In an election year, governance is top of mind and while we often criticize the South African Government for everything from loadshedding to water lettuce, not to mention unemployment, crime and lack of service delivery, there are a few institutions that still get it right. What do they do differently? What’s their approach? What makes good governance?
In the 2024 South African Governance Performance Index report, local governments are evaluated and according to the recently released results, the Western Cape is the place to be. Cape Town is the top performing municipality in the metropolitan division, the Cape Winelands District Municipality is rated number one for district municipalities, Drakenstein (Paarl/Wellington) has the top spot under secondary cities (followed by Stellenbosch) while Saldanha Bay Municipality is the best performer for large towns, the Swartland Municipality for small towns and Blouberg for rural. Quite a clean sweep! (It is only in the category of Water Services Authority District that the Western Cape doesn’t rank at the top, but there are no Western Cape municipalities in this category at all.)
This does not mean that everything is perfect in the Western Cape. There are still many struggles, but we are doing better than the rest of the country and when compared to other municipalities and regions of South Africa, governance in the Western Cape can be deemed successful.
According to the United Nations, good governance happens when we successfully combine the theory and practice of human rights. The Human Rights Council has identified the key attributes of good governance as:
1. Democratic institutions ensure that the public can participate in policy and decision-making and express their position on issues important to them.
2. Public service delivery recognizes human rights in how it takes responsibility for basics such as education, health and food, but also in how it employs accountability and transparency to ensure that such services are accessible and acceptable.
3. Rule of law should be supported by good governance initiatives and will then influence advocacy for legal reform and public awareness.
4. Anti-corruption efforts rely on accountability, transparency and participation to monitor the use of public funds, the implementation of policies and the sharing of information.
While the benchmark might be low, with its recent local governance performance, it’s no surprise that the Western Cape remains a popular semi-gration address – 35% of locals choose Cape Town when moving from one city to another within South Africa. Our country might be doing better than some of our SADC neighbours, from where most immigrants to South Africa originate, but that is hardly a standard to be proud of.
Alongside reasons like the beautiful scenery, variety of things to do and the exceptional culinary culture, service delivery is one of the reasons why the Western Cape is a popular place to live. We all know the importance of the bigger issues such as equality, freedom and human rights, but they must be more than a political agenda – they have to make a difference in our everyday lives.
We all want roads we can drive on, reliable water supply, refuse removal and streetlights that work. Receiving such services is an acknowledgement of our equality, freedom and human rights. It is politics and governance in action. It might not be glamorous or the topic of intellectual conversations, but it is about going back to basics. Citizens are happier when their municipalities fix burst pipes, collect the refuse and fill the potholes.
Seems good governance is about going back to the basics – from respect to responsibility.
(And here are 5 more fun reasons to live in Cape Town!)