Gauteng: The Western Cape MEC for Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Anton Bredell, has called for a renewed focus on ethical leadership as the foundation for turning around the decline in municipalities across South Africa. Speaking at the Local Government Indaba in Gauteng, the MEC emphasized that without ethical leadership, no number of new laws or revised frameworks will improve service delivery.
According to South African Government News Agency, Bredell stated, “South Africa has enough resources in the system to meet the needs of our people. The real problem is corruption, theft and poor management. Ethical leadership is the only way we can restore dignity, trust and delivery in our municipalities.” He outlined several key interventions to address the challenges facing local government, including the need for a new financial model that aligns national, provincial, and local responsibilities with sustainable funding.
Bredell also highlighted the importance of stronger consequence management, proposing automatic intervention when councils fail to pass funded budgets. “In this manner, we will spend much less time in court fighting with municipalities and more time supporting them at the early onset of challenges. Also, make it a law that municipalities should spend a minimum of 8% of their budget on infrastructure maintenance of critical infrastructure,” he said.
The MEC suggested the creation of independent auditors employed by the National Treasury within municipalities to protect professional officials from political interference. He expressed concern over the difficulty in attracting and retaining qualified municipal managers and financial officers, calling for legislative reform to address this issue. Bredell also advocated for increased basic services for indigent households, arguing that investing in dignity will yield positive results for communities.
In addition to Bredell’s remarks, Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Velenkosini Hlabisa addressed the Indaba, noting progress since 2000 in improving democratic governance and service delivery. However, he acknowledged ongoing challenges such as institutional weaknesses, poor financial management, governance failures, and a decline in public trust. Hlabisa stressed that improved accountability, ethical leadership, professionalisation, and inclusive public participation are essential to revitalizing municipalities and ensuring effective governance. “The culture of no accountability, lack of transparency, political interference, and no consequence management is a major weakness in our communities, especially the underperforming municipalities. This culture must be stopped,” Hlabisa declared.