What South Africans think of municipalities

Reports have highlighted that a significant number of elected councillors struggle with basic literacy and comprehension

- Nyasha Mpani

Water crisis: Residents of Johannesburg protest outside a Joburg Water depot against water outages that have been taking place in the city.

(Delwyn Verasamy)

As South Africa heads into its first local government elections since the African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority in May 2024, the message from citizens is unmistakable: local government is failing and patience is thinning.

A new poll by the Sivio Institute, the 2025 Citizens' Perceptions and Expectations Survey, provides one of the clearest assessments yet of how South Africans view their municipalities.

The report is particularly important because it focuses on local government, the sphere closest to citizens' daily lives. It is at this level that people experience the state most directly - through the tap, the refuse truck, the pothole, the streetlight and the local clinic.

Yet local government often receives sustained political attention only during election season.

The survey's findings are stark. Seventy percent of respondents rated their municipality's performance as low. Only 2% rated it as high. Dissatisfaction cuts across geography. Urban residents (67%), rural residents (73%) and peri-urban residents (74%) all express deep frustration.

This is not an isolated sentiment. It is systemic disillusionment.

In metros such as Johannesburg, recurring water outages, crumbling infrastructure and erratic service delivery have become routine. The water crisis in the city is not an anomaly; it is emblematic of a broader municipal malaise.

When municipalities were scored across 13 service delivery areas, including water, sanitation, refuse collection, road maintenance, housing, employment creation and crime reduction, every category scored below three out of five.