Strengthening Action Against Corruption: a project to enhance accountability in SA

Mount Fletcher is a rural community that has for years experienced deep‑rooted service delivery challenges affecting the daily lives and dignity of residents. These challenges include deteriorating access roads, poorly constructed bridges, inconsistent electricity supply, inadequate water provision and unresolved issues relating to RDP housing. Collectively, these conditions have entrenched poverty, restricted access to essential services and undermined trust between the community and the local municipality. The most acute crisis emerged when the community was subjected to a prolonged interruption of water supply, highlighting broader governance and accountability failures within the municipal system. 

In the region’s rugged terrain, where the R56 winds toward Matatiele, the beauty of the Eastern Cape landscape is frequently overshadowed by the harsh realities of municipal neglect. For the residents of the Elundini Local Municipality, basic necessities such as water, electricity, and safe roads have become luxuries that are fought for but rarely delivered.

The crisis reached a breaking point in July 2025, when residents from 10 different wards, exhausted by years of empty promises, took to the R56 in protest. Their hope was simple: to be heard by the mayor. Instead of answers, they were met with rubber bullets and police reprimands. Today, the scars of those protests remain mirrored by the crumbling infrastructure and the dry taps that continue to plague the community.

The heavy burden of a waterless town

The immediate trigger for community mobilisation was a sudden interruption of water supply across Mount Fletcher. Residents went without running water for two full weeks after an infrastructure failure within the municipal water system. Despite repeated complaints lodged with the municipality, no meaningful repairs were undertaken and no clear communication was provided regarding timelines for restoration. The absence of water severely affected households, schools, clinics, and early childhood centres.

Although the municipality later offered JoJo tanks as an alternative water source, distribution was inconsistent. Many residents were unable to access the water deliveries because they were at work or at school at the time of delivery, effectively excluding significant portions of the community.  

The effects of these failures were felt most acutely by vulnerable groups.

• Women with young children, older persons, and people living with disabilities bore the heavy physical burden of collecting water from distant sources.
• Compromised hygiene and sanitation increased the risk of disease, while many households faced financial strain from having to purchase water privately.
• Schools, clinics, and hospitals struggled to operate under water‑scarce conditions.
• Poorly maintained roads and unsafe bridges restricted mobility, preventing pensioners from accessing social grants and essential medication, particularly those with chronic illnesses.
• Learners were frequently delayed or placed at risk when travelling long distances on slippery, pothole‑ridden roads, especially during periods of heavy rainfall.  

These failures also amounted to serious violations of constitutionally protected rights.

• Section 27(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) guarantees the right to access sufficient water and healthcare, a right clearly undermined by the prolonged water outage.
• Section 29, which protects the right to education, was compromised as learners struggled to attend school on time or study effectively due to infrastructure failures and unsafe roads.
• Section 26, which affirms the right to adequate housing, was implicated through ongoing challenges with RDP houses.

These infringements collectively illustrate how service delivery failures can translate directly into human rights violations.  

Community response

The water crisis was not an isolated issue but part of a broader pattern of unresolved service delivery failures. In July 2025, residents from 10 wards collectively demanded action on long‑standing concerns, including poor roads, unsafe bridges, electricity shortages, lack of clean water, and inadequate housing. After years of what they described as false promises, community members resorted to blocking the R56 road between Mount Fletcher and Matatiele in an effort to draw the attention of the Mayor of Elundini Municipality.

Rather than constructive engagement, the protest was met with force. Police officers, acting under instruction, responded with rubber bullets. This response not only physically injured community members but deepened feelings of exclusion and repression among residents who were attempting to assert their rights. 

Educating for accountability

The Mount Fletcher Advice Centre took proactive steps to support the community, educating residents about their constitutional right to water and other basic services, and empowering them with knowledge to assert these rights lawfully. It also raised public awareness through social media, amplifying community voices beyond local boundaries. Crucially, the centre encouraged active community participation in municipal processes such as Integrated Development Plan (IDP) meetings, budget planning sessions and local leadership structures. This approach aimed to strengthen transparency, promote accountability, and ensure that residents could monitor municipal commitments and expenditure.  

This intervention helped attract public attention and placed increased pressure on the municipality to respond. As a result, JoJo tanks were provided and water deliveries resumed, albeit as an interim solution. More importantly, residents became increasingly aware of their rights and their role in governance processes. Community members gained confidence to voice complaints, participate in decision‑making, and hold municipal authorities accountable for failed projects and unfulfilled promises. This shift marked an important step toward community‑driven oversight and long‑term advocacy. 

From protests to the boardroom

The Mount Fletcher Advice Centre recognises that while rubber bullets may silence a crowd, they cannot extinguish a community’s constitutional rights. Under the Strengthening Action Against Corruption (SAAC) project, our organisation has pivoted from mere observation to active empowerment.

We have launched a series of education campaigns, teaching residents that Section 27 of the Constitution – the right to access sufficient water and healthcare – is not a suggestion. It is the law. By raising awareness on social media and in community halls, we are transforming “frustrated residents” into “active citizens.” We plan to expand education and awareness campaigns on constitutional rights, including equality, dignity and freedom of expression.   

Our goal is to move the battle from the barricades of the R56 to the decision-making tables of the municipality. We are encouraging the community to:

• Reclaim the IDP: By attending Integrated Development Plan (IDP) meetings and budget sessions, residents can monitor exactly where funds are allocated.
• Form leadership committees: Establishing community-led oversight ensures that when a bridge project fails or water funds vanish, the municipality can no longer hide behind “empty promises.”
• Whistle-blowing: We are advocating for a culture of transparency where government workers are encouraged to expose corruption from within, protected by a network of silent monitors.

The organisation aims to offer legal advice to victims of rights violations, monitor service delivery compliance, and protect community members who speak out against abuse. It also advocates for whistle‑blowers within government institutions to expose corruption.

A call for reinforcements

The Mount Fletcher Advice Centre is standing firm, but the mountain we are climbing is steep. To be effective, the organisation requires legal expertise, financial resources, technological equipment, safety measures, and stronger collaboration with other stakeholders and government institutions. These supports are essential to ensuring that constitutional rights in Mount Fletcher are not only recognised but fully realised.

We require:

• Legal expertise: Access to legal counsel to pursue accountability measures against non-performing authorities.
• Technological resources: Computers and educational materials to ensure every resident has a copy of their rights in their hands.
• Safety and security: Measures to protect whistleblowers and community members who dare to speak out against abuses of power.

The story of Mount Fletcher is currently one of hardship, but through the SAAC project, we are drafting a new chapter, one where the constitutional rights of every resident are not just written on paper but are realised in their homes.

Libode, a region in the Nyandeni Local Municipality, is a place where the resilience of the community often stands in stark contrast to the stagnation of its infrastructure. While the Eastern Cape is frequently celebrated for its natural heritage, for the residents of Nyandeni, the view is often marred by the sight of unfinished RDP houses, skeletons of promises that leave families without the dignity of proper shelter.

Infrastructure failures here are not just administrative oversights; they are daily hardships. Poor road networks and failing sanitation systems strip away the basic constitutional rights of the community, fostering a deep-seated sense of frustration. When local government remains a distant, silent entity, the people feel their voices no longer carry weight. It is this gap between the governed and the governors that the Development Education and Leadership Teams in Action (DELTA) sought to bridge.

Breaking the cycle of postponement

Recognising that accountability cannot be demanded from the sidelines, DELTA launched the Strengthening Action Against Corruption (SAAC) project. The mission was clear: hold the Nyandeni Local Municipality accountable for its service delivery failures. However, the path to engagement was initially blocked by a wall of bureaucracy and repeated postponements of physical meetings.

Refusing to let the initiative stall, the DELTA team pivoted. In August 2025, they bypassed the logistical hurdles by convening a virtual meeting with the mayor of Nyandeni. It was here that the SAAC project was first introduced not as a threat, but as a necessary mechanism for transparency. The mayor endorsed the project, opening the doors to the municipal risk and fraud management officer and the public participation officer.

A formal pact for accountability

The turning point came when municipal officials suggested that the relationship be codified. DELTA moved swiftly to draft a memorandum of understanding (MoU), a document designed to transform informal support into a binding working relationship.

On 12 December 2025, the municipality officially signed the MoU. This was a landmark victory for Libode. It shifted the dynamic from one-sided complaints to a structured partnership. With this document, DELTA is no longer just a community observer; it is a formal stakeholder with the right to sit across from municipal leaders and demand answers.

The path forward: holding the line

The first formal meeting under this new framework took place on 5 February 2026, coordinated by the municipal operations manager. The primary objective is the establishment of a joint working committee. This committee will serve as a direct pipeline where documented cases of service delivery failures; the dry taps, the crumbling houses, and the broken roads are submitted for immediate review and remedial action.

DELTA’s accountability work has also moved beyond the municipality. The team had a direct engagement with the district director of the Department of Human Settlements that took place on 18 March 2026. The director acknowledged the failures on record and committed to convening a full accountability session, one that would bring together every party involved in the original RDP housing projects and require them to account for the state of those houses. That meeting has not yet taken place. Before it could be scheduled, a fire broke out at the department’s offices in the Botha Sigcau Building. The damage to the department’s operations has created significant delays in the process. DELTA continues to press for the meeting to be convened.

DELTA’s strategy moving forward is multi-pronged:

• Persistent oversight: Using the MoU to ensure regular, scheduled engagements that the municipality cannot easily ignore.
• Community empowerment: Running education workshops to teach residents how to report issues effectively, ensuring the “grassroots” remain the loudest voice in the room.
• Escalation: Where local action falters, DELTA is prepared to take these documented failures to district, provincial, and national oversight bodies.

In partnership with the Social Change Assistance Trust (SCAT) and Corruption Watch, DELTA was part of the delegation that took its documented evidence of service delivery failures directly to the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature. The delegation appeared before the Committee of Chairpersons. The committee received them and gave a firm undertaking to support civil society organisations in the work of holding government accountable. Members committed to raising the specific issues presented with the relevant oversight authorities, giving the people a formal hearing at the level of provincial oversight.

The SAAC project, supported by partners like Corruption Watch, the Social Change Assistance Trust, and Transparency International, is proving that in the Eastern Cape, the fight for administrative justice is becoming more organised. For DELTA, the signed MoU is not the end of the journey, but the beginning of a new era where the people of Libode are no longer spectators to their own neglect.

For more than five years, severe donga (gully) erosion has expanded across all 28 wards of the Umzimvubu Local Municipality, particularly affecting the Mount Frere area. These dongas have caused widespread environmental degradation, threatened public safety, and damaged roads, bridges, and agricultural land. Despite repeated public complaints, the municipality initially failed to take corrective action, attributing the problem to ongoing national road construction, rather than addressing the root causes of erosion. 

Failure of infrastructure and governance 

The unchecked expansion of dongas represents a clear infrastructure failure. Roads and transport networks have deteriorated to the point where access to clinics and hospitals has become difficult and, in some cases, dangerous. This has resulted in delayed medical treatment for vulnerable community members. Farmers have also been severely affected, as damaged roads prevent them from transporting produce to markets, undermining livelihoods and local food security. 

As basic services declined, households were forced to spend limited incomes on alternative solutions such as private water trucks and generators, deepening existing poverty. The continued inaction by the municipality raised serious concerns about accountability and governance at local level. 

Violation of constitutional and legal obligations 

The situation constituted an infringement of several constitutional and legislative provisions. Sections 152 and 153 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) place a duty on municipalities to ensure sustainable service delivery and to promote a safe and healthy environment. In addition, the Bill of Rights (Chapter 2) and the Municipal Structures Act of 1998 require local government structures to prioritise community well-being and participatory governance. The failure to address the donga crisis represented a breach of these obligations. 

Community action and legal advocacy 

In response, the Mount Frere Paralegal Advice Centre, based within the Umzimvubu Local Municipality, played a critical advocacy role. The organisation advised traditional leaders from affected areas to submit a joint complaint, strengthening community voices and increasing the likelihood of official response. The matter was also escalated to the Department of Justice to ensure formal oversight and accountability.  
This coordinated approach shifted the issue from isolated complaints to a collective human rights concern, compelling authorities to engage more seriously with the problem.  

Outcomes and continuing oversight 

As a direct outcome of these actions, a formal briefing was held between 25 August and 5 September 2025. During this period, the rehabilitation project was initiated. The municipality committed to a R5-million project to address donga erosion across all 28 wards, marking a significant step towards restoring infrastructure and environmental safety.  

To safeguard progress, the Mount Frere Paralegal Advice Centre has committed to maintaining constant communication with the designated government representative and participating in municipal public meetings to ensure transparency and follow-through.  

Future plans and sustainability 

This case highlights the importance of sustained community mobilisation, legal literacy, and institutional support in realising constitutional rights. The Mount Frere Paralegal Advice Centre has identified the need for further training in legal frameworks, stronger partnerships with anti-corruption bodies, access to pro bono legal support, and multi-year funding to ensure continuity of advocacy work. 

In 2014, the Sikhuza family was approved as beneficiaries of a government‑subsidised RDP house under South Africa’s public housing programme. Like many low‑income families, they viewed this allocation as a critical step towards dignity, safety, and stability. The house was meant to provide adequate shelter for a household of nine people and restore their constitutional right to housing. However, what should have been a life‑changing moment, instead became a prolonged experience of neglect and frustration. 

Nature of the problem 

The contractor responsible for constructing the Sikhuza family’s house abandoned the project before completion. The structure was left in a clearly uninhabitable condition, with no plastering, no glass fitted in the window frames, no internal ceiling, and no installed doors. As a result, the house was completely exposed to the weather and could not be occupied. 

After some time, the contractor briefly returned and carried out partial plastering. This work was poorly done, with uneven surfaces and large areas where the plaster cracked and later fell off. Crucially, the contractor failed to complete the remaining work and once again left the site. No windows, doors, or ceiling were installed, and no repairs were made to correct defective workmanship. Since then, the house has remained unfinished and unused. 

Violation of rights and legal standards 

This case represents a clear violation of the right to adequate housing as enshrined in Section 26 of the South African Constitution. Furthermore, it contravenes the Housing Act 107 of 1997, which obliges the state to ensure that housing delivery meets acceptable standards. The National Housing Code further outlines minimum requirements for RDP houses, including completed structures with secure doors, windows, and appropriate finishes. None of these standards were met in the Sikhuza family’s case. 

Impact on the family and community 

For more than ten years, nine members of the Sikhuza family have been unable to occupy the house they were allocated. The unfinished structure continues to deteriorate due to ongoing exposure to rain and wind, worsening the damage and increasing the cost of eventual repairs. Beyond the personal hardship faced by the family, this case reflects a broader pattern of housing delivery failures in Nyandeni Local Municipality, where contractors often abandon projects or deliver poor‑quality workmanship without consequence. 

Actions taken by Development Education and Leadership Teams in Action (DELTA) 

DELTA visited the Sikhuza household to assess and document the condition of the unfinished house. Photographic evidence was collected to show the missing doors, windows, ceilings, and the poor state of plastering. The organisation also recorded the family’s account of their interaction with the contractor. The case has since been formally included in DELTA’s documentation of housing failures under the SAAC project in Nyandeni Local Municipality. 

Current status and way forward 

At present, the case remains in the documentation phase. Evidence has been gathered, and preparations are underway to formally engage with municipal officials. The next step is to present the Sikhuza case, alongside other documented housing failures, to Nyandeni Local Municipality under an existing memorandum of understanding. DELTA aims to use this process to demand accountability, corrective action, and the realisation of constitutional housing rights for the Sikhuza family and other affected residents. 

It is often lauded as one of the most picturesque areas of South Africa, with green hills that span over hundreds of kilometres. Nestled in the Makana Local Municipality, the region of the Eastern Cape province, Alicedale is a small town that boasts some of the country’s most loved game reserves. Among these is the world-famous Addo National Elephant Park.  

Municipalities.co.za describes it in this way: “The Makana area has nearly a million hectares devoted to game. A range of public and private nature reserves span the area, from the world-famous Shamwari in the west to the magnificent Double Drift and Kwandwe Reserves in the east.” 

Anyone reading about Alicedale would imagine these tourist attractions bring good economic opportunities that boost the tourism sector for this semi-rural community and surrounding areas, but this is not necessarily the case. Many of Alicedale’s residents are aggrieved over what they describe as neglect and disregard from their municipality. The tourist attractions – renowned as they are – come at a cost for them of irregular supply of clean water, an issue that has plagued the area for a long time, with little or no acknowledgement from the municipality. 

Community leader and CARE Alicedale director Phumla Gojela calls it an injustice and infringement of the constitutional rights of residents. They have to struggle to access water and when it does reach their taps, it is often not of the best quality for drinking. 

“Alicedale’s water supply system was compromised after the municipality allowed the privately owned game reserves to draw water from the local dam and river for the benefit of the wild animals,” says Gojela. 

“The situation worsened when an old farm owner started his own privately owned game reserve. The farmer built a brick wall around the dam nearest to him, blocking the natural flow of water to our river. This has further reduced our access to water. This was clearly visible during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.” 

Half-hearted municipal effort

The urgency for CARE Alicedale was in addressing the matter with Makana. Gojela told the Strengthening Action Against Corruption (SAAC) team that numerous complaints were made to the municipality, with CARE providing evidence in the form of pictures, of residents resorting to walking far to fetch water from the river.  

Makana’s response was to provide water tankers, a solution that ensured the provision of clean water, but was not sustainable in the long term.   

SAAC was launched in 2024 with a team from Corruption Watch, the Social Change Assistance Trust, and Transparency International charged with identifying CBOs across the Eastern Cape to lead mobilisation efforts for administrative accountability from local government, from the ground. The CBOs are encouraged and have been trained through various workshops held in 2024 and 2025 to raise awareness about service delivery challenges in their communities as well as how to hold public institutions at local government level accountable to the service delivery principles of the Constitution. 

No community consultation

Gojela says for the most part, the grievances that Alicedale residents have with their municipality stem from years of poor service delivery and planning for all residents, not just the tourism-focused businesses. The community does not get consulted in terms of spatial planning by the municipality as well as the allocation of services such as water. Over time, this has resulted in community members having to regularly fetch water from springs and other natural sources in the area that are also used by game. 

This has created challenges for small businesses in the area and for many in the community who have to factor in the task of fetching of water into their daily schedules. Some of these are schoolchildren who end up missing out on crucial learning time. Although Gojela acknowledges that developing the area’s tourism sites over the years was good, it should not have been at the expense of the communities that are now neglected and without clean drinking water. She is of the view that they were also not prioritised in the planning process for the area.