By 
The condition of municipalities in the Free State Province was laid bare the previous week during the two days joint parliamentary and Free State Legislature CoGTA Committee oversight visit led by Dr Zweli Mkhize in Mangaung, Bloemfontein.
Following the proceedings, one could not help but wonder how some of the officials, Mayors to be precise ascended to their rank as they failed to answer basic questions regarding their own municipalities, municipalities that they are political heads of. It was a blood boiling situation to see that local government is largely led by persons who do not have any interest in the affairs of their respective municipalities, never mind its citizens.
One can understand that the provincial leadership is dealing with legacy challenges and delinquency dating back from the era of Ace Magashule as the Premier of the province; however, to learn that there are municipalities that are not even making an effort to escape the chains of incompetency and failure, it was disheartening and worrying about the future of the province.
The Auditor General (AG) of South Africa has released a rather bleak picture about municipalities in the Free State; the province with 23 municipalities, with six of them under administration; has proven to be one of the most poor performing provinces with a number of disclaimers and poor service delivery.
During the oversight visit, Mayors took the hot seat and were questioned by committee members, where it was revealed that some municipalities have a high salary bill in excess of R140 million, when questioned what is the municipality doing since they are grossing such high salaries, the Mayor failed to answer, smiling in awkward silence and visibly dazed by the question.
Furthermore, it came to the fore that some of the municipalities squandered their investments within a single year, when asked what happened, dololo (no) answer. Some municipalities, their structures do not allow for growth, however, the worrying factor about such is that, it has been like that for over 10 years but none of the leaders ever thought of changing the structure and effect change. It is clear as day that officials are just happy with showing face and earning high salaries.
The Free State is at the centre of the country, a number of national roads pass through the province, a lot of freight worth of billions pass through the province. The province has so much economic growth potential and the leadership has made strides to position the Free State as an investment attraction destination, however, the conditions of municipalities defeat all these efforts.
Poor service delivery is repulsive towards investment, streets are filled sewer spillage, roads are full of potholes, buildings are not maintained and are dilapidated; in some municipalities’ water and power supply are a serious challenge. These are conditions that are discouraging in the business community; small businesses find it hard to survive under such conditions.
The agriculture sector in the Free State performed very well in 2023, coming in second after the Western Cape. The Free State contributed more than R80 billion towards the country’s agricultural industry. However, farmers are bleeding funds due to bad roads plagued with potholes; moving their produce from their farms to markets have become an expensive exercise.
The Premier and the MEC for CoGTA are now faced with a daunting task ahead, they need to clean house, skills appraisals need to be conducted, some people must fall on their swords. The two will have to endure being unpopular in order to fix the municipalities. The ANC has already lost some public confidence; they will now have to act decisively to win back confidence ahead of the local government elections in 2026. Actions must be swift and unbiased.
