President Thabo Mbeki has urged South Africans to vote in the upcoming local government elections as he again called for an end to municipal corruption *1.

In his New Year’s message, Mbeki said the government’s poverty alleviation and development programmes would “impose new demands for an effective and efficient system of local government” and said that there was a determination “to elect public representatives who are truly committed to serve the people of South Africa”.

“It is [...] important that all of us register to vote and actually vote during the vital local government elections that will take place on March 1st, 2006,” he said, adding that the elections gave ordinary people a chance “to participate in determining their future”.

He also warned candidates not to be corrupt and to see that their municipalities delivered the services expected from them.

“All the candidate councillors must remember that all our people expect that, once they are elected, they will serve them honestly, opposing all corruption *2, and respecting the need for them to be accountable to the people,” he said.

“The people expect that, acting together with our national and provincial governments, our new municipal governments will make an important contribution to improving their quality of life, including better service delivery, better safety and security, adequate social and economic infrastructure and more job opportunities,” he said.

With acknowledgements to Jeanne van der Merwe and the Sunday Times.