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The tender that gobbled up Rand West City

A R76.18 million tender awarded to a state official in the ANC-led Rand West District Municipality has been exposed in the Auditor-General's report. This concerning pattern of…

Voting in Johannesburg’s outer west suburbs on 29 May, 2024.
(Delwyn Verasamy, Mail & Guardian)

The Republic must be rebuilt from the pavement up

As South Africa prepares for the local government elections on 4 November 2026, the African National Congress calls for honesty, humility, and resolve, urging a national…

Minister urged to rescue collapsing Gqeberha metro

Gqeberha, formerly Port Elizabeth, is facing a severe service delivery collapse due to mismanagement and political infighting. A veteran anti-apartheid activist is now calling…

Zille’s effective campaign in Johannesburg

Helen Zille, the DA's mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, has launched an unconventional campaign exposing the ANC-led metro's failure to provide basic services. She has lodged a…

Ratanda water protest deaths a tragic result of poor governance

Two tragic deaths in Ratanda, a township south of Heidelburg, during a service delivery protest over water supply have sparked outrage and calls for reflection on South Africa's…

How the Yeoville Bellevue Civic Movement is organising for change

What began as a campaign against prolonged electricity disruptions has grown into a powerful grassroots movement determined to improve everyday life in Yeoville and Bellevue…

Slippery slope: The sinkholes started forming in the township in 2021, forcing families to abandon their homes as they were deemed unsafe. A clinic and schools also had to close. Photos: Lunga Mzangwe

Merafong sinks but funds go elsewhere

Cash-strapped Merafong City Local Municipality has spent almost half its R2.6 billion annual budget on professional services while failing to service its water and electricity…

uMzimkhulu Local Municipality community hall. (@UmzimkhuluLm/X)

‘Hall of Shame’: R53m spent on a community structure that remains incomplete 14 years later

An ANC-led municipality in KwaZulu-Natal has spent over R50 million on a community hall that remains incomplete after 14 years, sparking outrage among residents who face severe…

Getting Ekurhuleni working again through delivery and accountability

A city that works is a city you can rely on. When roads are maintained, electricity is steady, water systems hold up, and the administration runs without endless delays,…

Free State Cogta MEC Sakie Mofokeng says councillors who applied for jobs in the municipalities they serve are resisting provincial interventions aimed at fixing dysfunctional local government, amid accusations that he is using Section 139 administrations to consolidate political control. (Facebook)

Free State councillors apply for jobs in the municipalities they serve, fearing 2026 election loss

Free State Cogta MEC Sakie Mofokeng says councillors who applied for jobs in the municipalities they serve are resisting provincial interventions aimed at fixing dysfunctional…

Across the country, communities are experiencing a steady deterioration in service delivery. Water outages stretch into days. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

When service becomes a favour: Reclaiming accountability in South Africa’s public sector

South Africans deserve better. They deserve a public service that works, that listens and that cares. They deserve assurance, not uncertainty that when an issue is reported, it…

DA eThekwini mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen. (@DeanMcpherson/X)

DA eThekwini mayoral candidate says black politicians are failing their communities

DA eThekwini mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen has criticised black political leadership, saying it has failed residents amid service delivery crises including chronic water…

Dysfunctional: Infrastrccture failure and lack of repair and upgrade, seen on a road at a taxi rank in Emfuleni. The muicipality is in a complete state of failure. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

Only God can save municipalities as collapse deepens

With only 16% of municipalities passing audits, South Africans face failing water systems, roads and governance. The coming elections test not only politics but morality,…

EFF wins Gauteng war over ANC

Nkululeko Dunga is back in the provincial executive after the ANC agreed to an EFF MEC post, marking a major step in coalition politics before the 2026 elections

What appears to citizens as poor service delivery is often the visible result of deeper institutional weaknesses.
(David Harrison)

Beyond mediocrity: Why South Africa’s governance crisis is structural

When institutions lack the capacity, coordination or accountability required to implement such programmes, the distance between constitutional promise and everyday reality…

Outgoing federal council chair Helen Zille. Photo:(@Our_DA/X)

Zille pledges 200 000 new jobs in Johannesburg

Joburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille said the DA-run Cape Town gained 69 000 jobs in the past three months while Johannesburg shed 49 000 jobs

From Left to right: Japhet Mathanda Ncube: Editor-in-Chief, Mail & Guardian, Angelo Fick: Director of Research, Auwal Socio- economic Research Institute (ASRI), Asanda Ngosheng: Political Analyst, Activist and Academic , Prof Christi van der Westhuizen: Professor of Sociology, University of Western Cape and Sanusha Naidu: Senior Research Associate, Institute for Global Dialogue

Analysts weigh Sona’s delivery challenge

At a Mail & Guardian post-Sona breakfast held in partnership with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Embassy of Ireland, analysts turned from the president’s reform agenda to…

Intent on governing: EFF leader Julius Malema talking to the media
about the party’s campaign strategy. Photo: EFF

EFF vows to ‘punish’ ANC at polls

Next local government elections will be a decisive test, Malema says as party launches plan of attack

The Mail & Guardian understands that mayor Dada Morero did not make it onto the list submitted to Luthuli House for interviews for the mayoral position.
 File photo: X

New deputy mayor post set to cost Joburg over R1.28 mln annually

Councillors approved a deputy mayor position for the first time in the city’s history, with 107 voting in favour

Some Randburg suburbs have gone more than two weeks without refuse collection. (X  Yamkeleka Manjeya
@manjeya_wendy)

Refuse collection uneven in Randburg as Pikitup and workers trade blame

Some Randburg suburbs have gone more than two weeks without refuse collection as Pikitup and striking casual workers trade blame over service disruptions at the Randburg depot