“They don’t want to account for anything,” said EFF.
On the 9th of July, the Alfred Nzo District Municipality hosted the State of the District Address at Maggie Resha municipal building in Matatiele, where the Executive Mayor Tsileng Sobuthongo said the occasion presents an important constitutional opportunity, for the Municipality to reflect on progress made in advancing the developmental aspirations of local communities, account for its stewardship, and outline priorities for the year ahead.
During her speech, Sobuthongo said, over the past five years, the municipality continued to strengthen the reliability and efficiency of its water infrastructure through the Water Conservation and Demand Management Programme. She further stated that an investment of R13.6 million enabled the successful maintenance of the district-wide telemetry system, ensuring that all reported system malfunctions were attended to and repaired, there by improving the monitoring and management of water schemes. “During the financial year ended on the 30th of June 2026, the municipality implemented several strategic initiatives aimed at improving governance, planning and the long-term sustainability of water and sanitation services.” Said Sobuthongo.
The mayor’s assurances were challenged in an interview that this publication had with the member of the EFF, Cllr Godfrey Ganya offered a different reality, arguing that there has been no improvement in his village as residents still live without water and electricity. Ganya cited ward four in Matatiele as evidence, saying residents there have gone three years without water, while unemployment continues to choke households across the district. He also showed frustration, stating that the district usually hosts public SODA and that he was shocked after they were chased out of the chamber as they were promised to be given an opportunity to speak before the mayor in a meeting they had with the speaker.
Referencing the part of the theme of Alfred Nzo District which he claimed it says “we are taking the council to the people”, “where are the people if you are taking council to the people because those people inside are not ordinary people, they are leaders of different political parties” he asked. Ganya further stressed that another Imbizo must be held to address economic and social challenges. “They did all of this because they don’t want to account for anything because they do have money to accommodate the community” Ganya insisted.
Responding to the EFF accusations, Regional secretary of the ANC, Pulelo Mohale, said the SODA was supposed to be held at ward 10 in Matatiele, but having done the assessment and also looking at the resources that the institution has, the leadership tried to source service providers but their budget went beyond what the leadership had allocated for this program. The secretary explained, three days ago the minister in national treasury said, there are about 69 municipalities they are going to withhold funding transfers to them, reason being that they cannot manage their budgets really well. “In Alfred Nzo district the decision was taken long before that, we knew what the minister was planning to do” said Mohale. He refuted the claims made by the EFF member, Godfrey Ganya, claiming there are community members in a form of representatives of different sectors. He also rejected the claim that EFF members were chased out, “they are lying, they said they want to address before the mayor, what is it that they are addressing, I asked them to show me an act that says you must talk in the SODA” said Mohale.
Singing a different song from the EFF, Noziphiwo Mantshongo, the DA Cllr in the Alfred Nzo District, pointed out that as the DA, they saw this strategy as a way of saving, there would have been a lot of money used had they went to the community. While also noting that she is not sure if the municipality knew they were saving money, saying it is their duty to follow up where it goes, as so much money has been saved. Disputing the rumours that as the DA, they are no longer questioning the ANC as much as they did before the Government of National Unity, citing the issue of VAT that she claims they fought for. “As the DA, we are the only party that mostly fights with the ANC compared to other parties.” Mantshongo concluded.
