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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…

Former glory shattered: Residents attend a community meeting in Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, where the economic fallout of Mpumalanga’s contracting coal sector is increasingly visible. Once one of the country’s top-performing municipalities, it is now struggling with falling rates payments, growing arrears and rising indigent support applications as retrenchments increase. Photo: Ihsaan Haffejee
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Coal’s slow death in Mpumalanga

As jobs disappear from the coal belt, Middelburg’s economy is buckling. Unpaid rates, collapsing businesses and stalled transition support are deepening the crisis

Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero. (Lubabalo Lesolle/Gallo Images)

Joburg Crisis Alliance questions ‘quick wins’ focus of presidential working group

Civil society says officials should break the cycle of grand promises and weak follow-through if Johannesburg is to be rebuilt into a world-class city

Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said he had stepped into negotiations between Eskom and City Power and they had been unable to “find each other”. (Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Eskom not pulling the plug on Johannesburg, says Ramokgopa

The ‘challenges’ being experienced in the metro were no different to those in other municipalities, the minister said

Hesitant: ANC chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli. Photo: Darren Stewart/Getty Images

ANC may sink ActionSA bid to take Tshwane

ActionSA has promised positions to the ANC and EFF but the former ruling party is cautious of the city’s poor finances and service delivery failures

Public servants should forget about wanting to “serve as both administrators and political bearers at the same time”, said PSC commissioner Anele Gxoyiya. File photo

Cabinet ministers can’t fire directors general, says Public Service Commission

Civil servants need to be ‘insulated’ from politics and allowed to do their work

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. (GCIS)

Municipalities owe Eskom R78bn, debt projected to soar to R3.1tn by 2050, says Ramokgopa

The electricity and energy minister warned that the debt prevents the power utility from investing in infrastructure

KwaZulu-Natal premier Thami Ntuli.  Photo: Mbuso Kunene

Government owes KwaZulu-Natal municipalities R3 billion for rates, water, electricity

Households are battling to keep up with their municipal bills in the face of stubbornly high interest rates, according to Salga This content is restricted to registered users and…

Eskom acting chief executive, Calib Cassim said Eskom’s request amounts to R445 billion for 2025-26, R495 billion for 2026-27 and R537 billion for 2027-28, translated to electricity price hikes of 36.1% in 2025, 11.8% in 2026 and 9.1% in 2027.
 File photo by Freddy Mavunda/Gallo Images

Eskom fears more debt when relief package ends

Acting CEO Calib Cassim told the M&G there has to be planning for what happens after the debt relief ends

KwaZulu-Natal residents who are unemployed, financially struggling and hungry have lambasted Eskom’s proposed 36.1% tariff hike. (Dean Hutton/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

Eskom debt down R81.9-billion, but municipal debt and servicing outstanding debt affects liquidity

‘Cost-reflective tariffs’ and resolving municipal debt are needed to turn Eskom around