As the Mayoral Lekgotla continues, the focus has now moved beyond opening reflections and into the engine room of the institution, our departments.
Each directorate has tabled a frank account of its current state. Not polished summaries, but honest operational realities.
What is working. What remains strained. What corrective steps are underway. What requires sharper strategy.
Infrastructure and Engineering Services reflected on system functionality, maintenance pressures, and the strengthening of response mechanisms, particularly in the face of weather-related incidents affecting communities.
The emphasis remains clear: stabilise, maintain, and protect core services.
The Finance Directorate presented on financial discipline and prioritisation, ensuring that limited resources are aligned directly with service delivery imperatives and institutional sustainability.
Corporate Services examined organisational capacity, governance compliance, and internal systems that support accountability.
The conversation is not about structures on paper, but about building a professional, responsive administration.
Community Services and Disaster Management highlighted coordination mechanisms, humanitarian response, and intergovernmental alignment during times of distress.
The commitment is firm: responsiveness must be visible, structured, and fair.
Planning and Economic Development reflected on alignment, ensuring that growth, infrastructure, and community needs are synchronised through deliberate planning instruments.
What has become evident through these engagements is this:
Progress is not accidental. It is built through systems, through discipline, and through departments that are prepared to assess themselves honestly.
The Lekgotla is therefore not a ceremonial gathering. It is a diagnostic session. A moment where each department weighs its contribution against the expectations of the people it serves.
We are not claiming perfection. We are committing to correction, consolidation, and continuity, because a District does not move forward on speeches, it moves forward on functioning departments, and that is where the real work is being examined.