CITIZEN satisfaction and trust in local municipalities to deliver basic services has dropped to its lowest level since the index’s inception, finds Consulta’s 8th South African Citizen Satisfaction Index (SA-csi).
Consulta senior consultant Natasha Doren said that the results show that citizens’ expectations of local government delivery of services were very far from being met. The 10 point decline in citizen expectations compared with 2020 is a significant red flag.
According to the index outcomes, of the eight metropolitan municipalities polled in the Citizen Satisfaction Index in 2021, it was clear that they were falling far short of meeting citizen’s expectations.
The results were said to be a direct reflection of the dire picture painted by numerous auditor-general and media reports of the dysfunctional state of many municipalities across the country.
The SA-csi for Municipalities 2021 measures the Citizen Satisfaction and trust in service delivery in eight category-A municipalities (metros) as a snapshot, which are Buffalo City, Cape Town, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Johannesburg, Mangaung, Nelson Mandela Bay and Tshwane. The total sample size was 2 537.
In this index, Cape Town again emerged as the leader on overall citizen satisfaction for the fifth consecutive year. Cape Town recorded a score of 61.9 out of a possible 100 despite a four-point decline on its previous score of 66.0 last year. Cape Town is also more than 10 points above the same level score of 51.1 for all municipalities and well ahead of all other metros polled, which perform either on or below par.
The overall citizen satisfaction level, as an average across all metros, was low at 51.1 – further declining from 55.7 in 2020 and reaching the lowest point in five years. This score indicates that citizens’ satisfaction levels are exceptionally low, and trust in the municipalities’ ability to deliver is severely eroded.
All metros showed a decline in overall citizen satisfaction scores compared with 2020, except Nelson Mandela Bay, which showed a marginal improvement of 0.7 index points, pointing to a slight positivity increase.
The only metro performing above and significantly ahead of par was Cape Town at 61.9 also the only leader in the Citizen Satisfaction Index. However, Cape Town still showed a decline of 4.1 index points compared with its 2020 score of 66.
Ekurhuleni was on par at 52.2 and losing its previous leader position after declining by a significant -6.2 on its 2020 score. Nelson Mandela Bay at 50.5 and eThekwini at 50.1, and Tshwane at 50.0 were also on par, while City of Johannesburg at 47.2, Buffalo City at 44.0 and Mangaung at 32.6 came in well below par.
Mangaung, already on a very low satisfaction score in 2020, decreased a further 6.3 index points to the lowest score recorded across all sectors in South Africa and any of the indices in the 23 international markets where the model is utilised. Mangaung shows a marked and rapid decline over a fiveyear period from 51.3 in 2017.
Overall, all metros polled showed a consistent decline in citizen satisfaction over five years.
Doren said, “When you look at what the drivers are behind satisfaction levels or lack thereof citizen mentions related to the basics that underpin the very existence of a municipality which was water supply and management, electricity supply, garbage/refuse disposal, road maintenance, clean streets and suburbs, and reliable billing. These are the fundamentals of why local governments exist, yet these are the areas that citizens most flag as their pain points.“
The 2021 index indicated that local government was fast running out of roads.
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