Tswaing Local Municipality in North West, Delareyville, has failed in an urgent court bid to suspend a damning Section 106 report that flags alleged irregular salary payments to acting municipal manager Sello Maroga and raises serious doubts about a council resolution used to justify his continued appointment.
The North West High Court in Mahikeng dismissed Part A of the municipality’s urgent application on May 25, leaving the report and the MEC’s remedial process alive while the municipality pursues a fuller review in Part B.
Acting Deputy Judge President Andre Henry Petersen found that although the municipality had raised issues “deserving judicial consideration”, it had not made out a case for urgent interim relief against a provincial oversight process.
The report, which was submitted to the North West cooperative government MEC on January 30 following a probe into suspected maladministration at Tswaing, now has political and legal weight thanks to the verdict.
Investigators also questioned whether the council’s paperwork was used to create a legal basis for payments and extensions that were not properly authorised.
Maroga, seconded after municipal manager Keorapetse Shadrack Mere’s precautionary suspension, was only meant to be paid the difference between his Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs salary and the minimum budgeted salary for the municipal manager post. However, the investigation discovered that the municipality paid him a full salary. The report goes further and questions the council’s resolutions behind the arrangement.
The municipality went to court seeking to suspend the report’s implementation and the MEC’s directive, arguing that the investigation was procedurally unfair and that remedial measures could lead to the revocation of the employment contracts of three senior officials.
But the acting judge said that Section 106 is a key part of the law that allows provincial governments to monitor situations where there are claims of mismanagement, fraud, corruption, or not meeting their responsibilities.
“That oversight function is constitutionally significant,” he found. “Local government autonomy exists within a constitutional system of cooperative governance, not institutional isolation.”
The report recommends that payments made to Maroga, contrary to the secondment agreement, be declared irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditures under the Municipal Finance Management Act. It also recommends that the undue payments identified in the mayor’s September 2, 2025, letter be calculated and recovered from Maroga “without delay”..
Acting corporate services director Borman Phutiyagae has been asked to explain the “compilation, correctness and legal basis” of his December 17, 2024, correspondence on Maroga’s extended secondment.
Additionally, the investigators suggest that Modisaotsile Sam Letlakane, the speaker, clarify the differences in the council resolutions from October and December.
According to the report, Maroga was invited to respond to the allegations and to submit a written statement with supporting evidence.
- Tswaing Local Municipality’s urgent court bid to suspend a Section 106 report alleging irregular salary payments to acting municipal manager Sello Maroga was dismissed by the North West High Court.
- The report questions the legality of the council resolutions used to justify Maroga’s appointment and salary payments, revealing he was paid a full salary instead of only the agreed difference during his secondment.
- The court upheld the provincial oversight function under Section 106 as constitutionally significant, denying the municipality’s claim of procedural unfairness and rejecting its attempt to halt the MEC’s remedial process.
- The report recommends that payments to Maroga be declared irregular and fruitless expenditures under the Municipal Finance Management Act and that undue payments be recovered without delay.
- Investigators demand explanations from senior officials, including acting corporate services director Borman Phutiyagae and speaker Modisaotsile Sam Letlakane, regarding correspondence and council resolutions related to Maroga’s extended secondment.
