Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Mr Velenkosini Hlabisa, today, 11 March 2025, convened the Inaugural meeting of the White Paper Review Political Steering Committee (PSC) in Cape Town. The members of the PSC welcomed the meeting, which kickstarted the much anticipated review of the founding White Paper on Local Government of 1998. “This review is an opportune chance to reimagine local government”, said Minister Hlabisa.
The White Paper on Local Government, adopted in 1998, serves as a foundational document that introduced developmental local government as a cornerstone of our democracy. Published on 9 March 1998, this document has played a crucial role in establishing a democratic local government system that has significantly expanded access to basic services for millions of South Africans.
However, it is evident that local government has not sufficiently transformed to meet the challenges that emerged between 1998 and 2025. Despite the advancements achieved, local government performance has deteriorated in recent years due to a variety of challenges, key among them being the following:
- Financial mismanagement,
- Inadequate governance, accountability, and transparency
- Lack of public participation in the development discourse
- Political interference
- Capacity and skills shortages.
The above-mentioned challenges are further exacerbated by ineffective policy reform and implementation. Delivering the State of the Nation Address on 6 February 2025, President Cyril Ramaphosa also highlighted the many challenges at local government stemming from the design of the local government system.
In response to these and various other challenges that continue to divert municipalities from its key mandate, COGTA has initiated a comprehensive review of the 1998 White Paper on Local Government.
As alluded by the president, the government will undertake extensive consultations to develop an updated the White Paper on Local Government, outlining a modern and fit-for-purpose local government system. The review will tackle identified deficiencies within local government policy and its implementation while also proposing suitable recommendations aimed at addressing obstacles that hinder the effective performance and operation of local government in South Africa. In addition, the review underscored the need to assess the funding model for municipalities.
With these most apparent challenges and in light of local government being a level of governance that is closest to the people and one that interacts with them on daily basis, the review should enact the creation of an ideal municipality.
As such, the process will further scrutinize a number of areas, including but not limited to revenue generation, the effectiveness of the two-tier system, intergovernmental relations, municipal capacity, economies of scale, and community engagement. An effective and efficient functioning local government should be able to translate policies into services, promises into infrastructure, and governance into tangible outcomes.
The review is taking place within the context of the extensive experience of nearly three decades of implementing the 1998 white paper. To this effect, the review should be able to produce enhanced administration capabilities in municipalities and clearly delineate key responsibilities.
Minister Hlabisa emphasized that the review is presenting South Africa with a rare and historic opportunity to restructure and transform local government to address the challenges of the next century. Moreover, the review is meant to reflect on successes thus far and identify areas for improvement in order to truly institutionalise a long-term sustainable development agenda in local government and impactfully address future challenges.
Minister Hlabisa emphasised that the review will not be complete without recognising the symbiotic relationship between municipalities and traditional leaders. This calls for comprehensive engagement with the institution of traditional leaders to ensure that the envisaged reviewed white paper captures the inputs from this essential sector
The discussions that ensued on the 1998 White Paper on Local Government demonstrated that, by the end of the reviewing process, it is pivotal for the paper under review to become a defining policy document with actionable insights aimed at reconstructing local government in order to promote sustainable livelihoods. This whilst also providing valuable inputs into local government’s political intentions and conceptualisation thereof.
The review is not solely the responsibility of the Department of Cooperative Governance (DCoG). Minister Hlabisa urged for the cooperation of all tiers of government and society at large, calling on all citizens to utilize this opportunity to support and contribute to the review of the White Paper on Local Government.
The PSC stressed that the government has a responsibility to resource and capacitate local municipalities to effectively deliver on their mandate, as such it will continue to engage and guide the team that is responsible for the review of the white paper until this countrywide inclusive process is finalised, leading to the deadline of March 2026.
Minister Hlabisa reiterated that public participation is crucial in this process for the evaluation of progress, challenges, and triumphs and also for locating gaps encountered during the execution of the founding White Paper on Local Government of 1998.
For media enquiries, kindly contact:
Ms. Pearl Maseko-Binqose
Media Liaison Officer for the Minister of CoGTA
Cell: +27 82 772 1709
Mr. Legadima Leso
COGTA Head of Communications
Cell: +27 66 479 9904
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