In South Africa we have rolling crises that sometimes ease, but more often, worsen in phases. We have been through multiple crises in recent years: Eskom’s power cuts, dry taps, problems with the railways and ports, the poor state of public health, crime, threats from the construction mafia, and extortion gangs threatening trucking.
Now municipalities throughout much of the country are facing multiple crises. As this will increasingly affect our daily lives, parties could pay heavily at the local government polls in 2026.
The crises have been a long time in coming, and there have been years of warnings from the Auditor General about the deteriorating state of municipal finances. But now there are signs of accelerated decline, particularly in the big Gauteng metros.
By contrast, the DA-controlled municipalities in the Western Cape are doing a far better job with, on the whole, high levels of delivery and sound financial controls.
Johannesburg now faces an imminent water crisis that may mean severe curbs in use. That is in large part due to inadequate maintenance and investment over many years, rather than to low dam levels. And last week Eskom warned the city that it would face power cuts because of an unpaid R4.9-billion power bill.
The ANC might be keen to bail out the city before 2026, but that would mean heavy demands from other similarly crisis-ridden metros in the country. It clearly wants to relieve the pressure on the city. The electricity minister has said an expert should look at the R4.9 billion owed to Eskom to see the extent to which it is justified. This is although a high court judge has already found that the amount is payable in full.
A significant reason for Eskom’s financial distress is the payment arrears of municipalities. Eskom’s debt owed by municipalities has been increasing, and success in collecting this has proved impossible. So: would the ANC bail out the city to relieve pressure on Eskom, or does it plan to rather bail out municipalities directly?
Multiple forces have come together to create municipal collapses. As city centres have hollowed out and urban grime has spread, property values have dropped, putting pressure on municipal rates. With municipal incompetence, crime has risen, water and power cuts have become more frequent, and with neglect, property values have further dropped.
Municipalities ruled by the ANC and populist parties tend to give way to union demands, but others, such as the DA in Tshwane, resisted these. The result in Tshwane was a very long strike by refuse-removal workers.
Municipalities across the country face large arrears in what is owed to them for water and electricity. Many of the customers won’t pay and can’t pay, but there are problems in cutting them off.
Johannesburg’s crisis is sometimes blamed in part on the frequent changes of Mayor over the past decade. Over the past eight years, the city has had eleven Mayors. But that is not the real reason for the decline. Other cities have had frequent changes of Mayor, but city managers effectively manage.
But certainly, the current ActionSA, Economic Freedom Fighters and ANC coalition is as poor as most of the coalitions that have ruled Johannesburg in the recent past. It was formed more from a wish to evict the DA from office, and so far it has been ineffective.
It is the state of the municipality that is really the problem in Johannesburg. Years of hiring on the basis of contacts rather than merit, corruption that is not prosecuted, and poor financial management are the real cause.
In Johannesburg, the municipality just does not seem to care. The city council cannot do much about it as it cannot hire and fire. It could do a lot more through better control of budgets.
You can see the mess all over town. Roadworks start, but are not completed, water gets cut off frequently, there are potholes all over the city, traffic lights are out of order, and traffic law enforcement is poor.
A road that was dug up near to where I live nearly a year ago has yet to be repaired, and this means that motorists and pedestrians are seriously inconvenienced. In Johannesburg’s bus rapid transport system, the Rea Vaya station remains half-finished and not working, and is surrounded by builders’ rubble and other mess in the middle of Katherine Street, one of Sandton CBD’s access roads to the N1 highway. It has been about ten years since construction began on this Rea Vaya station.
Louis Botha is chaotic, with robots frequently out of order along the entire stretch of road from Sandton to the Houghton Drive turnoff. A Rea Vaya station on Louis Botha is half-finished and not working after many years and is surrounded by rubble. It takes up a few lanes on roads close to an important junction, and has become a serious bottleneck for traffic.
There are often roadblocks to check licences and payment of fines. That is all very necessary. But these roadblocks create long tails of traffic. There must be ways to do such checks without such inconvenience to drivers.
The garbage in my area is usually collected on time, but there are some, albeit rare, occasions when the garbage is left for days.
Close to two years after a gas explosion ripped up nearly 2 km of Lillian Ngoyi Street, formerly Bree, in the Johannesburg CBD, the thoroughfare has not been repaired. The City fired the main contractor, and now only expects the street to be repaired in 2026.
This year there have been water cuts in most months across the city, and in some areas, these have lasted for weeks.
As it is becoming more inconvenient to live in Johannesburg, property prices in my area are at least two thirds off their highs of a decade ago. Many of my friends have departed in recent years to far parts of the country and the world.
So, what can be done to turn the city around?
The ANC may want to appoint a Minister of Municipalities to try and deal with the crises across the country, but that will fail. The simple and obvious solution is that voters have to evict parties that have brought about municipal failure, and put in place parties that have a demonstrated ability and want to use their available powers to properly manage cities. Much as problems are endlessly blamed on politicians, it is ultimately the voters that elected them that bear responsibility.
Parties that can turn cities around will still have a tough job. They will have to reorganize, shift resources and cut in many areas. That will bring them into conflict with the unions and cadres, which could cause serious disruption. They will also have to let voters know that people who do not pay will have their services cut off. Ultimately, though, there might be electoral rewards for parties that do the job.
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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