SAVE MANGAUNG: VICTORY FOR MANGAUNG RESIDENTS AFTER COUNCIL APPROVES APPOINTMENT OF INVESTIGATOR

Today, the Mangaung Metro council approved the Democratic Alliances request for a formal investigation into misconduct by the municipal manager. This comes weeks after the DA requested the acting mayor, Cllr Masoetsa to table the allegations in council. The structures Act states that the mayor or speaker must table the allegations to council within 7 days. This report was only tabled today, 15 days after the first 7 days had expired.

We are now awaiting a council meeting that has to be convened before the 30th of March 2021, where we will give our inputs on the appointment of an independent investigator to investigate the allegations further and deliver a report to council within 30 days of the appointment, pertaining the recommended disciplinary steps that must be taken against the municipal manager. The DA is adamant that the municipal manager has completed and utterly failed the residents of Mangaung in his capacity as head of the administration of the municipality.

These allegations were tabled in accordance with findings by the Auditor General in the 2018/2019 annual report. The DA believes that the municipal manager should be held accountable for his failure to deliver the basic services to the residents of Mangaung. Our next step will be to convey to the ANC governing body, whom we think the correct independent investigator should be. If they utilize another cadre deployed investigator, all our hard work will be rendered in vain.

The DA will keep on fighting for proper basic services for the residents of Mangaung and will do everything in our power to steer the ANC led government in the right direction, as we have successfully achieved today. Although we are able to stand up for residents in the council, we cannot guarantee that proper basic services will be delivered, as we are not the current governing party in Mangaung.

With your help that can change, we only need 8% more of the total vote to bring the ANC under 50% and thus the chance to govern Mangaung in a coalition government with parties that share the values and principles of the DA.

Vote DA in the upcoming local election to realize that change!