Steve Tshwete Municipality

A sterling model of effective and high quality municipal service delivery

Executive Mayor: Cllr. Mhlonishwa Masilela

Newly elected Mayor, Mhlonishwa Masilela, starts the new dministration’s term with confidence as he believes that Steve Tshwete Local Municipality will keep on attaining the excellence it’s known for from 2022 and beyond. The municipality, which sits in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, has a good story of impressive service delivery to tell.

Unlike some of the municipalities in the province and the country which have regular challenges of lack of service delivery and non-payment of municipal rates and services, Steve Tshwete is in a league of its own. It is a relatively small municipality with its municipal area covering approximately 3993 square kilometres and includes towns such as Middelburg, Mhluzi, Hendrina, Kwazamokuhle, Rietkuil and Pullenshope among others. Steve Tshwete Local Municipality spokesperson, Prudence Magutle, said their municipality is “a progressive and thriving municipality with a worldclass infrastructure and an extensive road network that is well-constructed and regularly. “

She said they are proud to have the highest level of water management and quality, certified with a Blue Drop Status and “the most Blue Drop awards in the province with six awards.” She said their financial position, boosted by their impressive consistent revenue collection rate, is what has enabled the municipality to deliver services seamlessly. With a revenue collection rate which has hovered around 100% for years, the municipality has been able to get roads including in its main township Mhluzi tarred, well-maintained and with clear road markings.

“Financially, the municipality has the exemplary record of a 100% payment rate since 2005. As a result of this achievement, we have become a model of effective and high quality municipal service delivery for the rest of South Africa,” she said. The municipality is one of the 27 in the country to receive clean audits in the 2019/2020 financial year, and the municipality’s five clean consecutive audits awards shows that proper financial processes are consistently adhered to.

The municipality has also managed to build well-equipped public amenities including parks. Infrastructure such as street lights and water mains are regularly maintained, with locals rarely experiencing water cuts due to faults caused by ageing or unmaintained infrastructure. The infrastructure in Mhluzi which includes traffic lights and CCTV cameras ranks better than many other SA townships. Surveillance cameras were installed by the municipality along the main roads in the township to help prevent crime and ensure a much quicker reaction by law enforcement agencies and emergency services.

Henry Masango, community member and former councillor, described the municipality as “an epitome of what local government can be in SA”.

“It’s a norm in Middelburg to pay for services, so the municipality doesn’t struggle to serve the community with all the basket of municipal services, it’s a give and take situation,” Masango said.

The municipality has more than 30 accolades won in just the last 10 years, including being Mpumalanga’s greenest and cleanest town. It also won accolades for being the best municipality in the province and for achieving clean audits.

Masango said residents know that if there’s a pothole developing, it would get attended to in no time and it’s the same for overgrown grass in open areas because that’s “the give and take contract” which exists.

Even the opposition in the town, the DA, agrees that their municipality is one of the best performing in the country.

Johann Dyason, DA caucus leader in the Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, recently said the council has been doing well for decades now. “If you look at our roads they are wellmaintained, our street lights are working, there’s water and sanitation, services are rendered at our municipality,” Dyason said. Dyason said as the opposition, they too deserved credit for all the good work happening in their municipality as they provide good oversight work. “The opposition party keeping the ruling party on their toes is what we do best; we don’t let go, we bite like a bulldog and keep on until everything is done.

“It has been like this for the past 20 years that we’ve had services, we’ve had this tradition of being a good municipality from 1994 right through until now,” Dyason said. The municipality is situated near main road arteries such as the N4 freeway which connects the Mpumalanga capital, Mbombela with the Gauteng economic hub metros of Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni.

Steve Tshwete lies just around 150km from the capital, Pretoria and about 170km from Johannesburg. The fact that Steve Tshwete, a coal-producing region, is also home to three Eskom power stations makes it a viable investment destination.

Stainless steel manufacturer Columbus Stainless is also based in Middelburg, providing hundreds of job opportunities to local communities.