Tag Archives: Velenkosini Hlabisa

EFF welcomes intervention at embattled Ditsobotla Local Municipality

NEWS Leave a comment

February 03, 2023.Ditsobotla Local Municipality office buildings in Lichtenburg North West Province.Picture:Freddy Mavunda © Financial Mail

By REGINALD KANYANE

15 September 2025- The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the North West said it has taken note of the intervention by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Velenkosini Hlabisa, in terms of Section 139 (7) of the Constitution in Ditsobotla Local Municipality. The EFF said this intervention, which follows years of evident maladministration, misappropriation of funds and the substantial collapse of service delivery, is a clear indictment of the ANC’s absolute failure to govern.

The EFF provincial spokesperson, Fanon Moema said for too long, the people of Ditsobotla have been subjected to intolerable conditions as a result of corruption, instability and incompetence under the ANC leadership.

Moema said it is noteworthy that since the inclusion of the EFF in the municipal leadership, there has been a marked period of stability and a renewed focus on governance.

“Our presence has brought much needed accountability and a commitment to putting the interests of the community first. While the ANC’s internal factional battles and flagrant disregard for due process brought the municipality to its knees, the EFF has consistently advocated for clean governance and service delivery.

“The EFF welcomes the intervention’s strong measures, including the review of irregular appointments, the investigation of corruption by law enforcement agencies, and the implementation of strict financial controls. We are particularly supportive of the initiative to reverse irregular appointments and to hold those responsible

for any misconduct accountable,” he said.

Moema further said this aligns perfectly with their longstanding call for good governance and common good of all the residents of Ditsobotla. He added that, in light of these developments, the EFF reaffirms its commitment to work with all stakeholders, including the appointed administrator, Kopung Ralikontsane and political parties who are genuinely committed to restoring stability and accelerating service delivery to their people.

“We will not allow narrow political interests to stand in the way of progress.

The Minister and the intervention team have acknowledged the stability in the council, and the EFF stands ready to participate as a key partner in advancing the recovery process. Our mission is to ensure that the people of Ditsobotla receive the quality services they deserve and that their dignity is restored,” said Moema.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

South Africa’s great municipal experiment

NEWS Leave a comment

Picture: The Director of the School of Government Studies at North West University (NWU), Professor Kedibone Phago/Supplied 

By REGINALD KANYANE

2 September 2025- The Director of the School of Government Studies at North West University (NWU), Professor Kedibone Phago said South Africa is preparing the most sweeping reconfiguration of local government since 1996. Phago said the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Velenkosini Hlabisa, has unveiled a plan to reduce dysfunction, shore up finances and restore public trust in the country’s 257 municipalities.

“At least 35 of these are now deemed dysfunctional, crippled by empty coffers and chronic failures in basic service delivery. The reform is bold in scope.

“Dysfunctional municipalities may be disbanded. Leadership requirements will be professionalised, ending politically motivated appointments that have hollowed out administrative competence,” he said.

Phago further said a new framework of minimum skills for senior managers is being developed. He added that a comprehensive review of the 1998 White Paper on Local Government, launched in May, will underpin both legislative reforms and the drafting of a new funding model.

“Several bills are in the pipeline. Amendments to general local-government law, stricter rules for unstable coalitions, and a legal framework for interventions in failing municipalities.

“I believe the scale of the intervention is overdue but warns against cosmetic fixes. We need to ask ourselves how the local government can respond more effectively to residents’ needs,” said Phago.

He said the main problem is that this process focuses on the political process as a means to fix systemic rot. Phago said yet it is the political process that has brought the country to a point where most municipalities are not only dysfunctional, but have become highly toxic places to work and do business.

“This points to the chilling climate professionals face. Most would rather seek employment elsewhere than work in local government.

“Sadly, it is not only municipalities in rural areas that are marred by grand corruption. Even in metropolitan areas we have witnessed killings of professionals investigating corruption,” he said.

Phago said cases in Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg abound, with no end in sight. He said unless individuals with “material interests” are removed, reform will merely resurface old problems under new laws.

“The dysfunction is not monolithic, but bifurcated. Rural municipalities often lack economic activity, making them entirely dependent on transfers from the national fiscus.

“Places lacking basic municipal services can neither create nor attract middle-class families who would pay for services,” said Phago.

He said urban and metropolitan areas, by contrast, have stronger revenue bases but are plagued by procurement capture. Phago said the political elite and their cronies have hijacked Supply Chain Management (SCM) processes.

“Resources are diverted from serving residents to serving providers. This has become chronic and requires institutional capacity and leadership to fix.

“Most striking is a call for technocratic rigour. Why don’t we use a scientific process to inform the shake-up, Minister?” he asked.

Phago proposes that no municipality should exist without substantial economic activity proportional to its population. He said moreover, councils that consistently underperform – as flagged by the Auditor-General or forensic investigations – should be stripped of their financial powers and placed under a centralised CoGTA agency until the end of their term.

“It is such drastic reconfiguration steps,” he argues, “that would help reduce dysfunctionality within the local-government system and restore public trust.

“For now, CoGTA has named a handful of municipalities for immediate intervention: Ditsobotla in the North West, Kopanong and Mafube in the Free State, Emfuleni in Gauteng, Thabazimbi in Limpopo, and even the eThekwini metro,” said Phago.

He said the ambition is commendable. But as Phago cautions, only reforms anchored in professional standards, enforceable oversight and economic viability will succeed.

“Anything less risks replicating the hollow politics of the past three decades. South Africa’s great municipal experiment may finally be under way.

“Its success will depend not on the fanfare of announcements, but on whether the government dares to enforce the very discipline it preaches,” he said.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

DA calls for restoration of service delivery in Ditsobotla

NEWS Leave a comment

Picture: The residents of embattled Ditsobotla Local Municipality embark on protest over lack of electricity

By OBAKENG MAJE

10 January 2025- The Democratic Alliance (DA) in North West said it has today written to the National Minister of Cooperative Governance, Velenkosini Hlabisa, the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, and President Cyril Ramaphosa, requesting them to urgently place the Ditsobotla Local Municipality under Section 139(7) national administration to restore service delivery and good governance.

The DA said despite about 30 Section 139 North West provincial government interventions since 2000, which ultimately led to the dissolvent of the municipal council Ditsobotla in 2022 and the current efforts by the North West Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (COGHSTA) to stabilise the financial situation of the municipality, these efforts have been ineffective largely due to ANC political instability and factionalism within the council and a reluctance to root out corruption.

The DA spokesperson on Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs in North West, Chris Steyl said, repeated engagements by the provincial and national portfolio committees of COGTA and SCOPA, have not yielded any positive impact. Steyl said the Ditsobotla Local Municipality would appear before these committees in parliament and the Provincial Legislature, agree to implement committee recommendations and resolutions, only to discard these commitments the minute these committees adjourn.

“The municipality has collapsed and is completely bankrupt with its liabilities exceeding its assets. Service providers cannot be paid and refuse to respond to job orders.

“Water and electricity infrastructure has completely collapsed, leaving large sections of the municipality without any water and/or electricity supply for weeks on end, never mind the inability of the administration to respond to other service delivery needs,” he said.

Steyl further said residents are desperate and angry. He added that, seeing regular violent protest action take place, leaves other communities to endure the terrible situation created by the inability of the municipality to deliver services.

“They also have to endure the consequences of further damage to infrastructure, which compounds the general misery residents are forced to contend with.

“The DA has requested the President and the Ministers of COGTA and Finance to take control of the situation and conduct an independent financial assessment of the municipality,” said Steyl.

He said they should craft a funded and implementable recovery plan to stabilise the municipality and administer its affairs towards servicing residents, while an independent skills audit of all senior and middle management officials as well as a forensic financial audit is conducted.

Steyl said all municipal officials in senior and middle management who are identified to either lack the necessary skills, qualifications and experience to perform their functions must be removed from office.

“Municipal officials and political office bearers who are identified in any corrupt financial activities must be prosecuted and the necessary asset forfeiture processes initiated.

“These interventions are the only real hope for positive change in Ditsobotla. Dissolving the council yet again will not solve any of the structural issues that continue to persist, any such consideration must be rejected in its entirety,” he said.

Steyl said the time has come for decisive action to end the decades-long rot in Ditsobotla and restore the municipality to its former glory as an economic agri-economic hub in the North West.  

taungdailynews@gmail.com