So, where do we put our X this Election Day?

It’s almost that time again. On Wednesday, we head to the polls for the Local Government Elections.

And I suspect I’m not the only one looking at the choices in front of us and thinking: Hmm… this is not going to be easy. Because where do we put our X?

Local government is probably the level of government we feel most directly. When the water stops running, we notice. When the rubbish isn’t collected, we notice.

When the pothole outside your home gets bigger and bigger, we notice. And when your municipality is working well, we notice that too.

The problem is that there are municipalities across the country where things simply aren’t working as they should.

There are financial problems, service delivery problems, infrastructure problems and, in some cases, serious questions about leadership and accountability.

And that makes the decision at the ballot box a difficult one. Let’s be honest. Many political parties have disappointed the very people they asked to trust them.

We’ve heard the promises, we’ve seen the posters and we’ve listened to the speeches. Some of us have also spent years waiting for some of those promises to become reality.

But I don’t think we should become so cynical that we stop noticing when something is being done well.

There are pockets of excellence. There are municipalities getting things right. There are councillors, officials and community leaders doing good work, often without making a huge noise about it.

Those examples matter because they remind us that local government doesn’t have to be a story of failure.

Ask the right questions

So perhaps this election is also an opportunity to ask a different question. If you’re asking for my vote, what are you going to do differently?

Not what is wrong with the other party. Not how bad the previous councillor was. Not another long list of everything that went wrong before you arrived. Tell us what you can do.

Tell us how you are going to tackle the problems in our communities. Tell us how you will spend public money. Tell us how you will listen when residents are unhappy.

Tell us how you will work with people who don’t agree with you. And tell us what accountability will look like when things don’t go according to plan.

That, to me, would be a more grown-up political conversation. You can disagree with someone without trying to tear them down.

You can challenge another party without making your entire campaign about them. And you can stand on your own record without constantly pointing at somebody else’s failures. Surely we can expect that of the people who want to lead us.

Politics is never going to be perfect. There will always be competing interests, difficult decisions and disagreements. That’s democracy.

But perhaps we can expect a little more maturity from those who want our vote.

I would love to see more men and women of integrity step forward and take their rightful places in public life. People who understand that leadership isn’t about the title, the perks or the power.

It’s about service. It’s about doing the right thing when nobody is watching. And it’s about remembering who put you there in the first place.

South Africa is going through an important period. The Madlanga Commission is examining serious allegations relating to criminality, political interference and corruption in the criminal justice system, with its final report now expected in January 2027.

There is still a lot of work to do. But I’m still hopeful. Very hopeful, actually. Because I love this country.

And I still believe South Africa can be a place where opportunity isn’t reserved for the politically connected or the fortunate few.

There is so much talent, resilience, generosity and goodness in our people.
I believe we can get there.

Perhaps not overnight. Perhaps not without some hard conversations and difficult changes. But I believe we can.

So when we stand in that voting booth on 4 November, perhaps the question isn’t only “Who do I vote for?”

Perhaps we should also be asking: “Who has earned my trust – and what are they going to do with it?” That’s probably a good place to start!

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