What was marketed as a flagship outreach programme, in theory, has turned into a series of expensive photo shoots and political theatrics in practice.
The first quarterly report for the 2025/26 financial year shows that Ekurhuleni Mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza’s so-called outreach programme has not delivered on a single commitment.
According to the report, a mere 6% of commitments show minimal progress, while a staggering 94% remain entirely outstanding.
What is even more disturbing is that the report confirms that not one mayoral committee member conducted a single oversight visit to any ward during the entire quarter – despite the programme being promoted as the Metro’s flagship community-engagement initiative.
When 94% of commitments are outstanding, mayoral committee members exercise no oversight and departments only spring into action on the eve of the Mayor’s visit, it is clear that the executive authority is more interested in image-polishing than in achieving actual outcomes.
The report further reveals that the Mayor’s task team – responsible for coordinating follow-ups on outreach commitments – did not meet regularly and conducted only two oversight visits.
The Freedom Front Plus demands answers and wants to know how the executive can claim service delivery is a priority when not a single mayoral committee member conducted one oversight visit during the quarter.
The executive should also explain why the task team did not meet regularly and who will be held accountable for this failure.
In addition, the Freedom Front Plus wants to know what consequence management has been implemented against departments that neglect outreach commitments.
Furthermore, the Freedom Front Plus wants the executive to indicate when a funded plan with timelines will be tabled to the Council to ensure these commitments are actually executed.
In the Freedom Front Plus’s view, this is not an outreach programme – it is a failed political performance.
Ekurhuleni residents deserve better than empty promises and fake photo shoots. They deserve actual service delivery.
The Freedom Front Plus will keep exposing poor performance while demanding a governance model that puts accountability and proper service delivery first.
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