After falling short in his campaign to become KZN Premier in Election’24, Christopher Pappas returned to the executive mayorship of the uMngeni municipality. He has wasted no time in raising the pressure to reverse some blatant iniquities which have led to an electricity delivery mess in affluent Hilton. Pappas’s quest has significant implications nationally in a country where laws are often excellent, but the practical application of them just terrible. He spoke to BizNews editor Alec Hogg.
Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.
Watch here
Listen here
Edited transcript of the interview ___STEADY_PAYWALL___
Alec Hogg (00:10.318):
It’s been four months since we last spoke with the executive mayor of uMngeni, Chris Pappas. There’s been a lot happening in that part of the world, which has implications across the country. Let’s catch up with him.
Alec Hogg (00:33.185):
Hi Chris, always a pleasure talking to you. The BizNews community loves to hear from their favourite KZN mayor. I thought you might end up as the KZN premier or in national parliament. What happened?
Christopher Pappas (00:51.954):
Good morning. We didn’t get the results we hoped for to become the majority party for various reasons. But we still managed to achieve our goal of changing the government in KwaZulu-Natal. I had to decide whether to go to the legislature or continue my role as mayor. I chose to stay and finish the project I started here.
Alec Hogg (01:37.796):
That’s interesting because in another party, you might have been deployed. You had the freedom to choose.
Christopher Pappas (01:45.564):
Yes, we have the freedom to apply and go through a rigorous process, and also the freedom to decline. It’s called liberalism and rights. Some political parties don’t have that.
Alec Hogg (01:55.443):
They say all politics is local.
Christopher Pappas (05:57.929):
Yes, and that definitely influenced my decision to stay in uMngeni and help my party build on its good record so far.
Christopher Pappas (06:13.032):
Mayors and local councillors don’t get enough credit for the work we do. There’s always more focus on ministers and members of parliament, but we’re the ones on the ground, listening to and responding to people every day. There’s a misconception that starting as a councillor means you must end as an MP. I think the work we do as mayors and councillors is more important in the daily lives of people. One day, maybe South Africans will give us the recognition—not the credit, but the recognition—for the work public representatives do to move communities forward.
Alec Hogg (07:34.732):
You’re certainly making an impact. Can you unpack the situation in Hilton, which is making local and national news about the electricity supply and who’s responsible?
Christopher Pappas (08:00.23):
We have a strange situation where the Mtsunduzi municipality (Peter Maritzburg) supplies electricity to Hilton, which is part of the uMngeni municipality. This setup is from when Hilton was a small town, and it’s the only place they could get electricity from. uMngeni has the Nersa electricity distribution license for Hilton, but there’s no formal agreement in place with Msunduzi. We’ve been demanding a formal agreement since 2020 for several reasons.
Residents in areas like Howick, where uMngeni supplies electricity, receive much better service than those in Hilton. In Hilton, residents can go days without electricity for minor issues, while in Howick, the average turnaround for outages is four hours. Msunduzi doesn’t provide updates or information, which is unfair. Moreover, Msunduzi collects all the income from Hilton but doesn’t have to account to the residents. When there are problems, it’s my office that gets called, even though we don’t have the power to instruct repairs.
Christopher Pappas (10:45.192):
There are also developmental concerns. In uMngeni, we’ve rolled out around 1,200 new streetlights in the last two and a half years, but that’s not happening in Hilton. Financially, Msunduzi is taking income from Hilton residents and using it elsewhere in their municipality. Hilton residents don’t benefit from this, which isn’t right. We also lack credit control mechanisms because Msunduzi provides the electricity. For example, a property owner in Hilton owes us about three million Rand, but we can’t turn off his electricity because it’s supplied by Msunduzi.
We want a written agreement to hold Msunduzi accountable and ensure Hilton residents receive the same level of service as the rest of uMngeni.
Alec Hogg (13:05.672):
Why do you think a written agreement will change anything?
Christopher Pappas (13:16.232):
A written agreement holds people accountable. If it states that streetlights must be repaired within seven days and they aren’t, there should be penalties. More importantly, it’s the law. We’re currently in violation of regulations by operating without an agreement.
If necessary, we’re prepared to join a court case against Mtsunduzi. An organized group believes that Msunduzi isn’t fulfilling its Nersa license conditions, and Nersa could revoke their license. We’ve already started the intergovernmental dispute process, but joining the court case could fast-track protecting Hilton residents from the poor governance in Msunduzi.
Christopher Pappas (15:39.11):
Right now, Hilton has a power outage that started last night, and the first update we received this morning was that they don’t have the necessary supplies to fix it. That’s unacceptable. In uMngeni, we always have contingencies in place to avoid such long waits.
Alec Hogg (15:53.465):
If I lived in Hilton, I’d ask why I have to pay you rates and them for electricity. Why don’t you take it away from them since there’s no contract?
Christopher Pappas (16:10.31):
Local government law is highly regulated. To take them to court or get an interdict, we must follow the intergovernmental dispute process. We’ve been engaging with Treasury and the Department of Cooperative Governance. Once that’s exhausted, we’ll go to court. Msunduzi knows they have no legal standing, which is why they try to delay the process. Hilton residents have every right to ask these questions, and our long-term goal is to take over electricity supply in Hilton. We’ve been practical and clear with Mtsunduzi about this.
Christopher Pappas (18:35.964):
But let’s start with a few basics that we can put on paper, get right, and then hold each other accountable.
Alec Hogg (18:43.369):
Thanks, Chris. It’s always more complex than it seems. Some Hilton residents might say, “The door’s opened a little; you’ve got Treasury and COGTA’s support—just kick it wide open.” But I understand the practicalities you’ve unpacked. Speaking of your term, on May 29th, how did people in Umgeni vote, considering the emergence of Jacob Zuma’s MK party and that 67% of your voters are Zulu speakers?
Christopher Pappas (19:21.768):
We had a huge turnout—70% of voters. The MK had a strong showing; on one ballot, they were the biggest party, but we were the biggest on the other. As the DA, we gained two and a half thousand votes, which is exciting for us going into 2026. The ANC completely collapsed. If it were a local government election, they wouldn’t have won a single ward. They lost all of their wards—five to the MK and one to the DA—and would be a party of PR councillors with 13%.
Interestingly, we saw growth in township areas. In the main township of Mpupu-Meni, we moved forward significantly. If we continue what we’re doing, more people who haven’t traditionally voted for us will come over.
There was a split between the national and provincial ballots. On the national ballot, the MK did better, but on the provincial, the DA did better, likely due to me being the candidate for Premier and the Mayor of this area. It’s good to see us grow by two and a half thousand votes in all communities and retain the Litmus Award—Ward 3 Nottingham Road—and win another ward from the ANC if it were a local government election.
Alec Hogg (22:14.665):
These are interesting insights, Chris, not just the election results, but what’s happening in Hilton and your fight with an incompetent government in Pietermaritzburg. Does it have national relevance? Are there other parts of the country with municipalities that have the right to income but aren’t servicing?
Christopher Pappas (22:57.928):
I’m sure there are. Many issues arose when we created the wall-to-wall municipality system. A similar argument could be made around Eskom, which should be an electricity generator and then transmit around the country. But they also have customers, even though the constitution says the reticulation of electricity within a municipal boundary is the responsibility of a municipality.
In Umgeni, all industrial areas are supplied by Eskom, while we get areas like Mpupu-Meni Township, which is 59 million rands worth of losses, and informal settlements. This happens across the country. SALGA, dominated by one political party, hasn’t wanted to fight its own party in government. But with changing dynamics nationally and provincially, I hope this will change. There are many issues from when we created wall-to-wall municipalities that negatively affect municipalities.
Alec Hogg (24:42.93):
So the implications of the ANC going down to 40% in the May 29th election are far greater than just a government of national unity. But to end, your chief whip, Nhlalayenza Ndlovu, was murdered on December 1st. Any update?
Christopher Pappas (25:27.11):
No, the police have shut us out completely. I’ve taken it up with the new chairperson of the Police Portfolio Committee. As we asked more questions and tried to provide more information, the police became quieter, even refusing to communicate with us as the municipality and with Nhlalayenza’s family. The DA acquired the services of a dedicated team through AFRIFORUM, but when that happened, the police shut down immediately because what AFRIFORUM found didn’t tie in with the police’s claims.
Alec Hogg (26:56.74):
Just to close, the South African Rand has done incredibly well since the election. How do you look back at the country’s progress over the last three years?
Christopher Pappas (27:33.394):
People want confidence and certainty. For the first time in a long time, there’s some stability. There’s a concerted effort to move forward, not just endless shouting and conflict. South Africa can move forward, though not everything will be perfect. There’s a new enemy—regressive forces—and the political establishment knows that. The election results show that we can’t always rely on rational economics and statecraft with the average citizen. There’s a group out there, not just the Mkhonto-E-Sizwe party, but a real establishment against stability in South Africa for their own benefit. People have realized there’s more to lose by not working together than there is to gain.
Alec Hogg (29:56.824):
Christopher Pappas is the executive mayor of uMngeni, and I’m Alec Hogg from BizNews.com.
Read also:
