Service delivery is what happens after the real decisions have already been made: where people are allowed to live, work and move, at what density, and on whose land. That decision is town planning, and it is the most under-discussed, under-resourced, and consequential function of South African local government.

I have spent a career studying how municipalities plan, or fail to plan, for the cities their residents actually live in. My book, Spatial Planning in Service Delivery: Towards Distributive Justice in South Africa, and the research I lead as South Africa’s SARChI Chair for Inclusive Cities shows that in many municipalities, citizens and politicians argue over visible problems – such as traffic, housing shortages, informal settlements and poor services – but pay too little attention to urban planning, which can either cause these problems or help prevent them.

In this article I suggest seven priority areas where residents of South African towns and cities can take action before the local government elections on 5 November 2026. These are the areas where public pressure is most likely to change how decisions are made.

Seven ways residents can push municipalities to plan better

Based on what I have observed, residents and councillors can use existing laws, budgets and public meetings to push municipalities to plan before the next crisis instead of reacting afterwards.

1. Push for the Spatial Development Framework and use it

Every municipality should have a Spatial Development Framework showing where development should take place and how roads, water and other services will support it. Residents can demand to see it and hold councillors to it. This will help stop developments from being approved simply because land is cheap or developers apply pressure, even when services have not been planned or funded.

Right now, residents don’t use this lever. Parliament heard in 2024 that only 51% of municipalities complied with their own Spatial Development Framework. If you live in South Africa, no matter where, ask your councillor for this document. Check when it was last reviewed, and which decisions were made in line with it.

2. Ask about capacity, not only corruption

Residents are right to suspect corruption when a planning decision favours the wrong person. But in smaller and rural municipalities, the more common and more fixable problem is that there is simply no one there to do the job. Knowing which one they are dealing with changes what they demand: corruption must be investigated, but an empty desk needs a budget line and a hiring freeze lifted. Residents should ask how many qualified planners their municipality employs.

3. Watch the Municipal Planning Tribunal

South Africa’s Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act moved rezoning decisions from provincial government down to municipal tribunals. This was a democratic gain in principle, since decisions now sit closer to the people they affect. It means that residents can find out exactly who approved the development next door, and appeal against the decision.

Left unwatched, that same power invites trouble. Cape Town’s Municipal Planning Tribunal has recently faced allegations that it changed its planning bylaw so tribunal members could take a short break after their 10 year terms ended, and then return, potentially eroding the tribunal’s independence. Residents should ask who sits on their tribunal, how they are appointed, and how their decisions are published and appealed.

4. Upgrade informal settlements, instead of wishing them away

South Africa is short of between 2.1-million and 2.6-million homes. More than two million households live in over 4 000 informal settlements. In several major cities, municipal planners now acknowledge that most people who need housing are living in informal settlements rather than waiting for formal houses elsewhere.

Municipalities need to plan around this reality instead of treating informal settlements as temporary problems to be removed. This means spending more on water, toilets, electricity and roads where people already live, rather than building new housing on undeveloped land far from jobs and public transport. Residents should ask what percentage of their municipality’s housing budget is spent on upgrading existing informal settlements and what percentage goes towards new housing developments. The answer shows where the council’s priorities lie.

5. Make land use and transport planning talk to each other

South Africa’s transport plans promise bus routes and development close to public transport. But municipal transport and land departments often work separately. When thousands of homes are approved without better transport, poorer residents pay through longer, more expensive journeys.

Residents can ask whether their municipality’s development and transport plans are linked and whether the two departments make decisions together.

6. Plan for who actually uses the city

Spatial planning was historically designed to meet the needs of a male commuter travelling in a straight line to a single workplace. That isn’t how most women, caregivers or informal traders move: their trips are multi-stop, off-peak, and safety-conscious. Conventional planning ignores this.

My research shows that street lighting, clear lines of sight, safe paths and the placement of facilities such as toilet blocks and taxi ranks are central to public safety. Residents who lobby for these will be helping cities set up safer areas that are easier to walk around with a child or a trolley. Of every new development, the question must be asked if it was designed around how women and informal traders actually move, or only around vehicle traffic counts.

7. Inclusive planning is not a wish list

In South Africa, municipalities have Integrated Development Plans, where the local council sets out its budget to cover all upgrades and service delivery. Residents can give their input at meetings about these plans and hold council to them. When a plan says that upgrading informal settlements is a priority, that is not bureaucratic language. It is a commitment citizens can quote back, line item by line item, at the next budget meeting.

What needs to happen next

For South Africa to improve its towns and cities, municipalities must employ qualified planners, fund this work properly, make departments plan together and publish clear reasons for development decisions.

Residents should ask not only when a pothole will be repaired, but why a development was approved, who approved it, which plan guided the decision and how it will be carried out.

Councillors must treat town planning as a major public responsibility because it determines where people live, how they travel and who has access to jobs and services.

Written by Hope Magidimisha-Chipungu, Full Professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.