The mayoral candidate for the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Govan Mbeki Municipality answers our questions
James Masango tells voters what he will do if he becomes the mayor.
Ridge Times invites mayoral candidates and candidates contesting wards in the upcoming local elections to answer our questions.
This is what James Masango, the mayoral candidate for the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Govan Mbeki Municipality, answered.
Q. Govan Mbeki Municipality is a major industrial and economic hub. What is your strategy for protecting existing jobs and attracting new investment?
A. Without growing economy, we will never create jobs. The first most important things to do is to stop corruption in its totality and build a stable and professional local government that delivers services.
Form Public Private Partnerships with local businesses to grow the economy.
Do lifestyle auditing on senior personnel and other staff members
Senior management and personnel will be made to account for their actions.
Employ competent people
Stable electricity, water supply and roads in good condition will attract new investments.
A proper functional LED run by professional people in business.
Those are the most important things to attract investors, grow the economy and create jobs.
Q. The municipality has faced persistent challenges around electricity, water infrastructure, roads, sewage spills, illegal dumping and ageing municipal assets. Which infrastructure problem will you tackle first, and why?
A. They are all a priority given the situation they are all in. And some are a Constitutional requirement you can’t ignore them.
I will do everything in accordance to the Constitution and the laws of the country.
There is a problem of roads, electricity, water and sanitation in Govan Mbeki Municipality and they are all a priority.
Refuse removal and illegal dumping also need to tackle simultaneously with the rest.
Q. Govan Mbeki Municipality has a large number of informal settlements. What is your plan to improve basic services while addressing longer-term housing needs, and how do you plan to curb illegal squatting?
A. Services delivery will be the first thing to pay attention to because residents are paying for and they deserve better services.
The lack of maintenance on the current infrastructure is a major concern.
We will comply to the Treasury regulation to ring fence 8% for maintenance and 5% from the MIG also for maintenance which is not done currently and that will assist us to maintain more infrastructure. I will also partner with the Public Private sector to improve the maintenance.
Dedicate refuse removal trucks with standbys for every area. We have the launch of fleets every year but not sure what happens to all of them.
I will prefer to get briefing on housing needs as my experience and knowledge on housing, is that there a lot of corruption all over the province. Which land is available for development and how was it acquired. What infrastructure is there?
You need to make it an Integrated Development Plan with the District and COGHSTA to avoid one project overlapping over another one.
The PIE ACT is there to assist the municipality to stop illegal occupation of land. The act is currently being amended and it will assist the municipality far better now than before.
I will not allow illegal invasion of land as most of the time the illegal invasion goes with corruption. There are those making money by selling stands.
Q. What is your plan to improve the municipality’s financial position and ensure that municipal spending translates into visible service delivery?
A. Once you stop corruption then you will be able to save more money.
Employing competent people makes you to get quality work and value for money
Make sure projects are monitored from start to finish to get quality projects and completed in time.
Set outcomes based targets and not outputs for the Municipal Manager and Directors. They must also do the same to their subordinates.
Stop high losses on electricity and water.
Q. Govan Mbeki Municipality will have a large number of candidates contesting ward seats in the 2026 elections. What will you expect your ward councillors to deliver for residents, and how will you hold them accountable for service delivery, community engagement and responding to local problems?
Ward councillors should be on the ground with the people and serving them.
Be a link between the community and the municipality.
Report back through public meetings and WhatsApp groups.
Hold ward committees meetings.
Hold executives to account.
Q. If we interview you again at the end of the 2026 – 2031 term, what specific measurable result should we be able to hold you accountable for?
A. Financial viable municipality.
Improved services delivery
Competent staff
Stable electricity and water
Created the environment that is conducive for investment and job creation.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the candidate and do
not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the journalists or the newspapers (Ridge Times and Standerton Advertiser) and the company (Caxton) they represent.
