Across the Eastern Cape, a recurring concern continues to surface in public discourse: the growing perception that political loyalty and internal factional alignment often carry more weight than performance, accountability, and service delivery outcomes.
In many municipalities - especially Raymond Mhlaba and Amathole district municipality, Amahlathi and Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay municipality - residents must judge leadership not by speeches or positions held.
Leadership must be judged by lived reality; whether water runs, roads are maintained, clinics function, and municipalities are financially stable. Where these basics fail, frustration grows, and questions about leadership decisions become unavoidable but residents must keep their elected public representatives accountable through the ballot.
Many capable and dedicated public servants exist within the system, yet they often operate within political environments that are complex and sometimes unstable.
The real issue, therefore, is structural: how to strengthen accountability mechanisms so that performance is consistently rewarded, and failure, regardless of political connection, is properly addressed. - Thulani Dasa
