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Even if they succeed with that motion, we have decided to go on the ground to talk to voters so that they are not swayed away by this motion – Mpumalanga ANC secretary, Muzi Chirwa.

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Sizwe sama Yende

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The ANC in Mpumalanga has fought so hard to avoid the dethroning of its mayor in the hung Steve Tshwete Local Municipality in Middelburg solely not to appear as losers to voters ahead of watershed general elections.

The ANC won only 36% of Steve Tshwete in the 2021 local government elections and had its mayor Mhlonishwa Masilela elected only because the DA and the EFF refused to work together following their disastrous coalitions in Gauteng metros.

This is one of the municipalities that saw a civic organisation wreaking havoc. The Middelburg and Hendrina Residents Forum (MHRF) won 10.59% of the vote, while the DA and the EFF won 28.30% and 14.84% respectively. 

The MHRF has been trying to pass a motion of no confidence against Masilela but the ANC has so far managed to thwart the move by disrupting the last council meeting on May 16.

MHRF cited Masilela’s poor leadership and many on-going corruption investigations against officials as the reason for submitting the motion.

Mpumalanga ANC secretary, Muzi Chirwa, has admitted that Steve Tshwete and three other hung municipalities such as Mkhondo (Piet Retief), Lekwa (Standerton) and Govan Mbeki (Secunda) were being given special attention to regain the voters the party had lost.

For the first time, the ANC received less than 50% of the vote in these municipalities in the local government elections.

Former deputy presidents, David Mabuza and Baleka Mbete, were deployed to Steve Tshwete.

“This motion was done on purpose to create an impression to the man on the street to think that the ANC is defeated even before going to the elections,” Chirwa said.

“Even if they succeed with that motion, we have decided to go on the ground to talk to voters so that they are not swayed away by this motion,” he said.

Chirwa said that the voters would not be discouraged from voting the ANC even by the DA’s tactic to highlight failures in major projects such as the proposed Cultural Hub and the yet to be completed Mpumalanga Fresh Produce Market.

The Fresh Produce is about 90% complete while nothing has been done on the 20.9 hectares of land worth about R143.8 million which was bought for the cultural hub in White River about 12 years ago.

Mpumalanga government has, so far, spent R151 million on the cultural hub construction project. It was estimated a decade ago that the project would cost R3.8 billion.

The cultural hub is one of former premier David Mabuza’s brainchildren.

The DA has said that it intended to stop government from spending more money on the cultural hub and had written to Treasury minister, Enock Godongwana, urging him to urgently stop this project.

“The provincial government could have employed more doctors, nurses or teachers instead of wasting money on nothing,” said DA provincial leader, Jane Sithole said.

According to the 2023/2024 3rd Quarter Report of the Mpumalanga Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation, another R 1.6 million has been paid recently to a transactional advisor to do and submit a third version of the revised bankable feasibility study.

“What the DA is trying to do is not impacting on the ANC’s votes,” Chirwa said.

“What can affect us negatively is lack of water, electricity and internal streets. Unemployment is another thorny issue and the people request us to create jobs. These mega projects do not affect the people’s daily lives directly,” he said.