Costau, Free State:
Cosatu has learned with profound indignation and moral outrage of plans by the ANC’s provincial leadership and compromised officials to reinstate the disgraced former Matjhabeng Local Municipality, Thanduxolo Khalipha, and to unlawfully reward him with six months’ retrospective salary – a grotesque insult to the workers and the residents in Matjhabeng.
This is a flagrant violation of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), which explicitly prohibits the misuse of public funds to compensate individuals for work not performed.
Cosatu is of the firm view that any council member, official, or political actor who facilitates this reinstatement or approves these payments will be complicit in the unconscionable theft of municipal resources, diverting critical funds meant for service delivery, infrastructure, and workers’ wages to enrich a man whose legacy is one of corruption, violence, and betrayal.
His reinstatement will not only reward criminality, but deepen the crisis in the municipality. His tenure was a masterclass in abuse of power, marked by his conviction for assaulting his own bodyguards – a crime that laid bare his contempt for human dignity and the rule of law. Under his leadership, the municipality’s finances were gutted through reckless decisions like the procurement of a defunct secondhand vehicle fleet. Millions of rands were squandered while leaving residents without basic services. Then there are the unresolved allegations of a clandestine “rogue unit” allegedly established under his authority, alongside the disappearance of municipal firearms – a scandal that raises grave concerns about public safety, covert operations, and the potential militarisation of local governance. Who authorised this unit, financed it, and for what purpose was it created? The people of Matjhabeng demand answers, not the ANC’s deafening silence.
Khalipha’s defiance of democratic norms disqualifies him from office. He ignored directives from the ANC’s Provincial Executive Committee to step aside. Instead he illegally appointing an acting mayor in violation of Section 56 of the Municipal Structures Act.
Now, ANC provincial leaders seek to not only reinstate him but also retroactively legitimise his six-month absence, demanding the unlawful restoration of his salary, bodyguards, and mayoral privileges. This shameless political interference undermines a lawful council resolution and insults workers who endured months of unpaid wages during the union’s legal strike in 2024.
The ANC’s complicity extends to its deliberate failure to act on the findings of the Cogta appointed investigative team tasked with probing the municipality’s collapse. To date, this investigation remains shrouded in secrecy, shielding those responsible for the looting of public funds. Meanwhile, the Matjhabeng Council’s principled resistance to outsourcing its powers – by appointing its own acting mayor and rejecting Khalipha’s illegitimate authority – has been met with threats and coercion from ANC provincial officials. These actions undermine democratic governance, erode municipal accountability, and foster a culture of impunity that threatens to annihilate the very foundation of local government in the Free State.
Samwu’s three-month legal strike laid bare the rot festering under Khalipha’s rule. Workers raised legitimate grievances over fraudulent tenders, unpaid wages, and collapsing services, only to be met with disdain from ANC leaders who prioritised protecting Khalipha over addressing their suffering. During the strike, Cogta was called upon to appoint investigators to probe the procurement of the second-hand fleet that crippled the municipality financially.
To date, the investigative team has failed to provide clarity or accountability. Why has justice been deferred?
Cosatu applauds the Free State Provincial Exco for invoking Section 139 of the Constitution to implement a Financial Recovery Plan – a critical step toward rescuing Matjhabeng. Reinstating Khalipha will sabotage this intervention, entrenching the very corruption and mismanagement that necessitated it. It would signal that political loyalty trumps accountability, justice, and the needs of ordinary citizens. Allowing this reinstatement to proceed would not only compromise the integrity of governance in Matjhabeng but set a dangerous precedent for municipalities nationwide, effectively granting corrupt officials a blank cheque to act with impunity.
We issue an unequivocal warning: Should the ANC proceed with this reckless reinstatement, Cosatu and Samwu will mobilise the masses. We will demand immediate payment of workers’ unpaid strike wages.
Our members, who have borne the brunt of Khalipha’s misrule, will not stand idly by as political elites divert resources meant for service delivery to line the pockets of those who orchestrated this municipality’s collapse. To the ANC: This is a moment of moral reckoning. You stand at a crossroads: you must choose accountability over complicity, and justice over corruption. Stand with the workers and residents of Matjhabeng – not with a man who has robbed them. Reject the tyranny of political patronage and uphold the rule of law. Governance built on impunity is no governance at all. If you fail to act in the best interests of the community, prepare for an unprecedented wave of resistance. To reinstate Khalipha is to institutionalise theft, and to pay him for six months of dereliction is to spit in the face of justice. The people of Matjhabeng will not tolerate this betrayal.
This is not merely a political battle – it is a fight for the soul of Matjhabeng. It is about the livelihoods of workers.
It is about the delivery of essential services to communities drowning in neglect. It is about the preservation of democratic governance itself. Cosatu and its affiliate Samwu will not relent. We will fight tirelessly, using every tool at our disposal, until justice prevails.
Together, we will ensure that those who have failed the people of Matjhabeng are held accountable. Together, we will restore dignity to this municipality.
– Issued by Cosatu Free State Province
