Migration pressures and their implications on service delivery: A comparative governance review
Wendy Nonthelelo Shezi & Hlengiwe Nomzamo Mabizela
Abstract
Three decades after democratisation, South Africa continues to experience significant migration from rural areas to adjacent cities as residents seek improved employment opportunities and better access to essential public services such as healthcare and education. This trend has raised concerns regarding the effective delivery of services, as municipalities face increased financial pressures due to the need to allocate limited resources to accommodate migrants. The growing urban populations have led to a heightened demand for critical services, including water, electricity, housing, and sanitation, often overwhelming existing infrastructure in urban areas. This article examines how internal and cross-border migration shape municipal service delivery capacity in South African metropolitan municipalities. Using a structured review of policy and academic literature and a comparative synthesis of cases from India, China, Uganda, and the DRC, the paper identifies governance mechanisms that mediate service delivery outcomes under population mobility. The findings show that planning population mismatches, weak intergovernmental coordination, and limited implementation capacity (rather than migration per se) drive service delivery inequities. While comparative cases demonstrate partial mitigation strategies, institutional and constitutional constraints limit direct policy transferability to South Africa. The study concludes with context-specific governance implications for metropolitan planning and migration-sensitive service provision.
Keywords
overpopulation, informal settlements, service delivery, protests
Author information & Contribution
Wendy Nonthelelo Shezi. Corresponding Author. Master’s degree in Public Administration. Email: 21449093@dut4life.ac.za
Hlengiwe Nomzamo Mabizela. PhD in Public Administration. Lecturer at Durban University of Technology. Email: HlengiweM4@dut.ac.za
"All authors equally contributed to the conception, design, preparation, data gathering and analysis, and writing of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.”
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
This work was not supported by any funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not Applicable
Data and Materials Availability
The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
AI Declaration
The author declares the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in writing this paper. In particular, the author used Perplexity in summarising key points and paraphrasing ideas. The authors take full responsibility for ensuring proper review and editing of contents generated using AI.
Notes
This paper was presented in the 3rd BRICS-RI Research Conference.
Acknowledgement
To my supervisor, Dr Hlengiwe Mabizela, thank you for your patience and guidance during my research journey. Your dedication and enthusiasm for research inspire us to be better researchers. I would also like to acknowledge Dr Oluwatobi Alabi for his continued mentorship and support in writing this paper. Your efforts never go unnoticed. To the BRICS Research Institute, thank you for offering us the opportunities to meet with seasoned researchers we can learn from and for providing the platform to present our papers. To the DUT Postgraduate Department, thank you for organising the writing retreat that allowed us to refine our work and the space to focus.
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Cite this article:
Shezi, W.N. & Mabizela, H.N. (2026). Migration pressures and their implications on service delivery: A comparative governance review. International Review of Social Sciences Research, 6(2), 294-323. https://doi.org/10.53378/irssr.353362
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