Officials in an ANC municipality owe R25 million in personal outstanding bills

The personal outstanding municipal debt of councillors and officials of the ANC-led Matlosana Local Municipality currently amounts to R25 million.

The City of Matlosana, formerly the City Council of Klerksdorp, is a local municipality within the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality, in the North West province.

The Matlosana Local Municipality includes towns like Klerksdorp, Stilfontein, Orkney, Hartebeesfontein, and Buffelsfontein.

Alongside Rustenburg, the City of Matlosana, and specifically Klerksdorp, is the economic powerhouse of the North West Province.

It is positioned along the N12 treasure route, serving as a transport, logistics, and business hub linking Gauteng with the Northern Cape.

Klerksdorp serves as the primary medical, retail, financial, and educational centre for the commercial district and parts of the northern Free State.

The fertile land in the Matlosana municipality supports agricultural activity, with high yields of maize, sorghum, groundnuts, and sunflowers.

It is home to Senwes’ corporate headquarters, one of the largest agricultural diversification corporations in the Southern Hemisphere.

Historically, Klerksdorp was synonymous with the Western Transvaal goldfields. However, in recent years, mining has declined significantly.

Despite its importance, the Matlosana Local Municipality has faced significant challenges in recent years.

It has faced financial distress, characterised by mounting bulk utility debt, unfunded operational budgets, and supply-chain irregularities.

It suffers from a poor revenue collection rate. It has historically hovered between 58% and 65%, well below the National Treasury’s benchmark of 95%.

This is not surprising. The outstanding municipal debt of councillors and officials of the ANC-led Matlosana Local Municipality amounts to R25 million.

This means that the people responsible for ensuring that the municipality collects money from residents and businesses do not pay their own bills.

It has reached such concerning levels that the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) trief to address the issue in April 2026.

It wrote a letter to the Speaker, Stella Mondlane-Ngwenya, insisting that the growing debt has to be collected.

The Municipal Council then adopted a resolution that the Speaker would, in terms of municipal legislation, confront the councillors concerned.

The council also resolved that the Municipal Manager must ensure that the credit control and debt collection policy is applied to officials as well.

However, the relevant officials’ outstanding debt rose by more than R10 million over seven months, from R15 million to R25.3 million.

This showed that the proposed interventions had no effect and that the offenders did not change their behaviour.

“This situation is unacceptable and in contravention of the Code of Conduct for Councillors and the relevant municipal legislation,” the VF Plus said.

“It is clear that Mondlane-Ngwenya and Seametso are guilty of dereliction of duty and violating municipal legislation.”