The costly work of rebuilding the dysfunctional Mangaung Metro Municipality has begun.
National government is leading the efforts to repair what the municipality has broken down.
Evidence laid bare that the centre could no longer hold in the judicial capital of South Africa.
Bad governance under the ANC-led council is cited as a root cause of the financial and service delivery challenges.
Efforts to fix the trouble-ridden metro saw troops of men and women take to the streets to clean in various towns under the metro’s administration.
These workers have been enlisted by the municipality on short-term contract under the Public Employment Programme.
However, the metro’s timing of their deployment in the wake of national government intervention has sparked sharp criticism from disgruntled residents. Some of the residents termed this as deceiving, because of the sudden services rendered over the weekend of Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidential imbizo at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium.
The workers had their hands full, picking up waste, unblocking drainage pipes and cutting long grass along the main roads of the city. Even potholes previously ignored were attended to hastily.
Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, defined the Mangaung Metro as a “messed up” municipality.
During a media briefing on Wednesday (20/04), she stated that the metro is “leaderless”.
She further revealed that critical positions in the municipality are vacant.
According to Dlamini-Zuma, the municipality has neither city manager nor acting city manager, and the contracts of certain heads of department already expired in March. Others are due to expire at the end of April.
Efforts to revive the metro are led by the National Treasury and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
