DA pledges better services and accountable municipalities in KZN

KwaZulu-Natal does not need municipalities that make bigger promises. It needs municipalities that can do the basic things properly.

When a family opens a tap, there should be water. When refuse is put outside, it should be collected. Roads should be maintained, streetlights should work and communities should feel safe. A young person looking for work should live in a municipality that makes it easier, not harder, for businesses to invest and create opportunities.

And when government fails, somebody must take responsibility. This is the standard the DA believes local government should be measured against as KwaZulu-Natal prepares for the 2026 Local Government Elections.

Our offer is built around six clear priorities: professional and corruption-free municipalities, reliable water, reliable electricity, safer communities, clean towns and cities, and local economies capable of creating jobs. But manifestos only matter if they change what happens outside people's front doors.

The first task must therefore be to fix the institution itself. Municipalities cannot deliver when appointments are made on political considerations instead of competence, procurement systems are abused and officials face little consequence for failure.

The DA's plan prioritises merit-based appointments, transparent procurement, stronger oversight and accountability for senior officials. Public money must be treated as exactly that: the public's money. This matters because every rand lost through corruption, waste or poor administration is money that cannot repair a road, maintain infrastructure or improve a community. The second test is water.

Too many communities in KwaZulu-Natal understand the indignity of planning daily life around whether water will come from a tap. Our plan is to reinvest money collected through water and sanitation services into those systems:

repairing leaks,

replacing ageing infrastructure,

maintaining pumps and wastewater systems and

ensuring that technical expertise drives infrastructure decisions.

Residents should also be able to see how their municipality is performing. Information on outages, leaks, response times and maintenance should not disappear into municipal offices. The same principle applies to electricity.

Revenue from electricity must be reinvested in maintaining and improving electricity infrastructure, while capable municipalities should be able to pursue alternative energy options and reduce pressure on increasingly vulnerable local grids. These are not simply service-delivery questions. They are economic questions.

A small business cannot grow through repeated electricity and water interruptions. An informal trader cannot prosper where basic services do not work. An investor will think twice before putting money into a municipality where infrastructure is unreliable. That is why job creation begins partly with getting local government right.

The DA's plan includes reducing unnecessary red tape, supporting small businesses, making it easier to invest and providing informal traders with appropriate trading spaces and access to basic services. Young people need more than temporary opportunities that leave them in the same position when a programme ends.

Municipalities must help create an environment in which entrepreneurs can start businesses, existing businesses can expand and investment can create sustainable employment. Infrastructure is central to this. Roads, stormwater systems, public transport, electricity, water and digital connectivity are not luxuries.

They connect people to jobs and businesses to markets. Public transport can determine whether a young job seeker can reach an interview or whether a worker can afford to take up an opportunity far from home. Municipal planning must connect communities to economic centres rather than leaving residents isolated from opportunity.

Local government must also help build safer communities. Municipalities cannot replace the South African Police Service, but they are not powerless. Better municipal law enforcement, functioning streetlights, well-maintained public spaces, technology and stronger partnerships with community safety structures can all contribute to safer neighbourhoods.

The same applies to clean communities. Reliable refuse collection and properly maintained parks, libraries, sporting facilities and public spaces are among the most visible measures of whether a municipality respects the people it serves. Housing requires the same accountability. Residents should not spend years wondering where they are on a housing list or discover discrepancies they cannot get explained.

Housing allocation systems should be transparent, properly audited and integrated with other spheres of government. Qualifying residents should also receive title deeds as quickly as possible so that a government housing opportunity can become a secure family asset. We also cannot design local government only around urban centres. Rural communities, traditional communities, women, elderly residents, people living with disabilities and other vulnerable residents must be able to access municipal services and participate meaningfully in decisions affecting them.

Government must go to communities, listen to them, return with answers and account for what it has done. We know that no government is perfect. In uMngeni, under Mayor Chris Pappas, the DA has a record that can be examined against measurable results. Within 11 months of taking office, the municipality repaid a R10.4 million loan, saving approximately R450,000 in annual interest. Its Municipal Public Accounts Committee has also reported a 95% reduction in the irregular expenditure opening balance inherited in 2021, which exceeded R31 million.

The 2024/25 Provincial Spatial Integration Report placed uMngeni first in KwaZulu-Natal for household access to essential services, with a score of 93.75%. Nationally, the FW de Klerk Foundation's 2026 Local Government Report Card ranked uMngeni seventh in South Africa, with a performance score of 81.5 out of 100.

These achievements do not mean that every challenge has disappeared. They provide measurable indicators against which residents can examine financial management, infrastructure investment and service delivery.

That is the approach we want to strengthen and take further across KwaZulu-Natal: government that is prepared to be measured by what it delivers. The difference we offer voters is therefore not a claim that every problem can be solved overnight. It is a commitment to build municipalities around competence, accountability and the basic services that allow communities and local economies to function.

Local government is the sphere of government closest to people's everyday lives. It should therefore also be the easiest to judge. On election day, residents should ask every party seeking their vote the same questions.

Can you keep water flowing?

Can you keep the lights on? Can you keep communities clean and safer? 

Can you manage public money responsibly?

Can you create an environment where businesses can grow and people can find work?

And when something goes wrong, will somebody take responsibility?

Those are fair questions. They are also the standard against which the DA is prepared to be judged. 

Ngema is Provincial Leader of the DA in KwaZulu-Natal. His views do not reflect those of the Sunday Tribune, the National Media Group or its affiliated brands and platforms.

This is the third in a series of op-eds from major political parties in KZN ahead of the 2026 local government elections.