The DA caucus leader, Johan Pretorius, in a statement says he welcomes the National Government's decision to strip the metro of its powers but further warns that the government must place the interests of residents above those of ANC factions.  

The leader of another opposition party in the Mangaung Metro's Council, the Freedom Front Plus' (FF Plus) Elizabeth Snyman-Van Deventer, has expressed concern with the state of the metro and has also lashed out at the ruling party. She says the metro is not delivering services and is wasting money on programmes and projects that are not feasible.

These statements by opposition parties come after numerous reports of political infighting at the metro which was said to be at the forefront of the failed administration.

Meanwhile, the ANC’s Interim Provincial Committee (IPC) spokesperson, Oupa Khoabane, tells OFM News that the “municipality has been experiencing the challenges of cooperative governance for some time, which emanated from political conflicts that befell the institution”.

“The effect has been poor service delivery and a series of protest actions by community groups. We, as a result, have a firm belief that this decision shall usher in a better institutional environment conducive to improving services to communities,” Khoabane adds.

During last week’s National Council of Provinces (NCOP) sitting at the Free State Legislature in the Fourth Raadsaal in Bloemfontein, it was revealed during the oversights visits by Members of Parliament (MPs) that the political factions and infighting were identified as factors derailing the Metro.

The NCOP’s permanent delegate from the Free State, Itumeleng Ntsube, said the current situation at the Metro is due to people longing for power. He labelled the metro as an institution that thinks it’s some sort of “superman municipality”.

The Government Communication spokesperson, Phumla Williams, announced on Thursday that the metro has been placed under National Government's control. Williams added that this is in terms of Section 139 (7) of the Constitution.

This section states that after a municipality fails to make progress in improving its financial and service delivery performance, Cabinet may decide to place it under national intervention.

This means that the metro can only pass a budget and bylaws. It does, however, not have the authority to borrow money or appoint employees.

Williams said the National Cabinet's representatives will soon be deployed to Mangaung. 

The metro has been the first to be placed under administration in 2019/20, following its failure to perform the most basic functions of service delivery. It is the first metro out of eight in the country to be placed under administration and also to adopt an unfunded budget for the year 2018/19 and 2019/20.

In August 2019, the rating agency Moody's Investors Service downgraded the municipality's long-term global scale issuer, rating it B3 from Ba3 with a negative outlook, following a review initiated in May.

Also read: Mangaung to release statement on Moody's downgrade

Recently the political staff at the Metro downed tools and embarked on a total shutdown, protesting over unpaid salaries which were later paid while others received half of their salaries.

Also read: Mangaung finally pays political staff

The protest was followed by reports from workers that factional politics are at the heart of the problem, with a clique of individuals aligning themselves to the Radical Economic Transformation (RET) programme of action of the African National Congress (ANC), and a clique of individuals aligning themselves to President Cyril Ramaphosa's slogan of good governance called Thuma Mina, having a go at each other.

OFM News