This follows after the municipality on Wednesday confirmed to OFM News that it has received a notification from the provincial government that it intends putting the municipality under administration. OFM News previously reported that a group of about 150 disgruntled protestors in 2018 in Ikageng burned tyres and barricaded roads in protest against the mayor, Kgotso Khumalo, to leave the office and accused him of ignoring repeated calls for better service delivery.

A spokesperson for the municipality, Willie Maphosa, says although communication has been received, much more will be discussed during the course of this week when more information will be divulged during the meeting with the office of the MEC for Local Government and Human Settlements, Motlalepula Rosho.

He says the move by the provincial government to invoke section 139 (1) B that forces the municipality to relinquish its administrative powers to the office of Rosho. Maphosa says this intends to strengthen few services identified by the province.

The former Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) chairperson, Mahlakeng Mahlakeng, previously told OFM News that the municipality was at the brink of collapse after allegations of financial irregularities against the municipality in 2018.

Spokesperson, Victor Boqo, for Mayor Khumalo, however, rubbished the claims and told OFM News that the accusations of the missing R1 billion are untrue and unfounded as his municipality has cash and an investment of over R232 million.

Also, the municipality has had to deal with issues of raw sewage spillages that opposition parties and residents labelled as inhumane and a threat to their lives.

Maphosa also confirmed to OFM News that the municipality was indeed aware of the particular issue and has since been trying its utmost best to deal with the sewage problem in that area.

The opposition parties in the troubled municipality, such as the Democratic Alliance (DA), has since called for the direct intervention by the Minister of Water and Sanitation over what they labelled as a sewerage crisis but the departmental spokesperson, Sputnik Ratau, told OFM News that the department was aware of the situation and they were concerned.

OFM News