By Emily Setona
QWAQWA – Maluti-a-Phofung Local Municipality has committed to urgent, solution-driven interventions to fix failing service delivery, as its leadership wrapped up key deliberations at a strategic planning session held at the University of the Free State’s Qwaqwa campus.
On day four of the five-day session on 4 February 2026, three commissions – service delivery, revenue collection, and governance and public participation – presented converging findings that pointed to ageing infrastructure, weak revenue enforcement and poor internal accountability as the root causes of the municipality’s challenges.
Despite focusing on different portfolios, all commissions agreed that decisive action, tighter oversight and political will were critical to stabilising the municipality and restoring public trust.
Presenting for the Service Delivery Commission, Housing and Human Settlements Manager Moeketsi Mokoena said ageing infrastructure and poor maintenance were crippling communities and draining municipal finances.
“Leaking pipes, potholes, delayed repairs and poor planning for township growth are central to the service delivery failures we are seeing,” Mokoena said.
On revenue collection, Chief Traffic Officer Daniel “KD” Moloi warned that chronic non-payment was undermining the municipality’s ability to deliver services.
“There is a culture of non-payment in Maluti-a-Phofung. While service delivery must improve, services of defaulters also need to be disconnected,” Moloi said, adding that a lack of political will had stalled implementation of revenue solutions.
Governance and Public Participation Commission presenter Njabulo Sibiya said weak oversight and poor consequence management were deepening the crisis.
“Without strong governance, service delivery will always fail,” Sibiya said, calling for councillor training, the filling of critical management posts, stricter accountability and improved communication with communities.
Executive Mayor Malekula Melato said the session marked a shift from talk to action.
“The community needs serious solutions now, not more discussions,” Melato said.
As an immediate intervention, the municipality has procured and delivered three TLBs to speed up maintenance and repair work.
“Our municipal manager is proactive. When service delivery issues are raised, action follows. These TLBs are here because our people need results,” Melato said.
