The troubled Theunissen-based Masilonyana Local Municipality is yet to appoint a manager who usually oversees the day-to-day running of the municipality’s affairs - coming second to the mayor.

The struggling municipality which is yet to pay its workers for two months and counting has either fired or suspended a municipal manager in a space of a year and a few months including, Pule Tseki, and now recently Lungile Mokoteli.

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According to the DA member of the council, Benjamin Molahloe, Mokoteli was fired following service delivery issues and alleged corruption against her. 

Molahloe adds that the day-to-day running of the municipality was again one of the reasons that led to her removal, with workers on a go-slow due to the non-payment of their salaries as of May 2022. 

The Municipality has is yet to comment on the OFM News' inquiry.

Recently the Auditor General (AG), Tsakani Maluleke, said no or limited supporting documentation could be made available for work done by consultants on the financial statements of Masilonyana.

“Despite our persistent messages on the ineffective use of consultants, various weaknesses in the appointment process of consultants were common. These included a lack of a proper needs or gap analysis before consultants were appointed, the absence of long-term plans to reduce the overreliance on consultants, consultants building a system of dependency, and consultants’ work not being incorporated accurately into the financial statements. 

"In some instances, little benefit was derived from the appointment of consultants,” she adds.

Maluleke said the municipality was among three of the troubled Free State municipalities which failed to submit their financial statements for audit in the current financial year. She also announced that this municipality could not account for or keep track of where taxpayers' money went.

OFM News