Ndlovu votes in Bushbuckridge as Mpumalanga puts water at the top of its election agenda

Mpumalanga Premier Mandla Ndlovu voted at the Thulamahashe Civic Centre in Bushbuckridge on Wednesday, joining the more than two million eligible voters the provincial government says cast ballots to establish the next local government system.

The 2026 Local Government Elections will bring in a new cohort of councillors, executive mayors and speakers across the province. Voting stations are open until 21:00, and the Premier urged residents to vote before they close.

Speaking to the media after casting his ballot, Ndlovu put water at the centre of what he says the province will prioritise, setting out interventions he says are aimed at strengthening supply.

Those include plans to construct a new dam in the City of Mbombela and the implementation of the Loskop Bulk Water Supply Project in the Nkangala District. According to the Premier’s account, the Loskop project is expected to strengthen bulk water supply infrastructure and support more reliable water provision in Thembisile Hani and Dr JS Moroka Local Municipalities.

The provincial government frames both as part of its ongoing efforts to improve access to reliable water and the quality of life of communities across Mpumalanga.

The statement did not give timelines, costs or construction dates for either project, and it did not say what stage the planning has reached.

What the new councils will inherit on water is the question the province’s voters have put in front of them. The Premier’s answer, in his own account, is a new dam for Mbombela and bulk supply work in Nkangala, with the municipalities of Thembisile Hani and Dr JS Moroka named as the beneficiaries of the Loskop scheme.

Ndlovu also called on all eligible citizens across the province to turn out and exercise what the provincial government described as their constitutional and democratic rights.