Both the Dihlabeng Local Municipality in Bethlehem and the Moqhaka Local Municipality in Kroonstad are without a municipal manager at present.
At the Moqhaka Municipality, the municipal manager position has been advertised for the third time and will purportedly only be filled in February 2023. This comes after the opposition parties in Moqhaka took a stand and opposed the appointment of the ruling party’s municipal manager, requested that a new election panel should be constituted and also that the appointment process should start from scratch.
“I can confirm that applications for the new municipal manager have been received and closed. Advocate Mzwakhe Mofokeng is still acting until the process and appointment of the new municipal manager is completed,” says Dika Kheswa, spokesperson for the Moqhaka Municipality.
Moqhaka has been without a municipal manager since 2019.
Recently the Dihlabeng Municipality was under tremendous pressure due to the lack of a municipal manager or chief financial officer to fulfill obligations. Consequently, workflow of the water and sanitation department was hampered, which lead to taps running dry.
At the end of November, Kgathatso Mokhele’s contract to act as the chief financial officer was extended, and Kadimo Masekoane was appointed as acting municipal manager.
“These delays in appointments caused the municipality to be non-functional. Core functions and decision-making that should be handled by a municipal manager are being left behind due to these positions not being filled,” says Cllr Willie Theunissen, DA Dihlabeng caucus leader.
A situation that could be interpreted as a symptom of this non-functionality is the Dihlabeng Municipality on Monday (12/12) sending out a memorandum informing the community that water levels at the reservoirs were very low due to ongoing loadshedding.
“Water tankers will be supplied to areas that run out of water,” says Tshediso Maitse, spokesperson for the Dihlabeng Municipality.
The water supply was cut off on Monday at 12:00 and, according to the memorandum, was restored on Tuesday at 06:00 in hopes of filling the reservoirs.
