Matjhabeng Municipality lead the way in overtime payments

Staff reporter

Bloemfontein – The Matjhabeng Local Municipality is leading the way, albeit in the wrong direction.

In September 2023, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Welkom had been captured and Executive Mayor, Thanduxolo Khalipa was cleaning, yes, Ramaphosa said that.

Ramaphosa also said Khalipa is transforming Welkom and trying to get the right people and professional civil service.

Few months later, the potholes were patched just 500 meters from where Ramaphosa was hosting presidential inbizo.

The irony is the ANC defended its decision to appoint Khalipi despite his lack of qualifications.

During the local government campaigning, Khalipa was walking around the sewage with bodily guards holding riffles.

While the community lives in sewage-filled houses and potholed roads and struggles for basic services including clear water, the municipality is spending millions on overtime.

This was revealed in the Internal Question Paper after Democratic Alliance’s (DA) James Letuka asked MEC for COGTA Ketso Makume about spending in municipalities.

Makume mentioned only three municipalities as follows:

Municipality 2020/21​​2021/22​​2022/23
Setsoto ​R4 737 378.00​R4 881 188.93​R5 001062.25
Matjhabeng R85 472 071​R74 857 894​R39 941 778

None of the Free State municipalities got clean audits, with 11 declared dysfunctional.

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