Please find attached soundbite in Afrikaans by Jóhni Steenkamp MPL.
Please find attached soundbite in English by Jóhni Steenkamp MPL.
- DA called for Acting Municipal Manager Lesang Cyril Lobakeng’s suspension on 21 August.
- Two weeks later, Lobakeng appeared in the Delareyville Magistrates’ Court following a Hawks investigation.
- DA will lay further criminal charges where evidence of corruption and financial misconduct is uncovered.
The Democratic Alliance warned the ANC-led Tswaing Municipality that it could not continue with business as usual while serious allegations surrounded its Acting Municipal Manager, Adv. Lesang Cyril Lobakeng.
On 21 August 2026, the DA called for Lobakeng’s immediate suspension pending investigations into allegations of financial misconduct.
On Friday, 4 September 2026, just two weeks later, Lobakeng appeared in the Delareyville Magistrates’ Court following a Hawks investigation into alleged contraventions of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).
The charges relate to a security contract initially awarded for one month at R452,000. The company allegedly continued providing services after the contract expired, with Council subsequently resolving to pay more than R886,000. Lobakeng is accused of authorising the payment and failing to advise Council that it would be unlawful and irregular.
These allegations remain before the courts and must be tested through due process.
But we will not apologise for raising the alarm before residents’ money ends up at the centre of a criminal case.
The ANC-led administration must stop waiting for law enforcement to force its hand. Serious allegations involving senior officials require decisive action, proper investigation and accountability — not business as usual.
And we are not stopping here.
We are finalising further matters involving alleged wrongdoing at Tswaing Local Municipality and will lay additional criminal charges with the relevant law-enforcement authorities where the evidence warrants it.
No official, political connection or position should place anyone above accountability.
At stake is not simply a figure on a municipal ledger. Almost R900,000 could have made a real difference in a municipality where residents face dry taps, deteriorating roads, failing infrastructure and unreliable basic services.
Every rand lost through corruption, irregular expenditure or financial mismanagement is a rand that cannot be spent maintaining water infrastructure, keeping electricity networks operational or fixing roads.
Residents pay the price when public money is not properly managed.
The DA’s Working for All Manifesto is clear: municipalities must be professionally managed, public money must be protected, procurement must be transparent and corruption must have consequences.
Tswaing residents deserve to know that their money is being spent on the services they pay for and not lost through poor decisions and alleged financial misconduct.
We will keep exposing wrongdoing, taking evidence to the authorities and fighting for every rand of residents’ money to be used where it belongs: delivering services to communities.
Tswaing needs government that works for all.