The party’s provincial leader, Mandisa Makesini, says the inclusion of these two in the team undermines the intervention and transformation sought in Mangaung. Makesini further accuses the provincial executive of the province of bringing a corrupt person to clean up corruption. The statement follows the rating agency’s Moody’s decision to further downgrade the metro in a space of at least seven months after it did so in August 2019. Also in December last year, the municipality was placed under administration after it failed to deliver basic services to its residents in the province. 

Makesini adds that in the correspondence with the premier, Sisi Ntombela, the deputy finance minister, David Masondo, expressed in a letter that the financial records show an underspending of conditional grants, and yet the funds are not in the bank account. “The executive council also found that there was an underspending of conditional grants and that conditional grants were potentially being used for operations. It took the government two years to intervene and take the lives of the people of Mangaung seriously,” she further adds.

Makesini claims that the council also found that the municipality was operating at a deficit and was facing severe financial risks and indeed last month councillors were paid late. The metro is the first metro in the country to be put under administration. There have also been calls by residents for the removal of Mayor Olly Mlamleli and her team, citing a lack of service delivery in the area.

 “In 2017 the EFF put forward a motion asking for the removal of the mayor and the motion was influenced by the lack of service delivery and the deteriorating junk status of the municipality. Sewage is overflowing and waste removal is not done regularly. This resulted in the councillors of the EFF using their bakkies. The EFF requested that all public representatives of the EFF must buy bakkies to collect rubbish and clean the streets of Mangaung,” Makesini adds.

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