During a special council meeting held today (16 May), the majority of the council voted to reject the intervention by the provincial government.

This comes after the provincial government sent a letter to the mayor of the JB Marks municipality notifying him that the municipality will be placed under administration with immediate effect.

According to the executive mayor, Kgotso Khumalo, the council has mandated the mayor to discuss the matter with the MEC.

Khumalo noted that the notice was procedurally flawed. According to him, the municipality was never given a chance to state its case to the department before a decision was made.

“This has put the municipality in disrepute and created uncertainty among service providers and investors. We will have a meeting with the department as soon as possible. Until then we deem the municipality not be under administration,” Khumalo said during a press conference shortly after the council meeting.
Various issues in terms of service delivery, leadership, finances and the unrest in the municipality were cited by the MEC as reasons why an intervention is necessary. According to Khumalo all the issues raised by the MEC have been raised before and have been dealt with.

According to, Lebu Ralekgetho, the Municipal Manager of JB Marks, the municipality is solid in terms of its finances and administrative functions.

“Although we recognize that we have challenges, like any other municipality, we have identified these challenges and are in the process of dealing with them. The city is growing faster than what the infrastructure was built for, but these are things we are dealing with. In terms o refuse removal, we have bought six new refuse removal trucks. These trucks are being built and we should take ownership of them shortly,” said Ralekgetho.

According to Hans Jurie Moolman, caucus chairperson of the DA, the levels of service delivery are evident in the city and there is no doubt in his mind that intervention is needed.

“It is strange that the mayor is now against an intervention after he himself previously asked for provincial intervention. In 2018 the provincial government raised issues that needed to be addressed, otherwise, an intervention would be needed. Nothing was done to address these issues and that is why they are intervening now,” Moolman said.

In 2017 the mayor sent a letter to the, then MEC of local government and human settlement, Fenny Goaloalwe asking for assistance with service delivery and financial and budget management issues.

The DA and FF+ did not support the rest of the council’s decision to reject the provincial intervention.

According to Vuyi Ngesi, the spokesperson in the office of the Premier, a meeting will be held tomorrow (17 May) morning between the office of the premier, the MEC and the municipality to iron out the situation.