Matjhabeng Mayor, Municipal Manager face jail terms for contempt

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The Free State High Court has ordered 30 days of imprisonment for Matjhabeng Executive Mayor Thanduxolo Khalipha and Municipal Manager Ronald Ngoqo for contempt of a court order.

This is after they failed to comply with the court order of 31 October, in which the court ordered the mayor and council manager to restore the prepaid electricity of Virginia resident Joseph Ndayi within two hours of the order.

It also ordered them to return any property that was seized by municipal employees from Ndayi’s house in order to recoup his debt for municipal services.

Ndayi had a problem with the municipality using estimates for billing residents without doing proper readings. Ndayi says attempts to get a solution were fruitless.

“The situation emanated when the municipality was not able to solve my problem. I have actually been sent from pillar to post, and everyone is sending me to the other. This happened after I could not get help from the office of the municipal manager, and I tried to get assistance from the office of the executive mayor, and then when that could not also help, I resorted to saying, Okay, I’m left with no option but to take the legal route.”

Spotlight on Matjhabeng Local Municipality’s operational concerns