PRETORIA, Gauteng — The Tshwane coalition government is facing intense scrutiny over its service delivery record in the municipality encompassing Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital. With the November 4 local government elections on the horizon, the ruling alliance is being judged less on political maneuvering and more on fundamental municipal functions: reliable water supply, consistent electricity, and rapid infrastructure repairs.
The municipality has become a focal point for South Africa’s coalition politics, marked by frequent leadership shifts and shifting alliances. In 2024, former Democratic Alliance (DA) mayor Cilliers Brink was ousted in a vote of no confidence. She was succeeded by Action SA’s Nasipi Moya, who assumed leadership of a multi-party coalition comprising the ANC, EFF, and ActionSA. However, this governing alliance is now showing signs of severe political strain just weeks before voters cast their ballots.
Nowhere is the gap between political rhetoric and ground-level reality more apparent than in Hammanskraal. Following a tragic cholera outbreak in 2023, the area remains the ultimate proving ground for the administration’s capabilities. Although President Cyril Ramaphosa visited in July to highlight infrastructural progress, residents report ongoing crises. Locals describe relying on contaminated water from local reservoirs, citing health fatalities and taps running dry for over four years. Some residents are forced to spend 600 rand out of pocket to purchase water from private trucks, fueling deep frustration toward political representatives who they feel remain absent from the community.
Despite these grievances, the municipality has recorded measurable infrastructural milestones. The first module of the Klipdrift water treatment package plant was completed and certified safe for consumption in early 2025, bringing treated water to sections of Hammanskraal, followed by a second module later that same year. City officials maintain these projects are critical steps toward restoring consistent, clean water access.
The disparity in municipal support is starkly felt by residents like a young pig farmer who relocated from an affluent northern Pretoria suburb to a local farming community. She highlights a sharp contrast in basic services, noting that her community must independently manage their own road maintenance, water sourcing, and electricity solutions. This is a stark departure from the fully serviced environment she previously knew. Furthermore, unreliable electricity has driven some to dangerous illegal connections, resulting in tragic fatalities and property fires.
The physical decay of the city’s network is also driving massive financial deficits. According to the Auditor General, the municipality suffered water losses amounting to approximately 1.7 billion rand during the 2024/25 financial year, equating to roughly 39% of all purchased water. The majority of this loss is attributed to physical leaks in the aging distribution system. In mitigation, the city reports replacing over 28 kilometers of piping and fixing more than 150 major leaks between January and April of this year.
The power grid faces similar vulnerabilities. In April, Mayor Nasiphi Moya conceded that the administration had underestimated the severe fragility of the electricity network. More than half of the municipality’s transformers are over four decades old, with some exceeding 60 years of operation. Consequently, the Auditor General recorded electricity losses at around 21% of total power purchased in 2024/25, stemming from technical failures, theft, meter tampering, and illegal hookups.
While improved audit outcomes and funded infrastructure programs suggest a trajectory of recovery on paper, the lived experience of residents tells a different story. Community members emphasize that politicians appear preoccupied with parliamentary battles rather than ground-level suffering, with some urging leadership to tour the villages directly rather than limiting visits to formal halls.
As the November elections approach, the true test for the Tshwane coalition government will be its ability to translate administrative stabilization into visible, street-level service delivery for the communities that keep the municipality running.
