MBOMBELA, Mpumalanga — The recent Mbombela municipality elections debate laid bare the urgent service delivery and financial challenges facing the City of Mbombela just days before residents head to the polls. With the local government elections scheduled for Wednesday, November 4, 2026, political parties are making their final pitches to the city’s 362,673 registered voters.
During a virtual broadcast addressing the electorate, spokespersons for the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), the African National Congress (ANC), and the Democratic Alliance (DA) clashed over the municipality’s financial mismanagement, infrastructure decay, and the path forward for the Mpumalanga capital.
Auditor-General Warnings and Resident Frustration
The debate was framed by a grim financial reality. According to the Auditor-General, the municipality spent approximately R194 million more than it earned in a single year. Furthermore, it takes an average of 245 days for the municipality to pay its suppliers, with more than half of the owed funds unlikely to be recovered. The Auditor-General has also raised severe doubts about the municipality’s ability to continue operating as a going concern.
These financial woes are felt daily by the city’s population of over 818,000. In pre-recorded vox pops played during the debate, Mbombela residents expressed deep frustration. Complaints ranged from nauseating odors and poor sanitation in the central business district’s vegetable markets to recurring potholes, high utility tariffs, and unsafe streets plagued by crime and poor street lighting. Youth unemployment and the high cost of living were also highlighted as critical crises.
EFF Promises Radical Overhaul and Direct Employment
Godrich Gardee, EFF Deputy President and the party’s Mbombela mayoral candidate, opened the debate by asserting that the EFF is the only party with a true mandate to fix the municipality. Gardee heavily criticized the ANC’s 30-year track record, accusing former leadership of corruption and stealing seed capital meant for future development.
Gardee outlined an aggressive 100-day plan focused on infrastructure and job creation. Key promises include:
- Roads and Mobility: Reconstructing and connecting rural village roads, specifically citing routes from Gamkika to Shabalala and Phuka to Kumbula, to improve the mobility of goods and services.
- Water and Electricity: Ending the privatization of water and the 30-year concession tender, promising free water for SASSA beneficiaries. He also committed to fixing high-mast streetlights to reduce crime.
- Direct Youth Employment: Bypassing middlemen and tenderpreneurs by directly employing local youth as meter readers, plumbers, and pothole patchers. Gardee claimed this strategy alone could absorb 5% to 10% of the city’s unemployed youth.
- Law and Order: Deploying drones in the CBD for 24-hour surveillance, improving waste management at taxi ranks, and taking over the provincial health system to establish 24-hour clinics in all villages.
When pressed on coalition possibilities, Gardee stated that the ANC is the EFF’s obvious coalition partner but ruled out the DA and the Freedom Front Plus. However, he outlined seven cardinal pillars for any coalition agreement, including a strict ban on subcontracting, annual lifestyle audits for all politicians, and a comprehensive land and abandoned building audit.
ANC Defends Record and Promises Infrastructure Continuity
Desmond Moela, the ANC candidate nominee, defended his party’s legacy, stating that the ANC remains the only movement capable of continuing to liberate and improve the lives of Mbombela residents. Moela emphasized that the party’s manifesto is focused on the continuation and stabilization of existing service delivery projects.
Addressing the severe water shortages and the R16 million budgeted for water tankers between October and December, Moela announced that the ANC is collaborating with the Department of Water and Sanitation to build a new dam for Mbombela. He noted that the design and planning phases are complete, with construction slated to begin in the next financial year. In the interim, he promised that water tanker challenges would be resolved within 100 days of taking office.
Moela also highlighted the recent purchase of a jet-washer fleet to permanently fix potholes and committed to daily maintenance of streetlights. On the issue of the Auditor-General’s damning financial report, Moela acknowledged the irregularities, promising to implement the AG’s recommendations, rotate supply chain personnel to clean up the system, and ensure suppliers are paid within the legally mandated 30 days.
DA Pushes for Professionalization and Total Takeover
Cyril Chuene, DA Representative and Chairperson of the Municipality, positioned the DA as the party of professionalization and clean governance. Chuene argued that the city requires a “change management” approach to fix the senior management structure, noting that the municipality has operated without a permanent Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for two years and lacks skilled general managers.
Chuene’s manifesto focuses on practical, immediate service delivery fixes:
- Basic Services: Patching potholes, re-graveling rural roads, ensuring streetlights function, and correcting the inaccurate, “thumb-sucked” billing system.
- Financial Discipline: Enforcing the credit policy to collect outstanding debt from residents and government departments, and finishing stalled water projects that have been abandoned for up to a decade.
- Job Creation: Similar to the EFF, Chuene proposed employing local youth to take over meter reading and basic maintenance, cutting out external contractors to save municipal funds.
Chuene was unequivocal about post-election coalitions, declaring a partnership with the EFF a “no-no.” Expressing confidence that the ANC’s support has collapsed, Chuene stated the DA is not looking for a coalition but is aiming for a total takeover of the City of Mbombela. He also fired back at the ANC, accusing them of passing unfunded budgets and blocking DA motions to rotate supply chain staff.
A Decisive Vote for Mbombela’s Future
The debate highlighted a deeply fractured political landscape in Mpumalanga’s capital. With the ANC defending its historical dominance amidst severe financial and service delivery failures, the EFF pushing for radical, state-driven economic interventions, and the DA demanding strict professionalization and fiscal discipline, voters are faced with starkly contrasting blueprints for governance.
As the November 4 election day approaches, the residents of Mbombela will ultimately decide which of these visions will guide the municipality out of its current financial and infrastructural crisis over the next five years.
