Councillors in South Africa should meet minimum competency standards before running for office

South African residents are paying more for declining municipal services, while those responsible often avoid consequences.

This is based on research from the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), one of South Africa’s most prominent non-profit civil action organisations.

OUTA recently submitted its final comments on the government’s Reviewed Draft White Paper on Local Government.

The organisation warned that South Africa does not suffer from a shortage of plans to fix municipalities. It suffers from a shortage of accountability.

It said the White Paper should focus less on diagnosing municipal failure and more on ensuring consequences for those who cause it.

“South Africans are tired of paying more and receiving less,” said Julius Kleynhans, OUTA Executive Manager.

“The real test of this White Paper is whether it makes municipal failure harder and municipal success easier.”

“Many of the problems residents face can be traced back to poor leadership, political interference, weak oversight, and a lack of consequences for misconduct.”

These problems include water outages, power disruptions, road collapses, billing disputes, waste collection failures, and escalating tariffs.

One of OUTA’s key recommendations is the introduction of a compulsory national councillor readiness programme before local government elections.

“Municipalities cannot afford five years of on-the-job learning at the public’s expense,” said Kleynhans.

“Councillors do not only represent communities. They make decisions that directly affect service delivery, municipal finances, and residents’ quality of life.”

OUTA said that stronger competency requirements should also apply to mayors, deputy mayors, speakers, chief whips, and MMCs.

These requirements should also apply to Municipal Public Accounts (MPAC) chairs and councillors serving in critical oversight positions.

The organisation is equally concerned about what it describes as a serious accountability gap in local government.

Municipal managers often face legal, disciplinary, and even criminal consequences when things go wrong.

At the same time, political office-bearers who interfere in appointments, procurement processes, or financial decisions frequently evade meaningful accountability.

“Those who interfere in municipal administration or contribute to financial collapse cannot simply walk away while officials carry the consequences,” said Kleynhans.

OUTA is calling for stronger sanctions against political office bearers who abuse their authority, including removal from office and personal liability.

The organisation further argued that residents should not be expected to fund municipal inefficiency through ever-increasing tariffs and fixed charges.

“Many municipalities continue to lose revenue through corruption, poor maintenance, water losses, electricity losses, and weak financial management,” he said.

The response from these municipalities is often to increase the burden on paying residents and businesses.

“Consumers should not be expected to absorb the cost of failure. Tariffs should reflect efficient service delivery, not corruption, waste, or mismanagement.”