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The DA has again today written to the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, highlighting the consequences of the failure by National and Provincial government to intervene decisively in the dysfunctional Maluti-a-Phofung municipality.

Recent figures confirm skyrocketing job-losses, unemployment and poverty in the Maluti-a-Phofung municipality.

The 2023-2024 budget adopted on 23 June takes no account of this reality, and is simply a wish list, in which figures have been manipulated. The budget predicts a shortfall of R 220 million, but our estimates using the actual financial situation is that the deficit is in reality over R 1 billion.

While the Mayor and administration spend their time cooking the budget, and thinking up promises, the situation on the ground is one of desperation. The number of clothing factories has been reduced from 28 to 16, leaving an estimated 10 000 people jobless. The Special Economic Zone (SEZ) is reported to have ‘created’ 167 jobs since 2014, even as existing factories close their doors. The Harrismith abattoir closed its doors last month. Many businesses close permanently, while others send workers home without pay while waiting for electricity to be restored, which often takes up to a month. In an area with the highest poverty rate in the Free State we simply cannot afford one person being added to the unemployed list.

These closures are as a result of the complete inability of Maluti-a-Phofung municipality to provide a reliable water and electricity supply. The much-touted Eskom deal, as ordered by the Gauteng High Court in 2021, has not yet happened, while the municipality seeks other unrealistic schemes to get to grips with its debt of R10 billion to creditors.

The DA is pleading with the Minister to institute a national intervention in the municipality,  enter into the Eskom deal, allow the Department of Water and Sanitation intervention to proceed with speed, dismiss illegally appointed or ghost workers, and end illegal contracts. This devastating mayhem can no longer be tolerated, where provincial and national government consider political expedience more important than the people which it has a constitutional obligation to protect.

Residents of Maluti-a-Phofung must take back their power from this uncaring and corrupt ANC government by registering to vote in 2024.

Issued by Leona Kleynhans - DA COGTA Spokesperson in the Free State Legislature