On Friday (31/10), the court struck the municipality’s application off the roll for an urgent appeal, following its failure to pay money owed to former legal manager, Itumeleng Mogaecho. The struggling municipality, that serves Brandfort, Theunissen and Winburg, had launched the urgent application to prevent the sheriff from attaching municipal property valued at more than R1 million.

The court found the application was not urgent, noting that the review application previously lodged by the municipality against the award of the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) had lapsed and was legally considered withdrawn.

“It’s obvious that municipal manager Mojalefa Matlole does not have the interest of the Masilonyana municipality and people of Masilonyana at heart,” said Mogaecho.

“I mean, with this case, he hired lawyers for the arbitration process; he further went on after they lost the arbitration process, he further went on to get lawyers to file a review process at a labour court

“Obviously, all those cases come at a cost, and what they did is, after he filed a review, they then abandoned the process. It’s now almost eleven months. They have not followed up on the review that they have made.

“In terms of the rules of the labour court, their case is regarded as thrown out. I’m definitely sure that he would still want to pursue this debt case at the expense of residents of Masilonyana.”

Mogaecho had won a constructive-dismissal case against the municipality, which was ordered to pay him the outstanding amount by last Monday. The municipality, however, failed to comply with the court order.

The sheriff of the court consequently served a notice of attachment of municipal assets, including a Ford Ranger valued at approximately R750,000, a Suzuki bakkie worth around R250,000, and a Toyota Yaris estimated at R70,000.

Earlier this year, the sheriff attached municipal property worth more than R450,000 in a similar case involving Mogaecho. In June, the sheriff had seized additional municipal vehicles, including a grader, tipper truck, and waste truck valued at R3 million, after the municipality again failed to pay service providers.

The ongoing disputes between Mogaecho and the municipality stem from allegations of misconduct, unfair treatment, and noncompliance with bargaining council awards. 

His troubles with the municipality began in February 2023, when he was first suspended by then-acting municipal manager Michelle Sello. His suspension was extended twice by successive municipal managers.

The financially struggling municipality has struggled for years to deal with service delivery failures, leaving residents without water, electricity, and waste collection, among others. 

Adding to its woes, mayor Dimakatso Modise recently faced heavy criticism after allegedly misleading parliament about a controversial trip to KwaZulu-Natal using a state vehicle.

OFM News sent an inquiry to Masilonyana.

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OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi cvs