The ongoing crime crisis in South Africa, and particularly in Cape Town, has led to a constructive debate about the role and powers of municipal police services. While the South African Police Service (SAPS) is increasingly struggling to combat organized crime and violence effectively, the City of Cape Town has taken steps to establish its own investigative capacity.
The FW de Klerk Foundation today hosted a conference on achieving successful municipal service delivery, bringing together leaders from government and civil society in local government.
The University of the Free State (UFS) Business School officially commenced its academic cycle with its flagship virtual student engagement and orientation experience, “Be Worth More 2026”. Gathering nearly 80 postgraduate students—including ambitious professionals embarking on their MBA, PGDip, and BML studies via Microsoft Teams, the programme set a transformative tone centred on fostering a deep sense of belonging, active participation, and long-term societal impact.
Overall State: The 2024-25 Auditor-General report reveals that local government has failed to achieve a turnaround, resulting in unreliable services and failing infrastructure.
Spending two days in this municipality exposes the stark reality of its collapse. The former heartbeat of the South African economy has been reduced to a dilapidated landscape scarred by massive, neglected potholes and failing public utilities. Residents are left to navigate a complete infrastructural mess, a reality made all the more frustrating by the nearly R700 million that was spent on municipal employee overtime between 2019 and 2025, despite consistently worsening service delivery.
