The party’s Dirk Kotze says the time has come for the municipality to prioritise the needs of its residents and remove Mea from office. He says damning reports by the Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu are a clear indication of how the municipality remains in dire straits despite the intervention by the province. The party says Mea’s management capability should be questioned, as under his leadership, together with Mayor Olly Mlamleli, the municipality has been failing to deliver adequate services to residents nor has been able to generate revenue. The party’s request comes just days before MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Thembeni Nxangisa, is expected to table his department’s budget.

OFM News previously reported that this municipality is amongst those flagged for a lack of accountability and high irregular expenditures in the last AG report.

The municipality also sent shock waves across the province when it became the first metro to be placed under administration and downgraded twice by Moody's Credit Rating.

It is expected to come under scrutiny when Nxangisa tables the department’s budget next week.

“The biggest concern for residents of the Mangaung Metro is that the metro received first prize nationally for unauthorised expenditure. The City Manager as accounting officer of the Metro, overspent R1,36 billion of the budget for the financial year 2018/2019. Over-spending of R430 million (43%) were related to non-cash items. The AG report once again proves that the governing ANC cannot be trusted with taxpayers' money and that cadre deployment is their priority,” said Kotze.

OFM News