Officials from the local municipality of Emfuleni and residents in the Vaal area were left perplexed when they arrived at the offices in Vanderbijlpark on Wednesday morning.
Their confusion was because the offices, which Emfuleni rents, were locked up by an irate landlord because the municipality owed him money.
The troubled municipality, which has been in the news for a lot of the wrong reasons, owes the landlord R2.6-million in unpaid rent.
According to municipal insiders who spoke to Sunday World, Emfuleni’s officials and council members are a group of worthless individuals who will never be able to govern.
“Those people tasked to lead the municipality are useless, and they are incompetent when it comes to dealing with the running of Emfuleni,” said a source within the municipality.
“They are just there to get salaries while residents are suffering. Service delivery has collapsed in Emfuleni, and the only thing that should happen is to put this municipality under administration.”
Mayor blamed for the mess
Another official noted that the mayor, Sipho Radebe, and the municipal manager, April Ntuli, were lacking in vision and direction, which was the root of the municipality’s operational issues.
“Sipho and April are incompetent; they cannot lead. They don’t know what they’re doing, and their lack of leadership makes it look like other officials who are working hard also don’t know what they’re doing,” said the official.
“It’s a total mess in that municipality. If it’s not bad roads, burst sewer pipes, and collections of rubbish, it’s the offices that are locked up by landlords. The municipality is non-functional, and clearly something must be done to deal with this.”
It is thought that the landlord locked up the building because he was unhappy with the municipality’s lack of commitment to paying its debts, although it wants businesses and residents to pay for services.
“How can Emfuleni’s residents and businesses pay for services when it doesn’t pay rent?” asked Monica Williams, a resident in the area.
“There is no logic in that at all. Emfuleni has failed the people of Vaal, and this is disgusting.”
Municipality’s account attached
Mike Motsoeneng, another resident, expressed his disgust at having to discover that the building was locked when he arrived at the offices.
“I travelled from Sebokeng to get services, but when I got here, I found this message at the door saying that the offices are locked and inaccessible until further notice. This undermines us as the residents and voters,” said Motsoeneng.
The landlord has posted a notice at the entrance of the municipality that states: “Due to non-payment of rentals, the Emfuleni offices will be locked and inaccessible from Wednesday, July 30, 2025, until further notice.”
Makhosonke Sangweni, a spokesman for the municipality, admitted that it owed the landlord, who had locked up the building, rent.
“We have two months’ worth of debt because of the attached account,” said Sangweni.
“We believe we would have paid by today [Wednesday], but we do have enough cash on hand, and our monthly revenue is rising. We apologise for this inconvenience.”
