According to the Head of the Department (HOD), Mbulelo Nokwequ, the bill will focus on the local economy. His comments come after a large number of irate protesters marched with the Mangaung Service Delivery Forum (MSDF) to the premises of the department in Bloemfontein to demand the release of the names of businesses that benefited from the Covid-19 stimulus packages. Nokwequ says the purpose of this much-anticipated bill will coordinate and regulate businesses.

“We're busy processing a Bill that we are going to publish for 14 days for public comments. It is called the Free State Integrated Local Economic Development and Transformation Bill which will coordinate all efforts to regulate businesses. It takes its cue from the Businesses Act of 1991, but have a Provincial Act that will begin to deal with these issues because we can see it’s a bit of a problem if you expect each municipality to regulate that with its own bylaws - that is the first one. And I did respond last year I even showed them the draft. I am surprised about the protest - it’s not that we have not done anything,” Nokwequ adds.

Meanwhile, Mangaung Service Delivery Forum (MSDF) has this morning advised that they have suspended its picketing which aimed to highlight the plight of residents in and around the Metro.

In a media statement, the forum says the march went on as planned and they received a satisfying response from the provincial government leadership and the communication done with the presidency.

A large number of residents came out in their numbers on Wednesday and marched through the streets of Mangaung to highlight the plight of residents. Residents were hoping to be addressed by MEC Mohale but to their disappointment, they were informed that the MEC was not around the building.

Residents were expected to be in town for three days with a night vigil expected to take place on Wednesday night, with a possible shutdown looming if things do not go according to their wishes.

Whilst marching through the streets of Mangaung, they did so under heavy police presence as the law enforcement agencies, including traffic officials and police, kept a watchful eye.

However, Motoko previously told OFM News that he feels residents have been neglected by the embattled Mangaung Metro Municipality. Motoko said the forum has on countless occasions engaged with political leaders and the powers-that-be about ailing service delivery across towns in the troubled metro with no viable solutions to date.

OFM News