The EFF Mangaung Chairperson, Gopolang Lipale, says the council has failed to fulfil its task of serving residents in the Metro whilst corruption is thriving allegedly under the watch of the council.

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The EFF Mangaung Chairperson, Gopolang Lipale, says the council has failed to fulfil its task of serving residents in the Metro whilst corruption is thriving allegedly under the watch of the council. He says that thieves, crooks and criminals must be jailed and keys must be thrown away if the national government is serious about dealing with the troubles in the ailing Metro. Lipale adds that the national government should move to disband and dissolve the council because it has failed its key and basic mandate of making sure that corruption is rooted out and those in question are dealt with according to law. The Metro has on two occasions failed to pass and adopt its 2022/23 budget after it failed to adhere to governing legislation.

“Our MMCs are lazy to think, they are sleeping at work and it is only through the removal from office that things can be done. We call upon the cabinet to make a decision to disband the council. Nothing is left for this council other than thieving this municipality. We will never rest or sleep until the people of this city are attended to and one of the terms of reference for the national intervention was that multiple disciplinary teams of experts would be appointed to deal with corruption within the city but that has not been done,” Lipale told council members.

On Wednesday, the mayor of the metro, Mxolisi Siyonzana, delivered his third budget in an attempt to have council members pass and vote for it. The council, except for the speaker, Stefani Lockman-Naidoo, has 100 council members, and less than 50% of them allegedly voted for the budget whilst the remainder of councillors did not vote for the budget on two occasions.

Failure to adopt the budget could, in terms of the local government acts, lead to the municipal council being dissolved. The municipality is currently under administration from the national government for failure to deliver services to residents, who are most often disgruntled about the lack of services.

According to the local government legislation and rules, "if a municipality has not approved an annual budget, including revenue-raising measures necessary to give effect to the budget, by the first day (1 July) of the budget year, the mayor must immediately comply with section 55 of the MFMA."

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