28 September 2026
An empty fountain inside the precinct which hosts the City of Matlosana Local Municipality council and city hall in Klerksdorp. Photos: Ihsaan Haffejee
“Forgotten” by the municipality is how Gideon Matseke describes his community in the township of Khuma, east of Stilfontein in the North West City of Matlosana.
Its untarred roads were flooded when we visited. Stormwater pipes have been left for two years on the roadside and never installed.
But according to Matlosana’s 2024/25 annual report, the stormwater project is complete. Meanwhile roads and sometimes homes are flooded when there are heavy rains.
The City of Matlosana Local Municipality is home to about 430,000 people and includes Klerksdorp, Jouberton, Orkney, Kanana, Stilfontein, Khuma, Hartebeesfontein and Tigane.
Decades of mine closures have compounded years of municipal mismanagement. The once booming gold-mining area is now a distressed municipality placed under administration. Residents told us the water and electricity supply is unreliable and sewage spills are common.
Stormwater pipes have been lying on the roadside for two years, according to residents.
A road is collapsing near a stormwater drain in Klerksdorp.
In the township of Kanana, south of Klerksdorp, resident Richard Ndlovu said sanitation is one of their biggest concerns. The local pump station has not been working for years, he said.
Raw sewage spilling from the station has eroded a channel and now flows into the Skoonspruit River, a tributary of the Vaal.
Ndlovu said taps run dry and he sometimes has to collect water from other areas for his mother, wife and three children.
Residents of Klerksdorp, the administrative and economic centre of the municipality, also say they are battling with inconsistent water and electricity and deteriorating infrastructure.
Gerard Horn, who has lived in central Klerksdorp for decades, said municipal services are “collapsing”. He is currently in a dispute over his utility bills. The Auditor-General (AG) has flagged estimated billing for utilities in Matlosana.
Beside his house is a collapsing stormwater drain which he reported months ago. “Every day [the hole] gets closer to the fence,” he said.
He said the potholed streets frequently burst car tyres. “Things are just not maintained,” he said.
Electricity wires run in the open, posing a danger in Klerksdorp.
Ward 39 councillor Inge Wilken (DA) said complaints are often ignored and when repairs are done the work is “shoddy”. In her ward, she said, live electrical wires run across streets, “sometimes patched up with cheap insulation tape”, placing children at risk.
The AG, national and provincial government, Parliament and civic organisations have raised concerns about factional battles, alleged corruption, and deteriorating service delivery in the municipality.
Matlosana has been in and out of administration since 2013. Governance failures have eroded oversight mechanisms, noted cooperative governance minister Velenkosini Hlabisa in a recent parliamentary response.
Matlosana is now operating under a mandatory Section 139 Financial Recovery Plan, overseen by Moatlhodi Dilotsotlhe, who was appointed by the province.
The National Treasury temporarily withheld R299-million of Matlosana’s July 2026 equitable share allocation in part due to its failure to investigate and take action on unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure, which stood at R10.8-billion at the end of 2024/25.
It takes the City roughly 600 days to pay creditors, 20 times longer than stipulated by the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). This has caused contractors to halt work on key projects.
Mayor Fikile Mahlophe told Parliament in August 2026 that funds from the Treasury have since been released after the municipality “demonstrated progress” on disciplinary boards and creditor payments.
Cars navigate a street which has flooded due to blocked drains and poor maintenance of the stormwater system in Klerksdorp.
The municipality largely blames budget constraints for its woes, citing how its monthly collection rate averages around 60% due to mine closures and economic decline.
But the AG points to a much larger crisis in its recent qualified audit opinion. It found 85% of allocated budget was spent, but the City achieved only 58% of its basic service and infrastructure targets.
R156-million of a R295-million budget was spent on repairs and maintenance. This equates to less than 3% of the value of its infrastructure, whereas Treasury’s minimum recommendation is 8%.
The lack of maintenance and underinvestment is evident in the City’s water losses that stand at 57% (2024/25).
Wilken noted that one water leak in her ward has been ongoing for over two years.
Matlosana currently owes R2.8-billion to the Midvaal Water Company.
Large potholes pockmark the streets of Klerksdorp.
Electricity losses stand at 44%. Although the municipality received a R380-million write-off through the Eskom debt relief programme, finance minister Enoch Godongwana said that R1.92-billion was still owed to Eskom at the beginning of August.
This debt has “limited the municipality’s ability to fund day-to-day operations”, the AG said.
Tens of millions of rands were spent on external financial consultants, the AG noted.
Of the municipality’s eight planned water pump station refurbishments, the City says several stations, including Kanana and Jouberton, have been completed. But residents say they still experience water shortages.
In Kanana, only five of 1,150 planned outside water-borne toilets were constructed. Mahlophe said that extortion by construction mafias had halted work. He subsequently told the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) that roughly 2,700 toilets have since been completed.
Traffic lights are broken in Klerksdorp.
The AG served the City with four material irregularity (MI) notifications involving financial losses, public harm and systemic non-compliance.
The AG told SCOPA that cases involving potential fraud, corruption, and supply chain management failures had been referred to the Public Protector and the Hawks on 28 April 2026.
Sewage spills from dysfunctional wastewater treatment works pose an environmental threat and health risks. The AG referred an MI relating to continuous pollution at Orkney treatment works to the Department of Water and Sanitation on 14 April 2025.
The City conceded in its 2024/25 annual report that service delivery has been “inadequate, posing health risks” and “continues to impede economic growth”.
A memorial dedicated to soldiers in the world wars inside the precinct which hosts the City of Matlosana Local Municipality council and city hall.
Matlosana has been politically unstable for some time. Chief financial officer (CFO) Mercy Phetla was formally dismissed after a prolonged disciplinary hearing and battles in the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) and in court.
She has denied all allegations, but a December 2025 disciplinary inquiry chaired by advocate Smanga Sethene found Phetla guilty of “calculated acts designed to defraud the municipality”.
Phetla was accused of financial misconduct, exceeding delegated authority and receiving kickbacks from a service provider. Her VW Amarok, valued at R1.4-million, was seized by the NPA in November 2025.
Allegations include approving duplicate and irregular payments that lost the municipality millions, and making awards without required tax clearances and declarations, while documents linked to duplicate payments were allegedly removed from municipal premises.
The disciplinary report recommended her dismissal, which was done by municipal manager Lesego Seametso in January 2026. A criminal case was also opened.
MEC Gaoage Molapisi told GroundUp that although there were severe factional battles, now that the CFO has been dismissed he said things are now “functioning well”. The PER’s term of reference has been extended, assuming large responsibility of the council and accounting officer
Raw sewage can be seen overflowing from a manhole into the streets of Klerksdorp.
Yet in early February, factions supporting Phetla in the ANC-led council along with councillors from smaller parties voted to reverse the enforcement of the independent findings and withdraw Phetla’s termination letter. The High Court in Mahikeng then halted this.
Phetla challenged the disciplinary action in court, but a High Court application and subsequent appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal were dismissed. The CCMA later found the dismissal procedurally fair and substantively justified.
Matlosana’s council then suspended Seametso over alleged financial and operational irregularities on 31 March, before an April High Court ruling ordered her reinstatement. The court said municipal attorneys had failed to produce a valid council resolution of the suspension. Some in the opposition, including DA caucus leader Gerhard Strydom, called Seametso’s suspension “procedurally flawed and unlawful” led by “a faction” on the side of Phetla.
The municipality is pursuing recovery of funds and blacklisting contractors linked to the irregular payments.
The prolonged factional battles in council led to the intervention of North West cooperative governance MEC Oageng Molapisi. Announcing another provincial government intervention in February, Molapisi cited “councillors being divided” between Phetla and Seametso.
Molapisi told GroundUp that although there were severe factional battles, now that the CFO has been dismissed things are “functioning well”.
The provincial executive representative’s term of reference has been extended.
GroundUp has been waiting for comment from the City of Matlosana since 11 September.
An ANC election poster in Klerksdorp.
A poster of the Democratic Alliance in Klerksdorp.
A general view of Klerksdorp.
