All the signs are there, key political role-players have declared their intentions and the need for it by now has been clearly and well established – the South African system of local or municipal government is on the verge of a major shake-up and even fundamental changes.

In the heat of the moment – and driven by the frustrations created by a system that is presently not functioning optimally and often even symptomised by violent protests by citizens – it is easy to forget the road that has already been travelled since South Africa became a true democracy in 1994.

On that road, much has been achieved and much progress been made of which we, as a nation, can be proud.

All stakeholders involved in the process of structural and management adjustments which lies ahead for local government would do well to remember how massive the changes have been that South African society has undergone since 1994. Local government has, for the broadest spectrum of South African citizens, been the coal face of these changes.

It is here that the dismantling of the dividing lines of the old apartheid system reached street (grassroots) level.

It is at this level where the most intimate integration of erstwhile separate political structures – with the starkest inequalities in levels of service and quality of the living environment – had to take place. It was an immensely complicated process.

Because it involves the space in which actual living takes place for just about every citizen. It is also the level at which the ambitions of those who were deprived in the past and the fears of those who were privileged met one another face to face.

Under the circumstances, we have done exceptionally well and leaders at local level perhaps deserve more gratitude than they presently receive.

Perhaps we have allowed ourselves to become complacent, thinking that the work is done. Possibly, a new generation of leaders has become too self-absorbed to realise there is still much to be done.

Some 15 years down the line, it is clear that the time has come to take proper stock of what has been achieved and to consider carefully which adjustments have become necessary.

There rests a huge responsibility on the shoulders of those who will be involved in the process of revamping local government. The peace of our communities, and ultimately the nation, depends on how well they will do their work.

Piet Coetzer