilal / AFP).
“Local democracy without these capabilities creates a paradoxical system where councils continue to exist, but government collapses,” he says.
He says that representation without the ability to deliver completely erodes trust in democratic institutions.
“South Africa clings to 257 municipalities as if the number itself is proof of democracy. Increasingly, it is now proof of democratic excess,” says Sekhampu. According to him, the core problem is the growing gap between the institutions that the country has, and the economy that must sustain it.