You don’t have to go searching for the troubles that curse the citizens of Standerton, the small town on the banks of the Vaal River in Mpumalanga.
Mail & Guardian journalists Sarah Smit and Khaya Koko chat to our editor-in-chief Ron Derby about the town plagued by frequent blackouts, nicknamed Lekwa-shedding after the town’s municipality.
Corruption and poor governance have wrecked Lekwa from within, leaving it hamstrung in its mandate to serve its people and make good on its obligations to Eskom and its list of other creditors. And although the town has a new sheriff, in the form of a newly elected coalition leadership, the catastrophic mismanagement of Lekwa will take years to reverse.