Outsourcing Governance: Local Government and the Future of Democracy in South Africa

Abstract

This article analyses the decline and near collapse of local government in South Africa through a political and legal lens. Given the paralysis of constitutionally envisaged political accountability procedures in the post-Mbeki period, residents and local businesses have increasingly resorted to courts and chapter 9 institutions, in addition to local organisation, protest and a range of direct actions. Courts previously afforded municipalities a significant margin of discretion in dealing with local government affairs and stayed out of constitutionally mandated political oversight processes, but have, since 2016, become increasingly interventionist. Some recent judgements go as far as to bypass conventional accountability processes altogether and to endorse community self-help, thereby potentially signalling an evolution in judicial conceptions of civic responsibility. At a political level, however, the future of local government is treacherous, given the loss of faith among voters.