Transforming South Africa from welfare to prosperity state starts with 2026 local government elections

Image; Courtesy of FF Plus

South Africa desperately needs economic and state recovery, and this turnaround should start with the 2026 local government elections.

The country simply cannot achieve economic growth while most municipalities are falling apart.

The prerequisite for transforming a welfare state to a state that truly prospers is restoring local government, the most visible from of public service.

The latest reports by the Auditor-General (AG) reveal that only about 20% of South Africa’s 257 municipalities received clean audits, 64 have already been declared dysfunctional, and more than half are violating legal requirements without any consequence management.

Services such as water and electricity supply, refuse removal, roads and infrastructure — the basic foundations of economic activity — are no longer sustainably delivered in numerous towns. As a result, businesses close or relocate and communities increasingly become self-reliant in response to state failure.

This service-delivery crisis is the greatest obstacle to economic growth. A country cannot attract investment or create jobs with crumbling infrastructure and dysfunctional administrations. That is why restoring local government is the very first step in improving the economy.

South Africa should simultaneously move away from so-called Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) — a system that has missed the mark and now frequently fuels corruption, tender abuse and political patronage.

BBBEE has become a barrier to productivity and investor confidence, and should be gradually replaced by an open, non-racial, free-market economic model focused on skills transfer, merit, competition and genuine economic participation. 

The transformation to a prosperity state, therefore, starts on grass-roots economic level — in municipalities.

The 2026 local government elections present a historic opportunity to restore governance, unlock growth and place South Africa back on the path to prosperity.

The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) remains the last bastion of republican values — including the devolution of power, self-governance and free-market principles — and plays an essential stabilising role at municipal level.