Parliament of South Africa
Parliament of South Africa
08/11/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 08/11/2025 08:08
Media Alert: COGTA Committee Concludes Oversight of Last Four Free State Municipalities
Parliament, Monday, 11 August 2025 - The joint parliamentary delegation that conducted a joint oversight visit to the Free State last month will tomorrow conclude its engagements with the final four municipalities in the province.
The delegation led by Dr Zweli Mkhize, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), included members from the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Standing Committee on the Auditor-General, along with several Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs) in the Free State.
The joint oversight delegation engaged with 23 municipalities; however, due to time constraints, it was unable to pose questions to the last four municipalities. These municipalities are Setsoto Local Municipality, Dihlabeng Local Municipality, Nketoana Local Municipality, and Phumelela Local Municipality.
Among the issues the delegation interrogated were municipalities' billions in unpaid debt, with one municipality owing over R8 billion to a water board, failure to pay pension contributions deducted from workers' salaries and paying millions in often unauthorised overtime. At the same time, service delivery has all but collapsed. Municipalities also had to account for litigation driven by unpaid service providers; irregular tenders; decades-long impunity; and unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure reported of over R7 billion in some municipalities.
Following the conclusion of its engagement with Free State municipalities, Dr Mkhize will outline the next steps as the parliamentary committees are scheduled to move to North West and Gauteng at the beginning of September, where members will engage with more municipalities.
DETAILS OF THE MEETING:
Date: Tuesday, 12 August 2025
Time: 08:00 - 12:30
Venue: Online platform/Parliament YouTube
Programme:
|
TIME |
AGENDA |
PRESENTER |
|
08:00 - 08:20 |
Opening, welcome and recap |
Hon Dr Z Mkhize - Chairperson of the PC on COGTA |
|
08:20 - 09:00 |
Interaction with the reports of: |
Executive Mayor - Cllr Mbiwe |
|
09:00 - 09:40 |
Engagement with Dihlabeng Local Municipality |
Mayor - Cllr Tseki |
|
09:40 - 10:20 |
Engagement with Nketoana Local Municipality |
Mayor - Cllr Mokoena |
|
10:20 - 11:00 |
Engagement with Phumelela Local Municipality |
Mayor - Cllr Kobeni |
|
11:00 - 11:30 |
Commitments on improvement of municipal performance |
Premier - Hon Letsoha-Mathae |
|
11:30 - 11:45 |
Concluding remarks |
Chairperson Provincial PC on Cogta |
|
11:45 - 12:15 |
Summation of oversight visit and way forward |
Chairperson of PC on COGTA - Hon Dr Mkhize |
|
12:15 - 12:30 |
Closing remarks |
FS Legislature Speaker - Hon Dukwana |
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact the committee's media officer:
Name: Alicestine October (Ms)
Cell: 083 665 4345
E-mail: [email protected]
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