By Emily Setona
BLOEMFONTEIN – The Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality (TMDM) came under tough scrutiny this week as Members of Parliament’s Portfolio Committees on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) grilled its leadership on whether district municipalities still offer value for money.
The joint oversight session, held in the Free State on 25 July, saw TMDM executive mayor Conny Msibi defend the municipality’s role amid mounting questions over its relevance and expenditure.
CoGTA committee member Dikeledi Direko posed the sharpest challenge: “What is the actual core function of the district municipality? After hearing from other municipalities yesterday, the narrative is that district municipalities are not value for money.”
Msibi insisted TMDM continues to provide critical support to local municipalities through tourism promotion, shared emergency and oversight services, and economic development in neglected farming areas. “When Phumelela and Nketoana couldn’t appoint their own MPACs, we stepped in. During fires in Maluti-a-Phofung, we mobilised fire engines from Dihlabeng,” she said.
Municipal Manager Takatso Lebenya addressed the Auditor-General’s 2023/24 findings, rejecting claims of councillors’ involvement in procurement committees. “A December 2024 management letter confirmed there is no evidence of councillor participation,” she said.
However, she conceded errors in the Annual Financial Statements, citing new corrective measures with “clear targets, responsibilities, and timelines.”
Lebenya also blamed community unrest in Maluti-a-Phofung for delaying the Road Asset Management System (RAMS) project. Benchmarking visits to other municipalities, she said, have led to revised policies and performance contracts, with all staff now having formal job descriptions.
Despite four consecutive unqualified audits, TMDM remains financially constrained, with salaries consuming 58.3% of its budget. “We’ve prepared our Annual Financial Statements in-house since 2014 because we can’t afford consultants,” Msibi said.
She warned that while some responsibilities have shifted to local municipalities, TMDM is still expected to respond to crises without additional funding. “We are the second responders, yet there’s no dedicated budget for that,” Lebenya added.
CoGTA committee chairperson Dr Zweli Mkhize stressed that oversight must drive tangible change: “The AG’s findings must lead to consequence management and improvement,” he said.
Although MPs commended TMDM for transparency, the session reignited a persistent debate: Are district municipalities still a necessary tier of government, or have they become an expensive and outdated structure?
One Response
District Municipalities are useless and wasting the taxpayers money.
They play big brother role with no impact on improving service delivery.
I see no need for the existence of District Municipalities because the Provincial Government is coordinating the District Development Model through the Office of the Premier together with the Provincial Department of COGTA.