The party’s Mangaung mayoral candidate, Armand Cloete, made the remarks during an SABC debate featuring candidates contesting the metro’s mayoral position. Communities should come first, while municipal funds should be directed towards improving services ahead of the 4 November local government elections, he said.

Competent people with the necessary expertise should also be appointed to critical municipal positions to improve maintenance and the overall functioning of the metro. Residents were paying more in rates and taxes every year without seeing a sufficient return through municipal services.

“Our money should start working for us. People are paying more and more in rates and taxes every year. We are not seeing any return on that,” he said.

Cloete also presented the FF Plus as a potential coalition partner in Mangaung. His comments come as the ANC faces a candidate-list dispute that could affect its participation in the metro, one of six municipalities involved in the party’s legal challenge ahead of the elections.

Mangaung currently has a 101-seat council, with the ANC holding 51seats, the DA 26, the EFF twelve and the FF Plus five. The remaining seven seats are shared by smaller parties.

The Electoral Court dismissed the ANC’s bid on Wednesday (16/9) to have 181 excluded candidates reinstated. The dispute centres on candidate information the ANC says was captured on the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s online nomination system before the 28 August deadline but was not formally submitted through the final submission process.

The IEC disputed the ANC’s interpretation, maintaining capturing information on the system did not amount to formally submitting the candidates before the deadline. The affected candidates are spread across Mangaung, uMshwathi, Sundays River Valley, Walter Sisulu, Ingquza Hill and Port St Johns. 

The dispute has now moved to the Constitutional Court, where the ANC is seeking to overturn the Electoral Court decision. The IEC says it will await guidance from the court on how the relevant electoral provisions should be interpreted.

South Africans will vote in the local government elections on Wednesday, 4 November.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi sm

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