A report ordered by North West Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs MEC Gaoage Molapisi, which flagged widespread maladministration, has been rejected by the Tswaing Local Municipality.
Supplied/Tswaing Local Municipality website
- A report ordered by North West Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs MEC Gaoage Molapisi, which flagged widespread maladministration, has been rejected by the Tswaing Local Municipality.
- The municipality ignored an instruction to “initiate a process of revocation” of the appointment of three senior municipal officials.
- Speaker Sam Letlakane said the council was taking the matter to court as the investigative report lacked “administrative justice”.
The Tswaing Local Municipality has approached the Mahikeng High Court to challenge a scathing report that flagged “dangerously systemic” maladministration and corruption in the municipality.
The municipality is seeking to stop the immediate implementation of the section 106 investigative report’s recommendations, pending a review of its findings, according to GroundUp.
North West Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs MEC Gaoage Molapisi ordered Mayor Norah Mahlangu and the council to respond to the findings of maladministration regarding the appointment of high-ranking officials: chief legal officer advocate Lesang Lobakeng, acting city manager Borman Phutiyagae, and housing manager Mogale Morwe.
The report was ordered by Molapisi on the instruction of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa to investigate the already financially distressed municipality, which is plagued by failures.
The report flagged a “fundamentally flawed” placement process that prioritised salary increases and promotions over community needs, resulting in millions of rands being lost in the cash-strapped municipality.
The report stated that Mahlangu and the council had failed in their “sacrosanct fiduciary duties”, which “if left unabated, will collapse the administration of the municipality”, where roughly 130 000 people live.
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It found that an “absolutely unreasonable” R47.6 million had been spent on litigation over five years.
On 20 April 2026, Molapisi advised Mahlangu to “initiate a process of revocation” of the appointments of Lobakeng, Phutiyagae, and Morwe.
A special council meeting the following day to discuss the report became contentious after Lobakeng appeared as one of the presenters of the municipality’s plan of action.
The opposition DA walked out, with councillor Carin Visser saying: “Those implicated [were allowed] to be present and present in a statutory meeting where council is to discuss serious contravention of legislation and maladministration.”
On the agenda of a May council meeting, Tswaing speaker Sam Letlakane noted that the April meeting found the report “to be lacking administrative justice and was devoid of accurate information”.
The council rejected the report and decided to give its response to set the record straight for the MEC’s consideration, failing which the report will be legally challenged by it.
“There will be financial implications [should there be] a resolution to litigate,” the agenda noted.
GroundUp contacted Mahlangu, Letlakane, Phutiyagae, Lobakeng, and Morwe.
Lobakeng said: “The matter is now sub judice and we therefore cannot respond”. (This is a misinterpretation of the sub judice concept. – Editor)
He referred GroundUp to their legal representative, Benjamin Fihla of Fihla & Associates, saying they were seeking an urgent order to ensure the report “must not be implemented”.
Fihla added that the legal dispute rested on allegations of procedural unfairness against those implicated before Molapisi ordered the report’s implementation.
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Molapisi’s spokesperson, Lerato Gambu, said the MEC would oppose the matter, adding that “possible civil action against those responsible for financial losses would be considered on a case-by-case basis by the office of the MEC”.
Molapisi recommended that Dr Charli Mathupi be the acting city manager, given that the incumbent was implicated in the report.
However, the implicated officials are still in their positions, and the MEC’s recommendations remain unimplemented.
