The Free State government has placed the troubled Mangaung Metro, which includes Bloemfontein, under administration. The decision follows National Treasury’s recommendation that distressed municipality should be assisted to recover from financial collapse.

Finance Deputy Minister, David Masondo says the Metro’s failure to provide basic services has prompted the decision.

Free State Co-operative Governance MEC Thembeni Nxangisa says they were left with no option, but to intervene.

“The executive sat down and discussed the issues and key amongst those issues was that the Mangaung budget was not funded. Secondly, the issue was that service delivery has gone down. The executive, therefore, resolved amongst other issues to put Mangaung under Section 139 (5) A and C, which in essence is to support Mangaung with their recovery plan, to send people who are going to help Mangaung with the implementation of the plan, but also to fast-track service delivery.”