Infrastructure reflects political choices.
Articles on Service delivery
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Failing water, power, sanitation and security services in South Africa are spurring households and communities to do it themselves.
Poor governance and incompetence plague South Africa’s public administration, particularly at the local level.
Past initiatives to entice public servants to take early retirement have done little to reduce the cost of government.
Many people feel unsafe in their homes, and when walking in their neighbourhood during the day or at night.
Austerity means choosing not to invest in citizens, contrary to the mandate of South Africa’s constitution.
The 2024 elections may be the tipping point that enables opposition parties to portray themselves as viable contenders in forming a national coalition government.
One interviewee told us: ‘Today our lives are being governed by a bureaucrat who hasn’t seen a Blackfella in their life or haven’t spoken to one.’
A threshold has been crossed, with a pessimistic outlook becoming more dominant than an optimistic one.
Parties must forego ideological rigidity and compromise for the common good, says Mpho Phalatse about making coalitions work.
The rule of law embodies the rallying cry for the fair and democratic exercise of public power, buttressed by law and fundamental rights.
The 2021 local government elections signals widespread disillusionment with representative democracy that only a sea change in service delivery can fix.
The network collectively applied ingenuity to provide essential care and support to vulnerable people.
The 2021 election will define for citizens important aspects of South Africa’s political future. What is the governing ANC’s future, and what was the impact of President Ramaphosa on this election?
Trevor Ngwane, an activist and academic, shows how structures that emerged in the struggle against apartheid continue in democratic South Africa, now in conflict with the ruling ANC.
The collapse of local government in small towns is beginning to affect investment in farming, and the ability of agribusinesses to operate.
The problem in municipalities is not that the wrong people are being chosen. It is that the wrong people are doing the choosing – not only of candidates but of what they do if elected.
After recent elections, South Africa are grappling with what the reasons are for the declining trend in youth participation in the 2019 elections.
The action plan offers no information about budgets, oversight, clear standards for measuring progress or accountability mechanisms.
Two authors unpack the fragility of South Africa’s political parties and why democracy is a lifelong commitment.
Top contributors
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Professor and Research Theme Leader of the Flourishing Life Research Theme, University of the Free State
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Chief Research Specialist., Human Sciences Research Council
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Research Director: Developmental, Capable and Ethical State (DCES) research division, and Coordinator of the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS), Human Sciences Research Council
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Professor of Law, University of the Witwatersrand
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Research Director, Development Capable and Ethical State, Human Sciences Research Council
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Chief Research Specialist in Democracy and Citizenship at the Human Science Research Council and a Research Fellow Centre for African Studies, University of the Free State
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Senior lecturer, University of Edinburgh
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Professor of Statistics and Probability, University of Sussex
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Human Sciences Research Council
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Director of the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance (IMFG) at the School of Cities, University of Toronto
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Political Scientist, University of the Western Cape
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Extraordinary Senior Lecturer at the School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University
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Director - Higher Degree Research and Teaching, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University
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Professor, UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance and UTS Centre for Local Government, University of Technology Sydney
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Design Theory and Research Lecturer, Cape Peninsula University of Technology