Free State councillors apply for jobs in the municipalities they serve, fearing 2026 election loss
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Free State Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Sakie Mofokeng says he has faced pushback from some councillors after discovering that they had applied and been shortlisted for interviews in the same municipalities they serve. According to provincial insiders, the councillors were trying to secure jobs because they were uncertain whether they would return as councillors after the 2026 local government elections in November. “You find councillors in their own municipality who have applied and are shortlisted for interviews to become employees of the same municipality they lead,” Mofokeng told the Mail & Guardian in a wide-ranging interview last week. “When you intervene to correct that particular situation, there’s pushback. “You can never have a councillor applying and being shortlisted, as happened with councillors of Mohokare Local Municipality who wanted to appoint themselves. There’s no way that the provincial government can interview me for a position in the administration while I’m serving as an executive.” Some councillors in Mohokare Local Municipality have accused Mofokeng of removing an elected mayor and a municipal manager who had been appointed by council and replacing them with people from his office. A source in the municipality told the publication that Mofokeng was doing that to secure resources through the municipality in order to fund his ANC campaign before the next provincial conference. Another source told the M&G that in municipalities where Mofokeng did not have people he could manipulate, he used service delivery failures to gain control. “Once he puts the municipality under administration, he uses his people as administrators without the control of the council so that he can do whatever he wants. The reason he does this is because he cannot control the council. “This is just a battle over resources and has nothing to do with fixing local government. I’m a member of the ANC. If you are saying you are putting these municipalities