The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) is not satisfied with the misleading statements issued by the Office of the Mayor regarding the Tshwane Metro’s expenditure on critical infrastructure.
An official progress report on grants and subsidies, which was tabled to the Council on 30 July 2026, clearly shows that Tshwane failed to spend millions of rand and that several projects have come to a standstill.
The report indicates the following:
• R155,4 million in development funds was lost because statutory notices were not issued in time
• The Public Transport Network Grant (PTNG) suffered a loss of R224 million due to poor performance; while a further R24 million of the remaining funds remains unspent
• Projects such as Hammanskraal’s Mfumo Street (R7,089 million) and Mamelodi Extension 11’s water networks (R901 090) recorded 0% expenditure
• Mabopane Block A (roads): only 3% expenditure
• Stinkwater flood control: only 29% expenditure
• Other projects, such as sewerage replacements in Pretoria West and the CBD, have come to a standstill due to expired contracts
• Even the HIV/Aids programme failed to spend R14,2 million (48,3%), because educators were not contracted on time
Despite these cold, hard facts, the Mayor’s spokesperson, Samkelo Mgobozi, claimed in a media report on 19 August 2026 that the Freedom Front Plus’s figures were incorrect and that the Metro had in fact spent most of the funds.
He even asserted that projects such as Mabopane and Stinkwater had recorded expenditure of 81% and 100%, respectively – a direct contradiction of the official report.
This is nothing but a desperate attempt to do damage control.
While communities are affected by floods during heavy rains and tarred roads gradually deteriorate into gravel roads, the Mayor’s Office chooses to distort the facts rather than acknowledge the bureaucratic paralysis in the Metro.
The Freedom Front Plus will not allow official reports to be distorted to cover up failures. Residents deserve honest answers and proper service delivery at grass-roots level, not political smokescreens.
