Globally, voters are unhappy with service delivery, and with the return on investment in their relationships with government. We see this in the UK, US and Canada, and likewise in the recent South African elections. 

Increasingly, voters no longer discriminate or recognise the difference between national, provincial and local government; certainly, not as much as the politicians and officials want them to do. Government is government in the voter’s mind.

Turning to our own property development and construction industry, if we are serious about its long-term investment sustainability, we need to think innovatively and fast, across private and public sectors alike. We have reached a critical stage where service delivery is no longer about the next five to ten years, but the next year at best. We must ask: “What are we doing and is it working? What are our long-term goals but, more importantly, our short-term deliverables?” Society has lost patience with long-term blueprint planning that has no delivery deadlines and is calling for accountability.

Specifically in terms of engineering, it currently takes at least five to ten years to conceive and implement large infrastructure projects. That equates politically to two election cycles. And yet voters in 2026 will measure local government on their short-term experiences: is there water in the tap? Are there potholes? Do traffic lights work? 

Nothing is the same in the world, with very little predictability. Approaching our local 2026 elections – just a year away - there are no doubt going to be many optics through the political lens, but the only real defense of any political party is going to be whether it is getting the basics right. The challenge to the engineering profession is whether it can align itself to plan long-term megaprojects while still delivering short-term milestones along the way that resonate with the average citizen. Engineering has become a “here and now” experience. 

Likewise, the average citizen does not resonate with spatial development frameworks, but they are impacted by the fact that their building plans have sat with authorities for nine months. National Government has been hiding behind the National Development Plan for years, but it has no impact on the ground. 

Long-term plans are important, but need to be approached from a different perspective, with a clear understanding of what can be implemented along the way.

The confusion among government seems to be that delivery must happen but how can it be balanced? This is the real challenge. And if there is to be a focus on big projects, then the turnaround time must be three to five years. The key lies in parallel workstreams that deal with symptomatic problems as they arise.

Confusion also lies within municipalities: surely the growth and health of the tax revenue stream of a municipality is not only the concern of planning directorates? Surely municipal executive management teams should be obsessed with growing revenue streams through the facilitation of new development? Clean audits are no reflection of quality service delivery. Unless the Auditor General audits the processing of the basics, audits will only refer to whether the right boxes have been ticked. We need to get beyond box ticking. 

Turn momentarily to the debate ranging in Los Angeles on whether or not the fire hydrants worked during the recent fires that destroyed over 10 000 homes and critical infrastructure. There will of course be political opportunism, but there are reports that certain reservoirs supposedly feeding hydrants were decommissioned. Whose head is going to roll for this: the official’s or the politician’s? And will the politician be loyal to the official? 

South Africans will be at a serious crossroads in 2026  to choose between historic political loyalties and service delivery realities. Civil society is becoming increasingly critical of government performance while government is becoming more defensive, an illustration of the increase in tension and ability to perform in short time frames. Meanwhile, the pressure on the private sector rises as public coffers empty, and the private sector increasingly puts “skin in the game”. 

The happy median is to be  found in cooperation, transparency and good basic service delivery. We need to recalibrate the development conversation between the public and private sector, as the WCPDF will be doing at our next annual conference in Cape Town in June 2025.

For more information, visit https://wcpdfconference.org.za/