President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the Revised White Paper on Local Government at the Birchwood Hotel in Ekurhuleni on Thursday, according to SAnews.
The government said the plan changes how municipalities are set up, funded, managed and held to account. It includes new rules for water and electricity services and tighter control of municipal money.
“It is not simply about changing legislation or rearranging institutions. It is about changing the lived experience of our people,” President Ramaphosa said.
One main proposal is to stop giving every municipality the same powers and duties. Under the new model, a municipality’s tasks would match its size, skills and performance.
The White Paper says some functions could move to other spheres of government or be handled at regional level. Partnerships and concession deals could also be considered where suitable.
The President said the plan “calls for constitutional and legislative amendments to be considered where necessary” to make this change work.
For water and electricity, the paper proposes separating the body that is responsible for a service from the body that provides it. All water and electricity providers would need a licence.
According to SAnews, municipalities owe Eskom more than R120 billion. Many also owe money to water boards.
Ramaphosa said money from selling water and electricity would be kept aside for repairs. “Going forward, revenues from the sale of electricity and water will be ring-fenced and used to maintain infrastructure before anything else,” he said.
He said municipalities could not keep building new infrastructure while old assets fell apart. “We cannot build our way out of failure if we do not maintain what we have already built,” he said.
The President said residents who can afford to pay for services should do so. He said municipalities must also earn trust through reliable services and careful use of public funds.
Ramaphosa said national and provincial government could not distance themselves from municipal failures. “When mandates overlap, when investment is poorly coordinated or when support arrives only after a crisis, the entire system has failed the community,” he said.
Cabinet has backed a phased rollout, according to SAnews. A Local Government Transition Management Body with a fixed time frame will drive the work.
The body will be led jointly by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, The Presidency and National Treasury. The government said it will not take over the legal duties of ministers, provinces or municipal councils.
A single Local Government Transition Plan will list the reforms, the institutions in charge and the order of steps. Some measures may need new laws, new funding and possibly changes to the Constitution.
The White Paper also asks municipalities to plan better for floods, droughts and fires.
The new policy replaces the approach set out in the 1998 White Paper. According to SAnews, more than 90% of households now have electricity and more than 87% have piped water.
The government said households with municipal piped water grew from 9.2 million in 2004 to just under 16 million in 2025. The President said many communities still face unreliable services and broken infrastructure.
“This is a national undertaking that must outlast any election cycle, municipal term or administration,” Ramaphosa said.
The launch comes ahead of the Local Government Elections on 4 November. The President urged registered voters to take part and asked newly elected leaders to put working municipalities first.
Source: this article is based on reporting by SAnews.gov.za. Image: GCIS via SAnews.gov.za. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.