The suspension of Lucas Mkhwane comes amidst immense pressure from the ailing power utility, Eskom, over its debt that runs into millions of rands accumulated over the years. The municipality has since appointed a new acting MM, Dineo Tsikang, to replace Mkhwane in the meantime.

Meanwhile, according to the General Manager of Eskom’s Central East Cluster (Free State and KwaZulu-Natal), Agnes Mlambo, Letsemeng’s arrears has grown to R119,7 million over the past two and half years. In January 2020, Letsemeng’s arrears were said to total R41,1 million. Letsemeng, and other municipalities in the Free State and North West, among others, were slammed by the power utility for spending millions on legal costs instead of paying their debt.

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According to Mlambo, the municipalities had approached the courts to challenge Eskom's intention to cut the power supply due to non-payment. "These municipalities collect revenue from electricity sales at a markup from their customers but do not pass the revenue on to Eskom. In the meantime, Eskom must cover the costs of diesel, coal, salaries, and other expenses to keep the lights on in these non-paying municipalities," Mlambo added.

Recently the Auditor-General (AG), Tsakani Maluleke, in her latest report, raised serious concerns about the fruitless and wasteful expenditure across Free State municipalities and across the country.

She said the local governments across the country are losing billions of rand each year because of interest and penalties.

"Despite the limited money available, we still find that municipalities did not diligently and carefully manage their funds. An indicator of the poor management of funds is the R1,96 billion in fruitless and wasteful expenditure incurred by 193 municipalities in 2020/21,” she said.

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