{"id":103678,"date":"2026-02-13T11:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T09:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=103678"},"modified":"2026-02-13T11:04:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T09:04:23","slug":"pressure-mounts-on-ramaphosa-ahead-of-second-gnu-sona-as-municipalities-buckle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/pressure-mounts-on-ramaphosa-ahead-of-second-gnu-sona-as-municipalities-buckle\/","title":{"rendered":"Pressure mounts on Ramaphosa ahead of second GNU SONA as municipalities buckle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n3-minute read
\n11 February 2026<\/p>\n

\"\"

\ud83d\udcf7 Pressure mounts ahead of Ramaphosa\u2019s second GNU SONA as struggling municipalities demand urgent action.<\/p><\/div>\n

South Africa is bracing for President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) under the Government of National Unity (GNU), as pressure intensifies on national leadership to rescue failing municipalities.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Communities across the country continue to demand action, not promises, as basic services such as clean water and sanitation remain unreliable.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Radio Islam International<\/em>,<\/a> South African Local Government Association (SALGA) president Bheke Stofile said local government was designed as a \u201cthree-legged pot\u201d made up of the community, council and administration.<\/p>\n

He said these three components must work together, as communities are \u201cshareholders of the business that local government is running\u201d.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe economy has never grown,\u201d Stofile said, adding that population increases have made the current allocation \u201cvery small than it was anticipated\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said SALGA has long warned that \u201cthe funding model is badly crafted, and you\u2019ll never have a municipality that\u2019s succeeding,\u201d noting that SALGA has conducted studies and comparisons with other countries showing South Africa falling behind.<\/p>\n

Stofile also pointed to the \u201chollowing out of skills\u201d in municipalities, particularly engineering and town planning capacity, which he said is critical for effective development planning.<\/p>\n

He described this as \u201ca policy choice taken by central government,\u201d driven by tenderisation, which weakened municipal technical capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal government is not going to be turned by making speeches,\u201d he warned. \u201cIt must be deliberately allowing local government to have capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calling for stronger collaboration between spheres of government, Stofile said government must stop competing and start coordinating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must not compete because we are not in the beauty contest,\u201d he said. \u201cWe must complement, support, cooperate, and coordinate our activities and respond to challenges that people are facing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He referenced former President Nelson Mandela\u2019s view that government cannot succeed alone, stressing that national programmes ultimately \u201cend up in local government\u201d.<\/p>\n

Stofile welcomed Ramaphosa\u2019s commitment to reviewing the White Paper and reforming municipal funding, saying SALGA would be watching closely to see how the announcement \u201ccrippled down going forward\u201d.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview on The Daily Round-Up<\/em><\/a> with Moulana Junaid Kharsany and Bheke Stofile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 11 February 2026 South Africa is bracing for President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":103679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GNU-Ramaphosa.jpeg?fit=1022%2C575&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-qYe","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 12:40:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}