MIND THE GAP

The report finds that section 139 interventions in South African municipalities are largely ineffective, often initiated only after 'total collapse' rather than as a preventative measure. It highlights a systemic misapplication of the law, where discretionary section 139(1) interventions are used for financial crises that legally require mandatory section 139(5) recovery plans. The authors argue that the use of administrators to assume all executive functions is legally baseless and often worsens municipal health due to incompetence or corruption. The report recommends a standardized implementation framework with clear trigger thresholds and strengthened oversight from the NCOP and National Treasury's Municipal Financial Recovery Service.

• Between 1998 and June 2019, 140 section 139 interventions were attempted across 143 municipalities, but very few had a sustained positive impact; 51 of these were repeat interventions, indicating a failure to address underlying causes.
• Interventions are typically initiated too late, often only after a municipality has reached a state of 'total collapse' or following a specific trigger like violent protests or threats from Eskom to cut power.
• There is a systemic misapplication of the law where section 139(1) is used for financial crises, whereas the Mnquma judgement and the Constitution specify that serious financial problems must be addressed via mandatory section 139(5) interventions.
• The common practice of appointing a single administrator to take over all executive functions while the Council remains in office has no basis in the legislation of section 139.
• Administrators are often unqualified or incompetent, and in some cases, they may exacerbate municipal problems through irregular contracts or corruption, as seen in eMalahleni where debt to Eskom rose from R200m to nearly R700m during the intervention.
• The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) fails in its oversight role due to a lack of financial forensic expertise and a tendency to rely on subjective community views or misleading reports from municipal officials.
• The Municipal Financial Recovery Service (MFRS) within National Treasury is unable to effectively fulfill its mandate due to capacity constraints and poor quality of produced financial recovery plans.
• Municipalities in a state of collapse often enter a 'vicious circle' where they cannot generate revenue because critical infrastructure, such as water and electricity meters, has disintegrated and there are no funds to repair them.

APA

Ledger, T., & Rampedi, M. (2019). MIND THE GAP. Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/20191002_MindTheGap_Report_Ledger_Rampedi_v8.pdf

Chicago

Ledger, Tracy, and Mahlatse Rampedi. MIND THE GAP. Public Affairs Research Institute, 2019. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/20191002_MindTheGap_Report_Ledger_Rampedi_v8.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ledger |first1=Tracy |last2=Rampedi |first2=Mahlatse |title=MIND THE GAP |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |date=September 2019 |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/20191002_MindTheGap_Report_Ledger_Rampedi_v8.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ledger2019mind, author = {Ledger, Tracy and Rampedi, Mahlatse}, title = {{MIND THE GAP}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/20191002_MindTheGap_Report_Ledger_Rampedi_v8.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }