The authors acknowledge the legislative transformation of local government in Botswana and South Africa but warn that decentralisation requires more than tokenism. In essence, democratisation at local state level demands the genuine commitment and accountability of key stakeholders such as the state, organs of civil society and the general public, in decentralising and sustaining political-administrative powers. Decentralisation in the context of this article should be conceived as an instrument that balances power relations, more particularly for the locals to plan, make decisions in resource allocation and become the forerunners in prioritising development needs. This article seeks to evaluate decentralisation processes, particularly mechanisms to consolidate the functioning of the local government with a view to ascertaining the extent to which such processes and mechanisms engender people-centred democracy through an accountable