This, after OFM News spoke to Lebesa last weekend. He said that he is still the acting mayor until he resigns or the councillors table a motion of no confidence against him. He was elected as the acting mayor for the purpose of passing the budget towards the end of last month (June). The budget was finally passed after several failed attempts.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) is one of the opposition parties that insist that the municipality has no mayor. The DA told OFM News that although it was not part of the council meeting during the passing of the budget, they understood that the elected mayor was only acting for that day.

The party's councillor in the Maluti region, Alison Oates, mentioned that if Lebesa considered himself a mayor, he should have followed the correct procedure that all previous mayors have followed. Oates says Lebesa did not respond to the letter from Treasury dated 12 June 2019, included in their council agenda this month.

She says the DA wishes to ensure that the municipality adopts an implementable turnaround strategy for the good of the community. However, the MEC of Cogta in the Free State, Thembeni Ngxangisa, also indicated to OFM News that the municipality has no mayor or speaker.

OFM News/Tumelo Khota