By Correspondent
A recent study has revealed widespread instability in South Africa’s Local Authorities with 32 under administration and 66 labelled as ‘dysfunctional.’
The results are contained in a report by Good Governance Africa (GGA).
GGA’s Governance Performance Index (GPI) “provides the most accurate, publicly available portrait of the state of local governance in South Africa.”
The report looked at all of South Africa’s 257 municipalities.
According to Business Tech, “the Western Cape had the highest level of satisfied respondents, at 43%.
“This is 9% higher than the joint second, Gauteng and Mpumalanga, at 34%.
The lowest score is in the North West, at a 19% satisfaction rate.
Citizen satisfaction levels with municipalities are notably low, with the countrywide average sitting at 30%.
“The 2021 local government elections saw a record number of hung councils, where no single party achieved a majority.
“This has seen a rise in political instability in many councils.
According to Business Tech this has led to national departments wanting to amend legislation which governs them.
“These shifts in the focus and functioning of many local governments raise the question of how South Africa’s existing municipal system is currently performing.
For the 2024 GPI, municipalities were evaluated from publicly available data under the following categories:
Administration & Governance;
Leadership & Management;
Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation;
Service Delivery (heaviest weighting).
