Klerksdorp Town Hall, where the offices of the City of Matlosana Local Municipality are located.
Image: Ian Landsberg / Independent Newspapers
A deepening governance crisis in the City of Matlosana has exposed a widening rift between the municipality’s political leadership and its administration.
Municipal Manager Lesego Seametsa now faces possible suspension after refusing to implement a council resolution seeking to reinstate a dismissed chief financial officer.
The dispute has evolved into a multi-front governance battle, involving court proceedings, a pending labour arbitration, calls for provincial intervention, and scrutiny from the national government over failures in this North West municipality.
At the centre stands Seametsa’s refusal to reverse the dismissal of former CFO Mercy Phetla. She maintains that reinstating Phetla would violate the regulatory framework governing disciplinary processes for senior municipal officials.
The impasse has intensified tensions within the council and raised broader questions about the limits of political oversight versus administrative authority in local government.
The conflict traces back to a disciplinary process against Phetla under the Local Government Disciplinary Regulations for Senior Managers. Hearings in December 2025 addressed several misconduct charges; she pleaded not guilty.
The inquiry found her guilty on five counts. The administration then dismissed her in accordance with the framework for senior officials.
When the report reached the council, divisions erupted. Councillors voted on the dismissal-supporting report, with 25 in favour and 34 against, effectively rejecting it.
The council adopted a resolution rejecting the report and instructing Seametsa to retract Phetla’s termination letter and reinstate her.
Seametsa declined, deeming the reversal unlawful because the process had already been concluded and implemented. In her written response, she affirmed: “The dismissal of the Chief Financial Officer followed the disciplinary process in terms of the Local Government Disciplinary Regulations for Senior Managers and has already been implemented.”
Compliance, she warned, would contradict the regulatory framework: “The instruction to retract the termination letter would, therefore, be inconsistent with the disciplinary process already concluded and implemented.”
Invoking the Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000, she cautioned: “Any attempt to influence the municipal manager or any official of the municipality not to enforce compliance with legislation may amount to an offence in terms of the Act.”
Reversal also risked legal exposure, especially with pending proceedings.
Councillors retaliated with a resolution expressing intent to place Seametsa on precautionary suspension. Passed at a February 24, 2026, special council meeting on the mid-year budget and performance report (July 1 to December 31, 2025), it stated council “expresses its intention to put the municipal manager on precautionary suspension”.
The move is tied to alleged serious misconduct and non-performance.
Executive Mayor Fikile Mahlophe was ordered to notify her within 72 hours, listing concerns: ineffective billing systems; non-expenditure of conditional grants; Eskom and Midvaal account mismanagement; escalating unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure; supply chain compliance failures; reliance on emergency procurement under Regulation 36; weak contract management; Auditor-General material irregularities; and unaccounted market dues.
This timing fuels speculation about a link to her CFO's refusal. Seametsa on Monday confirmed that she had received a letter from the executive mayor announcing the council's decision to place her on precautionary suspension.
“The intention is centred around the issues of serious misconduct and non-performance, which were categorised into 10 points. I have responded and submitted it to the Speaker of Council and the Executive Mayor, as per the letter of intention I received. The City of Matlosana has appointed an acting MM in my absence,” she said.
As council tensions peaked, courts intervened. Civic group Nova Matlosana in Action NPC filed an urgent High Court application in Mahikeng to suspend the reinstatement resolution.
Judge Peterson heard the case and granted interim relief by verbal order.
The court ruled that “the resolution taken by the Matlosana Local Municipality council on 4 February 2026, reinstating the Chief Financial Officer, is suspended pending the final determination of the review application.”
Pending review, Phetla “is not entitled to report for duty or perform any functions as Chief Financial Officer”. It condoned procedural lapses and deferred costs to the main proceedings.
This halted the council’s push, reinforcing the administration's call for legal resolution.
Phetla’s employment dispute will head to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. Her representatives are challenging the process as unlawful and flawed.
National attention mounted via Co-operative Governance Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa’s February 6, 2026, letter convening an emergency meeting with provincial leaders on Matlosana’s woes, flagged in a September 2025 parliamentary visit.
“I am thus compelled to convene an urgent meeting with the provincial leadership to present a mitigation plan for restoring good governance in the municipality,” Hlabisa wrote.
Invitees are North West Premier Lazarus Mokgosi, CoGTA MEC Oageng Molapisi, and Treasury MEC Kenetswe Mosenogi.
The letter highlighted financial decay: a regression in audit status from unqualified to qualified in 2023/24 and 2024/25; rising unauthorised, irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure; and concerns about Municipal Infrastructure Grant spending.
Molapisi’s spokesperson, Lerato Gambu, said the provincial government was unaware of the council’s resolution to suspend the municipal manager.
“We have no knowledge of such a resolution. The MEC invoked Section 106 investigations following allegations of corruption and maladministration activities. Following the outcomes of the investigations, the MEC issued letters to affected councillors for representation on sanctions the MEC is required to institute in line with the Code of Conduct for Councillors,” Gambu said
Municipal spokesperson Ntswaki Makgetha said on Monday that no council meeting addressed the manager. “The municipality cannot comment on speculative stories.”