Our story
We didn't set out to start a movement. Komani's roads did that for us.
The Independents began as a group of residents comparing notes on the same broken promises: a road tender worth ninety five million rand, and streets that still flood every winter. What started as frustration in a WhatsApp group became a decision to stop waiting for someone else to run.
We chose to stand as independents on purpose. No party head office decides what we say about Komani. You do, ward by ward.
From the boardroom to the streets
Everyone has a plan. We have a track record.
The Independents started in a boardroom, with people who have built and run businesses in Komani. Then we took it to the streets: to court, to council and to every ward that called us in.
A municipality is not a business, but it runs on the same basics: a payroll that pays the right people the right amount, bills paid on time, and every rand accounted for. Those are the basics Enoch Mgijima has failed at, and the work we have done for years.
That is what you get when you vote for us: people who have done it before, and who can show you the receipts.
Why we stand
What we’ve been fighting for the past five years
The failures we have been fighting, and what we did about them. Our own actions are marked in purple. Every line links to the article it comes from.
2021
Our own action
Five seats in our first election
In our first local election, The Independents won five seats on the Enoch Mgijima council, and Ken Clark took his seat as a councillor.
Source: The Herald, 15 Nov 2021
2022
The Town Hall burns, and waits
The historic Komani Town Hall was gutted by fire on 22 January 2022. Four years later the municipality has only just advertised for someone to plan and cost its restoration, and says it is still sourcing the money.
Source: Daily Dispatch, 7 Sep 2026
2023
R1.2bn owed to Eskom
Enoch Mgijima faced about R1.2bn in Eskom debt, with employee costs taking more than half of its income, against a guideline of 35 to 38%, and little left for maintenance or services.
Source: Daily Dispatch, 28 Dec 2023
2023
Our own action
We put the numbers before the High Court
With Let’s Talk Komani, we asked the Makhanda High Court to dissolve the council: Eskom debt of more than R1bn and growing by R20m to R30m a month, over R720m owed to other creditors, and refuse collected from only 55% of homes.
Source: Daily Maverick, 20 Apr 2023
2024
A R15m stadium that should not have happened
A forensic report tabled by the provincial Cogta MEC found that the R15m Lesseyton sports-field tender "should not have gone through", and recommended that the officials involved face prosecution. That is a recommendation, not yet a conviction.
Source: Daily Dispatch, 11 Jul 2024
2024
Our own action
We went to court
The Independents and Let's Talk Komani asked the Makhanda High Court to order the dissolution of the Enoch Mgijima council. Our papers set out Eskom debt that had grown from R333m to more than R1bn, a payroll inflated by ghost employees and wrong salary grades, and regular water and electricity outages.
Source: Daily Dispatch, 6 Sep 2024
2025
A former municipal manager found guilty
The East London specialised commercial crimes court found a former Enoch Mgijima municipal manager guilty of inflating a tender price without consulting council, doubling monthly plant-hire payments from R1.2m to R2.4m. She has said she will appeal her sentence.
Source: Daily Dispatch, 26 Feb 2025 · 18 Jul 2025
2025
Months without water
Taps ran dry for months in Mlungisi and Ezibeleni, while the Komani CBD, fed from the same dams, kept its supply. Water services are the Chris Hani District Municipality's responsibility.
Source: Daily Dispatch, 13 Jan 2025
2025
Our own action
We took it to the Constitutional Court
When the Makhanda High Court refused to dissolve the council, Let’s Talk Komani and The Independents asked the Constitutional Court to overturn the ruling.
Source: Daily Maverick, 13 Jul 2025
2026
Our own action
Nomzamo called us in
Hundreds of Nomzamo residents in Ward 15 joined The Independents at a meeting they called with us. Councillor Amzisile Titus set out what they are still waiting for: a police station, a clinic, working cell towers and reliable water.
Source: Komani News, 17 Feb 2026
"Abanacebo... thina sinecebo."
isiXhosa, our founding line
They have no plan. We have one. It is not a slogan we picked for a poster. It is what residents were already saying to each other before we had a name for the movement.
What we hold ourselves to
Ethical leadership
We declare our interests before we're asked to. A tender we can't explain in plain language is a tender we vote against.
Dedicated service
Ward candidates live in the wards they represent. If your street floods, so does ours.
Transparency
Every tender we question, we question in public, with the numbers attached, not behind closed doors.
Community first
Decisions get tested against one question: does this help the person standing in the pothole, not the person who signed off on fixing it.
