During a media briefing on Monday following his election, he addressed critics who are of the opinion that he has been in the upper echelon of the Metro for at least a decade, if not two, and has failed to address financial mismanagement and other critical issues at the metro.

Responding to the allegations, the newly elected mayor says he has on previous occasions wrote letters to the previous executive council and ANC to try and address issues of non-compliance, especially with regard to legislative policies. Siyonzana says at some point he was stopped when he wanted to address the issue of bulk borrowing by the metro, which then made at least five loans, borrowing millions from Absa and Standard Bank, amongst others.

“The previous council had five loans - two from Standard Bank, one from Absa, and two from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA). They wanted to borrow R5 billion and I was very critical of that. And if you listen, people out there are saying just before this council, Mangaung had R3 billion in reserves, which is not true,” he adds.

He, however, says he and the newly elected speaker, Mapaseka Mothibi-Nkoane, will engage with each other in an effort to try and address the issue of service delivery and the community's participation in paying for services received. He says residents must be engaged with an effort to try and convince them to pay for the services.

Meanwhile, OFM News on Friday 13 August 2021 reported that there was a heavy backlash towards the ANC’s Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) for the election of Siyonzana as the mayoral candidate.

The former spokesperson for the previously disgruntled ANC members, who took the ANC Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) to the High Court over its constitutionality, says the IPC appears to not be interested in resolving all that went wrong.

Monnapule Ntamo told OFM News that the election of Siyonzana as the candidate for the mayoral position is a step backward and it fails to take into account the damage inflicted on the metro with Siyonzana previously present in the upper echelons.

OFM News