By Wendy Sibiya

Komati is entering a new season.

The pink ribbons for Breast Cancer Awareness Month are still visible around the community but look up, and you’ll notice something else happening on our streets.

The poles are changing colours.

Black, green and gold on one pole.

Blue on the next.

Red further down the road.

Green and black near the tuckshop.

You don’t need a calendar to know that local government elections are getting closer.

With the elections drawing near, Komati’s streets are beginning to show the signs of campaign season.

Not long ago, much of the conversation in our community was about the cost of getting to Middelburg or Witbank, getting to hospital, or making it through another month.

Now across social media, WhatsApp Statuses, TikTok and Facebook are filling-up with campaign posters and political messages.

Some say “We Lead, We Don’t Fight.”

Others say “Rescue SA.”

Then there are calls for “Jobs and Land Now.”

Different colours. Different promises. Different parties.

But behind all those posters is a community asking some very familiar questions:

Where are the jobs?

When will our water be reliable?

What happens to our young people after coal?

Can we get basic services without having to keep asking for them?

YOUR VOICE IS ALSO PART OF THE PROCESS

While political campaigning is becoming more visible, Steve Tshwete Local Municipality has also been engaging residents through its Integrated Development Plan (IDP) meetings for 2027–2032.

The municipality has been taking the IDP process into different communities, including a meeting at Igwabababa Recreation Club in Ward 4, with other meetings scheduled at Somaphepha Community Centre in Ward 9 and Zikhuphule Primary School in Ward 23.

These are familiar places in the communities they serve.

Spaces where residents gather, children play and families access everyday services.

Bringing the IDP process into these communities gives residents an opportunity to raise the issues they want their municipality to prioritise.

The municipality invited members of the public and stakeholders to take part in the IDP process under the message #SPHUSHISERVICEDELIVERY.

The meetings gave residents a chance to speak about what their communities need and what they want the municipality to prioritise.

For Komati, those issues are not difficult to identify.

We need reliable access to healthcare.

We need water that does not disappear for days.

We need roads that can handle heavy rain without becoming pools of water.

And for young people, we need opportunities that go beyond another poster promising jobs.

One young man from Ward 4 put it plainly:

-a local resident

“We are tired of colours. We want jobs. If they put posters, they must also put employment.”

That is the conversation we should not lose in all the political noise.

KOMATI IS BIGGER THAN A PARTY COLOUR

As local government elections draw closer, political posters are becoming more visible across Komati.

Each party has its own colours, symbols and campaign messages, giving residents a glimpse of the different parties contesting the elections.

But campaigning should be done with respect for others.

Removing or damaging another party’s posters undermines fair political participation, while placing campaign material where it obstructs road signs or creates safety risks around electricity infrastructure can put people in danger.

Political parties can compete for votes without damaging one another’s campaign materials or putting the community at risk.

Ultimately campaigning is politics and vandalism is not.

Residents should not have to choose between being politically active and demanding accountability.

We can do both.

BEYOND THE COLOURS, KOMATI’S NEEDS REMAIN

As political parties campaign for support, residents have an opportunity to look beyond the slogans and understand what each party is proposing for Komati.

What are their plans for job creation, reliable water, better roads, access to healthcare and opportunities for young people, particularly in a community navigating the transition away from coal?

As residents consider the different parties and their promises, one thing remains clear, Komati is home to people of different political beliefs, united by the community they share.

It is not red.

It is not green.

Komati belongs to all of us.

Send Komati News Flash a picture of the different political colours you see on your street.

We want to see what election season looks like from where you live.