MIDDELBURG – Steve Tshwete Local Municipality won five awards at the Africa and Global South Water and Sanitation Dialogue held at the Sydney Choma Banquet Hall in Middelburg on Thursday, 10 September 2026.
The municipality was named the overall winner in three categories, including Best Performing System with a Green Drop score of 96,3% for the Blinkpan Wastewater Treatment Works, Best Performing System with a Green Drop score of 94,9% for the Hendrina Water System, and Best Technical Site Assessment for Wastewater Systems, with a score of 94% for Komati.
In addition, two municipal employees, Musiiwa Gangashe, Assistant Director for Water Quality, and Zelda Wishart, Chief Chemist, each received an award in the Recognition of Individuals as Green Drop Champions category.
The awards recognise excellence in wastewater management and technical compliance under the Department of Water and Sanitation’s Green Drop programme.
Reacting to the achievement, Executive Mayor Mhlonishwa Masilela said he was proud of the municipality’s performance in both the Blue Drop and Green Drop assessments.
“I’m so happy as the Executive Mayor that we won five awards for cleaning our water – both Green Drop and Blue Drop. They assessed our water treatment plants and they also recognised two capable workers in the municipality – Zelda and Musiiwa,” Masilela said.
“We are making sure that people get the best quality water. We understand that we have almost 432 kilometres of ageing pipelines where we need almost R680 million to improve our infrastructure. We acknowledge that, but when they come to assess a municipality, they also check maintenance, and we do that.”
Masilela said the municipality is pursuing partnerships to secure clean drinking water for the future.
“We believe that in the future, people will still drink clean water after we have finalised this tripartite partnership. We need mines that can invest. We need partners who want to invest in the municipality to make sure people get safe and suitable water to drink,” he said.
Other municipalities in Mpumalanga were also recognised for improved wastewater management.
City of Mbombela scooped several awards, including second runner-up for Best Performing System for Matsulu with 90,4%, first runner-up for Kanyamazane Wastewater Treatment Works, and first runner-up for Best Performing Water Services Institution with 82%.
The city also received first runner-up for Best Provincial Technical Site Assessment for Wastewater Systems for Kingston Vale, with 90%, and was ranked number one in the Top 8 Most Improved Municipalities in the province, improving from 74% in 2021 to 82% in 2025.
Govan Mbeki Municipality received second runner-up for Best Provincial Technical Site Assessment for the eMbalenhle Wastewater Treatment Works, achieving 89%.
Chief Albert Luthuli Municipality was named second runner-up for Best Performing Water Services Institution in the province with 71%. It was also ranked second in the Top 8 Most Improved Municipalities, improving from 11% in 2021 to 71% in 2025.
Msukaligwa Local Municipality was ranked third after improving from 17% to 67%.
A municipality that improved from 46% to 62% was placed fourth, while eMakhazeni Local Municipality was fifth after improving from 55% to 59%.
Thaba Chweu Local Municipality was sixth after improving from 10% to 58%, followed by Dr JS Moroka Local Municipality in seventh position after improving from 48% to 58%.
Thembisile Hani Local Municipality was eighth after improving from 47% to 52%.
Dudu Sifunda, an official from the provincial Department of Water and Sanitation, said the awards were meant to encourage municipalities, particularly those still performing below 58%.
She noted that municipalities such as eMalahleni still have non-functional plants and therefore did not receive awards.
“The awards issued are for plants that are functional and have shown improvement, and they are encouraging municipalities to fix their non-functional treatment works and deal with pollution,” she explained.
