Ex‑MKP leader Phadi named ActionSA’s mayoral candidate

Mary Phadi

eMalahleni – Mary Phadi, a former uMkhonto weSizwe Party Mpumalanga convener, has been named ActionSA’s mayoral candidate for Nkangala district.

She was announced by party leader Herman Mashaba in eMalahleni, where she said the party is rolling out strategies and membership drives to grow its presence in the province.

ActionSA has formally launched its campaign in Mpumalanga’s Nkangala District, with Phadi vowing to address what she described as a deepening governance and service delivery crisis.

Speaking at her official unveiling on Saturday, Phadi said communities across Nkangala were facing deteriorating living conditions, citing ongoing failures in water supply, electricity, roads and sanitation.

“Nkangala is in crisis,” she said, adding that residents had endured years of declining services despite repeated warnings from oversight bodies.

Phadi pointed to findings by the Auditor-General of South Africa, which she said had consistently flagged governance and financial management failures in municipalities across the district without meaningful improvement.

She highlighted challenges in several local municipalities, including Emalahleni, Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, Dr JS Moroka Local Municipality, Thembisile Hani Local Municipality, Victor Khanye Local Municipality and Emakhazeni Local Municipality, where she said poor financial controls and infrastructure failures had left residents without reliable basic services.

Phadi attributed the situation to corruption, mismanagement and a lack of accountability, arguing that governance failures had translated directly into service delivery breakdowns.

Outlining ActionSA’s plan, she said the party would prioritise restoring basic services, improving infrastructure maintenance, and deploying rapid-response teams to address outages and breakdowns.

She also committed to expanding access to housing and basic services in underserved communities, while promoting economic growth through investment, support for small businesses and job creation initiatives.

On governance, Phadi pledged a zero-tolerance approach to corruption, including the establishment of independent forensic investigation units, lifestyle audits for officials and greater transparency in public procurement.

She further emphasised the need to stabilise municipal finances through improved revenue collection, tighter budget controls and measures to curb wasteful expenditure.

Phadi said the party had already begun efforts to expand its footprint in Mpumalanga ahead of the upcoming local government elections, with plans to launch dozens of new branches across Nkangala, Gert Sibande and Ehlanzeni districts.

“The choice in 2026 is simple: more of the same or real change,” she said.

ActionSA said the campaign forms part of its broader push to grow support in the province as political parties gear up for the municipal polls.

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