CAPE TOWN - As political parties roll up their sleeves in campaigning ahead of the November local government elections, service delivery is expected to play a major role in shaping voter choices.
The FW de Klerk Foundation has released its 2026 Local Government Report Card, which assesses municipal performance and accountability across South Africa.
The report examines why some municipalities deliver services effectively while others continue to struggle.
Foundation's CEO and Executive Director, Dr Christo van der Rheede, said the strongest municipalities excel in four key areas.
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These, he said, include service delivery and infrastructure, financial management, governance and leadership, and finally transparency and accountability.
“For us, if a municipality succeeds in terms of aligning whatever it does with those pillars and making sure it fulfils its constitutional mandate in terms of the three very important values embedded in a constitution that deals with transparency, accountability and responsiveness, that's the differentiating factor between a weak municipality and a excellent municipality”, he explained.
The report also looked at the weak municipalities characterised by poor or weak governance, lack of transparency and accountability, as well as lack of responsiveness.
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Another crippling factor is the inability of municipalities to collect monies owed by its residents, whether it's for electricity, water or even rates and taxes.
“Obviously, if the revenue is not collected properly, municipalities do not have money, and then it becomes dependent on the treasury for grants. We all know that to a large extent, some municipalities don't even spend the grants on the services that they're supposed to receive that kind of funding,” van der Rheede said.
At the back of the report are questions that voters should ask as they head to the polls.
van der Rheede lists them as follows: Do you get the services you pay for? Is there ethical leadership? And finally, are those in power enriching themselves by abusing the municipality?
"People should not vote with their hearts. Sentiment should not in any way impact one's decisions. It's all about whether the necessary service is rendered and is there economic development in the region and to what extent? Additionally, is there job creation within the local municipality?" he said.