Central SA
Mangaung Mayor slams claims that treasury wants its R200m back─── KEKELETSO MOSEBETSI 14:04 Sat, 18 Nov 2023
The Mangaung Metro Municipality in the Free State has rubbished claims that the national treasury is asking it to return R200 million after the municipality failed to utilise it appropriately.
Executive Mayor Gregory Nthatisi says the matter remains a subject of discussion between the metro and the department.
“Mangaung is a municipality that was subjected to a financial recovery plan and on the basis of that the department of finance actually takes money from all other provinces where work was done. Ours is unique in a sense that out of the financial recovery, we are now working towards making sure that we enlighten first the department that was working with us and all other departments. As a result of the financial recovery plan, which among other things included ensuring the restoration of Mangaung's administration, we are now finalising those processes,” Nthatisi said.
OFM News previously reported that the Mangaung Metro set to lose over R200 million of allocated conditional grants to the National Treasury, because it failed to utilise the monies for the appointment of a Municipal Manager and Chief Executive Officer. The metro is currently under the national government’s intervention for failing to provide primary service delivery and to improve the financial standing of the metro.
The African Alliance for Social Democrats’ (AASD) Governance monitoring desk manager, Zwelakhe Msabe, has accused the metro of trying 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.
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.
OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi
