For more than seven years, the Metsimaholo Local Municipality (MLM) in the north of the Free State province was operating like a rudderless ship with no municipal manager and executive directors, leading to low staff morale and a negative impact on the delivery of critical services such as refuse removal and the maintenance of municipal infrastructure.
Sedibeng Ster spent time with the under-fire Executive Mayor, Jeff Zwane, to suss out whether he is really the man who can return the former industrial giant to its glory.
The Metsimaholo Local Municipality, comprising of Sasolburg, Zamdela, Deneysville, Refengkgotso, Oranjeville, Metsimaholo, Viljoensdrif, and Coalbrook, is one of the many municipalities across South Africa which have suffered due to political infighting and squabbles caused coalition party politics. For years, residents of the municipality have had to endure challenges of service delivery which were caused, by and large, by the inability of the local council to do the most basic of its work – including holding council sittings.
However, since the election of Democratic Alliance (DA) Executive Mayor, Councillor Jeff Zwane, in December 2021, there seems to be stability in the Sasolburg-based local authority – despite the tender irregularity allegations and a series of motions of no-confidence brought against him by the opposition.
In July, the municipality was forced to launch a forensic investigation following complaints that a security tender had been improperly given to a company called Isidingo. Zwane dismisses the allegations as a side-show to derail his efforts to return the municipality to its former glory.
In fact, the embattled mayor argues that MLM is functioning much better under his watch, despite being flagged by the Auditor-General, Tsakani Maluleke, for not taking reasonable steps to ensure better management of its municipality wastewater treatment plants.
Zwane says the most important task he has undertaken in almost two years at the helm of the MLM is closing the leadership vacuum brought about by the previous council’s failure to appoint municipal leadership such as the municipal manager and executive directors.
“In terms of challenges that we faced when we came into government; we wanted to stabilise the municipality because there was always chaos (before). The council could not sit because of internal squabbles and misunderstandings. On top of that, there had been no municipal manager for over six years, no directors for more than seven years – so the municipality was running, but without leadership. So there was that leadership vacuum,” Zwane said.
Last June, the municipality finally filled in the position of municipal manager. This was followed by the appointments of executive directors, some of whom are now mired in the Isidingo security tender saga.
