Voters want transparent, value-for-money service delivery from their municipality

A credible and transparent procurement commitment to saying what additional benefit is sought, what it costs and how delivery will be verified has broader support among South Africans than any single procurement approach.

This is one of the key points in a new report by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), titled 2026 Local Government Elections: A value-for-money common ground. The report was launched with an online panel discussion this morning between IRR CEO Dr John Endres, IRR Projects and Publications Manager Terence Corrigan, CRA Research Associate Ofentse Davhie and the authors of the paper, IRR Head of Strategic Communications Hermann Pretorius and IRR Researcher Chris Patterson.

Says Patterson: “Of the six major parties, four have an in-principle commitment to value for money. The report combines that with our March polling, which shows that voters want value for money. The common ground between the parties and the common ground between voters is the desire for value-for-money policy more than the politics they know comes with intense coalition discussions.”

Cost disclosure has broader support than any single procurement approach.

The report says some 81.9% of respondents in IRR polling said they wanted government to find out and report if and by how much BEE made procurement more expensive, with 73% strongly preferring disclosure.

Over the next two weeks, the IRR will be sharing this report with parties in the seven hung metropolitan municipalities and the largest hung municipalities across the country, urging parties to put value-for-money service delivery on the table, because it is what South Africans want.

Media contact:  Chris Patterson, IRR Researcher Tel: 063 682 5035 Email: chrisp@irr.org.za

Media enquiries: Michael Morris Tel: 066 302 1968 Email: michael@irr.org.za