WeeklySA_AdminGOVERNANCE: SALGA partners with global advisory group to pilot a new “trust index” in up to 18 municipalities as service delivery failures and financial losses deepen crisis in local government…
By WSAM Reporter
South Africa’s struggling municipalities are set to undergo a new kind of audit — one that measures not just finances and compliance, but trust.
In a move aimed at tackling deepening governance and service delivery failures, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) has partnered with The Global Trust Project (TGTP) to pilot a new framework designed to rebuild confidence in local government.
The initiative, launched under a three-year Memorandum of Understanding, will be rolled out across up to 18 municipalities nationwide. Participation will be voluntary, but the ambition is anything but modest: to restore credibility, strengthen leadership accountability and improve service delivery outcomes by embedding “trustworthiness” as a measurable discipline.
The pilot comes at a time when local government is under intense strain. According to recent findings by the Auditor-General, municipalities are taking an average of 123 days to collect revenue owed to them. At the same time, billions are slipping through the cracks — with R50.96 billion written off in debt, alongside water losses of R14.93 billion and electricity losses exceeding R22.36 billion.
Against this backdrop, the new Trust Equity Framework (TEf) seeks to move beyond traditional governance reforms by focusing on how municipalities are experienced by residents, businesses and stakeholders on a day-to-day basis.
At the heart of the framework is the Trust Equity Index (TEi), a diagnostic tool that measures both trust and performance conditions within municipal systems.
The process begins with a baseline assessment, followed by leadership engagement, implementation support and ongoing evaluation.
Rather than treating trust as an abstract concept, the framework translates it into practical governance tools — focusing on leadership signals, management routines and institutional systems that shape behaviour and accountability.
For SALGA, the initiative aligns directly with its strategic objective of building “a capable and reputable local government.” The organisation, which represents all 257 municipalities in South Africa, has repeatedly stressed that without trust, service delivery and institutional capability inevitably collapse.
Lerato Phasa, SALGA’s Portfolio Head for Municipal Finance, Fiscal Policy and Revenue Enhancement, said the partnership is designed to produce real, workable solutions grounded in municipal realities.
“SALGA’s role is to strengthen local government through practical support and reform-oriented collaboration. This pilot is voluntary, evidence-based and intended to generate useful practice from within the realities municipalities face,” she said.
TGTP, part of the VUKA Group, brings international experience to the initiative, having deployed elements of its framework in Africa, Europe, the United States and Asia.
Its Executive Director, Dominic Wilhelm, warned that the current crisis in local government requires a shift in thinking.
“South Africa’s municipalities are operating under real fiscal, governance and service-delivery pressure. In that environment, trust cannot be treated as incidental,” he said.
“This pilot is intended to demonstrate how trustworthiness can be operationalised in a measurable way inside local government — and with material outcomes.”
The programme will also produce a public “Playbook on Trust-Rich Municipalities,” aimed at sharing lessons and best practices across the sector.
If successful, the initiative could reshape how municipal performance is assessed — moving beyond compliance-driven audits toward a broader understanding of credibility, leadership integrity and public confidence.
For residents who continue to grapple with erratic water supply, electricity outages, billing chaos and deteriorating infrastructure, the question will be whether this new focus on trust translates into tangible change on the ground.
Because in South Africa’s municipalities, trust is no longer a soft issue — it is fast becoming the difference between collapse and recovery.
