The Mangaung Metro Municipality in the Free State is set to lose over R200 million of allocated conditional grants to the National Treasury.

It’s said that the metro failed to utilise the monies for the appointment of the Municipal Manager and Chief Executive officer. The metro is currently under the national government’s intervention for failing to provide primary service delivery and improve the financial standing of the metro. The Afrikan Alliance for Social Democrats’ (AASD) Governance monitoring desk manager, Zwelakhe Msabe, said the metro tried to take shortcuts by appointing these officials during the last council sitting.

“The pain of voting job seekers as mayors to serve on the Municipal Council is proving to be hitting ordinary citizens hard, who are yearning for basic service delivery, while the Ford car dealership has pocketed millions through councillors' purchases of Ford Rangers,” Msabe said.

Mangaung Metro speaker, Lawrence Mathae, and Municipal Manager, Sello More. Picture supplied

In April 2023, OFM News reported that 17 Free State municipalities failed to utilise R171 million of the allocated conditional grants for the 2022/23 financial year.

In 2022, OFM News reported that the troubled metro forfeited over R400 million of the national conditional grant for much-needed service delivery.

In 2020, the National Treasury is said to have withheld grant funding of R429 million due to underspending. The Auditor-General, Tsakani Maluleke, in her report, said the Treasury’s action was a result of the delays by the metro in completing grant-funded projects.

Maluleke said the withdrawal of the conditional grant put further strain on the metro’s financial health and also hurt service delivery. This revelation by Maluleke comes after the cash-strapped metro on two occasions failed to adopt and pass its 2022/23 budget due to non-compliance.

The metro is the only metro municipality that adopted the unfunded budget for the financial years 2018/19 and 2019/20. In April 2022, the Cabinet stripped the metro’s council of its executive powers and placed it under administration after the municipality failed to make progress in improving its financial and service delivery performance. The metro is yet to comment on OFM News’ inquiry.

OFM News/Lucky Nkuyane  Daphné/Corné