COSATU Free State heaved a sigh of relief at the news that the National Government will be taking over the administration of Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality as empowered by Section 139(7) of our national Constitution.

We have watched with serious concern the rapidly deteriorating conditions in the Metro. Despite the best of our intentions and attempts to engage behind closed doors with the leadership of the ANC in the Province, we had come to a painful realization that the current IPC does not have the political will or political capacity to resolve the issues of the Metro.

Our members have been subjected to a very frustrating situation in that they have been unable to perform their duties within the municipality due to poor management, political interference, and overreach as well as the factional battles of the deployees of the ANC in the Municipality.

Our communities have been subjected to very poor service delivery on various fronts as it has been the order of the day to struggle for the tools of the trade as well as consumables (like fuel) to perform their duties. We had come to a painful realization that the situation will not change unless some radical decisions are taken to correct the situation.

We are looking forward to the intervention by National Government and we would like to make a clarion call that the team that would be deployed to the Metro should be vetted and briefed so that they do not perpetuate the current situation!

We have observed in previous years how the administrators have not been able to remedy the situation in various Municipalities across the Province but have plunged such municipalities into an even deeper crisis. We hope this time around the intervention would seek to remedy the situation for the benefit of our members and the community at large.

It is our understanding that Mangaung is a very strategic Municipality in the Province and that it should be a beacon of hope for other municipalities by setting and maintaining quality service delivery standards.

Issued by COSATU Free State

Enquiries:

Provincial Secretary Monyatso  Mahlatsi @ 051 447 5499 or 076 115 9923