JOHANNESBURG - An audit of Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality’s 2024/2025 financial statements found that R192 million in conditional grants had gone unspent.
Of that amount, R141-million was returned to the National Treasury, including R49-million earmarked for upgrading informal settlements.
Residents of Botshabelo say the findings are disappointing, particularly as informal settlements continue to grow in the metro. Many people move closer to urban areas in search of employment but cannot afford housing.
“Everything has gone from bad to worse,” says Botshabelo resident Mokoka Maleho.
“We have no toilets. We have had to dig our own toilets and fetch water across the main road between the informal settlements,” Maleho says.
Three decades into democracy, some residents in the area still rely on the bucket system and pit latrines.
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Botshabelo, the hometown of ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, also faces recurring sewage spills, which residents say contaminate homes, schools and grazing land.
Maleho says the last time he saw Mangaung mayor Gregory Nthatisi was during the municipality’s Integrated Development Plan (IDP) meetings.
“For us as citizens, we are very disappointed in our municipality,” he says.