Governance and transparency has been on a steady decline since November 2021 but parties and coalitions have become even more brazen by flouting the law, missing deadlines, and treating accountability mechanisms with disdain.

Instability in local government coalitions has led to new draft legislation that would exclude parties winning less than 1% of the vote. What are the likely outcomes in the metros?

July was the start of the new financial year for local government, and the metros began the 2023/24 year in probably their weakest financial position since the modern municipal system began. Steep increases in electricity tariffs, largely a result of Eskom’s 18.5% increase, were bitterly opposed.

Unstable coalitions, violence and corruption have pushed political risk to dangerously high levels. The Barometer summarsies 20 months of political risk.

While some metros struggled to pass their 2023/24 budgets on time, service delivery and governance continued to deterioriate

Political risk increased while parties blamed each other for council collapses