Weeks after President Jacob Zuma took office, violent protests rocked some of South Africa's poorest neighbourhoods to demand basic services like running water and electricity.

After dousing the flames of torched buildings, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has sacked mayors and councillors, begun surprise inspections of municipal offices, and unveiled an audit that found local finances in disarray.

"After the service protests we definitely saw a swift reaction from government and the ANC," said political analyst Dirk Kotze from the University of South Africa. "Immediate problems were attended to very fast."

Since the end of apartheid 15 years ago, South Africa has built 2,8-million homes, provided electricity to 80 percent of households, and expanded access to running water to more than seven million people.

But those still waiting for services are increasingly frustrated at the delays, with much of the blame falling on shoddy finances and corruption in local government.

In August, Zuma visited Balfour township after violent protests erupted there, and found the mayor wasn't in his office, having apparently knocked off early.

Last month he made a similar trip to a shantytown on the outskirts of Tembisa, where he listened to residents' complaints about blocked drain pipes that flooded the area around the neighbourhood's sole tap.

He's also opened a complaints hotline that reportedly is buckling under the volume of calls, and held meetings with nearly 300 mayors and municipal managers.

For Zuma's critics, the campaign comes as a surprise from a man who was dogged for years by corruption scandals. Prosecutors dropped graft charges against him just before general elections in April.

"I think people are beginning to feel that this is a government willing and able to listen and address their challenges and build capacity to ensure people are not facing the same kind of problems," presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya said.

The talk has been backed up with a slate of mayors and local officials being recalled in areas like the auto-hub Nelson Mandela Bay and Tshwane, which includes the capital Pretoria.

After Sakhile township, east of Johannesburg, suffered more than a week of protests, the national government took over control of the municipality for a year, which the ANC said was a message to show "zero tolerance" on weak administration, fraud and corruption.

The home affairs ministry, widely criticised for corruption and delays, has sacked dozens of officials for processing fraudulent birth certificates.

Although it's still too soon to see concrete results, Kotze said Zuma's tougher approach marked a turnaround from his predecessor Thabo Mbeki, who often rejected or ignored complaints about any of South Africa's social ills.

"Unlike the Mbeki administration, this one is not denying issues and tries to address them. Government knows that there is a problem with poor political leadership, capacity and financial problems," said Kotze.

The extent of those problems was revealed in a July audit that gave finances in only 56 of South Africa's 253 municipalities a clean bill of health.

"That to me was enough to conclude that we are having a crisis in local government, which we need to attend swiftly," local government minister Sicelo Shiceka said.