MIDDELBURG – The Nkangala District Municipality has launched a new podcast studio, The Pulse of NDM, aimed at changing how the municipality communicates with communities by creating a platform that listens as much as it speaks.
Officially launching the studio at the Mayor’s Parlour on Thursday, 27 August 2026, Executive Mayor Thomas Ngwenya said government communication should move away from simply telling stories about communities towards having conversations with them.
“For too long, government communication has sometimes consisted of stories told about communities instead of conversations conducted with communities. Today, as we launch ‘The Pulse of NDM’, we begin changing that relationship,” he said.
Ngwenya said the podcast was created to bring communication closer to the people, quoting the African proverb: “Until the lion learns to tell its own story, every account of the hunt will glorify the hunter.”
He said the name The Pulse was chosen deliberately because a pulse represents life, energy and connection, reflecting the living voice of Nkangala found in schools, farms, taxi ranks, churches and households across its six local municipalities.
At the heart of the initiative, Ngwenya said, is the need for honest and understandable communication about service delivery.
“The platform must translate complicated municipal terminology into language that residents can understand” and “must progressively speak in the languages of our people,” he said, citing author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o: “Language carries culture.”
Ngwenya said the podcast must explain issues around water, sanitation, roads, budgets, progress and delays truthfully, while connecting residents with the right institutions and creating a visible cycle of accountability where questions are acknowledged and followed up.
“The podcast must not become a place where questions disappear after the microphones have been switched off,” Ngwenya said.
