This Special Edition of The Compassionate Confronter offers the view from acadѐme on the quest to reverse the decay on local government level in South Africa. The academic environment provides the evidence-based angle through which one may address the issues pertinent to the local sphere of South Africa’s governance system. Good research is not easily beaten when one looks for ways to effect better service delivery in a country crippled by dominant-party political role players. Furthermore, in line with the thinking on Southern Epistemology, one may offer novel solutions to the South African epistemological challenges.