First 100 days in uMngeni: Great early progress in this flagship DA municipality

2 March 2022

Note to Editors: Please find an attached soundbite by the DA Federal Leader, John Steenhuisen MP. 

Today marks the first hundred days of a DA government in uMngeni - the first municipality in KwaZulu-Natal to be governed by the DA, and most certainly not the last.

And so we would like to use this opportunity to highlight some of the projects and achievements of the past hundred days, because, while much of the work has been in visible service delivery, some of it has been to correct failed systems of governance and financial management, and these might not be immediately visible.

Under the leadership of Mayor Chris Pappas, the new DA uMngeni administration got to work straight after the election results were announced. They knew there would be a spotlight on everything they did, and they couldn’t afford to waste time or make any missteps. After decades of ANC misrule in the towns of KwaZulu-Natal there is understandably a massive expectation on this new DA team here. Many people understand that this is the only hope for a better outcome, not only here in uMngeni, but ultimately also for our country. But there are also many detractors who are willing us to fail, and they will place every move of this administration under the microscope.

We welcome this level of scrutiny, because setting ourselves apart through our actions and not words is the DA’s raison d’etre. When we say “The DA gets things done” we are always able to back this up with evidence. We also don’t mind being held to an entirely different standard than our predecessors here. We know that people had extremely low expectations of the old ANC administration, and we would hate for that to be the benchmark by which our progress in uMngeni is measured.

There were also some people who questioned the choice of Chris Pappas as Mayor - some felt he was too young and inexperienced for such a crucial job. But no one inside the DA doubted his selection, because in our party he has a big reputation as a hard worker and a principled leader. We had no doubt that he could lead a team here that would turn this municipality around, and his age was never a factor. Down in Cape Town, we also have the country’s youngest metro mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, who is doing an excellent job. In the DA, if you’re good enough you’re old enough.

And so, on the young shoulders of Mayor Chris Pappas and his young team rests a big responsibility. This municipality has to be a DA flagship. We need to do here in uMngeni what we’ve been doing in Midvaal in Gauteng, which is to become an island of service delivery excellence and hope in a sea of dereliction and despondency. Failure in uMngeni is not an option, because what we achieve here will have a knock-on effect down the road in Msunduzi, and in eThekwini, and up and down the coast of this province. Our flagship has to demonstrate what we are capable of elsewhere too.

I am pleased to announce that the first one hundred days in office has put us in an excellent position to achieve this goal. I will let Mayor Pappas tell you in greater detail about some of their projects, but I can assure you that what they have accomplished here in just over three months is quite remarkable.

You will see that there is a healthy balance of “systems” reform - the long-term foundation on which to build a healthy municipality - and visible, immediate improvements to service delivery. Both of these aspects are critical to turning a struggling municipality around. While you need to reform policies on issues such as cost containment, financial misconduct and fruitless, irregular and wasteful expenditure, you also need to demonstrate the DA difference through immediate, tangible progress.

That is why projects such as the resurfacing of roads, the installation of new street drainage, the mowing of grass verges, the expansion of the dump site, the painting of street lines, the repair of hundreds of street lights and restarting the stalled KwaMevana Housing project are so important. They show a municipality at work - something the people round here are not used to seeing.

It was also of critical importance to pass the municipality’s recent adjustment budget without drama and disruption - which I’m pleased to say they did - so that this new budget can immediately be put to work in service of the people. Look out for more pothole repairs, upgrades to the dump site equipment, new grass and brush cutting equipment and many more new and repaired streetlights, to name but a few items from this budget.

A hundred days is not a long time in the context of the mammoth task that awaits this new administration in uMngeni, The financial mismanagement, the infrastructure neglect and the service delivery backlog they inherited are immense, and it would be easy to become despondent at the sheer scale of the task. But as the saying goes, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. You start somewhere, and you make steady progress, project by project.

That is the story of the DA’s first hundred days in uMngeni - an energetic and highly competent team that hit the ground running from day one, and are yet to take their foot off the pedal.

Issued by John Steenhuisen, Leader of the Democratic Alliance, 2 March 2022