This, as the Executive Mayors of the two municipalities were a no-show before the committee on Wednesday in Kroonstad. The two were supposed to be amongst the group of mayors and accounting officers from various municipalities who appeared before the committee over their financial woes. The committee, led by the Chief Whip of the Free State, Vusi Tshabalala, held a sitting in Kroonstad where audited financial statements were considered and the committee was briefed by the Head of the Auditor-General in the Free State, Luthando Mbandazayo. During his presentation, Mbandazayo highlighted how municipalities in the Free State are still plagued by high irregular expenditure, non-compliance with tender procedures, and a lack of leadership, amongst other issues.

Whilst he gave a comprehensive outlook on the state of the Moqhaka Local Municipality and the Setsoto Local Municipality, he could not paint a picture of the state of affairs for the Metro and others due to their mayors' failure to appear before the committee.

Tshabalala has, on the other hand, lambasted the Metro's city manager, Tankiso Mea, for the municipality's lack of compliance and lack of collaboration with the committee over the years.

He highlighted that harsher measures will be taken against municipalities, political heads and senior officials who fail to present themselves to the committee to account for their municipalities debacles.

The two are amongst those listed in the AG report as failing to provide services to residents, unable to generate revenue, have escalating debts to service providers and high unauthorised expenditure.

The metro has since December 2019 raised eyebrows when it got placed under administration.

OFM News