BREAKING NEWS: Sherrif of court attaches Free State Municipal fleet

Staff reporter

Brandfort – Trouble continues to mount for the cash-strapped Free State Local municipality as sheriff the of court once again attaches assets.

The sheriff of the court has just on attached assets including the municipal fleet.

This was after a former legal officer, Itumeleng Mogaecho, launched a civil litigation against the troubled municipality.

Mogaecho took the municipality to the labor bargaining council for unfair labor practices and constructive dismissal.

He then in return received an award following a ruling by the labour court.

The municipality led by the controversial ANC mayor, Dimakatso Modise, was ordered to pay or settle the aforementioned amount but failed to do so.

Mogaecho then later approached the court to have the order enforced which the court happily ruled in his favour.

In March 2024 the sheriff of the court again attached assets from the ailing Theunissen-based municipality.

The sheriff attached assets including office equipment in the office of the municipal manager and several law enforcement vehicles.

This was due to debt owed to service providers.

In January 2024 the sheriff also attached a municipal fleet estimated to value R3-million for a long-standing debt to serviced providers.

Mogaecho’s alleged fallout with Modise was influenced by two draft reports he was instructed to conduct by the council.

He looked into allegations of misconduct by then municipal manager Michelle Sello.

The two reports looked into a variety of allegations, including misconduct against Sello, and found that she had failed to pay third-party contributions for the months of January, March, and May 2021.

The report also indicated that Sello allowed an unauthorized payment of nearly R900,000 to a bogus service provider.

Modise who was a strong ally of Sello then went into offense against Mogaecho and was accused of being personal.

Following these attacks Modise refused to present the two reports in council as mandated by the municipal handbook.

Modise wrote two emails whilst launching personal attacks on Mogaecho in response to the reports implicating Sello, accusing him of being biased: In these emails, Modise wrote:

“I’ve also observed how inconsistent you are with providing legal advice, depending on who you are dealing with. The point of reference is a payment made by the former acting municipal manager, Mr. Sipho Thomas, to Camelsa Consulting Group for R700 000 even though their contract had run its course.

I’ve been reliably informed that you were knowledgeable about this payment despite its bona fide intention”

Mogaecho was later slapped with a suspension and this resulted in his resignation in February 2024.

Masilonyana is among worst-performing municipalities in the province.

This municipality continued to receive adverse findings against it. In June 2022, the Auditor-General of South Africa, Tsakani Maluleke, reported that Masilonyana was among three Free State municipalities that failed to account for money spent.

This is a developing story.

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