Mpumalanga municipality faces collapse

An administrative support team has been sent in to prevent the total collapse of the Thaba Chweu municipality in Mpumalanga, a SAPA correspondent reported. While the municipality has been placed under administration twice in the past eight years, this time it had been decided to send in a support team. The municipality is now close to total collapse Premier David Mabuza's spokesperson Zibonele Mncwango said. The municipality has been facing problems since 2005 when it was first place under administration. In 2009 it was placed again under administration, after residents attacked police, damaged former mayor Clara Ndlovu's house, and burnt tires in protest against poor service delivery and the disappearance of R3.2 million from council coffers. One protester was shot dead. Social grants offices, as well as the kitchen of the local police barracks, were set alight. In a February 2012 report by the human settlements portfolio committee, Thaba Chweu was mentioned as one of the most bankrupt and dysfunctional municipalities in South Africa. In October last year, the municipality was again under the spotlight when the Hawks finally arrested four municipal officials-three years after the 3.2 million went missing.