Municipal Meltdown: Tsakani Maluleke Warns of South Africa’s Local Governance Failure

South Africa’s municipal crisis is no longer a quiet undercurrent. It is a profound systemic failure. Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke’s 2022 to 2023 audit report is a damning indictment of local governance, revealing that out of 257 municipalities, a mere 34, just 13 per cent, achieved clean audits. Behind this statistic lies a broken apparatus of financial mismanagement, lack of accountability, and entrenched ethical failures. “The system is stuck,” Maluleke stated, urging immediate leadership intervention across all tiers of government.

Leadership in Crisis: Accountability Deferred

At the centre of this dysfunction is a failure of political leadership. Mayors, council speakers, and municipal executives, legally mandated by the Municipal Systems Act and the Municipal Financial Management Act, consistently neglect their statutory responsibilities. The approval of unfunded budgets, lack of expenditure oversight, and the absence of consequence management have turned many municipalities into debt-ridden entities. Maluleke insists that ethical governance must not be optional. Municipal leaders must be competent and accountable.

Misleading Audit Opinions: Papering Over the Cracks

The report shows that 110 municipalities received unqualified audit opinions suggesting clean books. However, many reached this benchmark only after auditors corrected material misstatements, revealing fragile internal financial controls. Year-on-year stagnation in audit outcomes, without action on prior recommendations, reflects a toxic culture of impunity rather than real progress.

Collapse in Practice: Case Studies of Municipal Failure

1. Emfuleni Local Municipality, Gauteng

A sobering example of systemic collapse, Emfuleni continues to spiral. Eskom seized R645 million worth of fixed assets in 2018 due to non-payment. By 2019, irregular expenditure topped R1.1 billion, without any accountability from senior managers or its committee for public accounts. Infrastructure failures persist. Residents face electricity blackouts lasting weeks, an R8 billion Eskom debt, and over R1 billion lost annually due to water leaks. Schools suffer too. Iphahlolleng Intermediary School has been without electricity for five years, and Tshepong Secondary, built in 2024, remains unopened due to missing water and power connections.

2. Nketoana Local Municipality, Free State

Corruption is rife. Despite advertising 43 vacancies in 2025, Nketoana hired 71 individuals, many unvetted friends and relatives of municipal staff. A top official was charged with fraud for approving a car allowance for an unqualified worker. These acts underline a pattern of abuse, patronage, and impunity.

Infrastructure Grants Wasted: The Paradox of Neglect

Billions in conditional infrastructure grants are routinely underutilised or squandered. Buffalo City left key engineering roles unfilled for up to 80 months, paralysing its infrastructure unit. In eThekwini, a 58 per cent vacancy rate in water and sanitation engineering undermines critical service delivery. Public infrastructure collapses while funds sit idle or worse, are misdirected.

Oversight Failures: When Watchdogs Go Blind

Provincial treasuries and legislature fail to enforce compliance or intervene until a total breakdown occurs. Maluleke illustrated this with the Free State. Municipal submission rates improved only after a former premier personally drove enforcement. Yet without sustained political will, progress reversed. This anecdote confirms a broader truth. Systemic oversight failure deepens municipal decay.

The White Paper: Can Professionalisation Be Realised?

The national government is drafting a new White Paper to reform local governance. However, Maluleke cautions against theoretical change. Only the professionalisation of municipal administration through ethical appointments, consequence management, and depoliticisation can restore functionality. Without enforcement, she warns, municipalities will keep ignoring reforms while still receiving public funds.

The Human Cost: 2025’s Lived Realities

1. Emfuleni: Daily Life in a Failed Municipality

Power outages persist for weeks. R561 million was spent on overtime between 2019 and 2024, even when employees were inactive, such as during COVID-19 lockdowns. Meanwhile, R636 million for infrastructure went unspent. In schools, collapsed ceilings, non-functional toilets, and lack of electricity expose students to dangerous conditions and violate constitutional rights.

2. National Fallout: Health, Water, and Economy

The Gauteng water crisis has left parts of Johannesburg without supply for over 86 hours at a time. In 2023, Hammanskraal saw 20 deaths from cholera linked to neglected water systems. The economic toll is significant. Businesses and residents suffer alike, with long-term implications for public health and economic growth.

Corruption and the Consultant Conundrum

Despite R1.47 billion spent on consultants by 215 municipalities, 59 per cent of financial statements still contained material errors in consultant-handled areas. Oversight mechanisms are failing. Wasteful, fruitless, and unauthorised expenditures are rampant. In essence, many municipalities have outsourced competence without accountability or quality assurance.

Monitoring and Evaluation: A Broken Compass

Robust monitoring and evaluation are nearly non-existent. To rectify this, municipalities must:

            1.          Implement Comprehensive M and E Frameworks: With standardised indicators and regular reviews

            2.         Build Data Capacity: Train staff and deploy analytical tools to track outcomes

            3.         Promote Public Participation: Empower communities to monitor services and hold leaders accountable

            4.         Strengthen Oversight Mechanisms: Provincial and national bodies must act before, not after, collapse

Without these reforms, policy execution remains speculative, and service delivery fails.

Conclusion: A Constitutional Emergency Demanding Moral Courage

Tsakani Maluleke’s report is not merely a financial audit. It is a moral reckoning. Municipalities like Emfuleni, Govan Mbeki, and Enoch Mgijima are humanitarian disasters, where sewage flows in the streets, schools are unsafe, and citizens survive without water, electricity, or dignity.

In 2025, with household utilities up over 12 per cent according to BusinessTech and SALGA, and municipal debt to Eskom exceeding R70 billion alongside R22 billion owed to water boards, service providers are breaking down. Simultaneously, over R100 billion is owed to municipalities by consumers, and no unified recovery plan exists. The entire system teeters on collapse.

This is no longer a governance issue. It is a constitutional emergency. If national leaders fail to professionalise municipal appointments, enforce ethical governance, and penalise incompetence, the state risks total administrative paralysis. South Africans are not statistics. They are human beings entitled to dignity, safety, and dependable public services.

Change must come not from reports but from action. Because the people deserve better. And time is running out.

Aric Jabari is the Editorial Director of the Sixteenth Council.