Residents can be forgiven for being angry over the continued spate of strikes since last September.
It was a dark spring of 2021.

But with municipal employees having returned to work, their daily toil in service of the community is very evident.

And, with a little effort and forgiveness, the town can once again show some appreciation for what municipal employees actually do.

Since last Friday, things have taken a turn for the better.
The CBD was cleaned, followed by the rest of the town.

On Wednesday, front loaders were hard at work at the Dennesig waste transfer station, piling tons of rubbish, and loading them into linked tipper trucks to be hauled off to the landfill.

The slipway leading to Kanonkop from Walter Sisulu Street was entirely cordoned off for some much-needed road maintenance.
Like the previous longwinded strike last year, the latest one had also caused a major backlog on services.

New Municipal Manager Mr Mandla Mnguni is a local government expert with vast experience in the municipality, where he served in various positions for over 20 years.

His immediate plans for the town and municipality are published in this week’s edition of the Middelburg Observer, available now.
Among them are later working hours, including Saturdays, for the licensing and town planning departments.

Pothole teams are out and about, and despite priority areas being addressed first for safety reasons, Mr Mnguni says the town’s streets will all be fixed and maintained.

Litter pickers are also out in full force, while services like the swimming pool and libraries have also resumed.

Electricity and water problems are again attended to around the clock, with water quality being addressed as a priority.
Sewer lines that were blocked and leaking have been tended to by order of Mr Mnguni.

Mr Mnguni has understandably been locked in back-to-back meetings to address ongoing labour issues, while also overseeing his recovery plan, which again is clearly working and visible to the eye.

Residents say, for the first time, that it took them a mere half hour to slip in and out of the licensing offices since Tuesday, after proof of residence forms were changed to Mr Mnguni’s signature.

Even two former mayors, Mr Mike Masina and Mr Ben Mokoena, are calling for the community to fully support Mr Mnguni, whose intentions to restore the town to its former glory are clear.

Mr Mnguni also pleaded for the community’s support, saying, “I’m not a one-man show, I need your help.”
And Middelburg will give it, for the love of our town.

Yes, let’s make Middelburg great again!