PRETORIA, Gauteng — The City of Tshwane is facing intensified scrutiny as the United Progressive People Alliance (UPPA) demands urgent accountability amid widespread allegations of maladministration and procurement irregularities.
Members and supporters of the political party recently marched to the municipality’s offices in the Pretoria CBD to hand over a formal memorandum detailing their grievances. However, the delegation was left waiting, as no municipal officials came out to receive the document.
Concerns regarding procurement processes, the management of municipal resources, and basic service delivery have placed the city under a microscope. Some of the allegations involving municipal processes have also featured in testimony before the Madanga Commission of Inquiry, which raised questions about procurement procedures and alleged conflicts of interest. The UPPA insists that the city’s political leadership needs to provide greater oversight and ensure that allegations involving municipal officials are thoroughly investigated.
UPPA Leader Abel Tau highlighted specific governance failures during the march.
“There were big scandals around the deputy mayor around impropriety and self-enrichment. There were big scandals about a chairperson of a portfolio committee who should be playing oversight over the city who was found to be dealing tenders in the City of Tshwane and nothing was done,” Tau said. “We are saying as a party it cannot be business as usual when clearly there are big problems in the City of Tshwane.”
For local residents, the broader concern is how these internal governance problems translate into the failure to deliver basic services. The UPPA noted that communities, particularly in the Swanis townships, continue to raise concerns about poor service delivery and the alleged unresponsiveness of the municipality.
Addressing the city’s leadership directly, Tau criticized what he described as a double standard in how disciplinary actions are applied.
“We are calling for accountability. You are saying the mayor must do the right thing. The same way she wanted to hold a hardworking city manager to account for things that had nothing to do with governance failures, she must do the same with those who are implicated,” Tau stated.
The party also strongly condemned the city’s failure to receive their memorandum during the protest.
“It is very unfortunate. It’s despicable. It must be condemned, and we are going to tell the minister the emotion in the City of Tshwane,” Tau added. “We are going to make sure that they are held to account so that they come back and explain themselves why this is happening.”
Moving forward, the UPPA announced it will approach the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), requesting the provincial department to intervene and look into the concerns raised about the municipality.
The City of Tshwane has not yet responded to the UPPA’s allegations.
