OFM News understands the sitting will take place on Monday instead. The council sitting was set to elect the current speaker, Mxolisi Siyonzana, as the new mayor of the metro after the Free State ANC’s Interim Provincial Committee (ANC) on 11 August 2020 announced him as the elected candidate for the mayoral position. 

Siyonzana has been at the upper echelon at the metro when politicians such as Playfair Morule, Eva Moiloa, Getrude Mothupi, Thabo Manyoni, and Olly Mlamleli were mayors of the metro since 2005. Siyonzana’s election as the mayoral candidate comes after former Mayor Olly Mlamleli was ousted in August 2020 during a vote of  no confidence, which saw an ANC faction voting with opposition parties, including the DA, EFF and the Freedom Front Plus (PP+).

However, OFM News understands that Siyonzama's election as the mayor won’t be smooth sailing ,as everyone expects a clique in the party to oppose his election as the candidate. Siyonzana, Mapaseka Nkoane and Millicent Motingoe were all recommended to the ANC’s National Executive Committee (NEC) as mayoral candidates. 

IPC spokesperson, Oupa Khoabane, previously told OFM News that because the municipality is classified as a metro, the NEC took all processes to examine and determine the best suitable candidate for the mayoral position.

The metro was put under administration in December 2019 after it experienced financial difficulties. During that time, the metro failed to honour its debt with service providers such as Bloem Water. Up to date, the metro still owes Bloem Water millions of rands and at times Bloem Water publicly addresses the metro's failures to settle its monthly installments. The water entity said the metro and other municipalities' failure to pay the installments, threatens its operations and warned that it was on the brink of collapse.

Meanwhile, the metro is still struggling with waste removal. During the last week, piles of garbage in Mangaung townships and in town remained uncollected for days, with streets in town also experiencing the piling up of filth.

The ANC IPC in the province has since promised that service delivery to the people of the metro will be prioritised.

OFM News