The ANC provincial leadership had instructed members of the Troika made up of mayors, speakers, and chief whips from ailing municipalities in the province to step down, citing ongoing failures in service delivery and governance. Municipalities under fire included Mafube, Moqhaka, Letsemeng, Nketoana, and Nala, and Lejweleputswa District Municipality.

It has now emerged some mayors have refused to comply and instead escalated their concerns to the party’s national leadership, challenging the legitimacy and reasoning behind the provincial structure’s decisions.

Among those resisting the directive are the mayors of Mafube Local Municipality in Frankfort and Masilonyana Local Municipality in Theunissen. These municipalities, like many others in the province, are plagued by financial mismanagement, poor service delivery, and allegations of corruption.

In a strongly worded two-page letter addressed to ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, Mafube mayor Tlhoare Motsoeneng detailed his concerns and reasons for refusing to step down. He revealed on Tuesday (2/9) that he received a letter from the ANC provincial secretary instructing him to resign by noon the following day.

There is a history of structural and financial failures in Mafube, pointing to systemic issues that preceded his tenure. “The municipality was placed under s139(5)(a) & (c) Intervention in April 2022, where National Treasury was to assist the municipality to develop the Financial Recovery Plan. 

“This was the third kind of intervention throughout the years in this municipality. Provincial Exco dispatched the team to Mafube in June 2022, but the impact of the intervention was minimal.”

‘Resolution to outsource the electrical services’

He attributed much of the municipality’s financial collapse to a controversial electricity outsourcing contract.

“In 2012, the council took a resolution to outsource the electrical services of the municipality to a private company called Rural Maintenance for a period of 25 years. The municipality was to receive royalties from the monthly sales of electricity by this company but that has never happened. 

“The contract was subjected to review every three years, and that has never happened since the contract came into effect. It was only in 2023 when the current council decided to challenge the legality of the contract, which is why the matter is before the courts currently.”

‘Financial practices date back years’

Motsoeneng also highlighted alarming financial practices that date back years, including the municipality’s failure to pay over employee pension contributions for eight years.

“The municipality will deduct pension money from employees’ salaries monthly, but not hand it over to the pension fund. This happened for a period of eight years, which will then explain the huge debt (R258m) toward the pension fund. The current account is being serviced/paid to the pension with Payment Plans to cover the outstanding fees.”

The council inherited unresolved audits due to the previous leadership’s failure to submit Annual Financial Statements (AFS) for three years.

“The current council inherited the municipality with serious financial Irregularities/challenges where there were about three outstanding audits – but nothing was done to assist the municipality.”

 ‘Interfering in municipal administration’

He accused ANC regional leadership of interfering in municipal administration and obstructing attempts to professionalise operations.

“There were challenges with getting the s71 reports in time and when I took the MM and CFO to task about it, the acting CFO reported that the appointed personal assistant (PA) to the CFO was unqualified and caused operational difficulties. The PA is the spouse of the chief whip, whose political influence obstructed administrative decisions to replace or transfer her.”

He also exposed tensions related to procurement corruption.

‘Suspending the supply chain manager’

“The then MM started the investigations and ended up suspending the supply chain manager (spouse of acting regional secretary) due to corruption allegations; her suspension led to threats against the CFO, culminating in the CFO’s resignation, hence we now have an acting CFO.”

Restructuring efforts in the finance department were met with hostility from ANC structures.

“REC even called the branches of Mafube to a community hall in Qalabotjha Township of Villiers in Mafube, where councillors were publicly accused. I was publicly accused of orchestrating ‘Izinkabi’ to threaten some REC members in front of the hall packed with branches of Mafube.”

‘Accusations were allegedly politically motivated’

He claimed these accusations were politically motivated and never followed by formal disciplinary processes:

“There has never been a situation where the Provincial Leadership had to institute disciplinary actions against myself, or where I was engaged about my incapacity. The only engagements were due to clashes between the chief whip and myself.” He questioned the reasoning behind his removal and formally appealed to Mbalula to review the matter.

OFM News has sent an inquiry to ANC Free State. has sent an inquiry to ANC Free State.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi dg