Picture: Supplied; Pexels/ Alina Chernii Deevisuals; FM collage
Local government is where politics gets real — your water, roads, rates, rubbish and electricity. But how much do we actually understand about the people and systems running our municipalities?
In a podcast brought to you by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, journalist Nickolaus Bauer cuts through the jargon, political noise and municipal mythology in South Africa’s Easy Elections Guide: Local Government 2026.
In this first episode, he looks at why your vote matters in local government elections. And it does: voter participation is dropping off in South Africa, putting democracy under pressure. Without the electorate holding authorities properly to account, the incentive to deliver disappears. Therein lies the power of the vote.
