Note to editors: Please find attached the English soundbite by Cllr Suzette Steyn and Sesotho by Karabo Khakhau MP.
Exactly one year after Provincial Intervention was instituted at Mafube Local Municipality service delivery has all but come to a complete standstill. National Treasury in preparation for the Financial Recovery Plan concluded that the municipality has not been able to perform its powers and functions due to financial constraints, limited capacity, and lack of skills and that most of the senior managers fall below the unit standards for the positions they are holding.
The Court Order, granted on 28 April 2022, stipulated that the municipality must stop the spillage of sewerage into the Vaal and Wilge Rivers. Sewer infrastructure is aged and is prone to breakages and whilst the municipality has maintenance teams in place, acute staff shortage causes immense challenges.
This situation has led to constant service delivery protests as infrastructure asset management has hit an all-time low and service delivery has been deteriorating. Paved roads are littered with potholes, environmental degradation is the order of the day with waste covering open spaces and street corners, gravel roads have been washed away, etc. Maintenance of roads and stormwater in the Mafube area is a huge problem caused by the fact that most of the roads in townships are gravel roads and are subjected to heavy erosion during rainy seasons. Please see pictures here, here and here.
The water debt of nearly R472m with the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and further revenue losses for water at 91% in FY2021/22 and 96% in FY2020/21 also contribute to the current financial challenges. Revenue collection came to an all-time low at the end of June 2023 with 15%. Some areas still do not have VIP toilets and the bucket system is being used. Wastewater plants are being overwhelmed and Villiers, Tweeling, Cornelia and Frankfort need urgent upgrading as per the Department of Water and Sanitation 2022 progress report the Municipal Blue Drop Risk Rating score was at 95.1%.
This is the third time Mafube has been subjected to Provincial Intervention and both the previous interventions left the municipality worse afterwards. For this reason, the Democratic Alliance urgently requested the Minister of Finance that the municipality be placed under Sec 139(7) National Intervention. The financial crisis in the municipality is beyond the capacity of the Free State Provincial government to address and rectify.