Central SA
Mangaung shift system: Political parties call for accountability─── ZENANDE MPAME 12:41 Mon, 22 Sep 2025
ActionSA has raised the alarm over what it describes as the complete collapse of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM) under “the ANC’s corruption and mismanagement”.
The party claims money meant to fix roads, provide clean water, and restore dignity to communities is being wasted on overtime claims, ghost payments, and even salaries paid to individuals who retired long ago.
It was recently revealed in the Section 80 finance committee meeting the metro’s July overtime spending was nearly triple its monthly budget. The municipality allegedly paid overtime claims worth more than R14 million to officials in July alone.
The shift system was designed to allocate twelve-hour shifts to MMM employees and aimed at reducing overtime payments in the metro, but financial results reveal a different outcome.
The party has condemned the news of millions of rand in irregular overtime payments in MMM and has called it deliberate looting by an ANC government that has abandoned the people of Mangaung.
“Mangaung has become nothing more than a piggy bank for ANC deployees who treat the municipality as their personal ATM,” said Free State ActionSA chairperson Patricia Kopane. “This culture of theft and corruption has turned the metro into the shame of the Free State and a glaring example of what happens under ANC rule.
“ActionSA demands an immediate forensic investigation into all overtime and irregular salary payments, criminal charges against ANC politicians and officials implicated in this fraud, and suspension and removal of all corrupt officials who continue to bleed the municipality dry.
“The people of Mangaung are not fools, they know the millions stolen through fraud and overtime scams could have built houses, repaired sewerage systems, and delivered the services they deserve.”
Meanwhile, the DA has promised to hold the ANC-led metro accountable for failing to reduce wasteful overtime expenditure, despite the implementation of the shift system, by writing to the municipal manager.
Municipal workers’ union Samwu in the Free State has also criticised Mangaung Metro’s proposed shift system, labelling it an ill-conceived move that ignores the municipality’s longstanding staffing crisis and deeper systemic failures.
