August ushered in some welcome news for Middelburg and its economy when Hyundai signed a R5b investment deal with Nkangala Energy, positioning Nkangala Energy as the Highveld’s kingpin of renewable and green energy transition.
The partnership was announced at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Eco-industrial Zone Improvement Conference, which also drew the likes of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, Veralogix, ABSA, and Columbus Stainless. But as Murphy would have it, good always comes with an equal dose of bad.
August was also a month during which the rot in the municipality was laid bare. The lesser of the evils would be the council’s April electricity tariff approval of 13%, before the National Energy Regulator approved an increase of 12%. The 1% shortfall had to be clawed back on the approved budget, with the electricity department instructed to reduce spending.
At the start of the month, the Middelburg Observer also reported on the Auditor General’s findings on the Mhluzi intake-substation, with the AG flagging R138m in fruitless and wasteful expenditure. The contractor appointed for the construction of the substation had been awarded the contract irregularly, the AG found, as the contractor did not reach the threshold for the project’s scope.
On August 8, the Middelburg Observer featured Municipal Manager Mandla Mnguni on the front page after a telling interview with him, in which he detailed threats against him over his quest to expose corruption within the embattled municipality. Mnguni also confirmed that more corruption will be exposed by him in regard to irregularities with the selling of municipal stands. Ongoing corruption probes resulted in a string of suspensions, dismissals and even criminal complaints against municipal officials, most notably former Chief Finance Officer, Mothiba Mogofe.
Despite not pointing any fingers at individuals, the most troubling allegation levelled by Mnguni was the ‘disappearance’ of R500m in municipal reserves between 2018 and 2022. Mnguni’s tell-all interview spurred the former municipal manager, Advocate Bheki Khenisa, to clap back, despite not having been named by Mnguni.
Khenisa felt compelled to explain how the reserves were depleted by the municipality itself, due to loan guarantees not being met. Khenisa said a R700m loan to build infrastructure, including the non-operating Mhluzi substation, which the council deems an asset, should have been repaid by the sale of Dennesig North stands at market price within a year of signing the loan.
The sale never happened, and the municipality is still on the hook for loan repayments of over R60m biannually.
On August 22, the Middelburg Observer reported on the fourth baby saved by the Madison Baby Safe. The wonderful news would soon be overshadowed by the government’s bid to criminalize both mothers in crisis pregnancies, as well as baby safe operators, by terming the babies as abandoned, thereby opening the door to preposterous charges like human trafficking and child abandonment and abuse.
Little did Middelburg know that less than four months later (December), another newborn was saved by the Madison safe, bringing the total of rescued babies to two in 2025 alone.
The latest rescue marked the fifth infant saved between 2022 and 2025.
Residents won’t forget the senseless murder of Johanna Mlangeni, allegedly by her intimate partner. What made the August story so repulsive is the fact that Johanna was murdered on the eve of Women’s Month, with the suspect being released by the court despite Johanna pointing him out to police as the alleged killer before she died. The suspect sat meters from Mlangeni while she writhed around on the ground in pain, after being stabbed on her way to work.
Community members tackled the fleeing suspect, and the knife allegedly used in the murder was also recovered.
AfriForum’s private prosecuting unit, under Advocate Gerrie ‘Bulldog’ Nel, harshly criticized the local court for setting the suspect free despite all the ‘smoking gun’ evidence against him.
The suspect has, meanwhile, been rearrested and has appeared in court, thanks to AfriForum’s oversight.
Another ‘lekker’ story for August was the announcement of Derby 2.0 between Middelburg High School and HTS Middelburg. While thousands marked the event as ‘attending’ on social media, the town also braced for more than 30 000 visitors for the SA Cross Country Championships hosted in Middelburg, following yet another successful hosting of the Mpumalanga Championships.
