Wednesday, 4 November, is polling day in South Africa’s Local Government Elections, and the ballot in voters’ hands covers the services no household can do without: water, sanitation and electricity. President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged every registered voter to take part, framing the vote as a practical tool for building safer, cleaner communities and strengthening the tier of government closest to people’s daily lives.
The scale is considerable. Nearly 137 000 candidates and 546 political parties appear on the ballot, which the President, writing in his weekly newsletter to the nation on Monday, described as an unprecedented breadth of choice and among the biggest electoral contests in the country’s democratic history.
“When we vote on Wednesday, let us strive for better, safer, cleaner and more prosperous communities. Let us vote for progress and development,” the President said.
The everyday stakes, in his telling, lie in what municipalities actually deliver. Municipalities are responsible for providing essential services including water, sanitation and electricity, and those services matter beyond the household too: businesses invest where services are reliable and affordable, infrastructure is maintained, and communities are stable and safe.
Meanwhile, a structural reset of local government is under way. The newly elected leadership of the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities, 44 district municipalities and 205 local municipalities will take office as government implements the Revised White Paper on Local Government, launched last month, which proposes reforms intended to strengthen municipalities’ ability to fulfil their responsibilities, improve efficiency and ensure accountability.
Money is the central fix. The White Paper’s priority is putting municipalities on a more sustainable financial footing through improved financial management, better revenue collection, reduced losses and tighter spending. “One of the most important developments is that revenues from the sale of electricity and water will be ring-fenced to be reinvested in maintaining critical infrastructure. This will ensure that our infrastructure is brought back up to standard,” the President said.
Service standards follow. The reforms propose compulsory licensing requirements for water and electricity providers so suppliers meet minimum standards of competence, and where municipalities cannot perform particular responsibilities, these should be assigned to another sphere of government or a capable entity. The White Paper further recommends measures to professionalise municipalities and strengthen administrative capacity, with appointments based on qualifications and competence.
The President was candid about why citizens should care. Weaknesses in the current system, he said, have opened space for corruption and patronage, including collusion between municipal officials and businesspeople to secure tenders for substandard services or services that were never delivered. He also raised concern about violence in contests over power and resources, including disruptions to council meetings and the killings of ward candidates, councillors and municipal officials.
“Sadly, what is supposed to be a democratic contest for the opportunity to serve communities has in some cases become a transactional arrangement. Some councillors who are ‘bought’ by businesspeople often put matters of procurement above the needs of our people,” the President said.
Government is working to address these practices, he noted, but citizens carry a responsibility of their own: to elect people capable of serving their communities. Municipal failures, he added, have contributed to declining public trust in democratic governance, and Wednesday’s vote is a chance to reverse that trend and rebuild local government as an instrument for development.
The broader democratic record, by contrast, gives ground for confidence. Every election since 1994 has been free and fair, the President said, and public trust in the Electoral Commission of South Africa remains high. At a time when political space is narrowing in many parts of the world, he observed that South African democracy continues to evolve and mature, evident in the strong participation of women in the electoral process and the proliferation of independent candidates. His full remarks were carried by the South African Government News Agency at https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/president-urges-voters-turn-out-local-government-elections.
He called on political parties, candidates and citizens alike to keep the vote free of violence and intimidation. Over the past few months the South African Police Service has conducted risk assessments, operational planning and simulation exercises, and the President said the service is ready to ensure Voting Day takes place peacefully and safely.
“Working together, as an active citizenry, we can make South Africa better. Through our votes, we can help ensure that local government is able to fulfil the promise that our Constitution has made to our people,” the President said.