JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng — Fixing Johannesburg must be elevated to a national priority to prevent catastrophic ripple effects across South Africa’s economy, according to a stark new warning from the Centre for Development and Enterprise (CDE). Ahead of the critical November 4 local government elections, CDE Executive Director Ann Bernstein is urging voters to treat the ballot box as a definitive tool for demanding a governance turnaround in the country’s primary economic hub.
Bernstein highlights a troubling precedent in Riverside, the very area recently selected by the ANC for its manifesto launch. During the 2021 local elections, the ward had approximately 21,800 registered voters. While the ANC emerged as the largest party with 36% of the vote, trailed by the DA at 33% and ActionSA at 11%, a staggering 53% of the electorate stayed home. This massive abstention rate underscores a deep well of voter despondency, even in areas where ruling parties claim to have made progress.
The CDE’s newly launched report is the first of eight documents the organization will release weekly leading up to the November 4 vote. The research points to a decade of severe political instability in the city, characterized by nine different mayors and eight distinct administrations, with not a single mayor completing a full term. Bernstein warns that perpetuating this cycle of dysfunction will lead to irreversible decline for both city residents and the broader nation.
Reversing the city’s trajectory requires electing a “reforming mayor” armed with integrity and a clear mandate to dismantle corruption. According to Bernstein, this leadership must prioritize fixing City Power, resolving water service failures, and overhauling a procurement system currently vulnerable to opaque, patronage-driven networks. She emphasized that these persistent infrastructure breakdowns are not technical inevitabilities, but direct results of governance failures.
Because the scale of Johannesburg’s challenges exceeds the capacity of any single political faction, the CDE advocates for a collaborative recovery model. A successful administration will need to recruit experienced, non-partisan turnaround managers and forge strategic partnerships with the private sector, active civil society groups, and both provincial and national government tiers.
The imperative to stabilize Johannesburg is rooted in its unparalleled economic footprint. The city acts as South Africa’s primary gateway to the global economy, hosting over 70% of the nation’s corporate headquarters, major universities, and a dense concentration of top-tier talent. Bernstein posed a critical rhetorical question: if the country cannot stabilize Johannesburg despite these immense resources, the entire nation’s economic future is in serious jeopardy.
Navigating this recovery will require overcoming fragmented political landscapes. Bernstein noted that both the ANC and opposition parties remain divided, and current constitutional frameworks make stable coalition-building difficult, occasionally allowing minor parties to secure the mayoralty multiple times. However, she pointed to Cape Town and Midvaal as proof that stable, progressive coalition governance is entirely achievable when leaders prioritize the city’s interests over partisan fragmentation.
To further expose the root causes of the city’s struggles, the CDE will publish a detailed analysis of the municipal budget this week, followed by an investigation into Johannesburg’s criminal ecosystem in two weeks. The urgency of these reforms is highlighted by recent labor market data: while Johannesburg shed jobs over the past year, Cape Town successfully added 90,000 new jobs in the same period.
With the November 4 elections rapidly approaching, the CDE’s final message to the electorate is clear. Voters are encouraged to channel their frustrations away from street protests and into the voting booth, carefully selecting a capable, stable political leadership genuinely committed to the long-term prosperity and functional recovery of Johannesburg.
