Emfuleni and Midvaal: a tale of

Does the DA govern better? Is the ANC failing the people of Emfuleni, next door? The Mail & Guardian's Lunga Mzangwe visits the two municipalities and finds they are worlds apart.

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NC president Cyril Ramaphosa caused ructions within the party and in local government when he told councillors that the Democratic Alliance governs better, urging them to learn from the opposition.

Although he faced a backlash over his admission, which affirmed claims that the DA itself frequently makes, Ramaphosa might have had places such as Midvaal, south of Johannesburg, in mind when he addressed ANC councillors last month.

To test the truth of the assertion that where the DA governs, things work, the Mail & Guardian visited Midvaal and found a place pregnant with pockets of excellence — a far cry from everyday life in the ANC-run Emfuleni just next door.

Driving in Midvaal, long touted as one of the DA's examples of good governance, was sheer pleasure. The small town clearly punches above its weight: clean, quiet, with roads properly marked and road signs clearly painted.

The R2.3 billion stolen from Tembisa Hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic is slightly more than the R2 billion Midvaal Municipality gets for the year to run its affairs. And it is money well-spent.

We saw people relaxing in a pristine park and enjoying free wifi under the trees with birds singing above them.

Walking around the municipal offices, everything looked clean, with grass being cut and no broken windows in sight. In the library, located metres from the offices, a big touch screen is mounted on the wall for users to search and locate the books they want, instead of having to walk from aisle to aisle.

The library was teeming with locals who had access to free wifi and computers provided by the municipality. Others were locked in a computer lab, being upskilled to make them more employable in the job market.

A few steps from the library is a public pool so well kept you would swear it was in a private resort. Around the corner is a fire station so well-maintained that even the trucks bought in the 80s are still in good condition.