It’s election year… all of a sudden you’ll see newly-tarred roads

In a local election year, many municipalities will sell you their so-called success stories.

All of a sudden you’ll see newly-tarred roads, with fresh markings, mowed parks and cleaned up pavements.

Your local councillors will unexpectedly take an interest in your water problems, find ways to fix sewage blockages and make sure your power supply is not interrupted.

It’s election season, and you’ll be told your needs come first. We weren’t born yesterday.

A smooth road with fresh paint will not fool everyone following years of little, and in some cases, no service delivery.

People rightfully have had enough and feel their hard-earned money for rates and taxes is either squandered or stolen.

However, every now and again, a success story emerges which gives us hope that local government can run things efficiently.

Mpumalanga’s Steve Tshwete local municipality is one such case.

The municipality received a clean audit during the 2019/20 financial year from the auditor-general, and boasts a 98% revenue collection.

The Citizen’s recent visit to the municipality shows the various political parties are working well together to make sure their residents get what they pay for.

Steve Tshwete’s executive mayor Diphala Motsepe said: “We don’t compromise on service delivery, we stick to our 48 hour turn-around undertaking.”

Even more remarkably, they claim to fill potholes within two days of it being reported. Long may this success story continue.

Hopefully it will spread to other municipalities – and not just in election years.