The opposition party in the Free State earlier this week took to their Facebook page to announce their discontentment with the ruling party’s decision, which was taken in council last month to set aside this money towards the funeral of the Gauta Lefuo. The party lambasted the ANC, stating that the money could have been used better and that the ANC was using the funeral as an electioneering tactic. The Metro’s spokesperson, Qondile Khedama, however, defended the decision to spend the money on Lefuo’s funeral, stating that all municipal processes were followed.

This is not the first time the ruling party has come under fire for the alleged exorbitant spending on the funerals of its late members. In 2017, Bloemfontein Courant reported that the Speaker at the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, Mxolisi Siyonzana, said that he at the time saw nothing wrong with giving the family of the late Tshepo Motsumi, who was an ANC ward councillor at the metro, R100 000 towards his burial. Siyonzaza also said, however, that other metropolitan municipalities in the country have a budget for R300 000 towards costs for the funeral of its councillors. Mangaung’s budgeting of this sum towards the burial of one of its own is no less different to other municipalities. “In Mangaung, we took a council resolution to set aside R100 000 towards the burial of our councillors. Remember, a councillor is the asset of the municipality. If a councillor dies, there will be a lot more costs to be incurred because of the fact that that person is a councillor and holds high office,” Siyonzana said. Political parties in the region, such as the Democratic Alliance (DA) as well as the Freedom Front Plus (FF+), at the time expressed their discontent with the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality’s decision to set aside R100 000 for the funeral of Motsumi, who died in August 2017.

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