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Dr Harlan Cloete
Dr Harlan Cloete is an engaged scholar and research fellow in the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies at the UFS.

Opinion article by Dr Harlan Cloete, Centre for Gender and Africa Studies, University of the Free State.
 President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the State of the Nation Address (SONA) as the first president without an ANC majority in Parliament. He addressed several critical issues, committing his Government of National Unity (GNU) departments to take decisive action to tackle the persistent challenges of unemployment, poverty, and inequality. The strategy involves prioritising inclusive growth, job creation, poverty alleviation, and building a capable, ethical, and developmental state. Additionally, the president emphasised the need for national dialogue and pledged to reform local governance through a review of the 1998 White Paper on Local Government.

The current White Paper defines developmental local government as a system committed to working with citizens and community groups to find sustainable ways to meet social, economic, and material needs while enhancing the quality of life. It emphasises targeting marginalised and excluded groups within communities, such as women, people with disabilities, and those living in extreme poverty. Highlighting the central role of local government, South African Local Government Association (Salga) president Bheki Stofile noted that local governments are responsible for delivering 46% of public services, including water supply, electricity, sanitation, and refuse removal, yet receive only 10% of national revenue. At the same time, municipalities have accumulated a staggering total debt of R386.5 billion and owe creditors R117.5 billion.

To say that local government is in crisis would be an understatement. The 30-year government review reveals that economic, political, spatial, and institutional disparities hinder municipalities’ ability to deliver services. An estimated 29% of municipalities are on the verge of operational collapse, pointing to systemic dysfunction rooted in governance failures and limited capacity. Research conducted by the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies at the University of the Free State in partnership with the Local Government Seta over the past three years confirms the poor state of knowledge management, the lack of evidence-based human resource development practices, persistent barriers facing women in local government, and challenges in implementing the Municipal Staff Regulations. Simply increasing fiscal allocations to local government without addressing the root causes of these failures would be like pouring money down the drain.

The case for local dialogues

Any conversation about building a capable state must begin with functional, ethical, and developmental local governance. This requires shifting from a national dialogue to local dialogues that can feed into a national dialogue. For the past 25 years, local governments have produced five-year Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) in partnership with communities, yet the outcomes have been disappointing. We have failed to transform data into actionable knowledge that can tackle challenges in a participatory manner. The marginalised and poor have become passive spectators in a system meant to empower them. They lack agency and have lost confidence in local government and the ward committee system, which was designed to be the functional backbone of participatory democracy. Meanwhile, the middle class, equipped with agency and resources, has become increasingly disengaged. What we are witnessing is a form of “wicked compliance” — a tick-box approach to democracy that echoes the late Malcolm X’s critique: “We do not have a democracy... we have hypocrisy.”

To move beyond this, the local government review must be accompanied by local dialogues, led by community members, businesses, academia, and local government, as envisioned in the National Development Plan (NDP). However, these dialogues should not be led by local government but rather by the collective. This represents a shift from traditional government (top-down) to governance (co-created), as advocated by sociologist Francois Theron. Such co-created spaces allow communities to craft pragmatic future visions and strategise from the future backward. These dialogues should encourage genuine and innovative conversations about the future, positioning local government as a co-creator and collaborator, rather than simply another participant in a talk shop.

Framework for future-focused local dialogues

A future-focused local dialogue should be addressed using the Governance 5iQ framework that asks five fundamental governance questions:

1. Why do we do what we do? (Vision)
2. How do we do what we do? (Mission)
3. How do we know we are on track? (Monitoring and Evaluation)
4. What do we do if we are not on track? (Consequence Management)

5. How do we lead and learn? (Knowledge Management)

For local governance to be effective, policies must be implemented by committed, competent, and caring individuals. Additionally, policies should be reviewed to assess whether they create opportunities for the poor and the youth. If local economic development is to succeed, then supply chain processes must be aligned with developmental objectives. A valuable case study is Daleel Jacobs, Supply Chain Manager at Stellenbosch Municipality, whose master’s thesis demonstrates innovative ways to fulfil the spirit of the law while delivering tangible outcomes.

Addressing political interference and embracing digital transformation

Research conducted across 32 municipalities in all nine provinces reveals that political interference is a significant barrier to effective implementation. Politicians are frequently accused of meddling, overstepping their boundaries, and lacking both insight and foresight. As coalitions become more common post-2026 elections, political parties must adopt transparent candidate-vetting processes. The Coalition Bill could provide much-needed stability by introducing an executive committee system where power is proportionally distributed in the absence of a majority party. Moreover, local governments must leverage digital transformation. In August 2024, the government launched the National Artificial Intelligence Policy Framework. Local governments should harness AI tools to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. Following the example of the University of Kehl in Germany, which introduced a degree in Digital Public Management five years ago, South African institutions should also prepare the next generation of public managers for a digital future.

Leading into the future

South Africa's vibrant democracy is mirrored by the volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity that characterise local governance. Leaders are tasked with bringing clarity and certainty, eliminating contradictions, and fostering a compelling vision of the future. However, crafting a vision is not enough; we must actively work towards and embody this preferred future.

The president may deliver the SONA, but the true state of the nation depends on all of us. By prioritising local dialogues and a collaborative governance model, we can lay the foundation for sustainable local governance that truly serves the people.

News Archive

UFS responds to concerns around high costs of higher education
2015-10-15

 

Dear Students

UFS responds to concerns around high costs of higher education

There is an understandable and shared concern among students in the country around the high costs of higher education. As you know, this also is a matter of deep concern on our campuses, which the University of the Free State (UFS) has made a priority in discussions with student leaders - and through new strategies to relieve the burden of costs on poor students and their families. In fact, in the past two weeks, the UFS leadership has again engaged students on the matter of fees in the future.

This is what we have done so far. We have maintained our position as one of the universities with the lowest tuition fees in the country. As you would have seen from recent newspaper reports on the cost of a degree at various institutions over the past five years, the UFS has had consistently low fees. This is not an accident; both the University Council and the executive leadership of the UFS is of one mind that we must offer a high quality education at minimum cost to all our students, despite the rising costs of operating a large multi-campus university with 30 000 students. Our commitment to you is to continue to keep those costs to students as low as possible, without compromising on the quality of education.

In addition, we took a decision earlier this year to become the first university to drop application fees for first-year students. We are proud of that achievement, since so many students fall at this first hurdle as they contemplate post-school education and training. We also waived registration fees for postgraduate students and now Research Master’s and PhD students can study tuition free under certain conditions. We raised more than R60 million from the private sector to enable talented students, who do not receive NSFAS funding, to complete their degree studies at the UFS. We set aside some of the university’s own funds to enable even more students to access finance for their studies. And we now have a special office set aside to counsel and assist students to apply for more than one scholarship to support their studies. The university does not follow a policy of maximizing exclusions. It has endeavoured and succeeded to turn around the majority of its potential deregistration cases. During 2015 we had 2 700 students at the risk of being de-registered, but our serious efforts resulted in only over 200 instances of exclusion we could not mitigate. As is the practice for the past few years, these students’ debt for 2015 has been reversed.

But, we do not only look for funds from outside to support our students. Last year we set up a Staff Fund to which ordinary members of the academic and support staff can contribute from their own, and sometimes very modest, salaries to enable Kovsie students to finish their degrees. We have volunteers who work on the No Student Hungry (NSH) Bursary Programme to raise funds for students who cannot afford a regular meal. We have an open line to rural and township schools to nominate poor students with good results for support by the Rector’s Fund, and some of those students are now in their final year of studies. And many of our staff support individual students in their homes and with their families, without being asked to do so. This is what we call the Human Project and it remains central to the way in which we deal with students.

We will of course continue to make representation to government, the private sector, and individuals to increase funding, especially for first-generation students, and for families where more than one student is at university. We will continue to take to the road to raise funds from companies and foundations to finance our students. We will expand on-campus opportunities for limited working hours for students who wish to earn some money to support their studies. As we have said often before, no student who passes all their courses or modules will be turned away simply because they do not have the funds to study.

The UFS discusses and agrees to fee increases with our students well in advance of the next academic year. None of these decisions are taken without the agreement of the student leadership and thus far these engagements, while tough, have always been done in good faith and with the students’ interests at heart.

It is important for you to know that, with the declining government subsidy, in real terms, and the expanding needs of our students, we will not be able to keep the university running without fees - even though this source of revenue comes mainly through scholarships and bursaries. We need to compensate staff, purchase new library books and renew journal subscriptions (which is very difficult given the low value of the Rand), upgrade computers and software, pay rates and taxes, purchase laboratory equipment, pay the water and electricity bills, expand internet services, upgrade campus security, and hire more academics to keep class sizes reasonably small. It is important for you to know that the university has managed to avoid increasing student fees as a result of much higher municipal rates. Our lecturers are not the highest paid in the country and financially we run a tight ship. We consistently achieve unqualified audits and we are known to be one of the universities that manage its NSFAS contributions with great efficiency. We do this because of our commitment to ensure that our students are able to enjoy a high quality of education on a stable campus where there is a deep respect for all campus citizens.

Despite all these efforts, the most important message we wish to communicate, is that the door remains open for continued discussion with student leaders as we continue to find ways of keeping university education open and accessible to all qualifying students. At the same time, the UFS leadership is involved in discussions with government about how to best manage the escalating cost of higher education for our dents.

Thank you for your support and understanding at this time and be assured, once again, of our commitment to students as a matter of priority to the university leadership.

Best regards

Prof Jonathan Jansen
Vice-Chancellor and Rector

University of the Free State
19 October 2015

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