DA mayoral candidate for Emfuleni Local Municipality, Kingsol Chabalala, has put fixing basic services and ending the sewage crisis at the centre of his campaign to unseat the ANC in one of Gauteng’s most troubled municipalities.
Chabalala says Emfuleni has for years been “brought to its knees” by corruption and misgovernance and that residents’ most urgent pain — water shortages, sewage spillages, unreliable refuse removal and collapsing roads — must become the municipality’s immediate operational priority.
“Emfuleni Local Municipality has been brought to its knees by years of rampant corruption, poor governance, political interference, and a glaring lack of accountability under the ANC-led administration,” Chabalala said.
“The ANC cannot escape responsibility for presiding over a municipality that has struggled to fulfil its basic obligations to the people it is meant to serve.”
Emfuleni, which includes Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging and Sebokeng, has for years been synonymous with service delivery failure, sewage flowing into the Vaal River, prolonged water cuts and a financial crisis that has seen it owe Rand Water and Eskom billions. Its dysfunction has been repeatedly flagged by the Auditor-General and in provincial intervention reports.
Chabalala said a culture of impunity, failure to enforce consequence management and cadre deployment had hollowed out the institution.
“A culture of impunity, the failure to enforce consequence management, and cadre deployment practices that prioritise political loyalty over merit have undermined institutional capacity and weakened the municipality’s ability to deliver essential services,” he said.
He outlined a two-pronged plan: immediate relief for residents while rebuilding long-term capacity.
“Water shortages, sewage spillages, unreliable refuse removal, and failing infrastructure must become the municipality’s immediate operational priorities. These problems have been repeatedly raised by residents and in public reporting,” he said.
He said if elected, he would establish a dedicated municipal service delivery operations centre that tracks faults, allocates work orders and monitors whether problems are actually resolved.
“We will establish a performance-driven administration in which every senior manager is accountable for specific service-delivery outcomes. We must move away from a culture in which officials attend meetings, submit reports and make presentations without residents experiencing meaningful improvements,” he said.
Chabalala said services cannot be restored sustainably without fixing the municipality’s finances.
“The municipality cannot restore services sustainably without improving financial management, procurement oversight, and the implementation of its financial recovery measures,” he said.
He said Emfuleni needs a capable administration with technical expertise and management discipline, adding that the municipality’s own financial recovery plan identifies governance, internal controls and consequence management as critical areas.
“The biggest issue facing residents of Emfuleni is the persistent failure of basic municipal services, particularly water and sanitation, compounded by unreliable electricity, irregular refuse collection and deteriorating roads,” he said.
On funding, Chabalala said his administration would not simply hike rates and tariffs.
“They will be funded through a reprioritisation of existing municipal expenditure, improved revenue collection, the recovery of wasted public funds where legally possible, and targeted provincial and national government support, not by simply increasing residents’ rates and tariffs,” he said.
Politically, Chabalala said the DA is not campaigning for a coalition but for an outright majority.
“As the DA, our focus is not on coalition negotiations but on working tirelessly on the ground to secure an outright majority of over 51% in Emfuleni. We are drawing inspiration from our colleagues in Midvaal, where the DA has demonstrated what focused leadership and effective governance can achieve,” he said.
“Coalition politics has not even crossed our minds because our priority is clear: to earn the trust of the people of Emfuleni and secure a decisive mandate to govern.”
Chabalala said he wants to be judged after one year on tangible progress.
“After one year, I should be judged by the tangible progress we have made in turning Emfuleni Local Municipality around, improving service delivery, and restoring public confidence in local government,” he said.
“My success must be measured by my ability to transform the municipal culture into one that embraces the principles of Batho Pele, placing people first and treating residents with dignity, respect, and accountability.”
He promised a transparent, publicly accessible service delivery recovery plan that identifies Emfuleni’s most urgent water and sanitation failures, sets clear repair deadlines, identifies funding and holds officials accountable.
Emfuleni will be one of the most contested municipalities in the 4 November local government elections, with the ANC defending a municipality it has controlled since 2000.