Headlines about the decline of local government are a nearly permanent feature in newspapers across the country.

In many cases, the collapse has been so severe that water and sanitation services are at crisis levels and many municipalities are in debt to Eskom to the tune of hundreds of millions of rands.

Our home municipality, KwaDukuza, is not without its fair share of serious challenges, but we are nowhere near the state of decay that some of our neighbours are currently in. Why? Because we are showing up consistently, credibly and with unshakeable conviction to protect the place we call home.

A groundswell of civil society advocacy has been taking root and rising for well over a decade on the Dolphin Coast. For a municipality that is performing far better on paper than many of its counterparts, KDM is under more scrutiny than most. National and provincial oversight institutions like NERSA, COGTA, the SIU and the Hawks are placing politicians and administrators under a microscope because ordinary residents, through their support of civil society, have refused to have their concerns ignored.

When 600 residents showed up at the imbizo under our previous mayor, he was given his walking papers shortly afterwards. When we show up together, change happens.

Local government does not monitor complaints in the form of comments on social media, nor is it privy to the chaos that is a neighbourhood WhatsApp group after an extended power cut. If we want to influence decisions that impact us, we need to enter the arena beyond the keyboard. That means showing up in person as a community that is invested and taking ownership of its future.

We are being asked to show up in a big way this year as the local government election approaches, but public participation does not begin and end at the ballot box. Events like public ward meetings and imbizos are where the municipality takes the temperature of the public between elections, and we are at a critical inflection point.

If we want to avoid the decay happening around us, we need to treat this like any other potential crisis we have faced before. From riots to floods, we have proven we show up for one another when it counts. Let us rise together again to meet this moment.

The KDM IDP Budget Imbizo for wards 6, 22 and 30 will take place on Thursday (April 23) at 6pm at Umhlali Prep School.