Daily Maverick editor-in-chief calls for change in South African cities
In South Africa, Daily Maverick editor-in-chief Gillian Green, speaking at the annual The Gathering event on September 11, 2026, called for an immediate and sustained change of course in the governance of the country’s cities and towns. According to her, residents of many localities do not know each day whether they will have water, electricity, waste collection, emergency services, passable roads and functioning traffic lights.
Green said that some residents are forced to pay companies additionally for services that municipalities do not provide. She also said that none of the country’s eight metropolitan municipalities received a clean audit for the 2024/25 financial year.
Accountability of authorities and communities
To rectify the situation, Green said, efforts are needed from all sectors of society. She called on representatives of government and business to act transparently, in the public interest and to be accountable. Civil society organizations, in her view, should be visible participants in the process, while residents should engage more actively in the life of their communities.
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Green also drew attention to the local elections scheduled for November 4 and urged residents to use their vote.
The role of journalism
Green said that the media must provide citizens with reliable information and cover successful practices and problems in local governance regardless of the political forces in power. She cited examples of the publication’s reporting on documents left in the abandoned Metro Centre in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, the condition of the waterfront in Gqeberha, and decisions of the Municipal Planning Tribunal in Cape Town.
She separately mentioned journalist Estelle Ellis, who died in August. According to Green, Ellis described the approach journalists need as a “lion-mosquito”: a lion that protects the defenseless, and a mosquito that does not leave influential people alone until they can no longer ignore it.
