Mlamleli was ousted via a no confidence vote by secret ballot during a dramatic council sitting on Friday evening. The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) was behind, what is essentially the third and final motion of no confidence vote against Olly since she took the helm as the Mayor of the troubled municipality. Speaker Mxolisi Siyonzana was prevented from announcing the results thereof due to ANC councilors allegedly leaving the sitting post this vote. A quorum is needed to make the announcement. The FF Plus maintains that “this does not change the result, as a quorum was present during the vote.

The FF Plus welcomes the fact that the majority of councilors across party political boundaries voted according to their conscience to remove the mayor and regard this as a victory for the residents of the metro,” concludes the party. 

The first failed attempt at removing Mlamleli, was proposed by the EFF in 2018, while the DA submitted the second attempt. Both of these were not by secret ballot - an issue that was raised by opposition parties. EFF Chief Whip, Paballo Rankholo tells OFM News they are satisfied with the outcome and believe that this could have happened earlier, had Siyonzana greenlit opposition parties’ request for a secret ballot.

The DA's Mokgadi Kganakga told OFM News that 31 councillors voted for her removal while 28 against and 8 spoiled their votes. Kganakga has further lauded Mlamleli’s removal. She was viewed as the source of the metro’s increasing debt to various service providers which according to Kganakga has risen to R6.5 billion.

The cash-strapped Mangaung Metro, which includes Bloemfontein, Botshabelo, Dewetsdorp, and Wepener was placed under provincial care in December 2019, following Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo’s call for Premier Sisi Ntombela’s intervention. The call for intervention came whilst Mangaung was reeling from two downgrades by credit ratings agency Moody’s, which was deemed to be a reflection of the municipality’s weak and declining liquidity position and meant there was a high risk the municipality will not be able to fulfill its obligations. This was evidenced by the metro being dragged to court by Bloem Water over its now more than R1 billion water bill, as well as a subsequent failure to pay salaries on time in January 2020.

According to National Treasury, the Mangaung Municipality’s finances deteriorated substantially since 2018/19, leading to the adoption of a financial recovery plan, which the national department of Cogta and National Treasury agreed to.

OFM News