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The government of national unity (GNU) should issue binding regulations that designate proportional representation (PR) councillors in every municipality as the legal lead for section 153 of the constitution. That single reform would convert a dormant constitutional clause into a daily performance test for local government.South Africa faces unemployment near 30% of the working-age population. Youth joblessness is substantially worse. Annual GDP growth has averaged about 0.8% since 2015, according to Stats SA. The constitution provides the framework for a legal and substantial response.Section 153 requires municipalities to structure their administration, budgeting and planning around basic needs, on the one hand, and promoting social and economic development and participation in national and provincial programmes, on the other. For more than two decades that constitutional obligation has too often been treated as aspiration rather than the enforceable duty it is.The consequences are visible across the country. Infrastructure continues to deteriorate. Service delivery is collapsing. Cadre deployment has enormously weakened administrative capacity. Oversight mechanisms too often fail to hold decision-makers accountable. Local government has become a brake on economic activity when it should have been functioning as an engine of growth and a lure for fixed direct investment.The Motlanthe High Level Panel on the Assessment of Key Legislation & the Acceleration of Fundamental Change identified many of these failures in 2017. Its findings showed legislation intended to build a developmental state frequently faltered in implementation.Local government has become a brake on economic activity when it should have been functioning as an engine of growth and a lure for fixed direct investment.Poverty, unemployment and inequality persisted because institutional performance failed to match constitutional expectations.No political party in the intervening nine years did anything to translate those constitutional obligations into measurable municipal programmes and outputs. Yet local government will always be the coalface of economic inclusion. National growth ambitions cannot succeed when municipalities are failing.The GNU’s statement of intent correctly identifies stable local government as central to economic recovery and fostering investment confidence. The challenge is to convert political statements into enforceable systems and measurable outcomes.PR councillors as development driversProportional representation councillors are not tied to individual wards. They represent broader political mandates and can provide specialised oversight capacity, and have definitive roles in promoting social and economic development.The minister of co-operative governance & traditional affairs should issue regulations under the Municipal Structures Act that designate PR councillors in every municipality as the section 153 enablers.Such councillors should be represented in a mandatory section 153 oversight committee responsible for promoting social and economic development and monitoring whether municipal planning and expenditure are achieving measurable developmental outcomes.The committee would continuously assess integrated development plans, budgets and performance reports against clearly defined benchmarks linked to social and economic targets, affordability and service reliability.Those benchmarks must focus on all the outcomes that municipalities directly control. Measures could include the number of days required to approve building plans, the percentage of supplier invoices paid within 30 days, the reliability and affordability of water and electricity supply measured in hours per week, the number of trading permits issued to informal businesses, the number of mixed-use zones being created, the extent to which the Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant and other grants are being leveraged and the kilometres of road maintained relative to expenditure.Municipal performance becomes meaningful when measured against practical outcomes experienced by residents and businesses. The committee should publish quarterly scorecards allowing residents, investors and provincial authorities to assess performance transparently.The National Treasury should create a section 153 performance component within the local government equitable share framework. Municipalities that meet developmental benchmarks should receive the full allocation. Municipalities that consistently fail should forfeit part of that allocation until performance improves. Funding incentives will alter behaviour most effectively.The committee can also be tasked with researching innovative funding and community participation through sweat equity and stokvels. In 2023 the Midvaal local municipality reduced building plan approval times to 11 days and recorded increased SMME activity in the months that followed. Cape Town also has swift approval mechanisms. That is the link between municipal competence and local economic growth. The objective should be to replicate that logic nationally.Define compliance and build capacityOne of the greatest weaknesses in local governance reform is the reliance on vague commitments unsupported by measurable standards. Section 153 compliance should therefore be linked to practical outputs that support economic participation and private sector growth.Reliable and affordable electricity lowers operating costs for small businesses. Functional roads allow goods and workers to move efficiently. Consistent water supply improves public health and industrial productivity. Faster approvals enable entrepreneurs to open businesses and expand operations. These are not abstract governance indicators. They are the foundations of local economic development.Many municipalities lack the technical and administrative capacity required to pursue developmental governance effectively. Reform will fail if designated section 153 leads themselves lack competence or institutional support. The National Treasury should issue toolkits and templates to assist municipalities. The GNU should therefore pair this reform with minimum competency requirements enforced through the Councillor Code of Conduct.The department of co-operative government & traditional affairs should establish a national certification programme for section 153 drivers in partnership with universities, professional bodies and the private sector. This requirement will face resistance, but the justification for it is compelling. Communities need social and economic development and that should receive very high priority.Political parties have had decades to improve the quality of municipal deployments through voluntary measures. Those efforts have too often produced councils staffed by deployees who lack the skills to interpret budgets, oversee infrastructure programmes or drive developmental planning. Political parties seeking the authority to oversee public resources should also accept the obligation to field candidates who meet basic professional standards.Parties unable to provide certified candidates should lose the authority to appoint section 153 leads until compliant candidates are identified. Such a system would create incentives to improve the quality of municipal deployments while reinforcing the principle that section 153 is not a ceremonial designation but a role requiring demonstrable competence.Use incentives before collapse happensSection 139 of the constitution permits provincial intervention in failing municipalities. Those interventions often occur only after severe deterioration has taken place. Preventative incentives would be more effective than reactive intervention.A performance-linked component within the equitable share formula would reward municipalities that maintain service reliability, improve turnaround times and create conditions favourable to investment and job creation. Provinces should continue monitoring compliance and intervening where necessary, but fiscal incentives should become the primary driver of behavioural change.This approach may also strengthen coalition governance. Opposition parties frequently hold PR seats in hung councils. Giving designated PR councillors statutory developmental responsibilities will create incentives for all parties to compete on governance outcomes rather than continue with patronage or political positioning.What the GNU should doThe GNU should move urgently on four fronts:The department should publish draft regulations within 60 days establishing section 153 leads and mandatory oversight committees;The National Treasury should table a developmental performance component within the next medium-term budget policy statement and provide toolkits;The presidency should launch a national certification programme for councillors before the next local government elections; andParliament should begin targeted amendments to the Municipal Structures Act to entrench these reforms beyond regulatory discretion.South Africans did not vote for symbolic co-existence within the GNU. Citizens voted for delivery, competence and measurable improvement in daily life. Section 153 is already law. The task now is to make it operational.Voters will ultimately judge this period of coalition politics through practical outcomes. Municipalities must keep the lights on, maintain infrastructure, approve plans efficiently and pay suppliers on time. Municipalities that do those things become engines of investment, growth and employment. Municipalities that fail will hasten economic decline and social instability.South Africa’s constitution did not envision municipalities as passive administrative outposts. It envisioned them as developmental institutions capable of expanding economic participation, restoring dignity, ending apartheid spatial planning and strengthening democracy itself.Voters rarely reward governments for diagnosing decay. They reward political parties that make developments happen day by day.Farouk and Imtiaz Cassim write on governance and constitutional law.
