This ruling confirms what the DA and the residents of Ngwathe, including the towns of Parys, Heilbron, Koppies, Vredefort, and Edenville, have long known: the municipality is completely dysfunctional and has failed in its constitutional obligations to provide even the most basic services, including access to water, sanitation, and infrastructure maintenance said Serfontein.

She added they commended AfriForum and the Save Ngwathe group for taking decisive action where both local and provincial ANC governments failed to act. The judgement highlights the prolonged collapse of governance and the shocking inaction by the MEC for COGTA and the Free State Executive Council, despite clear constitutional duties to intervene.

The DA now calls on Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae to implement the court’s orders without delay:

Dissolve the Ngwathe Municipal Council;

Appoint a competent administrator;

Approve an urgent financial recovery plan and budget to restore basic services.

She concluded saying they will monitor the progress reports the Premier is ordered to submit every three months and will not hesitate to take further legal or political action if there is any attempt to delay or obstruct the implementation of the recovery measures.

This court victory is a major milestone in the broader fight against ANC-induced local government collapse across the country. We stand with the residents of Ngwathe, and we remain committed to restoring dignity, accountability, and quality service delivery at local government level.

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A 33 year old man, Nta Bennet Mofokeng from the Lucia Farm district in Bethlehem in the Eastern Free State was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife, Matseko Mofokeng (28), who was brutally beaten to death with a rusted, sharpened steel pipe in view of other farm dwellers last year.

According to Thabo Mofutsanana Policespokesperson Warrant Officer Mmako Mophiring the sentencing was handed down on the 30 April 2025 by the Free State High Court sitting in a jam-packed Bethlehem court

The court heard that it was on Saturday, 2 March 2024, at about 23:25, the deceased person, Matseko Mofokeng, was seen hiding from her husband, Bennet Mofokeng, in front of another yard on the farm.

The husband came out looking for her. She ran away from him, but he pursued and caught up with her. The other farm dwellers saw him continuously beating the woman several times until she became unconscious.

She was later declared dead and the accused was arrested and appeared before the Bethlehem Magistrate Court on Monday, 6 March 2024. Since then, he remained in custody awaiting trial.

He was declared unfit to possess a firearm.

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