Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za
3-minute read
11 February 2026

📷 Pressure mounts ahead of Ramaphosa’s second GNU SONA as struggling municipalities demand urgent action.

South Africa is bracing for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) under the Government of National Unity (GNU), as pressure intensifies on national leadership to rescue failing municipalities.

While many initially believed the GNU would collapse within its first year, the coalition has remained intact. However, the deepening crisis in local government marked by failing infrastructure, financial distress and collapsing service delivery has placed municipalities firmly at the centre of public concern.

Communities across the country continue to demand action, not promises, as basic services such as clean water and sanitation remain unreliable.

Speaking to Radio Islam International, South African Local Government Association (SALGA) president Bheke Stofile said local government was designed as a “three-legged pot” made up of the community, council and administration.

He said these three components must work together, as communities are “shareholders of the business that local government is running”.

Stofile argued that the crisis is being driven by structural issues, including a funding model that allocates municipalities just 9.5% of national revenue. He said this model was built on assumptions in the 1998 White Paper on Local Government, including expectations of economic growth that never materialised.

“The economy has never grown,” Stofile said, adding that population increases have made the current allocation “very small than it was anticipated”.

He said SALGA has long warned that “the funding model is badly crafted, and you’ll never have a municipality that’s succeeding,” noting that SALGA has conducted studies and comparisons with other countries showing South Africa falling behind.

Stofile also pointed to the “hollowing out of skills” in municipalities, particularly engineering and town planning capacity, which he said is critical for effective development planning.

He described this as “a policy choice taken by central government,” driven by tenderisation, which weakened municipal technical capacity.

“Local government is not going to be turned by making speeches,” he warned. “It must be deliberately allowing local government to have capacity.”

Calling for stronger collaboration between spheres of government, Stofile said government must stop competing and start coordinating.

“We must not compete because we are not in the beauty contest,” he said. “We must complement, support, cooperate, and coordinate our activities and respond to challenges that people are facing.”

He referenced former President Nelson Mandela’s view that government cannot succeed alone, stressing that national programmes ultimately “end up in local government”.

Stofile welcomed Ramaphosa’s commitment to reviewing the White Paper and reforming municipal funding, saying SALGA would be watching closely to see how the announcement “crippled down going forward”.

He said the success of local government reform will depend on whether national leadership translates commitments into practical changes that restore capacity, resources and accountability at municipal level.

Listen to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up with Moulana Junaid Kharsany and Bheke Stofile.