Public service is not a privilege — it’s a duty. As South Africa faces a local government crisis, It’s time to redefine what true leadership and fitness to govern really mean.
For far too long, South Africans have been misled into believing that technical expertise alone can fix our broken municipalities. We have seen administrators with impressive qualifications but without
the courage, ethics, or empathy to lead. At the same time, we have endured populists who can stir emotions but lack the discipline and understanding to turn rhetoric into results.
The truth is simple — both extremes have failed our people. The professionalisation of local government demands far more than degrees and bureaucracy. It requires integrity, courage, and the
trust of the community, the very qualities that many traditional politicians have long abandoned.
A Redefined Leadership Model for Local Government
When ActionSA announced Xolani Khumalo as our Mayoral Candidate for the City of Ekurhuleni, we did not choose fame — we chose credibility. We chose a leader who has stood shoulder-to-shoulder
with communities in their fight against the drug epidemic, who has risked his life to confront crime, and who continues to dedicate himself to building safe and dignified neighborhoods.
Xolani Khumalo’s candidacy is not about celebrity politics— it represents a new model of governance, one that blends integrity with expertise. It is about bridging the gap between technocrats who understand systems and community leaders who understand people.
Behind Xolani stands a team of seasoned professionals — policy experts, urban planners, municipal engineers, and public finance specialists — bringing decades of institutional experience. But ActionSA understands that leadership cannot come from the boardroom alone.
True leadership must rise from the streets and communities where politicians have failed time and again to deliver basic services. It is in those forgotten places where ActionSA’s commitment to ethical, people-centred governance will take root — and where change will begin.
Experience Without Integrity is Dangerous
Our country has no shortage of experience. Many of the people who have presided over collapsing municipalities have long résumés. Yet, their “experience” has delivered corruption, cadre deployment, and institutional decay.
Competence without conscience is not leadership – it’s management without morality. ActionSA refuses to accept the false choice between experience and ethics. We believe South Africans deserve both.
That’s why our leadership approach in Gauteng – from Ekurhuleni to Mogale City — insists on pairing ethical leaders with technical experts. This formula is already working in municipalities where
ActionSA councillors chair key oversight committees and expose mismanagement daily.
The Ekurhuleni Crisis Requires Renewal, Not Recycling
Ekurhuleni’s decay – the sewage spills, the potholes, the financial chaos, the assassinations of honest officials – did not emerge because residents lacked skilled administrators. It happened because those in charge lost the moral will to act.
Professionalising governance must therefore begin with rebuilding public trust. When residents no longer believe the municipality serves them, no plan, audit, or clean report can restore legitimacy. That’s why a leader like Xolani Khumalo matters. His entry into formal politics is not a celebrity stunt – it’s a community’s cry for leadership that listens, leads, and delivers.
He brings a moral credibility that politics cannot manufacture. And with ActionSA’s systems, policy depth, and disciplined oversight structures behind him, we will deliver both the ethics of service and
the excellence of administration that Ekurhuleni desperately needs.
The Future of Local Government
The next era of South African local governance must move beyond stale categories of “career politician” versus “outsider. It must embrace a fusion of values and competence. The critical question is not whether a leader is famous, but whether they are trusted, prepared, and supported by a system that delivers.
ActionSA’s mission is precisely that – to professionalise governance not by recycling leaders that are already within but by empowering ethical, community-grounded leaders with the technical muscle to govern effectively. This is not populism; it is renewal. It is the blending of integrity with expertise – the formula our cities need to ensure that the residents remain priority in the work of public servants voted by them into power to govern.
ActionSA Gauteng Provincial Chairperson & MPL Gauteng Caucus Leader Professionalising Governance Means Blending Integrity with Expertise
Public service is not a privilege — it’s a duty. As South Africa faces a local government crisis, It’s time to redefine what true leadership and fitness to govern really mean.
For far too long, South Africans have been misled into believing that technical expertise alone can fix our broken municipalities. We have seen administrators with impressive qualifications but without
the courage, ethics, or empathy to lead. At the same time, we have endured populists who can stir emotions but lack the discipline and understanding to turn rhetoric into results.
The truth is simple — both extremes have failed our people. The professionalisation of local government demands far more than degrees and bureaucracy. It requires integrity, courage, and the
trust of the community, the very qualities that many traditional politicians have long abandoned.
A Redefined Leadership Model for Local Government
When ActionSA announced Xolani Khumalo as our Mayoral Candidate for the City of Ekurhuleni, we did not choose fame — we chose credibility. We chose a leader who has stood shoulder-to-shoulder
with communities in their fight against the drug epidemic, who has risked his life to confront crime, and who continues to dedicate himself to building safe and dignified neighborhoods.
Xolani Khumalo’s candidacy is not about celebrity politics— it represents a new model of governance, one that blends integrity with expertise. It is about bridging the gap between technocrats who understand systems and community leaders who understand people.
Behind Xolani stands a team of seasoned professionals — policy experts, urban planners, municipal engineers, and public finance specialists — bringing decades of institutional experience. But ActionSA understands that leadership cannot come from the boardroom alone.
True leadership must rise from the streets and communities where politicians have failed time and again to deliver basic services. It is in those forgotten places where ActionSA’s commitment to ethical, people-centred governance will take root — and where change will begin.
Experience Without Integrity is Dangerous
Our country has no shortage of experience. Many of the people who have presided over collapsing municipalities have long résumés. Yet, their “experience” has delivered corruption, cadre deployment, and institutional decay.
Competence without conscience is not leadership – it’s management without morality. ActionSA refuses to accept the false choice between experience and ethics. We believe South Africans deserve both.
That’s why our leadership approach in Gauteng – from Ekurhuleni to Mogale City — insists on pairing ethical leaders with technical experts. This formula is already working in municipalities where
ActionSA councillors chair key oversight committees and expose mismanagement daily.
The Ekurhuleni Crisis Requires Renewal, Not Recycling
Ekurhuleni’s decay – the sewage spills, the potholes, the financial chaos, the assassinations of honest officials – did not emerge because residents lacked skilled administrators. It happened because those in charge lost the moral will to act.
Professionalising governance must therefore begin with rebuilding public trust. When residents no longer believe the municipality serves them, no plan, audit, or clean report can restore legitimacy. That’s why a leader like Xolani Khumalo matters. His entry into formal politics is not a celebrity stunt – it’s a community’s cry for leadership that listens, leads, and delivers.
He brings a moral credibility that politics cannot manufacture. And with ActionSA’s systems, policy depth, and disciplined oversight structures behind him, we will deliver both the ethics of service and
the excellence of administration that Ekurhuleni desperately needs.
The Future of Local Government
The next era of South African local governance must move beyond stale categories of “career politician” versus “outsider. It must embrace a fusion of values and competence. The critical question is not whether a leader is famous, but whether they are trusted, prepared, and supported by a system that delivers.
ActionSA’s mission is precisely that – to professionalise governance not by recycling leaders that are already within but by empowering ethical, community-grounded leaders with the technical muscle to govern effectively. This is not populism; it is renewal. It is the blending of integrity with expertise – the formula our cities need to ensure that the residents remain priority in the work of public servants voted by them into power to govern.