Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Suzette Steyn and Sesotho soundbite by Jafta Mokoena MPL. See attached pictures here, here, and here.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) will escalate the ongoing governance crisis in Mafube Local Municipality to the Free State Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) for immediate intervention.
Residents of Mafube Local Municipality (Frankfort, Tweeling, Villiers, and Cornelia) are left with no other option than to resort to legal action due to the lack of municipal bylaws [LOCAL GOVERNMENT; MUNICIPAL SYSTEMS ACT, 2000 (5) and (11): Rights and duties of members of local community; passing bylaws].
Mafube faces numerous municipal service delivery challenges, such as bureaucratic inefficiencies, insufficient resources, and systemic corruption. These factors severely hinder their ability to provide essential services to communities. Yet, the municipality has merely one gazetted bylaw in place, the Bylaw on Municipal Land Use Planning, published under Local Government Notice No. 110 in the Free State Provincial Gazette of 17 February 2017.
Municipal bylaws are designed to maintain order, ensure public safety, and create harmonious living environments. Mafube residents have been frustrated for years by various uncontrolled situations due to the lack of bylaws, including roaming cattle, noise disturbances, irregular valuation roll increases, municipal account disputes, zoning complaints, illegal occupation of municipal buildings, theft and arson of municipal properties, and foot-and-mouth disease control.
Without bylaws to guide operations and funding, municipalities struggle to provide essential services like waste management, road repairs, and infrastructure development.
The absence of bylaws also affects the collection of fees and taxes, creating financial instability and forcing cutbacks on community programmes and services.
This lack of regulation leads to chaos and inconsistency in standards for building and land use and makes it difficult to enforce compliance, undermining public safety and quality of life.
Uncertainty around property use and development discourages investment and lowers property values. Without clear communication or a legal framework to enforce rules, confusion arises among residents and law enforcement, often leading to inaction and conflict.
The absence of dispute resolution mechanisms leaves municipalities exposed to legal challenges from residents affected by the lack of regulation.
Given that Mafube has been under Section 139 since 2022, the DA will continue to pressure management to adopt and gazette all required bylaws urgently to restore harmonious living conditions for Mafube communities.