AUM vows to prioritse service delivery in Thaba Chweu

Political parties in Mpumalanga are continuing to canvass support as they prepare to contest next month’s local government elections.

One of them is the African Unified Movement (AUM), which will contest the elections for the second time.

The party obtained one seat in the Thaba Chweu Local Municipality in 2021.

The party will contest 14 wards in Thaba Chweu and 31 in the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality.

AUM President and Thaba Chweu mayoral candidate, Peter Makhubela, says the party will focus on water and electricity issues, among others.

“We want to make sure that we prioritise the issue of water because water is a source of life and as we speak now, there are people who are still drinking water with animals in the rivers. We want to make sure that, especially here in Thaba Chweu, we formalise all the informal settlements because, if you can check, there are so many informal settlements. That will also boost the revenue of the municipality because now as we speak, there are so many shacks here in Thaba Chweu where people they don’t have services at all, but they have made their own plans in order to consume water and electricity. So, the municipality, on the other hand, is also losing.”

Meanwhile, in Msholozi outside White River, 32-year-old Njabulo Nhlebeya has decided to contest the elections independently.

Nhlebeya says he is ready to rescue the people of Ward 14 in the City of Mbombela Municipality from their long-standing service-delivery battles.

“Beyond whether I am within or outside a political party, the important thing is to find optimal conditions that enable prospective councillors such as myself to be able to look for solutions to our service delivery issues and a conducive structure to be able to deliver on the community’s needs which are very outlined on our poster. We’ve got a serious challenge with our roads. We have to get our roads right because remember roads facilitate the movement of people, of goods and of services. We’ve got a crisis with our water, our electricity as well. We’ve also got an issue on the local economic development front, with many of my peers, people that are in the youth that are struggling to find jobs.”

-Report by Michael Mdluli