Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Sesotho soundbites by Cllr Palesa Mpele and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Linda Louwrens.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Moqhaka will take action by proposing and implementing alternative governance models that prioritise efficient, reliable, and responsive service delivery.
This follows the release of the municipality’s first quarter reports for the 2025/2026 financial year, which reveal a deepening crisis affecting thousands of residents daily. The DA’s plan will ensure that residents once again experience dependable services, cleaner environments, and safer communities.
The quarterly reports paint a sobering picture of service delivery failures:
- 7,139 service delivery complaints logged in just three months (July–September 2025).
- 3,277 electricity complaints—residents left in darkness, non-functional prepaid meters, broken streetlights.
- 2,157 sewer complaints—a 36% increase from the previous quarter, with blockages affecting health and dignity.
- 1,403 water complaints—burst pipes and prolonged outages, including the Checkers complex incident affecting all of Maokeng.
- 32 emergency service complaints—delayed response to fire, medical, and security emergencies.
Several critical service delivery gaps have been identified across Moqhaka. The Smith pump station poses a danger of death to employees due to the absence of protective covers. At the same time, the Viljoenskroon landfill operates without toilets, running water, or worker shelters. Many sites lack even basic Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and the Steynsrus workshop continues using dangerous machinery that has previously caused severe injuries. The municipal call centre receives no feedback from departments on complaint resolutions, leaving residents frustrated and without answers.
DA Moqhaka’s alternative governance model focuses on service delivery excellence that could revolutionise how the municipality responds to community needs: 24-hour emergency response teams for water, sewer, and electricity failures, and service-level agreements with clear timeframes, reducing overtime dependency (currently R2.7 million quarterly) through proper staffing.
With alternative governance prioritising service delivery, residents could experience:
- Reliable electricity—no more days without power due to unattended outages.
- Clean, running water—burst pipes fixed within hours, not weeks.
- Functional sanitation—blockages cleared promptly, preventing health hazards.
- Safe neighbourhoods—streetlights working, emergency services responding rapidly.
- Job creation through filling 812 vacant positions.
The residents of Moqhaka deserve governance that understands service delivery is the core purpose of local government. Families eat dinner by candlelight, children miss school due to water outages, small businesses lose income, and workers risk their lives in unsafe conditions.
The 2026 local government elections offer communities an opportunity to demand real governance and service delivery excellence.