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The troubled Ngwathe Local Municipality is due to be dissolved following the Free State’s High Court judgement in Bloemfontein to dismiss the ANC’s bid to appeal a court order to dissolve the municipality and for the Executive Council to intervene in the affairs of the municipality.
A number of municipalities in the province have come under fire for their lack of service delivery and mal-administration, Ngwathe is but just one the dysfunctional municipalities in the province.
The High Court in Bloemfontein dismissed the leave to appeal by the municipality to avert its council being dissolved on Wednesday, 20 August 2025. The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the municipality has since welcomed the judgement and says it feels vindicated by the outcome.
Carina Serfontein, the DA Councillor in Ngwathe Municipality says the DA welcomes the Free State High Court’s firm rejection of the ANC’s desperate attempt to overturn the dissolution of the Ngwathe Municipal Council.
Serfontein says the court’s ruling confirms the DA’s long-held concerns that governance in Ngwathe faces significant challenges and that the municipality must be placed under administration to protect residents from further harm. She said the judgement represents an important outcome for the people of Ngwathe.
“Instead of proceeding with the court’s decision and focusing on restoring services, the ANC sought to pursue a different approach. On 25 June 2025, the council convened for a “special meeting” to consider an application for leave to appeal. Records indicate that the application had already been lodged on 24 June, before councillors met. This process raises questions about how decisions were reached.
The DA did not support this approach. The EFF chose to abstain from voting during this process.
The court has now spoken with finality: the ANC cannot hide behind procedural tricks to escape accountability. The municipality is to be dissolved, and administration must proceed without further obstruction,” said DA Councillor Carina Serfontein.
Cllr Serfontein said Ngwathe residents deserve a municipality that respects the law, delivers services, and acts in their best interest, not one that wastes scarce resources on failed legal manoeuvres to cling to power.
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) and Human Settlement in the Free State says it has noted the judgement by the High Court to dismiss the application for leave to appeal by Ngwathe Local Municipality.
“The application for leave to appeal by the municipality comes after the court issued a declaratory order against the municipality that it is in breach of its constitutional obligations towards residents the Executive Council of the Free State Province directed to intervene in the affairs of the municipality and inter alia to dissolve the municipal council and appoint an administrator – structural interdict granted.
The department of CoGTA will study the judgement and will communicate the course of action in due course,” said the Spokesperson for the department Zimasa Mbewu.
