Every day in Ventersdorp in the North West is more or less the same for Erika Theron.

She wakes up once again in a puddle of sweat because the electricity has been off since the previous day. She opens the taps, but there is no running water. They are dry.

She walks out into the town and once again sees the dilapidation of the place where she grew up. She sees the poverty and desperation of its people. Over the past five years, since moving back to be closer to her father, she has watched local business owners forced to close their shops because they could no longer afford to buy water or fuel backup generators.

“Oh yes,” Theron says. “I want to leave the town so badly because there are no opportunities. I do not currently have a job, but I am making plans. I always make a plan.”

Clinic and schools face utility cuts

The JB Marks clinic in informal settlement Tshing has reportedly been without running water since it was established about three years ago, according to DA mayoral candidate Theo Venter.

“Tshing never has water. Community members carry buckets of water to the clinic to ensure that patients at least have water to drink.”

The clinic did not answer Caxton Network News’ calls for two days, while the North West Department of Health had not responded to an email by the time of publication.

Schools face a similar problem.

Corrie Smith, an employee at Ventersdorp Combined School, says every day is about hoping the electricity will stay on.

“It is hard to do our day-to-day chores. Yesterday (November 10), the electricity only came on at 13:00. Water and electricity are our biggest concerns,” she says.

With temperatures reaching 35°C, unreliable water and electricity make basic tasks such as flushing toilets difficult, while learners are expected to carry on with their school day.

Suzanne de Swardt, the district co-ordinator of Helpende Hand in the province, says schools must provide their own water and electricity.

“The fact is that schools are without water and electricity for months.”

The North West Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.

Power crisis hits local firms

The problems are also taking their toll on local businesses. According to a business owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, the mini-substation in town has not worked for three years. Businesses have been forced to rely on generators, adding extra costs to an already difficult trading environment.

Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) councillor Pieter Steyn confirms the substation is out of order following failed interventions involving the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).

“The community put pressure on Nersa and somewhere last year they installed a new transformer, but a few days later it was out of order again.”

Caxton Network News sent an email to Nersa asking about electricity problems in the town, but had not received a response by the time of publication.

Retha Heymans, the chairperson of the Ventersdorp Chamber of Commerce, says the people are the only reason she continues to live in the town.

“This community has the most amazing people in the world and despite all the problems, we stand together. Just to give an example, this year we collected around R80 000 from our community to fix the potholes on the roads.”

She says the transformer problems have also led the municipality to implement load-shedding.

Heymans says that on some days, businesses have electricity for only four hours.

The knock-on effect is putting jobs at risk in a town already struggling with economic difficulties. When businesses can no longer afford to operate, it is not only the owners who suffer. Employees and their families also face an uncertain future, while fewer businesses mean fewer opportunities for people already struggling to find work.

“People’s jobs are at stake and our children are being pushed back to square one. We are going to end up with even more unemployed people in our communities, when so many are already struggling to find work.” These are among the concerns raised on the Greater Ventersdorp/Tshing Residents Facebook page.

Heymans says the town’s development is being held back by the constant water and electricity outages. She knows of a farmer who wanted to build a factory that would have created many jobs but moved the project to Potchefstroom because of the problems.

“A lot of our businesses are moving to bigger towns,” she says.

Town’s future hangs in balance

For Steyn, who has lived in Ventersdorp his entire life, the issue is whether the town he calls home still has a future.

He believes its decline accelerated after the 2016 merger, when the former Ventersdorp Local Municipality was incorporated into Tlokwe, with Potchefstroom becoming the administrative centre of the newly established JB Marks Local Municipality.

Since then, businesses have closed and industries dependent on reliable water and electricity have increasingly moved elsewhere.

Ventersdorp’s economy now depends largely on agriculture and supporting industries, but farmers also face deteriorating electricity and road infrastructure.

Steyn says the problems extend beyond infrastructure to what he alleges is endemic corruption in the ANC-led JB Marks municipality and an apparent lack of concern for Ventersdorp residents.

Fight continues over Ventersdorp merger

The merger of the former Ventersdorp and Tlokwe municipalities was intended, among other things, to strengthen municipal administration and improve financial sustainability. Nearly a decade later, it remains controversial, and the future of the merged municipality is being contested in court.

The DA has launched a legal challenge against the Municipal Demarcation Board’s refusal to split JB Marks into the former Tlokwe and Ventersdorp municipalities.

The party argues the merger failed to deliver promised improvements and left Ventersdorp marginalised under an administration based in Potchefstroom.

The Municipal Demarcation Board’s own research, published in its 2024/25 annual report, paints a concerning picture of the municipality’s financial and service delivery performance. It found that JB Marks performed poorly on several financial indicators and that service delivery backlogs had worsened since the merger, with water provision the exception.

The DA’s application was heard in the Gauteng Division of the High Court: Pretoria on August 28, with judgment reserved.

The FF Plus would prefer Ventersdorp to regain its independence, but Steyn acknowledges that this is unlikely in the short term.

The party has also submitted a motion to the municipal council proposing a municipal subcouncil for Ventersdorp within JB Marks. It proposes a ring-fenced budget, with local councillors deciding how the money should be spent.

The FF Plus says a subcouncil could help restore infrastructure and rebuild confidence.

Hung council after municipal poll

That changing political landscape was also reflected in the 2026 Local Government Elections in JB Marks. The DA made significant gains, increasing its council representation from 17 to 21 seats and winning 12 of the municipality’s 34 wards, compared with nine in 2021. The ANC, which held 33 seats in the previous council, dropped to 22.

The results leave JB Marks with a hung council, as neither party has the 34 seats needed for an outright majority in the 67-seat council. The outcome means that no single party can govern the municipality alone and that co-operation between parties will be necessary to secure a governing majority.

Coalition negotiations are expected to be concluded before the first council meeting, which must take place within 14 days of the council being declared elected.

For Ventersdorp residents, however, the election results are about more than the number of seats won by individual parties. After years of complaints about service delivery, the municipal merger and the loss of local decision-making, many are hoping that a change in the political balance will also bring a change in their everyday lives.

Emergency declaration promised

Venter says it is difficult to provide immediate answers to all the problems facing the town. However, should he become mayor, he would immediately declare a state of emergency.

“Ventersdorp needs help,” he says.

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He believes the water and electricity problems are easy to fix, although residents who have lived with these difficulties for years are waiting to see whether promises will translate into action.

Common ground in shared crisis

But despite all the negative stories, Theron also sees how the rainbow nation stands together. In a town once closely associated with Eugène Terre’Blanche and the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, she says people from different backgrounds are increasingly finding common ground in their frustration about the state of the town and the services they are not receiving.

Steyn shares this view. He says black and white residents increasingly recognise their shared problems.

He points to residents’ willingness to contribute towards fixing potholes and other local problems.

“People give what they can, often from their own limited means,” he says.

To Steyn, this shows the community has not given up on the town.

Kabelo, who asked not to give his surname, is a petrol attendant who lives in Tshing. He says children have few places to play and residents are struggling without water. He is nevertheless pleased that the DA has been given an opportunity to govern.

Theron refuses to be negative about her beloved town. “For now, we can just hope that things will change. The residents are positive and believe that they can walk a new path with a new municipal administration. All of us also believe that the past belongs in the past and that we can tackle all our issues together.”

Caxton Network News contacted JB Marks Local Municipality by telephone and email for comment on service delivery, its water and electricity infrastructure, the clinic’s water supply, Ventersdorp’s budget and plans to address backlogs. The municipality was also asked to respond to the political and financial criticism but had not replied by publication.

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