Talking to Tracy Ledger and Jugal Mahabir, this episode does a deep dive into water, electricity, affordability, free basic services, alternative energy and municipal infrastructure. It examines what affects municipal finances, and how the critical need for affordable services could be prioritised by municipalities to support development and livelihoods.

Host Tasneem Essop asks what voters should look for when parties promise better services, including how municipalities use the funding allocated for free basic services. The conversation explores how rooftop solar could support infrastructure maintenance and low-income households, and how water released through the transition from coal could create opportunities for local development. Building on our first season, Just Access: The Real Transition, it asks who benefits from these choices and who is accountable for delivering.

Who decides how land is used, whose rights are recognised, and who benefits from development? Host Tasneem Essop speaks with PARI researchers Gaynor Paradza, Daniel Sher and Federica Duca about how municipal land decisions shape where people can live, work and build a future.

They explore party promises about state land, housing and title deeds, the rights that formal records overlook, and the pressures of a changing climate. From community consent to the location and affordability of housing, the episode asks what it would take for development to challenge inherited inequalities—and for residents to have a meaningful say.

What can voters expect from a new council when the problems it inherits have been building for years? Host Tasneem Essop speaks with PARI researchers Sithembile Mbete, Kate Tissington and Jugal Mahabir about the pressures facing municipalities, from coalition politics and unstable administrations to strained finances and unreliable services.

They examine what parties are promising, what municipalities can actually deliver, and how residents can judge those promises. The episode asks a practical question: who will make local government work, and how will voters know whether they have?