TimesLIVE author names structural causes of municipal decline in South Africa
South Africa’s municipal crisis cannot be reduced solely to incompetence, corruption or weak leadership, believes Imraan Buccus, a researcher at ASRI. In a column for TimesLIVE, he writes that local government is also affected by mass unemployment, inequality, patronage networks and the weakening of public institutions.
The author acknowledges that the causes of the problems include the theft of funds, the inefficiency of officials, the infiltration of organized crime and the use of public office for personal enrichment. At the same time, in his view, fighting for transparent governance alone is insufficient without addressing deeper structural problems.
Competition for resources
Buccus identifies the political economy of patronage as one of the key causes. According to him, positions in municipalities provide not only a salary but also influence over tenders, hiring and the distribution of opportunities. In conditions of mass unemployment, such access to resources becomes the subject of intense competition.
The author notes that in some parts of the country, particularly in Durban, competition for municipal council positions is accompanied by regular killings. In his view, under such conditions loyalty is formed through resource-distribution networks, while the administrative capacity of municipalities is subordinated to political survival.
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Citizen participation and institutions
Buccus considers depoliticization of society and the decline of collective institutions to be two other factors. He writes that for many citizens, participation in governance is limited to voting once every few years, while space for civil society is often provided to non-governmental organizations rather than membership-based associations.
In the author’s view, the weakening of trade unions, civic organizations and other forms of collective life reduces society’s ability to hold political elites accountable. He also points to repression against certain attempts at self-organization, particularly activists from Abahlali baseMjondolo and communities facing problems related to mineral extraction.
Among the necessary steps, Buccus names strengthening procurement rules, professionalizing the administration, limiting opportunities for rent-seeking, supporting ethical trade unions and creating new forms of public participation. He emphasizes that responses are needed both to ethical violations and to the political and socioeconomic causes of the crisis.
