Introduction: Revenues, Rule, Redistribution

In recent years, a new stream of research on the crisis of the state in South Africa has emerged, as revenues have faltered and ageing infrastructure cracked. Inevitably, the core of the South African economy attracts the most attention – notably the crisis of Eskom (Chipkin et al 2018, Tooze 2023). Nonetheless, it is on the poorest, rural margins of South Africa, which generally have higher rates of poverty and weaker fiscal bases, where the crisis is worst. To take one important example amongst many, according to the latest reports of the auditor general, around half South Africa’s municipalities face financial distress or insolvency: unable to manage, raise revenues and deliver basic services, such as water and electricity (Ensor 2022). Of these collapsing municipalities, the overwhelming number are ‘Category B4’ rural municipalities, typically found in the former ‘tribal Homelands/Bantustans’.