Batho Pele: do South Africans think municipalities live up to their "people first" motto?

After 1994, the South African government introduced the Batho Pele (“people first”) framework to guide public service delivery. Yet service delivery protests have remained a persistent feature across the country. A recent analysis of data from the South African Social Attitudes Survey 2007–2020 suggests that public confidence in “people-first” municipal performance had steadily declined, notably around consultation, communication, complaint handling, and value for money.