Erosion of public trust in South Africa: Understanding the crisis and potential solutions

IOL News

3 days ago

Experts say that the trust deficit in most government institutions, if not all, is a systematic issue. Pictured is South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
Image: Supplied
South African citizens have had enough of poor service delivery, high levels of crime, corruption, unresponsive government, and public institutions; they believe that they have been taken for granted for too long. As a result, public trust and confidence in government and public institutions are at their lowest at present, experts say.
A recent survey by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) revealed that South Africans' trust in government institutions has declined, with the police recording 22%, the lowest since 1998. There is a trust deficit in almost all government institutions, including the Parliament.
Professor Purshottama Reddy, a Public Governance expert from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, stated that the tolerance levels of the citizenry have reached their limit with compounded issues of poor municipal service delivery, notably load shedding, water outages, inflated municipal billing, and urban decay.
Reddy said the erosion of public trust in South Africa's government has gradually occurred over three decades, but has significantly accelerated in the past decade.
'It started with the ushering in of coalition governments at the local level from around 2016, 2017, the deliberations of the Zondo Commission, and finally leading up to the May 2024 elections.
'I think that developments in the past week (the explosive allegations by KZN Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi against police minister Senzo Mchunu, whom he accused of involvement in criminal syndicates) were the straw that broke the camel's back,' he said.
He added that public institutions should be open and transparent in all their operations to restore confidence in the populace.
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'All government activities should be open and transparent. The processes for appointments, suspensions, and dismissals, decision-making should be inclusive, and provision should be made for greater diversity in terms of different ethnic groups, as well as political representation, like what we are having now in the government of national unity.
'Some of the transgressors in some of the more widely publicised cases should be tried and sentenced. And that should send a strong message that the government is quite serious about curbing the scourge of corruption, reducing crime, and more importantly, enhancing service delivery, particularly concerning basic services,' Reddy said.
He added that the anti-corruption agencies, oversight bodies, and the office of the public protector can be strengthened by appointing individuals strictly on merit. That is, people who have the qualifications, experience, expertise, and are independent. They should be firm, decisive, and undertake their tasks without favour or fear.
But how did we get here?
Reddy said that in 1994, when the ANC took over, the first decade of democracy went extremely well because many public functionaries, both politicians and officials, were very dedicated and sincere.
He added that the first public functionaries had the requisite experience and qualifications, and they occupied senior positions, resulting in a very effective government.
'There was a high level of trust in the government then. The rot began in the second decade of democracy when some younger politicians and public servants came in. There were also a lot of political appointments to positions because of their standing in the political party, or some role they played in the struggle. The level of dedication and sincerity in terms of serving the communities was reduced somewhat.
'A lot of us did not have any problems with the people that were involved with the struggle being appointed, and so on. But, once these people were appointed, they brought in a whole lot of their friends and relatives, who did not have the qualifications, experience, which constituted a problem. And to a certain extent, this compromised service delivery,' Reddy said.
He added that major governance challenges began in the second decade of democracy. These included poor service delivery, corruption, high crime levels, a lack of political and management will, a lack of inclusivity and diversity, unfulfilled promises of economic growth and job creation, and unethical leadership by public functionaries, as well as the absence of a merit-based system.
'We also saw a large number of coalitions being established at the local level, and that also created a great deal of instability in local government, because there should be guidelines governing these coalitions.
'The first of the major considerations should be service delivery. It shouldn't be a question of what is in it for the political party or the individual in terms of positions of mayor, deputy mayor, Speaker, or being on the executive. So, those are the root causes that have resulted in a decline in public trust in South Africa,' Reddy said.
Dr Ngqapheli Mchunu, a senior researcher at the Human Sciences Research Council and one of the survey's authors, said while trust in the SAPS is low, at 22% in the year 2024/2025, it is not necessarily a matter of the police or SAPS trust being low in an isolative manner. It is a systemic issue because almost all the other institutions are low.
Factors such as corruption, inefficiency, and a lack of sustainability contribute to the erosion of trust. Perceptions of corruption have a pull-down effect on almost all institutions because citizens will not necessarily apply or adopt a nuanced perspective to peel all the layers and get to the root problem. That process takes too long and it's too complicated, Mchunu said.
'Local government is low on trust, provincial government, national government, and even trust in political parties is very low. A trust deficit has happened in the country's democracy, and most institutions, if not all.
'We run the risk of having an illegitimate state of government in the sense that people need to endorse the state or state institutions. The minute that does not happen, people are not likely to comply or support state initiatives or projects, which essentially rely on citizens to embrace and buy into the idea of whatever it is the state is seeking to achieve,' Mchunu said.
He added that an example would be the 2021/2022 national lockdown caused by Covid-19, where a lot of state guidelines were not necessarily followed, after the allegations of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) corruption emerged.
He said citizens want to see action. They want to see change; they want to see service delivery. And the minute that does not happen, while at the same time, they are reading about certain individuals getting bribed, tenders, corruption scandals in the millions and billions. That obviously ends up shaping the negative perceptions that citizens have, even though that may not have been a view that they held from the outset.
Once we begin to see more positive news, like investigations or certain people being held accountable for their crimes. We will then see a rise in the popularity of SAPS, Mchunu said.
Professor William Gumede from the Wits School of Governance said the government needs to take the public trust issue seriously and not respond in the same way they did in the past, where they would issue a statement and say that they are aware of the issues.
'Now, they must try to do better by bringing in the capacity of the Government of National Unity partners that are not ANC partners, bringing in the capacity outside government, where you have businesses, civil society, and professionals, and also come up with more pragmatic policies rather than ideological policies. They must come up with policies that are pro-economic growth and that can create employment,' Gumede said.
'Political will is at the heart of everything. This is the moment where the ANC must choose between itself as a party and the country. So far, the ANC has chosen the ANC; they have not chosen the country. Not choosing the ANC means not appointing ANC people who are corrupt or incompetent, just for the sake of the unity of the ANC,' Gumede said.
Naledi Kuali, executive director of Defend Our Democracy, said failure to hold corrupt officials and dismantle criminal networks has resulted in a severe loss of public trust, an environment where the government is viewed as endorsing corruption.
'It is one thing for people to know corruption and state capture exist; it is another for service delivery to be so poor that people are so gravely and intimately affected by it in their everyday lives. It shows a contempt for the people and an unwillingness to be held to the promises made. Communities have stopped looking to leadership for assistance, which manifests in resentment and hopelessness towards our democracy,' Kuali said.
She said accountability and transparency are effective in rebuilding public trust, adding that leadership needs not only to distance themselves from corruption but lead in a way that makes it unsustainable for the actor.
Reuben Coetzer, spokesperson for Free SA, said South Africans are weary of watching inquiry after inquiry, only to see the implicated promoted, protected, or quietly forgotten.
'The credibility crisis is not just about one minister or one commission. It's about the erosion of democratic trust. We need prosecutions, resignations, recoveries of stolen funds, and above all, leadership that respects the intelligence of its people,' Coetzer said.
According to the 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer South Africa report, business and NGOs remain the most trusted institutions in South Africa, with 68% and 63% respectively.
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