Many South African municipalities are not functioning well. In fact, a significant number are in crisis and often fail to deliver uninterrupted services to businesses and communities. The intergovernmental mechanisms designed to prevent, detect and address problems that cause this are not working well.

As a result, many communities and businesses are at the mercy of failing municipalities. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that communities and organised groups are increasingly turning to the courts to force provinces and the national government to intervene. Just two instances where this has happened is Makana Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape and, more recently, Lekwa Local Municipality in Mpumalanga.

Even then, the light is not always bright at the end of the intervention tunnel. Some have failed to put municipalities back on their feet quickly, and in other cases they have relapsed into crisis soon afterwards.

That leaves communities and businesses with pressing questions: What do you do when your municipality cannot deliver a service that you have paid for? If the province and/or national government is not willing to step in, what other options can be pursued?

The most common response from communities is service delivery protests and rates boycotts, the effectiveness of which are debatable. Of late, however, there are residents and organised groups that have been advocating to have critical municipal functions, such as water and electricity supply, taken over by community and/or business groups.

Is this a sustainable solution? Can putting service delivery into private hands work in the 120 plus municipalities that are not functioning as they should?

Residents, municipalities and the law

As a government body, one of the fundamental functions of a municipality is to collect and (re)allocate resources. The Constitution requires that this be done in a way which prioritises ‘the basic needs of the community and to promote the social and economic development of the community’.

Organised groups, because of their mandate and composition, might not be better placed to promote these objectives. However, this does not mean that they do not have a role to play. They should go to court to force a municipality to do what the law says it must do.

The answer to the current problems in local government does not lie in replacing municipalities or taking over some of their work. It’s about every stakeholder getting involved in their local municipality.

There are many legislated opportunities available to the community, including local businesses, to get involved. For instance, section 4(2) of the Municipal Systems Act requires every municipal council to consult the community (yes, businesses too) on the level, quality, range and impact of municipal services as well as the available options for service delivery.

Unfortunately, the experience of local government over the last 25 years of democracy suggests that the business community has not been directly involved in local government enough to make a difference. It is very possible that some municipalities do not consult nor involve them, and when this happens, it is a mistake for businesses to fold their hands, as poor municipal service delivery will simply eat into their profits.

The case for a different kind of business and community involvement

Businesses are key agencies of economic development in South Africa and beyond. They create jobs, generate revenue for the national fiscus and plough part of their profits into social development activities. They therefore play a vital role in a country’s development.

Without an effective operational environment, their contribution towards this end is unlikely to reach its full potential. One aspect of this environment is shaped by municipalities – water, electricity, roads and such like, without which most businesses are unable to operate.

Yet we know that when people in power are left to do as they wish, the outcomes probably won’t be in the best interests of the majority. After all, the words ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely’ were first uttered over 100 years ago. Local politicians and bureaucrats will, for instance, not pay Eskom or water boards because they know that they can easily get away with it. Funds for service delivery will vanish year after year, as regularly exposed by the Auditor General, because they know that there is no culture of consequence management.

Should we be surprised when water is no longer coming out of our taps or when we cannot switch on the lights? We have allowed, consciously or otherwise, the situation to reach this stage. Local government is ‘everybody's business’ including the business community. If it does not tick, business is unlikely to tick as well.

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