The Local Governance Performance Index (LGPI) report recently released by Good Governance Africa (GGA) 2024 has painted a bleak picture of the top Gauteng municipalities ahead of the May 29 elections.
The report isolated the country’s capital, City of Tshwane, and Johannesburg, citing maladministration and incompetence at their highest ranking.
According to GGA, the LGPI is meant to measure corruption at local level by focusing on four main aspects. These are pervasiveness of corruption in the public sector within local governments; pervasiveness of corruption in public service delivery; willingness to fight corruption; and presence and effectiveness of anti-corruption.
The report further states that both Johannesburg and Tshwane performed in a “manner that belies their major city status, with the two metros struggling particularly in the categories of administration and governance, planning, monitoring and evaluation, as well as leadership and management”.
“Cape Town, the highest ranked metro, scores well across the LFPI categories.
“The second placed performance of Ekurhuleni is worth emphasising because, like its Gauteng province peers, Ekurhuleni has had a hung council since 2016 local government elections,” the report read.
A political party expected to contest this year’s elections, Forum 4 Service Delivery, said it was deeply concerned, considering the fact that Gauteng was the economic hub of South Africa, therefore it must work.
Its premier candidate and leader, Abel Tau, said the metros performed “in a manner that belies their major city status” .
“This is the casualty of incompetence and maladministration in these municipalities, where the provincial government must exercise oversight and implement accountability measures for the residents. The very same residents who pay taxes,” Tau said.
“Our campaign as Forum 4 Service Delivery (F4SD) in this year’s elections is anchored around strong governance support and oversight for municipalities by the provincial government. This is to ensure service delivery to the residents of our province. As such, we will be presenting our solutions to the governance crisis and lack of oversight in Gauteng,” Tau said.
His party would outline “a better plan” for Gauteng in Soweto on Sunday, in what is believed to be the party’s manifesto launch.
Cape Town had emerged in the top books of Good Governance Africa’s latest LGPI.
Independent Media reported last week that Cape Town stands as the sole metro to achieve a minimum score of four out of five for every measure, solidifying its reputation as a paragon of good governance.
Along with the Cape Town Metro, Western Cape local municipalities dominate the upper percentiles of municipal performance in South Africa.
The province hosted 13 of the top 20 highest ranked municipalities in 2021, and 15 in 2024.
According to the 2024 GPI, Swartland Local Municipality is the best performing municipality in the country in the small towns segment, with Drakenstein and Saldanha Bay Local Municipalities coming in at second and third, respectively.
Meanwhile, The Star previously reported that the cities of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Cape Town have, according to the Corruption Watch report, collectively accounted for 71% of graft incidents out of the five municipalities with the highest number of corruption reports.
The Star