The South African municipality where residents have had no electricity for 10 years

Some residents in the Emfuleni Municipality, which includes the crucial industrial city of Vanderbijlpark, have not had electricity for over 10 years. 

Local government expert Dr Harlan Cloete explained that this indicates the municipality is failing, as it is unable to course-correct or respond to crises effectively. 

Cloete said that while Emfuleni is an extreme case, it is emblematic of a wider pattern among municipalities, where they simply do not have the capacity to act and deliver services. 

The Emfuleni Municipality has been in a state that experts describe as a “chronic crisis” over the past few years, despite interventions from the provincial and national governments. 

Emfuleni has been crippled by surging debt levels, leadership instability, and a historic lack of investment in maintaining or upgrading infrastructure. 

The municipality is increasingly becoming a burden on national departments and public companies, owing Eskom over R8 billion for bulk electricity and Rand Water R1.8 billion for water. 

“It is really sad to hear about individuals who have not had electricity for the last ten years. This points to the unresponsiveness of the government,” Cloete told Newzroom Afrika. 

“What this means is that those people have been raising this issue for a decade, but there has been no response from the municipality.” 

Cloete explained that incidents like this create distrust between individuals and the government, leading to heightened instability. 

While many of Emfuleni’s issues are long-standing, the municipality has exaggerated the impact on its residents by prioritising consumption spending over infrastructure investment. 

This takes the form of municipal employees’ salaries and the mismanagement of finances, with money not being used for what it is supposed to be used for. 

Cloete pointed to the example of the municipality prioritising spending on water tankers over investment in water infrastructure to create a reliable supply. 

This not only points to financial mismanagement, but it also indicates that the municipality is failing to engage with residents meaningfully when they raise issues. 

Cloete explained that all municipalities are required to have an Integrated Development Plan that sets out their priorities in line with residents’ requests. 

“But, in many instances, we have weak compliance, where people fill in attendance registers and take the sandwiches without meaningfully engaging,” Cloete said. 

“We have a compliance culture, where ticking boxes is more important than doing what is right.” 

The indifference of the state

In South Africa, municipalities are the most important sphere of government as they are what most people engage with on a daily basis. 

The country’s Constitution ensures that municipalities are largely responsible for service delivery in their areas of operation, including electricity and water distribution. 

This makes them critically important to the proper functioning of society and businesses, as they provide the basic services necessary to live and operate. 

“Local government is the sphere closest to the people. It is where they experience the love or the indifference of the state,” Cloete said. 

“Unfortunately, when you look at local government, it is synonymous with corruption and ineffectiveness. Something has got to give. There has to be a reset.” 

Cloete has previously analysed attempts by the national government to step in and improve the capacity of local authorities. 

These efforts have largely been ineffective, despite the state spending over R40 billion to capacitate local governments across South Africa. 

Cloete explained that the state is right to point out that a key driver of service delivery failures is a lack of capacity at the local level. 

This is coupled with a lack of capability, in which unqualified people are placed in positions of immense responsibility and fail to execute their mandate.

Despite the billions spent, Cloete said the national government has failed to ensure improved performance from municipalities. 

Cloete highlighted that the work environment remains inherently toxic even when government institutions and departments are strengthened, and employees receive additional training.

This leads to decreased productivity among staff and reduced efficiency in government services, which in turn stifles economic growth and worsens the quality of life for South Africans.

In other cases, unqualified individuals are employed who simply cannot do the job required of them to deliver services to residents. 

One notable example of this decline is South Africa’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs), which suffer from governance and leadership challenges.

“Evidence suggests that deliberate efforts were made to destabilise SOEs, with funds being diverted to benefit the elite,” said Cloete.

This issue has also spread to other government institutions, especially at the local level, where oversight is weaker.