WHILE the DA and others have criticised the cadre deployment strategy of the ANC for stripping  municipalities of expertise and allowing the unabated plundering of municipal infrastructure grants and other service delivery related resources, but Premier Sisi Ntombela says this was always not always the case.

Ntombela said serious measures of intervention will be instituted by the provincial government at different municipalities following lack of service delivery and lamented the performance of these municipalities, saying their performance is below the expectations of communities.

The Free State local government sector is constituted by the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (Bloemfontein, Botshabelo and Thaba Nchu) and four district municipalities.

“Work to repair the state of our municipalities together with the newly elected councillors and SALGA have already started,” said Ntombela. 

“Äll we want is to get the basic right and improve service delivery.”

She said the Municipal Infrastructure Grant was important for service delivery. 

She said at the end of June 2021, R693 million and R845 000 had been spent. 

This was 87% of the total Grant allocated. 

As a result, said Ntombela, 2 469 jobs were created of which 668 were toward women. 

“Five municipalities received unqualified audit opinions and seven qualified audit opinions. It is concerning that Annual Financial Statements of ten municipalities are outstanding,” said Ntombela. 

“A team has been constituted by our Provincial Treasury to work with municipalities to improve these financial outcomes.”

She further announced that ongoing governance and financial challenges in Mangaung Metro were being addressed. 

She said the Section 139 (5) (a and c) instituted in 2020 meant to stabilise the finances of the metro is paying off. 

The metro was able to obtain an unqualified audit opinion for 2020/2021. 

“An intergovernmental task team has been constituted by the Minister of COGTA to provide support and resolve current governance challenges experienced by the Council.”

“We will create a service delivery technical team made up of civil and electrical engineers, quantity surveyors, town planners and ICT specialists in the Premier’s Office by July this year.”

“As the Free State, we are on a drive to instill good governance and ethical leadership to root out corruption and maladministration. We are supporting law enforcement agencies in their fight against this problem.”

Ntombela said the province is committed to property transformation and only companies with tried and tested proven track records will be appointed for all construction and revitalization programmes.

She said more than R50 million has been allocated for upgrades on gravel roads and the Pothole Repair Programme.

“Besides job creation, our townships revitalization program is equally facilitating local development program. Twelve township roads will be completed and launched at the end of this financial year. Two hundred and thirty-seven jobs have been created as the results of the township revitalization program. And 300 job opportunities will be created through this intervention.”

Ntombela said one of the worst challenges facing the province is unemployment, especially among the young people. Ntombela was referring to comments and inputs her office received from members of the public prior to the State of the Province Address.

“We are pleased with developments in our Phuthaditjhaba, Botshabelo and Thaba Nchu Industrial Parks to stimulate economic growth and create jobs in these disadvantaged areas. The Digital Hub in the Botshabelo Industrial Park is now open for business. The Hub is home for an ecosystem that is driven by the Fourth Industrial Revolution”.

Dr Roy Jankielson, leader of the opposition in the Free State, said one of the biggest problems in the Free State is that money is budgeted, tenders are allocated but delivery remains poor.

“Many of the developments in Maluti-a-Phofung (MAP), Qwa-Qwa and Botshabelo are dependent on sound municipal services that do not appear to be forthcoming from councils in which the ANC remain deeply divided, and undermine and even sabotage their factional opponents. These political issues remain a serious problem in the Free State,” said Jankielson.

“The bottom line is that similar promises were made in previous SOPAs and the lives, livelihoods and health of our people on the ground remain unchanged and have even regressed in the past year.”

He said the DA will study the Premier’s SOPA in detail, continue to make constructive suggestions and hold her accountable for the delivery of her promises in the Free State.

– Inside Politics