The metro and AfriForum held a high-level engagement aimed at addressing long-standing concerns around service delivery, finances, infrastructure, and governance on Monday (12/5) at the Bram Fischer Building in Bloemfontein. 

The engagement was organised after AfriForum issued a petition calling for the resignation of city manager Sello More.

The organisation cited concerns over service delivery decline and audit outcomes. However, More confirmed during the meeting he would remain in office while remaining open to continued engagement with stakeholders.

The meeting included senior municipal officials, among them the head of corporate services, technical services, and the chief financial officer.

Officials provided detailed responses on key issues such as water losses, infrastructure deterioration, municipal finances, landfill tariffs, and findings raised by the Auditor-General.

“I will not be resigning. I am open to having ongoing engagements because I believe that we all have the interests of the residents of Mangaung at heart,” said More.

“We showed AfriForum the history of service delivery in Mangaung as well as the historical context of audit outcomes. We are looking forward to working with everyone to resolve the challenges of Mangaung, which cannot be attributed to an individual but are historical.”

 “We have shared a memorandum of agreement, a generic one, which we will share with all other civil society organisations on how Mangaung will work going forward.”

In April, the organisation wrote to More demanding his immediate resignation following the ongoing mismanagement of funds and the deterioration of infrastructure in the metro.

It also encouraged Bloemfontein residents to sign its petition and highlight their dissatisfaction with the lack of service delivery in the city. Every time someone signed the petition, a request for resignation was sent to More. 

A copy of the request was also sent to Gregory Nthatisi, executive mayor of Mangaung, and MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae, premier of the Free State.

“The deterioration of service delivery in Bloemfontein has reached a critical point with new information confirming that more than R1.6bn has been lost over five years due to water leaks,” said AfriForum’s central region head, Jaco Grobbelaar.

“We formally demand the immediate resignation of Mr. More. His continued appointment is untenable and undermines any attempt to repair the municipality.”

OFM News/Zenande Mpame dg

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