Metro's revival shows power of coordinated partnerships
President Cyril Ramaphosa has pointed to the remarkable progress achieved in stabilising the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality as a replicable blueprint for rescuing struggling local governments across South Africa. Writing in his weekly letter to the nation, the President highlighted how the KwaZulu-Natal metro's recovery illustrates the transformative potential of coordinated efforts between government, the private sector, organised labour and civil society organisations.
Ramaphosa recently convened a meeting with members of the Presidential eThekwini Working Group, a cross-sector body launched in 2024 following widespread concern from residents and businesses about crumbling infrastructure and collapsing services in the port city. At the time of the group's establishment, the metro was grappling with chronic service delivery breakdowns, decaying infrastructure and rapidly declining business confidence.
"Two years later, the interventions undertaken to tackle poor service delivery and failing infrastructure are driving an effective sustained recovery in the metro."
The President noted several encouraging indicators of the city's resurgence. The Durban Business Confidence Index has climbed to its highest reading since the measure was first introduced, while manufacturing sector confidence has surged by close to 16% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. This renewed optimism is particularly significant given that the city is home to one of the nation's largest ports and boasts a robust industrial foundation. The tourism sector has likewise bounced back strongly, with upwards of 1.2 million visitors flocking to the metro over the most recent festive period. Infrastructure projects are also progressing, and notable improvements have been recorded in safety and security coordination throughout the municipality.
Financial distress threatens wider municipal stability
Despite the encouraging trajectory in eThekwini, Ramaphosa was careful to stress that stabilisation should not be confused with a complete resolution of the metro's difficulties. He emphasised that the collaborative model pioneered in Durban draws on the principles of the District Development Model, which seeks to enhance service delivery through cooperation across all three tiers of government while fostering partnerships with business and civil society to fast-track local government reform. The eThekwini municipality last year approved a dedicated Partnerships Framework aimed at deepening public-private collaboration, especially in infrastructure development and catalytic projects.
"While stabilisation is not the same as a complete turnaround and the metro still faces significant challenges, the experience of eThekwini offers a viable model for coordination and partnership that can be replicated in other metros and municipalities to enable them to recover."
Building on the lessons gleaned from the eThekwini experience, government has now established a similar Presidential Working Group for Johannesburg to tackle governance failures, infrastructure decay, service delivery shortcomings, safety concerns and urban renewal challenges in the country's economic heartland. Ramaphosa underscored that business involvement in municipal reform efforts is essential, as improved service delivery directly strengthens the economic environment within which companies operate.
However, the President acknowledged that financial instability continues to plague local government on a broader scale. Approximately two-thirds of South Africa's municipalities find themselves in financial distress, frequently owing to poor revenue collection and mounting debt burdens.
"Without stronger revenue management and financial discipline, service delivery challenges will persist and backlogs will only worsen. The revenues collected from service provision are meant to be reinvested into maintaining and upgrading infrastructure to improve service delivery. However, in far too many instances these resources are redirected to cover other costs."
In response, government has committed R27.7 billion over the coming three years to underpin reforms in municipal water, sanitation, electricity and waste management services. The allocation signals a recognition that without decisive intervention and fiscal discipline at the local government level, the gains achieved in municipalities like eThekwini risk remaining the exception rather than becoming the norm.
South Africa's municipal crisis affects daily life for millions, making eThekwini's stabilisation a critical test case for whether coordinated public-private partnerships can reverse decades of infrastructure decay nationwide. With two-thirds of municipalities in financial distress and R27.7 billion earmarked for reforms, the success or failure of this model in Johannesburg and beyond will directly shape business confidence, service delivery and economic prospects for communities already bearing the brunt of collapsed local governance.
