Municipal skills crisis raises questions about readiness of incoming councillors

With more than 136,790 candidates contesting 10,526 municipal council seats, questions are being raised about whether South Africa's incoming councillors have the skills and experience to govern effectively and fix the country's deepening local government crisis.

Political analyst Sandile Swana says a lack of governance, administrative and professional skills among councillors has been one of the biggest drivers of municipal failure over the past 15 to 20 years.

The problem, he argues, goes beyond elected representatives to the officials appointed to run specialised portfolios such as engineering, finance and technical services.

"The greatest and most significant failure in those municipalities has revolved around the lack of skills to run a municipality according to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa," Swana said.

Councillors must have enough knowledge to oversee the portfolios under their responsibility, he said, particularly on complex issues such as water infrastructure, road maintenance, construction and municipal finances.

Councillors who lack that expertise can also help appoint unqualified officials, further weakening municipal administration.

Swana said municipalities, on average, spend only about 66% of budgets already available for expenditure, pointing to weaknesses in planning, oversight and implementation.

But responsibility should not rest solely with individual councillors, he said. It also lies with the political parties that select and deploy them.

"The parties that bring these incompetent councillors into office need to be held accountable from branch level right up to regional level and provincial executive level," he said.

Candidate selection should go beyond popularity and political loyalty, Swana said. Parties should consider people with credible professional track records and the ability to serve communities.

He also challenged voters and ordinary party members to question continued poor municipal performance and demand accountability from their representatives.

Responding on councillor preparedness, DA representative Karabo Khakhau said the party has training and governance structures to prepare its representatives for office.

"Yes. We have an excellent Ready to Govern programme. The DA also has a fantastic governance unit that has been supporting the capacity and work of our governments over the years," Khakhau said.

The training covers governance, financial and administrative skills, she said, and addresses the knowledge needed to perform government responsibilities.

Meanwhile, analyst Professor Sipho Seepe said councillor selection differs between parties, which must balance voters' preferences against the skills candidates bring to councils.

"How parties select councillors would vary from one party to another. In doing so, parties would necessarily be guided by the need to respect people's mandate and their preferred choices against the skill set that the councillor brings," Seepe said.

He said training could close skills gaps, and the absence of particular skills should not automatically be assumed among incoming councillors.

"Councillor training would help. Skills can be taught. Voters have punished parties that failed to deliver services. One expects that the next crop of councillors would consider capacitating themselves to be up to the task. Training is in their interest," he said.

Parties should make training programmes attractive and take responsibility for developing their representatives, Seepe said.

"One cannot assume a lack of skills. The best way is to make the training programme attractive," he said.

He also questioned whether voters could reasonably be expected to assess the professional and technical abilities of prospective councillors before elections.

"Parties should assume responsibility in building capacities of their deployees," Seepe said, adding that voters were not in a position to gauge or evaluate the skills of prospective councillors.