The African Development Bank’s decision to approve a US$400 million loan for Mpumalanga should be welcomed, but it should also concern every resident of our province.
On the one hand, the investment offers hope that communities suffering from unreliable electricity, water shortages and collapsing municipal infrastructure may finally receive the services they deserve. After years of deterioration, any intervention aimed at restoring basic services is desperately needed.
Yet the very existence of this loan tells a far more troubling story.
International development banks do not commit hundreds of millions of dollars simply because municipalities require routine maintenance. They intervene because governance has failed.
Across Mpumalanga, residents have endured years of water interruptions, ageing electricity networks, financial mismanagement and municipalities unable to maintain even the most basic infrastructure. Instead of fixing these problems through competent governance, taxpayers now face additional debt because government failed to prevent municipal collapse in the first place.
The African Development Bank has wisely structured this programme around performance-based financing. Municipalities will only receive funding once agreed improvements have been independently verified. This model recognises a simple reality: money without accountability merely finances further failure.
Unfortunately, this culture of accountability has often been absent within local government.
Too many municipalities have become synonymous with irregular expenditure, poor planning, failing infrastructure and little consequence management. Communities have repeatedly watched projects begin with great fanfare only to stall, exceed budgets or produce little value for money.
This loan therefore represents more than infrastructure funding. It is a test of whether Mpumalanga’s government is finally prepared to embrace transparency, measurable performance and genuine accountability.
Every rand must be tracked.
Every contract must withstand public scrutiny.
Every milestone must be independently verified.
Most importantly, every community must experience tangible improvements, not promises on paper.
The Mpumalanga Legislature also has an important responsibility. Oversight cannot be reduced to receiving quarterly reports while projects quietly fall behind schedule. Members of the Legislature must regularly inspect projects on the ground, question implementing departments and ensure that residents receive the services they were promised.
For ActionSA, the position is straightforward.
We welcome investment that improves people’s lives.
We support reforms that strengthen municipalities.
But we will never support blank cheques for failing governments.
Mpumalanga’s residents do not simply need another loan. They need a government capable of managing public resources honestly, maintaining infrastructure effectively and delivering reliable services every single day.
The success of this programme will ultimately not be measured by the amount of money approved by an international bank.
It will be measured by whether families finally have running water when they open a tap, electricity when they switch on a light, and municipalities that serve the people rather than themselves.
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