We generate new and original research to better understand the drivers of institutional performance in the public sector and improve policy implementation.
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Joined January 2015
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'Show Your Hand: Parties must name their game before the election'
by Zain Mayet
"South Africa’s local government elections on 4 November will determine who represents each ward, but in many municipalities, elections will not settle who governs. Where no party wins an outright majority, that question moves from the ballot box to the negotiating table."
🔗 Read the full blog here: pari.org.za/blog-show-your-h…
At the recent Joburg Crisis Alliance summit, "Dr Sithembile Mbete of the Public Affairs Research Institute said that behind the service failures lies a municipality in financial and administrative distress, despite collecting over R81-billion in revenue in 2024/25."
🔗 Read the full article here: groundup.org.za/article/jobu…
On October 17 for the Joburg Crisis Alliance’s 10th summit took place to map out ward committee reform and voter accountability ahead of the upcoming municipal polls. PARI's Executive Director Dr Sithembile Mbete was in conversation with Khaya Sithole. “For cities like Johannesburg, which over the last 10 years has seen decline and instability in service delivery and governance, it’s a critical election.”
🔗 Read the article here: citizen.co.za/rosebank-killa…
Should South Africa have a 'none of the above' option on ballot papers?
"According to Dr Sithembile Mbete, Executive Director of the Public Affairs Research Institute, the concept could provide an alternative to staying away from voting or spoiling a ballot."
🔗 Read the full article here: za.headtopics.com/news/shoul…
The fourth episode of Just Access: The Real Democracy, is now available everywhere you listen to your podcasts.
Starting with Johannesburg’s struggles to provide functioning fire services, the episode explores procurement failures, political interference and the unequal consequences of administrative neglect. It asks how appointments could be made more transparent, why outsourcing still requires expertise within municipalities, and what concrete commitments voters should demand when parties promise capable, ethical government.
Host:
@TasneemEssop_ (@SWOPinstitute)
Guests:
Dr Sithembile Mbete, Executive Director, (PARI)
Dr Sarah Meny-Gibert, State Reform programme lead, (PARI)
@Waseem_Wala, Researcher, (PARI)
Produced By: Richard Rumney
#JustAccessPodcast #LocalGovernment #Elections2026 #LGE2026
PARI's Executive Director Dr Sithembile Mbete was on the panel of Joburg Crisis Alliance's 10th Summit, "What came out of the conversation today is that we really need to be engaged as residents throughout this period, not just the election, but really watching to see who's going to be on our ward committees and electing those ward committees, paying attention to who becomes the MMCs and holding those people accountable."
enca.com/news/residents-must…
The fourth episode of Just Access: The Real Democracy, is now available everywhere you listen to your podcasts.
Starting with Johannesburg’s struggles to provide functioning fire services, the episode explores procurement failures, political interference and the unequal consequences of administrative neglect. It asks how appointments could be made more transparent, why outsourcing still requires expertise within municipalities, and what concrete commitments voters should demand when parties promise capable, ethical government.
Host:
@TasneemEssop_ (@SWOPinstitute)
Guests:
Dr Sithembile Mbete, Executive Director, (PARI)
Dr Sarah Meny-Gibert, State Reform programme lead, (PARI)
@Waseem_Wala, Researcher, (PARI)
Produced By: Richard Rumney
#JustAccessPodcast #LocalGovernment #Elections2026 #LGE2026
The fourth episode of Just Access: The Real Democracy, is now available on all major platforms.
🔗 Tap the link to listen: pari.org.za/podcast-just-acc…
#JustAccessPodcast #LocalGovernment #Elections2026 #LGE2026
Can MKP hold together without Jacob Zuma?
“In my view it’s a clan party,” political analyst Dr Sithembile Mbete, executive director of the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI), told /explain/. She argued that the Zuma family’s influence would remain central to any succession contest, with battles over power and resources threatening the party’s cohesion."
🔗 Read the article: explain.co.za/2026/10/15/can…
The fourth episode of Just Access: The Real Democracy, is now available on all major platforms.
🔗 Tap the link to listen: pari.org.za/podcast-just-acc…
#JustAccessPodcast #LocalGovernment #Elections2026 #LGE2026
Policy Brief | Watch While It Happens: Three interventions for civic oversight of public procurement
Conventional oversight of public procurement arrives late, as shown by irregularities surfaced in audits long after contracts have been awarded and services have failed. In this policy brief, PARI argues that civil society, communities and the public can be given a defined role in scrutinising public procurement.
🔗 Read the full policy brief here: pari.org.za/policy-brief-wat…
PARI researcher Nonhlanhla Mathibela co-authored this paper on the moralisation discourse of public housing in South Africa which has been selected as the International Sociological Association's topic of the month in September.
🔗 Read the full paper here: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.…
Colloquium | Local Government in South Africa and Beyond
Panel 3: The Inner Workings of Local Government
How does local government work and how could it work better? This session sets out to distil the systems and the inner dynamics of local government as linked to delivery of basic services, to their fiscal health, decentralisation, etc.
@go2uj @WitsUniversity
Colloquium | Local Government in South Africa and Beyond
Panel 2: Local Government as a Site of Political Contestation
This session unpacks the ways in which we can think of local government as a democratic entity. What do residents expect from it? How has it changed? Where does the battle for a developmental local government take place? What institutions negotiate and collaborate with local government?
@TwendeMnE @SWOPInstitute
Colloquium | Local Government in South Africa and Beyond
Panel 1: Local Government as a Site of Innovation
This session explores local government as a site of political innovation. It will cover what models of service delivery, participation or problem-solving are emerging at the local level? Are municipalities experimenting new modes of engagements and who drives such initiatives? What are the conditions that allow or hinder innovation?
@UrbanAfricaACC @go2uj @Wits_WSG @GCR_Observatory @Wits_SCIS
'The People’s Watchdogs' is an animation from our State Reform programme about real-time citizen participation in public procurement oversight. Based on a position paper by PARI: Observe Record Report.
🎦 Watch the animation here: pari.org.za/animation-the-pe…
Report | Basic Services Support Human Capabilities: How water and electricity shape women’s livelihoods in South African townships
PARI recently published a report that seeks to highlight the importance of gender- and domestic-conscious service delivery that recognises the dual role of women as both caregivers and owners of home-based enterprises (HBEs) operating from their homes. In this context, basic service provision must be reliable and affordable to support households that depend on these essential services for both domestic and livelihood purposes, thereby enabling the expansion of their capabilities.
🔗 Read the full report here: pari.org.za/report-basic-ser…
