DA targets Ace cadres in municipality

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Mangaung is taking former Mangaung metro municipality city manager to court.

It has filed charges of financial misconduct and maladministration against advocate Tankiso Mea with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

The Mangaung metro municipality is currently under tremendous financial stress and was placed under administration in 2019.

In a meeting led by the province’s premier, Sefora Ntombela, the Free State executive council asked Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo to intervene at the municipality.

The immediate goal was to “safeguard public funds and ultimately restore the capacity of the city to fulfil its functions”.

Last February, the DA requested the previous acting executive mayor investigate Mea for maladministration and misconduct.

The party said that investigators had combed through a mountain of documents and voice testimonies submitted.

The team had concluded there was reasonable and plausible cause to link Mea to possible financial misconduct and maladministration.

It further recommended that Mea face disciplinary action by the municipality.

But Mea resigned from his position in June, before the disciplinary process could begin. “The former manager was accountable for the metro’s financials and as a result, fruitless and wasteful expenditure of more than R1.3 billion occurred,” said the DA’s Dirk Kotze. Kotze said Mea “performed poorly and inadequately”.

“He failed to conduct diligent oversight over his financial responsibilities of the metro,” added Kotze.

The DA has since gone into full campaign mode and promises to be a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming local government elections.

The party is gunning for individuals linked to former Free State premier Ace Magashule.

“Mangaung residents are tired of financial misconduct and maladministration brought by the ANC and Ace Magashule’s cadre deployment,” said Kotze.

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He failed to conduct diligent oversight over his financial responsibilities