The Gathering 2026: Cities Edition - Daily Maverick

On 4 November, South Africans will vote in local government elections that will help determine the future of our cities. Before the campaign slogans, before the promises and before the ballots are cast, we have just one question:

One broken streetlight, one abandoned building, one wrong contract signed in a backroom. Nobody notices – until everybody feels it. And increasingly, that's where South Africa's future is being decided.

National politics may dominate the headlines, but cities are where residents experience government every day. They're where infrastructure either works or doesn't. Where investment arrives or leaves. Where public spaces thrive or decay. Where opportunity is created, or lost.

The Gathering is Daily Maverick's annual premier event, where South Africa's boldest thinkers and leaders come together to tackle the country's most urgent challenges and explore ideas that could shape the future.

Everything that went right, wrong and sideways in local government. You will laugh. You will cry.

Finding the answer to the question we've all been asking.

Follow the sewage. From the burst pipe and creaky infrastructure, down to the ocean you swim in. Then find out what we need to do to protect this resource.

Everyone has a theory about crime in their suburb, but almost nobody has the data. We unpack the numbers, from murders to housebreakings.

Organised crime isn't loitering outside the gate. It has a desk inside, and it's on the payroll. And when they end up in prison is it business as usual or is there hope?

Jillian Green , editor-in-chief, Daily Maverick, in conversation with Dr Imtiaz Sooliman , founder and chair of Gift of the Givers.

Should business be helping to fix cities and invest in them? Is there a return on the investment or is it a bottomless pothole?

Contemporary artist James Delaney turned The Wilds from a crime-ridden, forgotten patch of Houghton into one of Joburg's busiest parks – proof of what one determined citizen can do where the City won't.

Somewhere between the ward meeting and the abandoned building residents figured out that they are the answer to the questions. Now, community platforms are reclaiming inner-city blocks and holding municipalities to their own promises.

Ten minutes with Marianne Thamm , associate editor, Daily Maverick.

Coalitions, collapse and the politics of delivery, 10 weeks before the ballot. Bringing governance, political leadership and action to cities. Why thriving cities are intrinsically tied to South Africa's survival.

brought to you by Friedrich Naumann Foundation , supported by Radford Dale Wines .

Contact: Nicole Williamson — nicole@dailymaverick.co.za