This article explores the challenges faced by South African municipalities in building a developmental local government, with a focus on the role of capacity building. A key mandate for the South African government has been to build a developmental local government. However, questions have been raised pre- and post-Covid-19 on how effectively the municipalities are being handled following the persistent service delivery protests and poor audit outcomes prompting scholars to question the efficiency of the municipalities. While some scholars attribute these issues to political interference and cadre deployment, this paper argues that a lack of capacity building is a critical factor. Many municipalities are unaware of their capacity shortfalls, which hinder their ability to promote development. Drawing on qualitative research and content analysis, the paper examines the role of capacity building in achieving developmental local governme