This follows after strategic follow-up engagements that were led by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, with the Mangaung Metro Municipal Council, the Free State Provincial Government leaders and various stakeholders, including labour, in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.

Dlamini-Zuma previously vowed to revisit the metro after the Easter holidays, with the intention to further deliberate on programmes and the national government’s role in this take-over.

The National Department of Cogta recently stripped the metro's council of its executive powers, just more than two years after being placed under administration at the end of 2019. This move by the national government resulted in much speculation that this might be the final nail in the coffin for the troubled metro, and that its council might be dissolved.

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Meanwhile, the Free State Premier Sisi Ntombela thanked Dlamini-Zuma for assisting the troubled metro municipality and called on the council to double their efforts, and work in harmony with the provincial government to ensure the state of the Metro improves.

“I just want to say to the honourable minister, thank you very much for the intervention. And I also want to say to the council - this is the second chance, please let's go and work a little bit harder. It is not the end of the world, we are given a second chance. Let's go and work a little bit harder. Mangaung is now back in our hands. Let's work together with the intervention team and make sure that we build our own Mangaung again," she said.

Mangaung pressure groups like the Mangaung Concerned Community (MCC), among others, have desperately called for the dissolution of the metro. The pressure group alleged that the council should be dissolved because they let corruption thrive under their watch.

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