R11 Million spent in Makgata Vs FTLM legal battles
BURGERSFORT
A whopping R11 Million was allegedly spent by the FTLM Council in legal costs in its battles with current Municipal Manager MJ Makgata.
Makgata was suspended back in October 2024 by the FTLM council, he returned back to his position in February 2026.
Sekhukhune Times has uncovered that in the 15 months, Makgata was frozen out from the FTLM, an amount of R11 Million was spent in court battles to get rid of the accounting officer.
In October 2024, Makgata was placed on cautionary suspension following dubious claims of misconduct.
The courts found that the disciplinary process was fatally flawed from the start and ordered that the initial council resolution must be reviewed.
This was ignored, with the municipality appealing most of the rulings from the courts.
A series of questionable council resolutions ensued, which some opposition parties opposed, and on other occasions were prevented to oppose through the Speaker’s alleged disregard for the rules.
As the FTLM continued appealing, this led to the municipality losing more than six legal battles against Makgata.
In all the court battles, the FTLM defiantly resolved to appeal, further paying the costs .
The cat and mouse legal battles between Makgata and the FTLM eventually ended in the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa, when this court brushed off another attempt by the FTLM to keep him at bay.
Unfortunately it was at the expense of the taxpayer’s R11 Million.
In recent weeks, a source within the municipality confirmed that the municipality was, ‘indeed dealt a major blow by court rulings’ and has lost millions.
The anonymous source went on to further confirm the R11 Million amount.
The residents of FTLM continued to bear the brunt of senseless legal costs; like the Dresden Community,, whose road project has been abandoned.
The Praktiseer and Ga Makua libraries which remain incomplete and potholes in the Burgersfort CBD.
Attempts by this publication to solicit comments drew a blank as the FTLM Communications team was yet to comment about the alleged R11 Million at the time of going to press.
