Theo Joubert, MPL and chairperson of the Local Government Committee in the Northern Cape Legislature, proposed a comprehensive recovery plan for Sol Plaatje at a recent public meeting in Kimberley.
The Sol Plaatje Municipality, which includes the provincial capital Kimberley, has been in a serious governance crisis for months. It follows decades of mismanagement as the ANC has dominated every Sol Plaatje Council since 2000.
The comprehensive “Sol Plaatje Recovery White Paper 2026-2031” starts with a municipal diagnosis, 34 priority projects, a 100-day action plan and measurable targets for the five-year period.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) presents these targets to voters as a public contract for 2031. The main objectives can be summarised as follows:
• Safeguarding municipal revenue: measures to ensure improved collection as well as curb losses. The goal is to tackle consumer debt, currently amounting to more than R2,5 billion, through a collection rate of 95%.
• Rehabilitating water and sanitation infrastructure (in particular the Homevale Wastewater Treatment Works) and reducing electricity losses by modernising the distribution network. The goal is to drive down water and electricity losses, currently at 67% and 26% respectively, to below 25% and 10%. Sewerage spills must be reduced by 80% and the “Green Drop” assessment (the Department of Water and Sanitation’s official audit of the condition and management of municipal waste water and water treatment systems) has to be increased to above 80%.
• Repairing roads and stormwater infrastructure through planned maintenance, rather than crisis management. The goal is to reduce the current backlog of approximately 200 km of road rehabilitation and approximately 260 km of periodic road maintenance by 60%.
• Filling critical technical posts, professionalising the administration, and enforcing performance contracts to drive vacancies down from the current 28,7% to less than 10%.
The 34 priority projects are estimated to require approximately R5,9 billion. They will also require a coordinated funding plan involving better utilisation of existing municipal resources, infrastructure grants from central government, development finance, partnerships and better implementation of the capital budget.
Voters can choose between managed decline, as successive ANC governments have offered, or accountable recovery, as proposed by the Freedom Front Plus.
The message for every resident of Kimberley and surrounds is clear: It is our time to govern and restore the Diamond City’s sparkle.
