A new apolitical initiative called Fixlocal aims to bring together activists from across South Africa to share solutions for the country’s worsening service delivery failures, according to founding partner and social justice activist Mark Heywood.
The project, run by the NGO Heartlines – Centre for Values Promotion, publishes case studies demonstrating how active citizens and local authorities are achieving practical results on the ground. The platform focuses on the practical “how” of community activism.
“Many, many people in South Africa feel powerless at the moment,” Heywood said. “But actually when we get active, we find that we have a lot of power. We have a lot of legal power. We have power to picket, to protest, to organize, to speak freely. And we need to use that power to fix our communities.”
Heywood noted that across all nine provinces and thousands of communities, activism is already taking place around issues including school quality, sanitation, food access, clinic services, and land rights.
The Fixlocal platform is available at www.fixlocal.org.za and operates via WhatsApp, with a mobile application planned for the near future. Heywood said the initiative was created to tell positive success stories so communities can learn from one another “without reinventing the wheel.”
Addressing the timing of the launch, Heywood emphasized that local government elections are approximately six months away. “Local government is one of the places where we see the greatest example of state failure,” he said. “This type of activism becomes absolutely crucial.”
Heywood clarified that the initiative is apolitical in the sense of having no party affiliation, while acknowledging that local governance is inherently political. “Apolitical simply means it is not affiliated to any political party. It’s not created by any political party. It is a people’s political platform,” he explained.
The project builds alliances with churches, local businesses, community organizations, and even the South African Local Government Association where good governance exists. “Where you have good local government… we want to support them so that the good starts to squeeze out the bad,” Heywood said.
He urged citizens to overcome cynicism, stating: “Cynicism only serves the corrupt. It only serves the elites.”
When asked about a poll showing 83% of respondents believe government must deliver services, Heywood responded that communities must act, government must deliver, and both should work together. “If we just sit at home around our dinner tables in the evenings saying ‘government must deliver, government must deliver, government must deliver,’ government will not deliver,” he said. “But if we organize, government will be compelled to deliver.”
Heywood encouraged citizens to register to vote and consider supporting independent candidates who have demonstrated community commitment. “Let the people take control of local government again,” he said.
The Fixlocal newsletter is available monthly.
