The visit forms part of interventions aimed at strengthening the municipality’s capacity to deliver basic services to Lichtenburg and surrounding settlements. Ditsobotla has become synonymous with ongoing governance challenges, including low revenue collection, an unsustainable wage bill, and persistent service delivery failures.

In recent years, the municipality has gained notoriety as a symbol of dysfunction, frequently making headlines for political infighting, administrative instability, and what many have described as a near-collapse of basic services.

Residents have endured erratic refuse removal, unreliable water and electricity supply, and prolonged governance disputes that have repeatedly stalled operations.

Analysts had argued that the crisis runs deeper than administrative shortcomings, pointing instead to entrenched factional battles within the ANC. These divisions have reportedly filtered into municipal structures, leaving the council largely ineffective and unable to execute its mandate.

The ongoing power struggles have also resulted in high turnover at senior management level, with several municipal managers resigning or being removed within short periods, further destabilising governance.

“This visit is in response to service delivery concerns raised by communities of Ditsobotla during the deputy president’s visit to the municipality in January 2025, relating to, amongst others, lack of adequate water and sanitation, electricity, access roads, and infrastructure,” said municipal spokesperson Pius Batsile.

Mashatile was expected to lead the inter-ministerial committee on service delivery, which would provide a platform for government to directly address the municipality’s pressing challenges. The visit would also serve as an opportunity to assess progress made under the district development model, he said.

The intergovernmental framework was designed to promote coordinated planning and budgeting across all three spheres of government. It aimed to improve service delivery and stimulate economic growth by focusing on integrated development at district level.

“It also prioritises districts and metros for development and allows for a spatially integrated ‘One Plan’ to address poverty, unemployment, and inequality and create jobs by developing infrastructures like water, sanitation, roads, and electricity,” said Batsile.

The struggling municipality remains under administration following national government intervention, as efforts continue to restore stability and rebuild essential services.

Meanwhile, the Public Servants Association (PSA) was dismayed by revelations arising from a Special Investigating Unit investigation into Ditsobotla for irregular procurement of a R25m contract for the supply of generators for a pump station.

According to the SIU’s findings, the municipality allegedly awarded the contract telephonically, without any written agreement, formal appointment letter, or compliance with the Municipal Finance Management Act and prescribed supply-chain management regulations.

This conduct, if confirmed, represents a major breakdown of lawful procurement processes and basic financial governance in local government, the PSA said. The municipality allegedly later attempted to “regularise” the matter through an emergency procurement process after the fact.

The PSA was concerned such a step appeared to be a retrospective attempt to justify a decision already taken outside the confines of the law, thereby undermining the integrity of emergency procurement provisions.

The PSA called for urgent accountability. “All officials and service providers implicated must be investigated. Where wrongdoing is established, appropriate disciplinary and legal action must follow,” it said.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi sm

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