Abstract
In all democratic structures, public trust is a critical component of good governance, celebrated as a reliable predictor of social capital and enhancing public sector institutions' performance by improving teamwork, decision-making, and regulation quality. The COVID-19 pandemic led to diminishing levels of trust in South Africa, compromising local governments' mandate to foster good governance and efficiently render services. This paper explores the main drivers of public trust and how these can be adopted in the post-COVID-19 era to improve governance and service rendering in the local government context. Employing qualitative research methods, a literature analysis was conducted to address the research questions and investigate the application of good governance policy dimensions within South African local governments. The findings indicate that local governments in South Africa have encountered numerous challenges in retaining public trust in the post-COVID-19 era, as evidenced by a surge in community protests. The paper concludes that considering trust antecedents in municipal governance can help bridge the gap between citizens and local governments.