Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Piet Botha and Sesotho soundbite by David Masoeu MPL.
– DA intensifies oversight and Section 139 intervention.
– AG ranks Matjhabeng as South Africa’s worst municipality.
– Residents suffer from collapsing services and financial mismanagement.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Matjhabeng will intensify oversight, continue pursuing the ongoing Section 139(5) intervention, and hold the ANC-led municipality accountable, following the Auditor-General’s latest report, which again exposed its financial and governance failures.
These failures continue to deprive residents of reliable basic services, undermine economic growth, and erode public confidence in local government.
The Auditor General’s (AG) Report reveals that the ANC-controlled Matjhabeng Municipality has been the worst in SA for 16 consecutive years.
On 24 June 2026, the Auditor General (AG) Me. Tsakani Maluleke released the consolidated general report on Local Government Audit Outcomes for the 24/25 financial year. Once again, Matjhabeng has the unfortunate honour of being named the worst Municipality in the Free State and in South Africa. This comes as no surprise to anybody, as the ANC-controlled Council has, over the years, appointed Cadres who had no idea how to manage a multi-billion-rand Municipality.
Over the past 16 years, the AG found that Matjhabeng has no right to exist because of the following reasons:
- Poor cash flow.
- Poor cash reserves.
- Poor service delivery.
- Poor control over unauthorised, irregular, and Wasteful expenses as it has spiralled out of control.
- Poor or, in fact, no consequence Management.
Over the years, the ANC Mayors have promised that the lives of Matjhabeng residents would improve, but in fact, they have worsened, with over R15 million owed to Eskom and Vaal Central Water. Raw sewerage flowing into people’s houses, water losses of more than 60%, and no to minimal refuse removal. Potholes are not being fixed, and there is no prospect of them being fixed in the near future.
Service delivery as a whole has almost come to a standstill as there are no resources to acquire parts to fix water, sewer and electrical problems. The yellow fleet is almost non-existent as one TLB must work in four suburbs.
The DA in Matjhabeng has, over the years, warned the Mayor to implement consequence management and improve service delivery, but these warnings were not heeded. The DA then went so far as to obtain a Court Order under Section 139(5) of the Constitution, compelling the Provincial Government to intervene to improve the Municipality’s finances and service delivery. This is now an ongoing process.
To get Matjhabeng working again, register to vote and vote for the DA on 4 November 2026 to get Matjhabeng municipality working for all residents.