Johannesburg, South Africa's most important city and economic gateway, is facing a severe governance crisis. Since 2016, the city has had nine mayors and eight coalition administrations, resulting in a decline in services such as maintaining lights, roads, and refuse collection. The city's inability to manage its budget has also been a major concern. According to Harvard professor Ed Glaeser, "capacity always eats policy," emphasizing the importance of institutional capacity in executing plans. The city's governance problems predate coalition politics, with cadre deployment deeply entrenched in Johannesburg's entities and administration.
The current situation in Johannesburg is a result of prioritizing political allegiance over skills and experience in appointments. For example, not one member of the Johannesburg Water board is a professionally qualified engineer, despite the utility facing an infrastructure backlog of over R26.6 billion. The chairs of City Power, Johannesburg Water, Pikitup, and the Johannesburg Development Agency are all active or former political party members. This has led to alleged serious tender fraud in at least 10 of the city's 13 municipal entities. The lack of clear lines between political authority and professional administration in South Africa's local government legislation has contributed to these problems.
A new administration in Johannesburg has the opportunity to change the situation by making appointments transparently and on merit. This can be done by formalizing delegations to the city manager and refusing to allow positions to become coalition bargaining chips. The most critical appointment the new mayor will make is the city manager, who will determine whether reform happens at all. Some have questioned whether the incumbent city manager, Floyd Brink, is the right person to lead the administration through this crisis. A new administration will need to assess this quickly and consider the cost of ending his contract early if necessary.
The city manager's appointment process should be visibly independent of coalition deal-making, with publicly stated criteria, disclosed shortlists, and declared conflicts of interest. The requirements for the city manager should include demonstrated capacity to lead turnaround processes, strong financial management, technical familiarity with large infrastructure organizations, and the standing to resist inappropriate political pressure. Once appointed, the city manager must receive an immediate, comprehensive delegation of administrative authority to appoint, promote, and act on operational matters without seeking mayoral committee approval.
The new administration should prioritize appointing chairs of City Power, Johannesburg Water, and Pikitup, as these leaders set the governance culture and are responsible for recruiting other directors. The sequence of appointments matters, as the right chair and board will be able to assess whether the right CEO is leading the entity and make changes if necessary. The CEO must then build a capable executive team and be held accountable by the board for results. Three-year terms should replace annual renewals to prevent boards from being hostage to political change.
A transition team should be established immediately after the election to audit every mission-critical position and determine whether the original appointment was legally compliant. If not, the city can act without going through a formal dismissal process. Senior contracts expiring in the first year should be identified early, allowing recruitment to begin before they lapse, and successors can start on day one. In the administration, there are capable officials who have been doing good work in difficult conditions, and a new government must find and back these individuals.
A new government in Johannesburg should be prepared for resistance from organized labor, a significant force in the city. However, with transparent and merit-based appointments, the city can begin to address its governance crisis and improve services for its residents. The consequences of getting this wrong will be continued decline, emphasizing the importance of making the right decisions in the appointment process.
Key points
- Johannesburg's governance crisis is worsening due to a lack of merit-based appointments.
- A new administration must prioritize transparent and merit-based appointments to address the city's governance crisis.
- The city manager's appointment is critical to determining whether reform happens in Johannesburg.
