'LEADERSHIP THAT DELIVERS': MAYOR MPE TAKES POLOKWANE TO TOP 3 IN SA AS ROADS HIT 80% COMPLETION

Mpho Dube
11 hours ago
3 min read

That 80 percent is not just a number. It is proof of an administration that delivers under pressure, led by Executive Mayor Cllr Makoro John Mpe, the man The Azanian describes as leading by example without trepidation, the real Commander in Chief of the masses.

By Mpho Dube, Editor-in-Chief

The Azanian | Truth. Fearless. Unfiltered.

AZANIAFROCOMEDIA – The Catalyst of Impact

POLOKWANE — This is what a city that works looks like. Tar on the ground. Clean books. And a ranking that puts Limpopo's capital above South Africa's biggest metros.

The City of Polokwane has confirmed that its massive Roads Rehabilitation Programme has reached 80 percent overall completion, a milestone announced on Tuesday 25 August 2026 that motorists in the CBD can already see and feel.

Seventeen major streets have been substantially completed with only road markings and finishing touches remaining. Dorp Street, Burger Street, Oost Street, Compensatie Street, Voortrekker Street, Jorissen Street, Mika Street, Pietersburg Street, Railway Street, Fosfaat Street, Emerald Street, Jasmyn Avenue, Knox Street, Wilge Street, McDonalds Avenue, Euphorbia Avenue and Katjepiering Lane are done.

Where heavy construction has finished, contractors have moved to the next phase, with temporary traffic arrangements in place while the final 20 percent is wrapped up. The City has urged motorists to continue observing all signage and diversions.

That 80 percent is not just a number. It is proof of an administration that delivers under pressure, led by Executive Mayor Cllr Makoro John Mpe, the man The Azanian describes as leading by example without trepidation, the real Commander in Chief of the masses.

Two weeks earlier, on 12 August, The Azanian revealed what many residents already suspected. Polokwane has been ranked number three out of all major metros in South Africa in the independent South African Magazine 2024 to 2026 Selected Metropolitan Municipalities Performance Rankings, scoring 8.3 out of 10. The city sits behind only Cape Town on 9.6 and Tshwane on 8.7, and ahead of eThekwini on 7.9 and Johannesburg on 7.2. The assessment was not based on opinion or politics. It was based entirely on audited facts from the Auditor General of South Africa, National Treasury, Integrated Development Plans and municipal annual reports, evaluated across Financial Management, Infrastructure Delivery, Service Delivery, Economic Development and Governance.

Polokwane reached the top three because the foundation is clean. Under Mayor Mpe and his administration, the City has achieved its fourth consecutive unqualified audit opinion, a clear sign of stability and transparency in how public money is managed. In the same period it has collected five SALGA governance accolades, confirming that its systems are strong and accountable.

Even more telling is what happened at the Polokwane Housing Association. The housing entity, which builds homes for the people, has moved from a Qualified to an Unqualified audit opinion. In municipal governance, erasing a qualification is not easy. It demands discipline, oversight and a Mayor who insists that every entity, not just the mother municipality, must be clean. That turnaround seals Polokwane's credibility.

The same discipline is visible in spending. The City recorded 100 percent spending of the Water Services Infrastructure Grant and 100 percent spending of the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant. Every rand allocated for water and bulk infrastructure was spent where it matters, not returned to Treasury like in so many failing municipalities. That is why water reaches wards, why housing delivery continues, and why roads are now at 80 percent.

Mayor Mpe himself captured it simply when he said the ranking is not about him but about the people of Polokwane and the officials who wake up every day to serve, that a fourth clean audit means public money is managed with care, that an improved audit at PHA shows entities are getting stronger, and that full grant spending means delivery without excuses.

This is leadership on the ground, not in the office. Residents have seen him inspecting road projects in Ga-Setati Ward 15, handing over a new 22-wheeler, tractors and bakkies to municipal teams to power the Reaga Polokwane programme to restore and rebuild the city, standing side by side with Deputy Minister Mimmy Gondwe, SAPS and Home Affairs to shut down bogus colleges in the CBD, and going personally to Seshego to brief the community and media during water contamination fears to safeguard public health.

That hands-on approach is why the municipal grading has moved from Grade 5 to Grade 6, why the State of the City Address at Jack Botes Hall on 8 May read like a receipt of delivery, and why the headline after that address was Polokwane Is Rising.

The public notice on 25 August is the latest receipt. Eighty percent overall completion. Seventeen streets substantially complete. A city ranked top three in South Africa. A housing entity fixed from qualified to unqualified. Four clean audits. Full grant spending.

As Mayor Mpe says, clean audits, improved entities, full grant spending, this is what a Naturally Progressive city looks like, and the work continues.