Troubled Ditsobotla municipality placed under administration again due to ongoing financial, service delivery issues

The troubled Ditsobotla local municipality in North West has once again been placed under administration, marking this the ninth intervention since 2008.

This follows a cabinet visit led by cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) minister Velenkosini Hlabisa on Tuesday, who said the municipality continues to face severe financial and service delivery challenges.

Parliamentary records show Ditsobotla has been under various forms of administration since May 2008, including repeated Section 139 interventions. The section of the constitution authorises the provincial executive to intervene in a municipality when it does not fulfil its executive obligation in terms of legislation.

According to Cogta’s response in October 2024 to questions by ANC MP Anna Gela, the municipality has previously faced eight rounds of administration between 2008 and 2023, ranging from council dissolutions to financial recovery directives under the Municipal Finance Management Act.

The latest move comes amid mounting instability. Six months ago, the municipality was divided between two mayors. Its financial woes deepened last month when the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) applied to the high court to liquidate Ditsobotla Primary Savings and Credit Co-operative Bank (DCB), after declaring it insolvent. The liquidation hearing was set for August 29.

SARB-appointed resolution practitioner Anoosh Rooplal found the bank’s assets to be far below its liabilities, citing “significant compliance, governance and operational failures.”

In 2021, dairy company Clover shut its doors in Lichtenburg and moved its operations to KwaZulu-Natal, citing poor service delivery by the Ditsobotla local municipality.

Despite the turmoil, mayor Molefe Morutse welcomed the national government’s intervention.

“This is a long-awaited intervention. We hope it will finally address issues of service delivery and our old, collapsing infrastructure,” Morutse told Newzroom Afrika.

Minister Hlabisa admitted past interventions had failed but said urgent action was necessary to stabilise governance and restore services.

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