President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced broad plans to reform local government to improve municipal performance in delivering services to the people. Delivering his annual address to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on the last day of the Taking Parliament to the People programme in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality, in North West, the President said the plan will fundamentally transform the way local government works and how it is structured.
“The structures developed in the past may not serve us anymore. we have to change how local government coordinates with national and provincial government for proper planning. We have to relook at the manner in which accountability and consequence management has been enforced in instances of non-performance,” he said.
He said fixing local government was among the foremost priorities of his administration because the government’s ability and capability to achieve all the national priorities will be put to the test. Local government is the engine room of development, and is where national policies and provincial programmes are translated into action.
“Local government is critical in ensuring that people have water and sanitation, electricity, roads, clinics and community services. Local government has a vital role in determining where companies choose to establish their offices, factories, shops and outlets. When companies choose to close and move elsewhere because of poor services, jobs and livelihoods are lost and the local economy suffers,” the President said. “When local government works, when municipalities are well-managed and deliver on their mandates, cities, towns and villages thrive.”
Nonetheless, despite all the serious challenges it faces, the local government sphere has been one of the most effective instruments of transformation in the democratic era. Municipalities have helped expand access to water and electrification to communities that were deliberately excluded under apartheid, including in the most rural reaches of the country.
“Local government has supported the delivery of millions of homes and helped built clinics, roads and other critical infrastructure, and it will be a critical enabler of the most ambitious infrastructure build programme in our country’s history,” President Ramaphosa said.
He also announced that over the next three years, government will be investing R1 trillion rand to build energy, water, transportation, logistics, IT and other essential infrastructure, a programme which is expected to create jobs, support local businesses and supplier development, and develop new value chains.
Emphasising the importance of a functional local government, the President said potential investors need to know that they are bringing their investments to places that have reliable basic services, are well regulated and managed, and that are safe and secure.
President Ramaphosa told the NCOP sitting that local government doesn’t just support development but is also the axis on which the country’s entire economy turns. “We are determined that local government must rise anew from the ground up, municipalities must be able to fulfil their role of building inclusive communities, expanding opportunity and upholding the dignity of all,” the President said.
As part of the planned reforms, President Ramaphosa added, government has released the reviewed draft White Paper on Local Government. The reforms will address the district–local municipalities split, which has led to duplication, extra cost and overlapping powers and functions.
“The aim now is to create a system where roles, responsibilities and lines of accountability are clear,” the President said.
The draft White Paper also proposes an overhaul of municipal billing and revenue collection, and the reform and tighten municipal finance system. President Ramaphosa explained that municipalities will be held to stricter account on how and where they spend public money, particularly on maintaining essential infrastructure. Appointments to municipal offices are going to be professionalised and there will be tougher consequence management for corruption and maladministration,” said the President.
He also warned that the days of patronage and factional politics in local government are over. “The days of those with political ambition colluding with corrupt business people to loot municipalities are over,” he said.
Sakhile Mokoena
15 May 2026
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