Trusting the Coalface: Public Trust in South African Local Government and the Millennium Development Goals

Abstract

Governance at the local level is at the frontline of African endeavours to complete the Millennium Development Goals. Following the third wave of democratisation in Africa, many new democratic states pursued a strategy of decentralising central governments, empowering local authorities to eradicate poverty and improve citizens’ quality of life. Public trust in local government, however, is often low on the continent. When a public institution is distrusted by the public, citizens are unlikely to cooperative with that institution. Using South Africa as a case study, this paper examines attitudinal determinants of public confidence in local government in order to understand how trust in these political institutions can be improved. Using public opinion data from the South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS) for the period 2003–2012, the chapters finds that public trust is driven by satisfaction with service delivery, political efficacy and political knowledge.