Managing the risk in housing delivery: Local government in South Africa

South Africa’s Constitution and the White Papers on local government and housing direct the public sector to act in an equitable, transparent and accountable manner in the administration of its responsibilities. In contrast, a lack of capacity and coordination and pervasive corruption are the views commonly associated with local government, particularly when it comes to housing delivery.Critiques of local government’s failures, however, should seek to place them in the context of the functional mandate it has been prescribed as a means of determining whether or not their roles and responsibilities, with respect to housing delivery, are contributing to their poor service. More often then not, provincial government has taken on the role of housing deliverer, blurring the roles and responsibilities between the two spheres of government. The risk that arises from this situation is that, on the one hand, local governments are viewed by communities as being ‘responsible’ for delivery. On the other hand, they have no ‘authority’ to manage the risks that occur due to provinces stepping in and fulfilling this role. There is the potential, however, for managing these risks by devolving ‘responsibility’ and ‘authority’ for housing delivery to local government through ‘accreditation’ and assignment.