30 January 2026

by Maru Attwood 

A years-long water crisis. Sewage on potholed roads. Delayed maintenance, a housing backlog, blackouts and missing millions. By mid-2021, residents of Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape were fed up with the Makana Local Municipality. The service delivery crisis pushed citizens to take their municipality to court, and then to the streets in protest.  

When elected leaders in provincial and local government ignored protesters’ demands and court action failed to change conditions on the ground, activists realised they needed to contest elections to change the balance of power and accountability in the local council.

Citizens, including anti-corruption activists, former councillors and people leading community kitchens from a range of movements and organisations, such as the Unemployed People’s Movement and the Makana Residents’ Association, united to form the Makana Citizens Front (MCF).  

With just a few months of preparation, the civic movement turned political party secured 18% of the total vote in the 2021 local elections, winning five proportional representation seats of the 27 seats in the Makana council.

In its near full term as the largest opposition party in the local council, the Makana Citizens’ Front has faced an uphill battle to enforce accountability. The party has brought criminal charges against senior municipal officials and sought support from the Special Investigating Unit to probe allegations of corruption.

 While the Makana municipality continues to grapple with ongoing service delivery failures and an entrenched “jobs for pals” patronage network, the MCF argues that progress and clean governance are still worth fighting for. As Philip Machanick, Proportional Representation Councillor for the MCF, puts it: “Every little success we have is worth the effort.”

Building bridges 

Key to the MCF’s electoral success as a first-time party in 2021 was building a diverse base across racial, class and other social and political boundaries. “We've had support from the wealthiest people in town through to the poorest,” says Machanick. “You should be willing to talk to anyone willing to support the same cause… to put your ego aside,” he says.

“The strength of a community like Makana lies not only in its diversity but in the interest and participation of a range of actors,” explains Zukiswa Kota, a Makanda-based public accountability advocate who serves on the Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership (a global initiative aimed at improving transparency and combating corruption in government). “Were the municipality to harness this amazing energy, much would be achieved!” she says.

The Makana Citizens Front is fighting for accountability alongside an engaged citizenry in the municipality that includes other civic movements, activists, schools, university students and coalitions like Makana Circle of Unity. Outside of electoral politics, the MCF works to directly address local issues with cleanup programmes, community kitchens and action against gender based violence. Machanick says they are “generally trying to build a more resilient, more proactive community.”

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Battle for accountability

Every year since the 2018/19 financial year, the Makana municipality has received a disclaimer audit finding. This means that the municipality’s finances are so poorly managed that it failed to provide reliable evidence for its financial statements. “When money was allocated to solving the problems, it seemed to all end up getting stolen,” says Machanick.

As an opposition party in council, a central focus of the MCF is to “put pressure on the municipality to do their job right.” Being a party based in just one municipality, Machanick says, “We don't have to defer to higher structures. If we spot an issue, we can deal with it directly.” This has enabled them to be responsive to very localised concerns around corruption and maladministration, and provide oversight on municipal infrastructure maintenance at the level of specific water reservoirs and wastewater treatment plants. According to Kota, the MCF and other civic movements have helped to push for more “public-facing reporting of service delivery issues.”  

In October 2024, the Makana Citizens’ Front bought a case against the Makana municipality to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), which seized documents and devices to lead a thorough investigation of multiple suspicious tenders over the years of the service delivery crisis. To date, the SIU has delivered its report to municipal officials to respond to, but it is not yet available to the council or the public. Many are frustrated at the slow rate of progress.

In July 2025, councillors in the MCF laid criminal charges against municipal officials because of R2.6 million, which was spent towards a water pump that was never delivered or went missing.

Streets in Makhanda are marked by potholes, trash and sewage. Credit: Lungile Mxube

Pushing against power

​Despite some progress toward transparency, Makana’s service delivery crises persist. “People's health and dignity are threatened when Makana provides contaminated water or no water at all. Some residents are still faced with the indignity of using the bucket system in the absence of adequate sanitation services,” says Kota.

“Although we feel we have been able to do a lot, a lot of our efforts have been frustrated,” says Machanick. For instance, the party has put proposals to the council to lead skills development and job-creation projects, but has not secured the support to get them passed.

​“Reform requires the support and commitment of all parties. Politics, patronage and vested interests too often hamstring meaningful reform,” says Kota.  

Road to 2026 local elections

Addressing Makana's challenges requires understanding community interests and appointing people with the necessary skills rather than political connections, according to Machanick.

Central to the MFC’s approach is facilitating public participation in the municipality’s Integrated Development Plan based on genuine grassroots input, rather than what he says is a "copy and paste job" with public engagements that are merely for show.

The MCF aims to shape Makana’s future by deepening collaboration with communities to craft their platform for the 2026 elections. If they win greater representation in the 2026 elections, the party intends to prioritise assembling a skilled engineering team to address pressing infrastructure challenges. Machanick remains confident: “We need a good mix of people who have technocratic skills and people who are close to the community…. You could fix the major infrastructure problems in 18 months with the right team.”