The rise of ‘informal local government’ on the back of municipal failures

Abstract

Local government is the sphere of government closest to the citizens. Tasked with both a service delivery and developmental mandate, local government is expected to deliver services such as the provision of potable water, sanitation and waste management services, electricity reticulation, and maintenance of municipal parks and roads. In practice, most municipalities are struggling to deliver effectively on this demanding mandate. In response, citizens and communities organise themselves to address such failures, giving rise to a phenomenon of ‘informal local government’. This thesis examined this phenomenon, focusing on factors enabling it, its characteristics, and its relationship with formal local government.