Mangaung – Fresh from being held hostage in Eastern Cape by residents demanding services, Fikile Mbalula who doubles up as Transport Minister and Secretary General of the African National Congress (ANC) blamed the Democratic Alliance (DA) led coalition for potholes in the City of Jo’burg.
The municipality has been under the ANC government since the DAWN of democracy till Herman Mashaba, a former DA member became a mayor in 2016 till 2019 but the municipality has and was under the ANC government till they failed to garner an outright majority. Joburg has always had potholes during ANC tenure and they failed to fill them hence residents showed the ANC the middle finger not only in Joburg but also in Ekhuleni and Tshwane.
Let’s look at what he promised Mangaung Residents just last year.
Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality is one of two Metros under full control of the African National Congress, the other one is the City of Polokwane, and the rest are either under the Democratic Alliance, (City of Cape) and/or under a coalition government.
Having won Mangaung Metro outright just enough to govern alone, though having lost significant support in the previous local government elections, service delivery became a thorny issue.
In 2022, Mbabula in his capacity as a Transport Minister promised a forensic investigation into alleged corruption over Bus Rapid System, the report as per his remarks was supposed to be handed in by the end of October and it was moved to the end of November we are now in February 2023, and there is no sign of the report.
During the January 8, Mbalula said the David Mahlobo report around the parallel conferences will be released on Friday the 13th, to date the report is still outstanding, almost a month later.
Mbalula lambasted Mxolisi Siyonzana, the embattled Mangaung Mayor, over the state of the municipality but that was never the case when he went to Durban, Kwazulu Natal where just like Mangaung service delivery is a dream for residents.
He never called for the removal of Mxolisi Kaunda despite the municipality failing to keep the beaches clean as they are tourist attraction places.
Between April and December many of the city’s beaches – which usually draw hundreds of thousands of tourists for the southern hemisphere’s summer – were closed after critical levels of E coli, a bacteria that can cause diarrhoea, vomiting and fever, were found in the water.
Since his election in December Mbabula has been to KZN no less than 3 times.
A source with intimate knowledge who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimization said Kwazulu Natal is not pro-Ramaphosa hence the kid’s gloves approach.
“Politically KZN is still blaming Ramaphosa for what is happening to former president Jacob Zuma and everyone who goes to Natal has to be extra careful of what they say and Mxolisi Kaunda is pro-RET, therefore, anything can happen.
If you think what happened in Eastern Cape is scary KZN will give you that 1000 times.”
Another source sympathetic to Mbalula said he should be given credit.
“It took forever to fix Moshoeshoe Road in Mangaung once Vutha spoke everyone started moving and now the road is fully functioning.”
Out of everything that Mbalula talks about in Mangaung there are two things that he never touches, one being Mangaung Taxi Rank which according to the Auditor General cost taxpayers money R350m, and Mangaung Metro Ghost Workers where his brother is implicated.
According to the leaked documents the ghost workers cost the municipality over R5 million, this after a law firm launched an investigation and it’s not clear how much in total did Mbalula senior earn and for what.
He is now the spokesperson for the ANC in Free State.
New details have emerged implication new Provincial Executive Committee members in the Mangaung Taxi Rank scandal and once they are afforded right of reply we shall publish both the video and the story.
Mahlengi Bengu-Motsiri, the spokesperson for the ANC did not respond to our questions despite promising to revert with a response before our deadline.
Step UP SA News is looking for 6 junior journalists in five districts of Free State as it prepares to print. Two will be based in Bloemfontein and the rest will be in each district. Further details will be shared in due course.
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