During a special council siting yesterday, Siyonzana said interventions are known to further contribute to failures. He said Mangaung is a case in point of ministers bringing in people who are supposed to change a municipality for the better, but fail.

He said four months after the last municipal elections, Mangaung was stripped of its executive powers by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta). The move came as Cogta Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma was under the impression that the provincial Cogta Department, led by MEC Mxolisi Dukwana, treated the metro with kid gloves.  Siyonzana said the ANC councillors of the metro warned him against passing the budget, which was assessed and changed by the national treasury.

ALSO READ: #BreakingNews: Mangaung stripped of its powers by national government

“Each minister brought in people so that we change this council,” Siyonzana said. “Around June, we were supposed to pass the budget. You will remember twice we failed to pass the budget, and the last time we passed the budget. Some ANC councillors said to me, we are not prepared to pass this budget. You pass this budget, our people out there will fight us. This budget that we are going to pass doesn’t speak to the needs of our people.”

He said the amended budget differed from the one they had drafted. Legally, a municipality is expected to allocate at least 8% of its budget for maintenance. It is less than 2% in the current budget, even as it’s faced with challenges of sewage spillages.

The Secretary-General of the Mangaung Service Delivery Forum (MSDF), Mpho Mojanaga, previously told OFM News they had made it clear that Mangaung leadership — at the governance and administration levels — is a total failure. He said the situation and conditions in the city have gone from bad to worse.

ALSO READ: ‘Mangaung intervention team must go’

The MSDF and other interest groups, including the Mangaung Concerned Community, have reached out to President Cyril Ramaphosa, calling for leadership changes in the ailing metro.

ALSO READ: Concerned Mangaung residents make another plea to Ramaphosa

ActionSA Free State spokesperson Nomawethu Sbukwana recently said the sudden calls for removal of Siyonzana as mayor is a clear demonstration of inherent political strife and skirmishes within the ANC. She said the recycling of ANC deployees through their cadre deployment strategies will never bring much-needed development to this municipality.

ALSO READ: Further calls for dissolution of Mangaung Metro Council

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