- As municipalities buckle under years of neglect, South Africans are increasingly taking to the streets, the courts and even fixing infrastructure themselves.
- A new GCRO report reveals how a slow-burning local government crisis is deepening inequality and eroding trust in public institutions.
- With protests rising and citizen-led action filling the void, experts warn that urgent intervention can no longer be delayed.
By Jonathan Erasmus
South Africa’s municipal crisis has been developing for decades, with deteriorating services and governance failures increasingly forcing residents to turn to protests, litigation and community-led initiatives to demand action, according to a new report.
Published this month by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO), the report found that the consequences of municipal dysfunction were most visible in townships, informal settlements and deteriorating inner-city neighbourhoods.
The report said the current period, in which public awareness of the local government crisis is “comparatively heightened”, offers an opportunity to
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