Provincial government seizes chance to raise infrastructure and housing concerns
Free State Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae has described Friday's engagement with President Cyril Ramaphosa and the National Executive as a crucial platform for the province to highlight its most pressing service delivery challenges. The session, held at the University of Free State Centenary Complex in Bloemfontein on 27 March 2026, carried the theme "A Nation that Works for All".
The Premier told media that the province is grappling with a range of persistent issues, including the eradication of the bucket sanitation system, housing pressures driven by internal migration, deteriorating infrastructure, and widespread sewerage problems. She expressed hope that the national government would step up its support for the Free State in addressing these longstanding concerns.
"It's an opportunity for us to plead with them [because] we are having challenges in the province. We have an issue of the bucket system eradication in the province; an issue of human settlements where people are moving from one area to the other. We are also having an issue of infrastructure that is ageing and an issue of sewerage."
Letsoha-Mathae commended Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina for her regular presence in the province, noting that she hoped other national ministers would follow suit in offering tangible assistance to the Free State government.
Ramaphosa pushes for sweeping local government reforms
The Free State visit forms part of a broader programme of presidential engagements with provincial governments. Ramaphosa has already conducted similar interactions with KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, the Eastern Cape, the Northern Cape, and the North West. The initiative is rooted in Section 154 of the Constitution, which obliges national and provincial government to bolster the capacity of municipalities in governance and service delivery.
During his State of the Nation Address in February, the President outlined plans for fundamental reforms aimed at tackling the root causes of dysfunction in numerous municipalities and improving service delivery efficiency. Central to these reforms is the finalisation of the White Paper on Local Government, which seeks to reimagine the way local governance operates. Ramaphosa acknowledged that the current system is overly complex and fragmented, placing an unreasonable burden on smaller and weaker municipalities.
"Where municipalities fail, we will strengthen the ability of national government to intervene more quickly and to direct corrective measures in the interests of serving our people better."
The President also called for more structured cooperation between municipalities and traditional and Khoi-San leadership institutions to deepen community engagement and encourage collaborative problem-solving. He stressed that senior local government officials must hold appropriate qualifications and be appointed through independent processes free from political interference. While conceding that the proposed reforms would be difficult, Ramaphosa maintained they are essential, pointing to progress made in stabilising eThekwini, which has led to renewed investor confidence.
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa earlier this month reinforced the government's pledge to assist municipalities through policy reform, including the near-complete review of the 1998 White Paper on Local Government and ongoing efforts to overhaul municipal funding models and staffing frameworks. Addressing metropolitan mayors at a recent engagement session, Hlabisa underscored that the success of the country's metros is vital to national stability, urging all spheres of government to collaborate in building capable, accountable, and responsive municipalities.
South Africans in the Free State stand to benefit if national intervention translates into accelerated infrastructure upgrades, housing delivery, and the long-promised elimination of bucket sanitation. For local businesses, improved municipal governance could reduce service disruptions that hamper productivity and deter investment. The broader push to reform local government, including overhauling funding models and depoliticising senior appointments, may gradually strengthen struggling municipalities nationwide, though the scale of dysfunction means meaningful change will likely unfold over years rather than months.
