As long as the ANC is running Free State municipalities, there will be no improvement or change in local government in the province.
Free State municipalities have never before been in such a dire financial situation.
This became evident during the joint oversight visit conducted by the national and provincial Portfolio Committees on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) last week.
In addition, the municipal audit reports for the 2023/24 financial year clearly indicate a lack of accountability and financial mismanagement.
Other findings indicate that investigations into financial irregularities are either not conducted at all or drag on for years without resolution. Action is rarely, if ever, taken against guilty officials, and municipalities simply keep looting and misappropriating public funds.
Numerous municipalities approve unfunded budgets year after year, despite warnings that these are based on unrealistic revenue collection rates.
The collective overdue debt of municipalities to third parties, such as pension funds, the South African Revenue Service and the Auditor-General (AG) already exceeds R830 million.
Debt owed to the Vaal Central Water Board currently surpasses R10 billion, with no clear plan for settling it.
Neither the Free State Premier, Maqueen Letshoa-Mathae, nor the MEC for Cooperative Governance, Saki Mokoena, could provide a credible recovery plan for turning the province’s failing municipalities around.
Therefore, the only solution is to oust the ANC at the polls.
