The council sat on Thursday 6 October 2022 to deliberate on issues besieging the municipality. Among these issues was a court action by four councillors who took the municipality to court over the appointment of a municipal manager (MM). 

In audio which has been circulating on social media, councillors from the EFF and ANC - which is the majority party in the council - can be heard hurling insults at one another. Four councillors wanted the appointment of the MM to be set aside, declared unlawful, irregular and unconstitutional because he was appointed through alleged dubious means. These councillors, including the speaker, could not agree on whether the council should then adopt a motion to have a legal representative represent the municipality in court. Some councillors rejected voting whilst some advocated voting for the motion by showing hands.

Voices of EFF and ANC councillors translated:

ANC councillor: “I have a mortuary and I used to bury your mother."

EFF councillor responds to ANC councillor: "You never buried my mother. Anyway, your mortuary is rotten. You buried your mother on the streets, you used that rotten mortuary to bury your own mother. You have never once buried my mother. Anyway, where is your home?”

In an application made with the Free State High Court, the first respondent, Teboho Mochechepa, says: "The municipal manager, who is the fourth respondent in the court action, was allegedly and/or purportedly appointed as an MM on 31 August 2022, ostensibly by the Speaker, and it is this purported appointment of the Fourth Respondent that is the subject of this application.

"On 1 September 2022, the mayor addressed a letter to the Fifth Respondent wherein he indicated, amongst other things, that the Fourth Respondent was appointed as a Municipal Manager as per the Municipal Council resolution dated 31 August 2022. In any event, even if such a resolution was taken, the appointment of the Fourth Respondent as a Municipal Manager would have been unlawful and irregular for it's non-compliance with the Regulation on appointment and conditions of employment for senior managers (“the Regulations”). Against the aforegoing, we approach this court on an urgent basis to seek an order granting a rule nisi (with interim orders with immediate effect), that pending the finalisation of an application to review and set aside the purported appointment of the Fourth Respondent as Municipal Manager, or to declare such appointment as unlawful and invalid or to declare that no such appointment occurred: The Fourth Respondent be restrained and interdicted from executing or purporting to execute any functions of or related to the office of the Municipal Manager of the First Respondent.”

OFM News previously reported that the Free State municipalities have continued their wasteful spending of taxpayers' money with irregular expenditure increasing by almost R2 billion. According to Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke, the irregular expenditure increased from R7,63 billion to R9,18 billion. Maluleke, in her report, said the audit outcomes of the province regressed over the term of the previous administration. She said this is because the municipal Public Accounts Committees did not perform timeous investigations.

ALSO READ: Free State municipalities' irregular spending grows by R2 billion

Meanwhile, North West municipalities have been told to terminate fixed-term contracts for municipal managers whose contracts are due for the termination in November 2022, or risk being in contravention of the Municipal System Acts.

ALSO READ: North West municipalities told to terminate MMs contracts by November

The municipality is yet to comment on OFM News’ enquiry.

OFM News