The 2026 local government elections will be a watershed when we elect new ward councillors and ward committees. There was great hype with the just held national and provincial elections on 29 May, which some called our second 1994.
For some reason, we seem to think that voting is enough to bring desired change, and thereafter, we Z the citizens Z can sit back and wait for the delivery of services. Or we think that the coalition government will be the saviour. We have left it to politicians to decide our fate, and why we capitulate to their whims is beyond me.
Sometimes I hear the argument from academics that “I do not vote because it will legitimise the current corrupt system,” or “I want nothing to do with politics”. Yet, politics have everything to do with you, every day.
South Africa has a three-tier democracy: constitutional democracy spells out the Bill of Rights and the governance framework; representative democracy allows the space to elect political leaders through the ballot, and participatory democracy calls for active participation between elections. Locally, this is in the co-creation of an Integrated Development Plan (IDP) with communities and ward committees Z real grassroots governance.
However, this process has not been without fault, with several officials using it as a tick-box exercise that makes a mockery of genuine participation that would bring dignity to contested spaces.
The worst scenario thereof is the poor performance of our municipalities, with the Free State as an example. As reported by the Department of Cooperative Development, all 23 municipalities in the province are deemed dysfunctional. It is not surprising that not one of them has managed to attain a clean audit from the Auditor General (AG) in the past decade. Further evidence is a Ratings Afrika report that shows the financial situation of the Mangaung Municipality is so dire that it is struggling to pay its suppliers on time, and was also rated the worst metropolitan performer in the Good Governance Africa rating for 2023. This is an inditement on the entire local governance system.
The National Development Plan (NDP) identifies active citizenship as the key ingredient to ensure that this democracy works. American playwright Eve Ensler reminds us that an activist is someone who cannot help but fight for something. That person is usually not motivated by a need for power, money, or fame but is in fact driven slightly mad by some injustice, cruelty, unfairness Z so much so that he or she is compelled by some internal moral engine to act or make it better.
Through my Great Governance ZA podcast, I found that there is no shortage of active citizens in our country. The past three years, I have conversed with more than 100 passionate people. In Bloemfontein, Boeta Swart’s organisation, Anchor of Hope, gets the job done; in the Winnie Madikizela Municipality, ethical leader Luvuyo Mahlaka runs a tight ship; and youth development champion and author, Frank Julie, generously shares his gifts and talents throughout the land. There are so many untold stories.
Activists are not just active during elections, but work passionately in concert with others to make the world a better place. And coalitions are here to stay; it is a natural consequence of the electoral system, says Prof. Jaap de Visser of the Dullah Omar Institute. Our future is partnerships; coalitions of people with the right heads, hearts, and eager hands.
Sometimes we will be tested and called to work with people that we do not like, agree with, or trust as author Adam Kahane puts it. Democracy is difficult work, a contact sport.
Voting or participation in elections is a first step, but I am afraid this is not enough.
Dr Harlan Cloete is a pracademic and research fellow in the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies at the University of the Free State (UFS).
