Mangaung metro placed under administration

The embattled Mangaung municipality, including Bloemfontein, has been placed under administration.

A meeting was held with the Free State executive council on Wednesday to “consider intervention into the municipality with the immediate goal to safeguard public funds, and ultimately restore the capacity of the City to fulfil its functions”.

The meeting was led by premier Sefora Ntombela.

In a letter written to Ntombela, deputy minister of finance David Masondo raised concerns about the “fiscal capacity” of the municipality.

The executive council found that there was an under spending of conditional grants and that conditional grant funds were potentially being used for operations.

The council also found that the municipality was operating at a deficit and was facing severe financial risks.

This prompted the council to intervene in the metro.

MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs, Thembeni Nxangisa, and MEC for finance, Gadija Brown, are expected to hold a council meeting on December 24.

“It was of utmost importance that we hold this meeting, take a decision and save Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality.

“We are confident that this decision shall yield better results for the city and its citizens,” Ntombela said.