ActionSA has launched a tracker system to track service delivery efforts in the capital city led by mayor Nasiphi Moya.
The party has had to weather insults from the DA which led the city for the past eight years but was ousted last year through a no-confidence motion fielded against former DA mayor Cilliers Brink.
He was replaced by his then deputy mayor, Moya, through a power-sharing deal clinched with the ANC, EFF, GOOD and minority parties.
The DA, which now occupies the opposition benches, has consistently dismissed the current coalition's work as purely PR with no impact on the ground.
To defend itself and to highlight the work they have done, Moya's party has devised a “ActionSA in government” tracker, which will store all the data related to the strides taken to turn things around in Tshwane.
Party leader Herman Mashaba says they inherited a city on the brink of collapse, with “finances in disarray, townships deeply neglected”.
“The previous coalition’s leading party was more focused on political point-scoring than on fulfilling its mandate to deliver equitable services to the people of Tshwane. This reality informed our decision to withdraw from that coalition and reconstitute a new administration under the leadership of Dr Moya and her committed multiparty partners,” he said.
While it remains early days, Mashaba boasted that the successes achieved over the past few months were undeniable and signalled that Tshwane had begun to turn a corner.
“The action in government tracker provides a transparent view of the progress made to date. Importantly, it also highlights areas still requiring improvement, enabling residents to hold this government to account — in a way that previous administrations never allowed.”
The tracker is divided into five monitoring areas, such as financial stability, infrastructure and service delivery, economic revitalisation, a safe and clean city as well as governance and customer care.
“On financial stability, this administration inherited a city on the brink of bankruptcy. This government wants residents to understand that finances are a top priority by providing regular updates on the amount of revenue collected, as well as the current Eskom debt balance.
“To address infrastructure, the number of potholes repaired, percentage of potholes repaired within seven days, percentage of power outages responded to in 24 hours, and percentage of water and sewage leaks responded to in 48 hours are all highlighted in the tracker.”
The party leader said EPWP jobs that have been created since the formation of the new administration will be highlighted under economic revitalisation, whereas the number of repaired street lights, grass cutting, and water and sanitation delivered to communities will be detailed under a 'safe and clean city'.
“This administration doesn't believe in mere PR but wants to provide residents with facts. Governance and customer care will highlight the responsiveness of the city to residents' concerns by tracking the time it takes to respond to service delivery query, as well as the number of public engagement events.”
Mashaba conceded there was a long road ahead, but maintained there was significant progress made that even naysayers could not dispute.
“There is a mountain still to climb to turn Tshwane around fully, but undeniable progress has been made by this new governing coalition.
“Attempting to score political points and engaging in pure rhetoric results in murkiness, but facts and figures are undeniable and undebatable. These facts are shown by the ActionSA in government tracker without varnish. ActionSA trusts that this will serve as a valuable resource that is freely and easily accessible for residents to monitor the steady progress being made in the capital.”
Moya echoed her party leader, saying it was important to be candid with residents about the baseline from which her coalition is working.
“The coalition government took office with no illusions. We understood the scale of the task and the time it would take to rebuild. We also knew that residents would not simply accept promises. We needed to provide evidence of progress and be transparent about where we are falling short. We knew that people would be sceptical. And we knew that trust must be earned,” she said.
The tracker will be publicly available so all residents can record how the city performs across the five areas that affect their lived experience of the capital city, she said.
“That is why we are launching the Tshwane governance tracker, which will be updated regularly. It is based on real operational data. And it reflects both our achievements and the areas where we are not yet meeting our goals. This is not a public-relations campaign, it is a step towards rebuilding trust by showing, clearly and consistently, how we are delivering on our mandate. We are making progress, but we are not where we want to be yet.”
Moya thanked her coalition partners, saying that progress would not be possible without them.
“These steps will not fix everything overnight, but they are important building blocks in getting the basics right. We believe in measuring our progress openly and in making that information available to every resident. That is how we begin to restore trust; not by saying we are improving, but by showing it.”
TimesLIVE
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