President Cyril Ramaphosa says the recovery underway in eThekwini shows that when leadership, accountability and partnerships align, even struggling municipalities can regain their footing.
In 2024, the metro was beset by service delivery failures, deteriorating infrastructure and sliding business and investor confidence.
Turnaround
By late 2025, however, the Durban Business Confidence Index (DBCI) recorded a sharp rebound following four consecutive quarters of decline. The index rose from 52.12 points in 2025Q3 to 63.38 points in 2025Q4, signalling renewed optimism about Durban’s economic climate.
Writing in his weekly newsletter on Monday, Ramaphosa said the local government established the working group in 2024 in response to concerns from business and residents about the city’s decline.
“Two years later, the interventions undertaken to tackle poor service delivery and failing infrastructure are driving an effective, sustained recovery in the metro. The Durban Business Confidence Index is at its highest level since it was established.
“In the manufacturing sector, confidence has risen by nearly 16% quarter-on-quarter, a significant development for a city with a major port and a strong industrial base,” Ramaphosa said.
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Tourism
The president added that tourism has also rebounded strongly, with more than 1.2 million visitors to the metro during the recent festive season.
“In addition, key infrastructure projects are underway, and we are seeing improvements in safety and security coordination across the metro.”
‘Out of touch’
But DA KZN mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen said Ramaphosa is “clearly out of touch with reality on the ground.”
“His claim that the city is making progress is not the experience of the majority of people on the ground. Durban has the highest water loss in the country, with more than 60% of the water being wasted.
“The city is spending millions of rands on vanity projects, R22 million on statues, millions of rands on a new logo for the city, R20 million for music festivals and a further R20 million this year sponsoring a music festival.
“In the meantime, we still have sewer leaking into our oceans, KZN has one of the highest unemployment rates and eThekwini has the highest number of informal settlements. On every single matrix that you measure the city’s performance, they fail dismally,” Haniff claimed.
‘Damage control’
Hoosen believes Ramaphosa is on a damage control exercise.
“He knows quite well that the ANC support had dropped to 14% in Durban. If he were genuinely serious about turning the city around, he would not have celebrated the wastage of R22m unveiling the statues in Durban recently. He should have used the opportunity to hold the city government accountable for their failures.”
With local government elections on the horizon, Ramaphosa said eThekwini’s turnaround is an opportunity for stakeholders to work together “not to campaign for the ballot box, but to renew the promise of local government to uphold the dignity and improve the life of every citizen.”
Warning
Ramaphosa also cautioned that financial stability remains a pressing concern for municipalities.
“A number of municipalities are characterised by poor revenue management and rising municipal debt. Audit outcomes show that around two-thirds of municipalities are in financial distress. Without stronger revenue management and financial discipline, service delivery challenges will persist and backlogs will only worsen.”
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Revenue
He added that revenues collected from service provision should be reinvested into maintaining and upgrading infrastructure, but are too often redirected to cover other costs.
“To address this problem, R27.7 billion has been allocated over the next three years to encourage metros to reform their water, sanitation, solid waste and electricity services.
“Government is reforming the municipal infrastructure grant to address persistent underspending, misuse of funds and capacity constraints,” Ramaphosa said.
Local government
Ramaphosa claimed the progress being made in eThekwini to rebuild capacity and restore accountability shows how municipalities can achieve a turnaround with political will and the involvement of stakeholders and residents.
“When local government fails, the impact is felt by communities, businesses and households. When local government works well, villages, towns and cities become engines of opportunity and growth.”
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